STF GTG- The Grand Canyon Adventure Oct. 9-13 2015

[JUSSUMGUY]

Im really looking forward to the Nevada trip also. My only Nevada dezert time has been around Mesquite and Las Vegas and Wendover. Looking forward to expanding my knowledge of the area.

[69yellowbug]

We timed the trip perfectly. It rained almost an inch in milford yesterday. Southern Utah is getting hammered with rain. A lot of the area we were in would be impassable.Getting into and out of SB point would of been impossible.

Agreed on all counts. The perfection of this trip would be hard to duplicate.

No beating this trip for sure. I am planning the next one and know I can't out do this one but it should be fun. I am working on Elko to Bodie and back at around the end of September. Thinking if Tako can't get off, plan to be in Bodie on Saturday and he could join us for lunch if he wants. This trip will be a lot like the GCA in that we will hit little Nv. towns every day for gas and ice and be covering around 200 miles a day it is looking like.

Ed

Ed... Each trip is it's own. Even EIA with all the rain worked out to be a good time. Your trip will be awesome. I'm excited to see some of Nevada's no-mans-land. Never explored that part of the country.

I do remember a place in Nevada where there were mines that were dug about 4 feet wide and miles long cutting through mountains and anything in the way. That was cool.

I was hopeing mines would be on the menu. I love exploring around them not inside them for treasures.

[takotruckin]

Im really looking forward to the Nevada trip also. My only Nevada dezert time has been around Mesquite and Las Vegas and Wendover. Looking forward to expanding my knowledge of the area.

And I think Ed is the perfect tour guide.

[no1clyde]

I do have some mines it the route along with some ghost towns and some really neat old living towns. I started thinking about this route last year so I think I am ahead of the game. Next summer I plan to prerun the parts leaving and returning to Elko. I may also have some dirt bike riding friends lead us through one part I have been to with them but don't know that area like they do.

Yes every trip is and will be different and they will all be adventures and I do feel the long distance travel totally adds to the adventure and I am happy to be with like minded friends.

Ed

[TimS]

And I think Ed is the perfect tour guide.

We will have to give him a 3-wheel handicap so we can all keep up with him.

[kyle_pc_75]

Well, I'm pretty sure we all had fun.

DAY 4

Today we would head north towards camp 3. It was slated to be a pretty easy day, with an optional route west of Hurricane if time permitted. The 25 mile route back out was just as rough as the route in, we weren’t imagining things. Once we got out to the graded roads, things started to pick up, though.
Cameron and Rattlesnake Ed (the nickname makes sense now, right?) had a few minor issues regarding clogged fuel and air filters, and we all got a little spread out. Carl and I were near the middle of the pack, trying to keep pace with Elko Ed, and trying not to lose those in the rear. We waited at one particular turn for a few minutes, but as soon as we saw that group we headed on. Not another few miles into the day’s trek, we noticed That’ll Never Work pulled off the side of the road.

We pulled up and wondered why they were pulled over on such a smooth part of the track until we got out and walked around. There was an obvious problem of some sort as there was brake fluid all around the right front and the front wheels were a bit cockeyed. Ed told how something felt funny through the last few turns, but they figured it was just loose gravel. Then it suddenly went all sorts of South. By the time we pulled up, they realized they had lost a stock spindle. Mind you, this is one of the unmodified, non-fabricated, non-reinforced VW parts on That’ll Never Work. I think Elko Ed would like for me to make that clear.

A few minutes later, the whole gang had reconvened around the broken VW. This was an interesting dilemma, nothing we could properly fix on the trail, but with the amount of VW knowledge in the crowd, we knew the SITUATION as least was not insurmountable. No, there would be no giving up here, camping for the night and waiting for rescue. The big brains were getting together and coming up with ways to get this car into town and the broken spindle to a welder.
Long story short, we removed the front passenger wheel assembly, strapped up the trailing arms, mounted the donut spare on the driver’s rear, and had three of the biggest guys (yes, that included me) stand on the rear cage while Ed shortened up his limiting straps on the driver’s rear suspension. Richard would also ride with Shortie for the duration to take additional load of the right front. That gave us about four inches of clearance on the front beam, allowing the car to be driven on three wheels. We’d all read about doing this on a VW, but I’m not sure any of us had ever participated in such an adventure.

