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What fun we had.  After a long 12 hour trip to Salt Lake City Utah from Sacramento Ca, a one day visit with relatives, and then another 4 hour trip to Moab Utah, we were ready to play!
When we first got into town, the rigs were just starting to arrive. We spent the evening just cruising back and forth thru town, just seeing and being seen.  Hell after all of the work that we did on the rig, that was a treat!  The next day about noon or so we went out to Potatoe Salad Hill, just to test all of the changes, and to make sure that it was all dialed in correctly.
This is a dangerous, loose, steep hill that rolls many vehicles every year.
Mostly due to driver error and their innane refusal to get off of the gas.
We sat there for quite awhile and nothing was going on, but it was still too early.

Just as we were about to leave, some other guys came up, and the fun started to build.
They wanted to see me climb, and a couple of them tried too.  Most of them didn't make it, and had to back down.  A few of them made it by hammering their rigs, but I walked it right up no problem.  I do not hammer my rig for anything.  If I can't finesse it, then I won't do it at all.
It turned out that we would be seeing some of these guys on runs that we led for the rest of the week.  Friendships build fast on the trails out here.

After we left Potatoe Salad Hill our next stop was over to Dump Bump, which is a 51 degree climb and about 10-12 feet high.  It should be unclimbable, but what it takes is an excellent angle, good gears, big tires, and lockers front and rear, if you are short to medium wheelbase.
I have seen full size rigs with one locker walk right up, because they are so long that the front axle is over the hump at the top, before the rear wheels hit the solid 51 degree wall.
On the 2nd attempt on this hill my brand new Warn High Strength Axle let go, and the joint broke, on the left side, which is what is supposed to happen.  But what is not supposed to happen is that the axle shaft yokes broke right off.  They were supposed to just round off the joint, allowing you to replace the joint.  This joint seemed to let go very easily.  I have tried hills much harder, and under more load than this with my old setup, and never had a joint let go so quickly before.  It was probably a flawed joint.  We will see..
I did do the rest of the Jeep Safari on the spare Warn High Strength axle that I always carry, and it had no problems, and was used much harder, and put under much more stress than the first one was.  I was also carrying my old axle that had been time tested, for the last year as well, in my trailer, so I put it in the Bronco after installing the new Warn HSA, so I could still run all of the hard trails without worry. I don't go on the trails without my spares, and all of my tools.  *S*

The third day that we were there I finally spotted the Warn Rep, and told him what happened.
He asked me when I bought them, and I told him that I had purchased them 3 months ago, but had just installed them the first of last week, and that yesterday was the first day out with them, and that it had snapped under very little power, and tore out the yokes as well.
He said that even though it was a bummer, and they are much stronger than stock, that it can still happen, but that the good news was that because of my purchase date, that my axles were under a Lifetime Warranty..That axles purchased after the first of April 2000 were only warrantied for one year.  Well that was news to me.  COOL.  Anyway he tried to find one through the other dealers in the area, and couldn't get one, so he air freighted one in so it would be there before big Saturday.

Pritchett Canyon Day 3
So anyway that day we hooked up with some people that we had met on the first day at Potatoe Salad Hill, and went to do the Prichett Canyon Trail.  Which is truly on of the hardest and meanest trails in the area.  It is known for it's many hard climbs such as Rocker Knocker, Z-Crack, The Rock Pile, Yellow Hill, White Knuckles, Nose Dive Canyon and more.
When we took off that morning, it didn't look too bad, the forecast was for cloudy, and scattered showers.   No big deal or so we thought.  Well the forecasters need to go back to school !
Because within an hour of starting the trail, just before we made it to the really hard one mile long series of climbs, it started to pour, and then it turned into sleet, coming down so hard, you couldn't even see the canyon walls at some points, the storm moved in so fast and hard that it really sucked.  Well it's either turn around and go back, or try to make it up the hard stuff before it gets to much worse.  Well the guy that we had met the day before, had a big bad ass Blazer, that was just as well equipped as I am, but with one problem that we weren't aware of.  He had these tall skinny military tires on it, that gave him more ground clearance, but had absolutely miserable traction, even on dry stuff, let alone when it got wet, and snotty, in the clay.
They wouldn't flex at all even when they were aired down to 10 pounds, then they wanted to keep popping off of the bead.  The sidewalls were dry rotted too.  We couldn't win with these tires, and they became our nemesis for the entire week as you will see.

