Trail Hero

DirtMonkey · Oct 17, 2016

I should have posted some pics sooner…I'm still recovering from the first inaugural Trail Hero event and it was great. There were so many events and different activities going on, it was difficult to do and see everything. There was a large contingency of buggies present, definitely out numbering the full bodied crowd. I definitely noticed there were much less participants present than published estimates. I would say 300 participants tops, if I had to guess…An event of this magnitude is hard to organize and for the first one, I'd say it was a success. The 2 biggest issues were lack of information as far as times and location of events. Unfortunately one of the biggest issues we saw was the trail leaders on the trail rides not finishing what they started.

All 3 days we signed up for, and on each run, the leader took off and left the back of the group to find their way on their own. We assisted on each and made a recovery and helped some folks get off the trail that had never been there. This is a peeve of mine anyway. People show up to run trails you know and you take a half assed stab at something you committed to do. Not cool. Each time there were people in minimally equipped rigs who were not seasoned veterans to hard off-road trails left to figure it out on their own. This can ruin your whole initial off road experience. I won't harp on this, but trail leaders should take that responsibility seriously. End of rant---

Anyway, if you ever get the chance, this is a trail system you need to check out whether on your own, another Trail Hero event or the Winter 4x4 Jamboree. The trails are amazing, as are the sand dunes. Everything is close together with amazing scenery in all directions.

Here's some pics from the trail runs..

We met a cool group of guys who drove up from Texas with some real nice early Broncos.

My buddy on a nasty wedge slot on TNT

Amazing Southern Utah scenery.

There was plenty of flops on day 1

Brian Shirlys Ultra 4 car didnt like the slow, technical approach these trails sometimes require..

DirtMonkey · Oct 17, 2016

Last weekend after watching the gamut of buggies from compact, rear-engine, cone dodgers to stretched, V8 vertical assault rigs, I arrived at an opinion I already established from watching most of the same rigs/drivers over the last few years. I told my buddy "Im putting money on a Red Dot car winning the Trail Hero" He said "Im sure it'll be Jesse Haines…" Lol, well, the night before the "trail Breaker" event we went over to look at the canyon. I was surprised it was an obvious canyon, right off the main road and sitting between 2 established trails. How it took this long to decide to break trail on this bad boy, I don't know.

Anyway, just above the canyon, in an area full of random technical climbs and tight squeezes (you really have to see this place to fully appreciate it) Justin Keilman, Jeff Mckinley, Kevin Carrol, Tracey Jordan & Jesse Haines had assembled in an impromptu practice session/fun challenge. They were sessioning a large, vertical climb with a turn at the top through a v notch. Keilman was on the wall and struggling to make the last step up and position for the notch. After a while he backed off and after some peer pressure, Mckinley took a shot at it. He lined up and crawled it with purpose and finesse and made it look ridiculously easy in the blue "Iron Man" car. Kevin Carrol was next. He made it easily as well…just not as effortlessly as Mckinley. Keilman came back and this time nailed the line and did go right up. Then Tracy Jordan. After a few line changes, he made it to the top, but struggled for a long time in the notch trying to span the abyss of the huge hole while making the turn. Eventually he was through. Haines then made a shot at it. Again, after a few line changes and backing up, he made it to the top, but then the front end couldn't quite reach traction before the back end started to drop into a hole. He was fighting this spot, jammed into this notch for quite a while…in fact, he was still in there when we left. Now in contrast, at the night rock crawl, watching these same rigs, it is very apparent they own the tight, technical cone dodging courses. They maneuver the gates and make it look effortless.

The Red Dot cars seem almost perfect for the Sand Hollow trail system. Wheelbase is good for steep climbs, HP for blasting sand, low and stable-again for the hairball climbs & descents.

I wish I had got more video and pics. We arrived at the Trail Breaker event late, because we though it would be an all day thing with multiple breakage and issues…Lol. They need to find a harder trail, because these guys breezed through it really.

Cary Gleason (Got Propane) is THE MAN. He made the first 2 stages of the trail breaker challenge looks easy with no rear steer and just a simple man's trail rig setup (granted one that works well) He laid it on its side and power steering fluid caused an engine fire which halted his impressive run. He still finished the trail.

Not my video , but here is one of the youboob videos of Cary's run
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNoh-vVWTyY

Here's a couple more pics

clayne · Oct 18, 2016

I like that Boxwood green EB!

jordan7118 · Oct 18, 2016

Thanks for the detailed write-up! Saw some pics and video of it, but not much in the way of information.

The EB buggy with green flames looks like John Reynolds old buggy with portals. Sick!