We changed up the marching orders a little, and decided to carry on to Hurricane, where we figured we might find a welder, even though it was Sunday in Utah, to help us out. After a couple miles, we decided the best plan of action was to split into two groups. One would run into Hurricane with the broken parts in hopes of repair, while the rest would stay with Elko Ed. Each group had at least one high powered VHF radio to keep in contact.

Tim led the rescue group, with Tako, Dustin, and Little Jeep. He had no intentions of wasting time on this mission, and we hauled. Carl and I were experiencing more and more Death Wobbles, but Carl wasn’t worried, so why should I be? We just had to slow down every mile or so to regain control. No big deal.

We got to an overlook of Hurricane pretty quickly, and I had 4G reception, so the Jeeps looked for the only auto parts store open on a Sunday, while the VW’s would try other options. We found an O’Reilly’s pretty quick and headed straight for it as we were after replacement air filters and possibly suspension parts for Little Jeep. It was decided the entire entourage would meet at O’Reilly’s as we might need bearing grease, tools, nuts, bolts, etc to pull off this repair.

Coincidentally enough, with the VW’s behind the Jeeps, Herbie managed to spot an old torn down VW “and a racecar” in some dudes front yard as they barely pulled into town. This guy didn’t feel comfortable welding a spindle back together, but as they were talking, the owner of a local steel fab shop pulled up. They’re neighbors. So, once again helped by strange fate, S&S Steel Fabricators of Hurricane, Utah (pronounced Her-uh-kin), saved our bacon.

Before they were halfway through repairing and reinforcing the spindle, we heard from Rattlesnake Ed that they were just pulling into town. He had apparently pulled in front of a runaway Elko Ed, who had no brakes, and cracked his oil sump, but wasn’t leaking enough to stop. In the meantime, Cameron attached a tow strap from his front beam to Elko Ed’s back bumper to keep him from running into street traffic. As Carl and I listened over the radio, we could only imagine what people were thinking as they watched what looked like a three wheeled Baja Bug pulling a four wheeled Baja into town.

We all eventually met up at O’Reilly’s. Carl and I checked Little Jeep’s front suspension and could find no obvious wear, so we decided to keep on moving. Ed and Ed both repaired their rides. As it was near sunset, we all needed to figure out how to proceed. There was a 40 mile optional loop that we could take out of town, but we still had 15 or so miles to take once we got back to town to get to the night’s planned camp. We could also camp at Sand Hollow, but that involved fees and improved campsites, neither of which we were too keen on. In the end, Tim and Tako decided on the extra loop, while the rest of us would move forward to set up camp.

The drive up Smith Mesa was beautiful, but it was definitely getting dark quick. After about 15 miles, we realized the drive to camp was actually closer to 35. We couldn’t find either of the two potential campsites that we had marked, so Carl and I started driving back down the track, with our awesomely bright 1989 Jeep headlights looking for anything promising off the road. Pretty soon, we found what seemed like a beautiful, tree heavy, wide open spot, big enough for our large group. We made camp.

Over the next few hours, we hung glow sticks off the side of the road, and radioed Tim and Tako into the site while we all sat around the fire, told stories, and drank a few. What a day. Most of us went to bed eventually, and a few claimed to hear a faint bearing squeal from Tim’s Green Bug, but not all of us. But hey, what happens after midnight must wait until DAY 5.

[TimS]

Good show, Kyle. Thanks for the exciting read. It's almost like I was there, but far less dusty.