Pritchett Canyon the Z-Crack, which is where the storm begins to dump on us..Look at my bikini top in pics 1 & 2.

This Blazer would just sit there and spin all four wheels on any kind of a hill that had any clay at all,  which meant that I had to pull him through most of Pritchett Canyon, in the pouring rain, and mud, while still climbing up ledges, and side hills, which worked my Bronco to the hilt.  I drug him up through the entire series of climbs, and had to winch myself up The Rock Pile, because most of the rocks were gone, and it was pouring rain and sleet, and was freezing cold.  I couldn't even feel my hands for the last couple of hours, because I was in and out, guiding him up as far as possible before hooking up to him again.  The other guys in our group were also a huge help, hooking him up, and running back and forth in the downpour, while I was pulling him.  This whole mess made me extremely anxious as my Bronco was for all intents and purposes brand new, and was in the worst storm of it's life, and had to also pull this guy who was twice as big as it was with cliff ledges coming dangerously close at times.  I came so close one time that my daughter Kiera who has never shown fear broke out in tears thinking that we were going to slide over the ledge of a cliff as my Bronco clawed for traction climbing up while going sideways at the same time.  I was focusing too much on keeping it on the trail and getting up the ledge.  Because I knew that if I couldn't do it then none of the others could either.  None of them were as well equipped as I was, and my Bronco is usually the bad girl of them all.  I wish that I hadn't scared my daughter so badly but I did what I had to do and we made it then pulled the others up to safety one by one.  There were quite a few other vehicles with us, but none of them had winches, except for me and the Blazer. So if I didn't make it up  no one else was going to either.  Unfortunately the weather was so bad, that the only pics that we have of that day, are the ones above, it was the only time that we weren't fighting like hell just to make it out, and not slide off of the trail, or into each other.  We were just trying to get out, with no damage, and everyone still on the trail, not down in a gully.  At one point it was so slippery, that I was sliding side ways and going up at the same time, with a steep gully down below us. This didn't feel particulary good to me, but scared the crap out of my daughter, as the drop off was on her side.  We put her in with another bronco with a hard top, to both warm her up, and calm her down.  It was hellish wheeling, and while it was challenging, it really sucked that after all of the work that I did to my rig, it was being muddied up by this one freak storm.  The interior was a solid mass of mud, as well as all of the detailing underneath, and I am so glad that I had the foresight, to make custom full width/length floor mats, that pull out in the back, as well as for the front too.  It made clean up much simpler.  I did get a paint chip on the left front fender which really pissed me off.  But it is repairable, and after the new engine is in, it will be fixed good as new.  Compared to all that could have happened, I am lucky to of only had that small thing happen.  The Bronco did what it was built to do, and actually far more than I ever thought it would have to do.  I am very proud of it, and of me.  I am just glad that this rig is as tough as it is, or we would have been sitting out this storm for who knows how long.  Well we managed to get all of the rigs up through the series of climbs in Pritchett Canyon, and it was off towards White Knuckles, which had so much rain on it, that it was just impassable.  I did try real hard on it, for about 15 minutes, and was so close, that it was just a matter of getting the right bounce and traction at the same time to climb it..
 

This was taken 2 years ago.
It was too wet and miserable to take pics this year.
The rest other than the Blazer were either short wheel base rigs, who even locked up, can no longer climb this hill, because it is dug out so badly before you go up this verticle cliff,
or single locker rigs, who don't even stand a chance.
So I finally winched my self up, then pulled the Blazer up, and he then pulled the others up.
Giving my rig a rest, from pulling duty..
After that it was off to Nose Dive Canyon, another brutual climb, which has gotten much worse over the years..There were other vehicles there, when we arrived, but they opted for the easy way out and around, to see what we could do..Several other rigs that were there before us, had broke something on this hill, one even tore out his entire rear end, with this horrible grinding crunching sound coming out of the diff..OUCH..
Well it took me quite awhile, but I did make it, as the combination, of wet rocks, and mud made it even harder than usual..At one point I was almost completely sideways, and on a vertical edge, with my right wheels very close to dropping off the ledge and rolling,  but I worked my way out of it, and up I went..Amid cheers from the  crowd..When I walked back down after parking my rig up on top, this guy came up to me and told me that he just loved to watch me climb, as I used my head, and instincts, to climb, not my horsepower.
That he had seen me climb before, and liked the way that I worked a hill,
thinking and feeling it, and not just hitting it.. Wow cool.. It is nice to be noticed for what you believe in, and how you do something. I am trying to teach my two kids the same way..Slow and easy, feel the truck under you, remember the terrain as it passes under you, and work your way up. Let the truck feel it's way up the hill..
Our Blazer gave it a try but ended up going around as his tires just plainly sucked..
My long time four wheeling buddy Clark in his beautiful black laquered Willys,
took several tries, and made it also. Way to go Clark !
Then it was finally out of the worst including the storm which was now blowing out, leaving us shaking our heads, on how bad, and yet exciting the days four wheeling had been..
The real bummer is not having any more pics of such a hard and brutal day..

