Coyote Crawl 5

Well, I had only planned to go out for the day on Saturday, but when I got home Friday night, I found Denni in the kitchen, packing a cooler for me, and with a kiss she sent me off on Friday night. I got there and set up my tent, and was surprised when about a half hour later Denni showed up. Cool! A family getaway. Found the club and all hung out waiting for Jack and Don to show up. By 11 we were all out cold, anticipating the next day's fun.

Saturday morning came WAY too early. Our run was leaving at 7 AM, so we all got up around 6 and made preparations for the day. Larry was trailboss for the "A" run, which all of us except Al were on. Al chose to take the medium run, since he doesn't have lockers yet. He described it as "scenic". We all lined up for our run, and by 7:05 were on the trail. There were 16 rigs in our run, so it was a pretty good group. In addition to my full-size monster, there was a full-size K-5 Blazer that put on quite a show. He wasn't locked, but he sure tried everything. 

The first obstacle of the day was El Hill, probably one of the most intimidating hills on the reservation. Larry was first, but after 3 tries decided to back down and guide others who wanted to attempt it. Next up was the Blazer. He made it about 20 feet, then had to give up. This hill is not for the unlocked. Another couple of Jeeps tried it and backed down, then Jack drove up, looked at the line, and walked right up. Score one for the good guys! A couple more tried, and then Randy drove up to the start. At first it looked like he was going to join the rest of us wimps (I have to admit that I'm scared of this hill). Then, he suddenly backed up and lined up for the hill. Way to go Randy! He started up, and with hardly a bounce drove right to the top. Our tailgunner, Peter Colacino, finished the show by taking his Ranger right to the top, making it look easy.

Having finished with El Hill, we proceeded on to Camel Toe, which is a Moab-Style rock garden. We all started up the rock when we heard from the tail-gunner that someone in the back was having trouble. We all held up at Camel Toe, and Jack decided he wanted to play on the rocks. Now, I have to say that Jack was feeling his oats this day. I heard a comment on the radio that went something like "When are we going to put it in 4WD?". Hmmm... Well, Jack decided to crawl down into the rocks. At this point I had stepped away for a..um...break..and all of a sudden I hear this big crunch. When I climbed back up to the rock garden, there was Jack....On his roof! He rolled it! The recovery effort took about 30 minutes, and then Jack just smiled and got his Jeep running and finished the obstacle. Too Cool! Next Stop, Toboggan Hill. 

We proceeded on to Toboggan Hill no worse the wear. Jack had a bent hood and windshield frame, as well as a broken windshield, but that's about it. As we approached the drop-off to Toboggan, I watched the Jeep in front of me basically disappear. First he was there, then he was gone. My stomach sank a little, and then I was over. No turning back now. I lifted the right-rear about 4 feet in the air, and then dropped. Sliding sideways down the hill, I was conveniently stopped by a rock. I squeezed around it and saw another drop-off, with Jeep-sized holes to the left, and an off-camber lean towards said holes. I carefully picked my way through and was done with Toboggan. Then on to Bagby's rock, which was nowhere near as bad as I had heard from others in the past. In fact, I didn't even realize we were at it until I was through it. 

Having made it this far, I was feeling pretty good. We continued on past No Way Hill and wound up at a place called "For Pete's Sake Hill". Bad omen...Since we were way ahead of schedule, we decided to stop and play on the hill. First up was the Blazer, who tried and failed. Then a nice CJ7. Same thing. Then Jack stepped up to the plate, but could not get over the step. Then I tossed common sense to the wind and gave it a try. Up I went. I made it to the first step..no further. I backed down and gave it another try, using a different line. I almost made it over the step, but then the truck fell backwards and I was at the bottom again. OK...HARD left this time. I got to the first step again and gunned it, crawling up the left wall. I was almost over when the truck slips off the ledge and falls backwards...BANG...oops...that didn't sound good. I fell off the obstacle and rolled back to (kinda) flat ground and took a look. Wow...I don't think the rear drive shaft is supposed to be laying on the ground. Turns out I broke the rear pinion shaft yoke. It just shattered. Oh well. Now it's time to get it back to camp. Randy stayed back with me and helped me limp out of the trail in front wheel drive, tugging me over some of the steeper hills. Thanks Randy!!!!

When we got back to camp it was only 1 PM, so me and Denni headed for home to get the RV so I could tow my Jeep home. I can't drive it in front drive for any distance, because my transfer case slips into neutral at weird times when I only have a front drive shaft (yes, this has happened to me before, but never this bad). So, off we go and are back in camp by 5:30 with the RV. We decided to stay the night and come home in the morning, so we hung out, had dinner, and basically relaxed. That evening after dark we watched video of the day's events. Cheri did an excellent job video taping everything, and we all watched Jack's roll-over, re-winding it so everyone could get a good view. She also got my break, and the sound on the video was pretty close to what I remember hearing when it happened. I know the rest of them went on a run on Sunday, but I headed for home, so that will have to wait for another report. All in all it was a good weekend, and the break isn't all that bad.