[no1clyde]

It was quite a day for sure and I am very thankful for the help. After abit I got the hang of driving on 3 wheels and at one point I was going 42mph but other times down to 15mph, I think we averaged around 30mph and got there before Tim showed with the fixed part. Things worked out as well as anyone could imagine and we were back on track. Rattlesnake Ed did me good, stopping me on that down hill and I am sorry for his damage. Overall it was a great day though and we made it to camp and after a couple of tow changes my car was great again. Oh and some how we (Tim and I) did start day 5 early

Ed

[69yellowbug]

I just started cleaning my bug out today. Haven't even opened the door to get the dirty clothes out till today.

[kyle_pc_75]

DAY 5
Tim and Elko stayed up until 4 AM talking shop. At least that’s what I heard. I slept late despite our need to align Elko’s ride and other stuff. We made breakfast. Dustin and Chuckles went rockcrawling around camp. It was a good, casual morning and looking to be a nice, casual morning start to our drive to Kolob Reservoir.

I think we made it maybe five miles until we were hit with unexpected road construction. Apparently, despite Richard’s thorough research, we weren’t aware of a paving operation in Zion’s National Park, which we had recently entered through the backcountry. We had an hour and half to wait, but we had cell service, so we took the opportunity to make calls home, check emails, eat a nice, leisurely lunch, swap more stories, and plan future expeditions. This was certainly not time wasted, and quite honestly it was a nice break from an otherwise frantic pace.

Once the road was open, we were stuck in what I can only describe as conventional road traffic. It was kind of funny, imagining all these vacationing families and construction workers worked in amongst a long trail of old Volkswagens, modified Jeeps, and a deceptively mild Toyota Truck all traveling in some sort of strange mongrel pack. This lasted for just over 15 miles, but was thoroughly enjoyable as a slight change of pace.

We then reached the beautiful Kolob Reservoir. Chuckles had been begging for a bath since DAY 1 (I’m being kind in not sharing all the details of his failed shower at Camp 1, trust me), so we agreed to give him 10 minutes here to dive in and shake off. To be honest, Chuck had provided pretty much every meal several of us had eaten on this trip, so concession to this small request was not a difficult decision. We spent a few minutes here taking some group photos, and there are rumors of photos being taken of Chuck’s bath, but I take no responsibility for those.

Anyway, we then moved on, the three quickest Bajas and Dustin taking the lead, Carl and I leading the slower group. About two miles past the reservoir, we said hello to our familiar Death Wobble. About 50 yards later, we said goodbye to it. Something had gone horribly wrong, we heard a loud bang, Little Jeep pulled severely to the right, Carl and I hugged to the left as he wrestled to pull the steering that direction and we approached a hefty wooden post and barb wire fence from the right. We eventually stopped, we breathed. Nothing had come through the open passenger side window to whip me in the face.

We couldn’t reach the leaders via radio as we were in heavily mountainous, wooded terrain, but the group behind up stopped. Luckily for us VW guys, Carl knew what he was doing with a Jeep. One side of the trackbar had broken from the Death Wobbles. He jammed it up into place and pulled it tight with the winch, and we felt confident we could make it into Cedar City at a slower pace.

Once again, the group hit the trail slightly wounded but still together and confident. We rolled at a pretty good pace, equivalent to the 45 mph Elko Ed managed on three wheels. As we hit the Cedar City overlook, we were able to reestablish contact with the lead group, again formulating plans for food, gas, and vehicle repairs. The shop of choice today would be AutoZone, as they had the trackbar we needed, and Tim’s bearing issue had gotten louder.

We spent several hours at AutoZone, Tim got his bearings repacked (but he had reservations on as to whether that was the real problem), and Carl, Dustin and Shortie spent a few hours getting a stock, cheap trackbar to fit Carl’s modified mounts. In the end, all seemed, good, though it was once again getting late. We would resupply and then haul again until we hit camp 4.

Regrouped and hitting the road, things were looking good. Despite an occasional Death Wobble, Carl and I were feeling good. We hit Lund and checked out the Union Pacific locomotives that were parked there for a few minutes. Time to head northeast. The roads were expected to be fast railroad grades. They started out that way.