Day 4 The Golden Spike Rated 4+
After some serious cleaning top, bottom and inside, we were off to the Golden Spike Trail.
The weather was partly cloudy, but nothing like yesterday.
This trail is rated a 4+ for the last mile long stretch of climbs, and obstacles.
The fun starts with the Golden Crack, which when done properly, takes you kitty corner,
through the crack, with only two tires touching at any given time..
No lockers, = a lot more trouble.. One locker not enough.  The rear locker pushes you into the crack and the front locker pulls you out the other side.  Anything less means lots of tire screeching, and frame twisting, with occasional broken parts, lots of burning rubber,
and bent bumpers, or quarter panels.  Check out the pics and the climbs.

The Golden Crack!

The Golden Steps

The Golden Wall
 

Double Whammy ! The Big Kahuna, and breaker of all vehicles!

I was filmed for the TV Show " Doug Miller Outdoors",  right after airing down the tires to try again.
Doug Miller wanted to ride with me, so I said " Hop In ", and up we went..
The video of the show was great..It was shown only in Utah, but friends, and family sent me copies of it..
 

We spotted this wild Bronco outside of La Hacienda restauraunt in Moab, on the way in from Golden Spike.
It had Dana 60 running gear underneath, and a very spartan interior.  The dash was totally thrashed, but it sure looked good from the outside.  But when you got close to it, there was no time spent on body work at all, it had cracks, and dents all over it, and they laid these beautiful flames right over the ugly stuff.  I was amazed.
The engine was totally a thrasher looking job though. For so much effort in other areas, it looked like someone pulled it out of a junk car, and dropped it in.  Too weird.  We never saw it run though, and didn't get to see it climb on the trails either.  So I have no idea how well it worked.

Day 5  All Bronco run, new friends,
Registration, and Hells Revenge Trail,
and some shopping, in town..

Well we were supposed to go on an all Bronco run, but when we got there, there was some Broncos, but alot of them were barely running, and smoking, and generally in disrepair.  I would not be caught dead in most of those rigs.
However we did meet some really great people, who happen to live not to far from us, who are going with us to run the Rubicon in July.  They are Kat & Mike, and have the blue bronco shown below.
They turned out to be one of the highlights of our trip.  We are sure glad that we met them..
It looks like we will be going on alot of runs together this summer.
We ended up spending the rest of the week running together,  as well as having dinner together the last night in town. Mike is an avid Bronco owner, and is building himself a fine rig, as fast as he can have stuff shipped to him.
Anyway we all met at City Market parking lot, and off we went..
We ended up behind one of the worst beaters of the group. The engine was blowing smoke and running over rich so bad that we had to drop way back, as we were seriously getting sick from the fumes going down the freeway.
When we got to our turn off, we turned down into a river bed, and a few of us immediately knew that this group was out to see how much damage they could do, and not to really wheel.
We were in the middle of a gully, that is about 4 Broncos wide. In the middle of this is 3 huge rocks, that are tilted, and off camber, and they are trying to go up and over these rocks, with many of them getting high centered, and hung up on stuff underneath.  When they could have easily went around them saving their trucks for the absolutely have to do it hard stuff ahead.  Well after watching them bash their rigs for about a half an hour, we pulled out,
not needing to put any dents in a pristine rig.  Not today anyway.   They were insane.  WHEW !

