KBPI Colorado Stimulus Package Round 3 in Moab

Moab, UT – Stay The Trail made an appearance in Moab for the third round of KBPI’s Colorado Stimulus Package on the weekend of October 3rd.  Joining Willie B from KBPI and Clifton Slay from American Rock Rods, roughly 20 other rigs assembled to make a run at Gold Bar Rim and Golden Spike Saturday Morning.

With a group this size, the most important part of the morning was to have a driver’s meeting, where Clifton covered the trail rules, and we covered the responsibilities of being on public lands with motorized vehicles.  Many of the participants were not aware of the Stay The Trail program, but were all greatly receptive to why responsible recreation is not an option, but a necessity.

The group headed out around 9am, creating a train of built Jeeps, Toyotas, and a rental or two thrown in for some entertainment.  We staged at the north entrance to Gold Bar Rim, near the Gemini Bridges trail.  Many of the drivers had prior experience, but we had a few “newbies” that were about to have a not-so gentle introduction to the Moab trails.

The trail was relatively busy that day, with numerous ATV’s and dirtbikes scooting past us in places.  The trails in Moab are pretty easy to follow, through the sand washes, and once on the rocks there are painted markers to point the way (Bars for Gold Bar Rim, and Spikes for Golden Spike).  We headed out, passing the turn-off for Gemini Bridges (mental note: gotta try that one) and continuing up out of the sand washes onto the rock plateau.  At the first major obstacle, named the Wall, we had a couple rigs turn around but everyone else was spotted down by Clifton and we continued on.

The trail wasn’t overly long, but had a few fun obstacles along the way that provided plenty of opportunities for photos and hanging out.  We only had a couple trail-damage issues on the way out, both involving tires… Which was a good thing.  Easy to fix.  As we headed towards the Golden Crack, we came across a group of Mile-Hi Jeep Club rigs, fixing a broken axle shaft.  After offering assistance, we headed over to the crack, where we spent an hour or so having rigs cross and hanging out.  Another group came through, this time from the Red Rocks 4-Wheelers and we watched them all come across while one of the rigs in our group fixed a broken hub.

On the way back, the carnage began…  Clifton was a busy man jumping underneat a number of rigs fixing things ranging from a destroyed CV cage on a TJ rear driveshaft, to welding a steering arm back onto a knuckle (twice).  Sure enough, it turned dark on us on the way back out, which made for quite the experience under  a mostly-clear sky and bright moon.  It was just a trail of headlights and tail lights as the rigs meandered their way back to the paved road, following the painted markers.  We stopped for a little while everyone got up the Wall, which proved to be quite entertaining.

After everyone got off the trail (around 11pm), a number of people hit up the Moab Denny’s, which happened to be the only place open that late.  We also gave away two $100 gift certificates to 4Wheel Parts and Stay The Trail hoodies to the winners of our “Who can pick up the most trash” contest.  I have to say though, I was pleasantly suprised by the cleanliness of the area.  Pack it in, Pack it out!  So Sunday morning came and the majority of the group packed up and headed back to the Front Range.  Many, many thanks to KBPI, Clifton Slay, and all the Colorado Stimulus Package participants!!!  We look forward to seeing many of you this coming weekend at Rampart Range for Round 3.5 of the Stimulus package!

Picture Album on Photobucket – http://s1021.photobucket.com/albums/af332/StayTheTrail/KBPI%20-%20Moab/?albumview=grid

106.7 KBPI – www.kbpi.com

American Rock Rods and Clifton Slay – www.americanrockrods.us

Red Rock 4-Wheelers – www.rr4w.com