By the time dusk started in, we hit a few good puddles and washouts from the recent storms. Radios are great for radioing back that information when you’re well spaced out. When we got close to Milford, we were too closely spaced, and just about every vehicle hit a squarely cut wash that was about 2 feet deep. We all got through it but then realized there was much more of the same. Tim was then in the lead, and shortly thereafter, Herbie was recorded as saying:
“Damn, something just happen? Tire fall off? F**king spindle broke.” Tim’s concerns about whether the bearings were the issue had been real. After a quick inspection, the stock spindle had broken off at the base. This was not something field repairable as had been Elko Ed’s.

We pretty much knew at that point that the day’s trip was done. However, we were not done as a group. Carl, who knows nothing about VW’s, was all over his friends asking for spare spindles, the Blackleys had Curtis scrounging through their yard for spare parts. We knew we were camping here by the railroad tracks for the night.

Eventually, Curtis found some spare spindles in Grandpa Blackley’s stash, and Carl, Tako and I went to gather some Creosote soaked, expunged railroad ties for a campfire. Cameron and Shortie would meet Curtis in Beaver to retrieve the spare spindle while the rest of us put coins on the nearby railroad tracks to watch them get flattened.

And yet again, we reached midnight with parts still on their way. DAY 6, the final day, to come soon!

[no1clyde]

I just started cleaning my bug out today. Haven't even opened the door to get the dirty clothes out till today.

If that was my car it would have smelled very bad by now LMAO.

Ed

[TimS]

My clean out is scheduled for Saturday. I did get the food out and cooler emptied, which is better than my usual.

Again, Kyle, great writings. Thanks for the two-fer-wednesday.

[kyle_pc_75]

DAY 6
Honestly, many of us were up until 2 AM trying to fix Tim’s Green Bug. We had a supremely beefed up L/P spindle, but realized after trying to make it fit that the bearing wouldn’t work. We eventually made the call to wait until morning as we couldn’t figure anything out this evening. Elko Ed, Tako, and Tim would make some calls in the morning to figure out if they could find some readily available adapter bearings in the morning.

After a few quick phone calls post-sunrise, Elko and Tim took off to NAPA in Milford, our third auto parts store rescue for the week. They had the bearings. The rest of us stayed behind, ate Chuck’s breakfast again, and started to tear down camp. We had a long day ahead of us, with little spare time, so we were eager to get going.

Tim and Elko got back quickly, and everything went back together according to plan. In the end, the rescue spindle worked. We were on the road again. We headed quickly to Milford to grab guzzoline, lunch, and whatever else. It was at this point that Brandon (Tako) decided he needed to part ways back west, and so an extended goodbye was in order. Tim’s front end looked to be in seriously disalignment, but he was comfortable running it that way for a bit. It was readjusted once along the way.

We got headed back on the graded roads with the serious goal of getting back to Five Mile by that evening in order to get back to work on Tuesday morning. It was a stop and go day, but mostly good. With the trackbar replaced, we pushed Little Jeep up to 75 mph when we were in the lead. The group stayed together with only minor issues, and we reached Five Mile by about 5 or 6 PM on our last planned day. It was fast. Only one vehicle had bowed out since the beginning of the trip and that was precautionary, I in fact heard 560 run quite nicely last night. All the participants had found a seat to fill.

In the end, we came back to Five Mile with a 900 mile round trip total, about 800 miles off-road. I can’t possibly compare this to any other trip I’ve ever been on, and I’m not sure I ever will be on another but I’ll keep trying. It was spectacular, sights unseen. Thank you so much for Richard for the vision, and for the friends that accompanied me on this journey. Looking forward to the next STF adventure!!!!

[kyle_pc_75]

Thank you Richard, for the most amazing trip planning, and Tim for all the GPS assistance. Thank you everyone else for the amazing company. Such good old friends, and such good new friends. Seriously, most amazing trip of my life. 'Til next year (nonwitholding forum interactions).

[TimS]

It was all Richard. He did a lot of the very detailed road mapping. I just compiled it.