So Mike and I pulled out, and left them to their damaging ways.
We later heard that one guy had to be pulled out of a crevasse backwards, using two differnt winches, and there was mucho breakage as well, on other rigs.  UNBELIEVABLE..

This was us just before we pulled out.  The real beater was in front of me.  Sorry you can't see it..

So we stopped at the Registration Place as we drove back into town, to check on my Warn replacement axle, and to get registered, s well as check out the booths. Check out the giant F-650 4x4 truck below.  WOW.

These pics were taken at the Registration Area Spanish Trail Arena.
Which is where Four Wheeler Magazine found me, just two years ago.

Then we ran over to Hells Revenge, and ran that, and hooked with another group of guys that had been admiring my Bronco the night before.

A little story:
We were invited to go up to a barbeque by the people that had the Blazer.  Mike & Cindy , and Brooke & Mike , as they wanted to treat us to a big barbeque to thank us for getting them out of Pritchett Canyon.
Anyway as we pulled into their campsite, I saw about 8 - 10 Broncos in a campsite above us.
I just had to go up and say HI !
They saw me coming in, and as soon as I pulled up, they said " Hey we know you.  We've seen that Bronco around here before.  What a cool rig !"  Wow that is so cool, to be remembered like that. Then they noticed all of the changes, and we pow wowed for a good two hours.  I finally left to go down to our friends, and they said that I must have been in Bronco Heaven..         Ya know I think that I was!     GRIN

Okay back to Hell's Revenge:
They had one guy that was trying to climb this chute, the chute had a huge hole that the right real wheel dropped into, and he ended up tearing out the whole passenger side of his rig, as well as his taillight, quarter panel, hood, fenders, and really tweaked his roll cage too.  I'll pass thank you very much.  Then it was off to Tip Over Challenge, and then we took the shortcut up and over to beat the other group out, and go play on some really soft, and rocky hill climbs, on the way out.  What fun..

This was Tip Over Challenge on the Hell's Revenge Trail.

Day 6 Big Saturday
The main event!

These were taken on Big Saturday, during the main trail departures.  Main Street is shut down for about an hour and a half, while all of the thousands of rigs, leave on different schedules, orchestrated by the Red Rock Four Wheelers, and the Moab Police Department.  We had dozend of admirers checking out the Bronco while we sat there, and had breakfast and coffee.

Then it was off to Wipe Out Hill, thru the back way.
But on the way I had a wire short out in the middle of the frame area, that had to be snipped out, and by passed
before we could continue..  It sure caused alot of smoke and sizzling wires.  I thought that I had everything fused,
but the wire providing hot power to the trailer apparently was not.  YIKES   After repairing that, we arrived at Wipe Out Hill a little later than planned, and ended up waiting for the main group to leave before we could do it. But we had a great time, and here are the pics.  The Blazer unfortunately lost a bead just as he got to the top, of Wipe Out, and I had to go up and around him to use my air to try to reseat the bead, but the tires were so narrow and the rims just wide enough, that it couldn't do it.. We ended up using a trick from a show that I saw on four wheeling, that uses Starting Fluid, sprayed into the tire and then ignited with the valve out of the stem to reseat the bead.
After a few tries it worked, and I aired it back up, and he was moving again..

These pics were sent to me by Kat, Michaels lady. They have the Blue Bronco in the above pics..Thanx Kat !

Wipe Out Hill Pics..Tire Blow out is the second one on the top left!
 

Day 7 The last day..
Potatoe Salad, and Dump Bump one last time!
The next day before we left we went back to Potatoe Salad Hill again, and went up it three different times,  twice on the right side,  and once on the super steep slick side on the left.  The third time I cake walked it and didn't even spin a tire, which brought cheers from the crowd, and lots of admiration.  I love that.  Hee hee hee.
Then it was over to Dump Bump to settle the score, for having lost an axle there on the first day.
It took three tries, but I made it up in front of a huge audience, and another huge cheer.
Lots of tough rigs were being beaten back by this ugly hill.  But not mine.  Not this time at least.  LOL
There were broken parts everywhere, and lots of damage to rigs as well.
We didn't get any pics of this but did get a real great video, which was so cool..

Well that's it for this trip.. I hope that you enjoyed it as much as we did, and the pics too..
See ya on the trails..   Kelli Ann