Crazy fun was had crawling some of our favorite trails at Gordy's on a beautiful winter day! Six rigs tackled Hidden Valley, Bad Hair Day, and Doug's Dilemma. We went color-themed - four white, one gray, and one black, LOL. Five 2-doors and one 4-door. For the second run in a row, I wasn't the only manual - Mike Crosby was as well, yay!
Participants included myself, Rich Steele, Doug Caddell (Guest), Jack & Cathy Dickey, Mike & Janet Crosby, and Doug Elkins.
We started the day on Hidden Valley - the base of the gatekeeper/waterfall remains filled in with sand at the moment, making the climb pretty easy. No real issues for anyone, and we cruised right through.
Mike and Janet Crosby are still new to the club, and have been bit by the rock crawling bug. They went on a L5, noticed the challenges and were happy to finish the trail. Then they went home and signed up for a L6! They went along, had fun, and were happy to finish the trail. They went home from that one, ordered skid plates and signed up for a L7! Hidden Valley was their first introduction to a big ledge to climb, and it was fun to watch Mike tackle it. While they are usually in their His & Hers Jeeps, they shared Mike's rig for this day, wanting to get eyes on a L7 before taking both babies out to play.
Guest Doug Caddell and NM4W President Jack Dickey both stopped to give the optional waterfall a little ways up the trail a go. While neither made it up and over, we were thrilled to cheer them on!
We then stopped to walk Yeehaw. Jack is willing to send Rich up it first, in his monster TJ, LOL. Getting eyes on it for a second time in a week, I'm starting to see a line for getting through the ugly thing, but I'm glad I've got a few weeks to think on it before my March 14 run!
A little ways past Yeehaw, we turned onto Bad Hair Day. The group cruised through the bulk of BHD with no issues. The final 3' ledge at the end is getting washed out at the base, and it took most of us a couple of tries, but everyone made it up.
We then wandered over to the beginning of Doug's Dilemma and took a lunch break, appreciating the sunshine and bright, blue skies. I discovered Doug Caddell is a fellow Arizona Wildcat -> Bear Down! (He kept me updated on the UA vs ASU basketball game, which the Cats won!)
This was my first time driving Doug's Dilemma, and it is crazy amounts of fun!!! Doug's has an uphill part, followed by a downhill part.
The uphill part is a boulder garden with two sizeable obstacles to conquer. The first is a multi-level slab rock with a wiggly v-notch cut down the middle. This obstacle has great traction once you're on it. The base is sandy, though, making it a challenge to even get on it at all. The main line is to get tires ready to straddle the notch, even before you get to it. The second obstacle is a 4' ledge, with a vertical v-notch cut in the center. Some folks took the center line - straddling the notch while making the climb, while others went right and sent passenger tires up a ramp-rock to help approach angles clear the ledge. No matter the line you take, this climb leaves you looking straight up at the sky as you make it; for those wanting to move into L7 trails, it is a great example of what to expect on these types of trails! Winches were pulled a couple of times, and we got everyone through. It took us 1 hour 35 minutes to get six rigs through the uphill portion, which felt amazingly fast.
Doug's also has a downhill section - with more boulder gardens, 1 - 2' ledges to descend, and some notable off-camber sections. Even my GenRight rear bumper, tucked right up under Nellie's butt, got smacked hard a couple of times on this part of Doug's. This part of Doug's gives true meaning to rock crawling - we kept speeds way down to put safety first.
Doug's Dilemma spits you out right onto the Byway, making it easy to group up again at the end.
Since we were already on the eastern side of Gordy's, and there was still time to play (2:30 p.m.), Rich suggested we take a detour and run up Vista Grande to check out the views. I had never been up there, and wow - the 360 degree views are amazing!
Mike Crosby got driver's side tires in a washout headed up, and got a little tippy, though he was already up against dirt and didn't have any further to go over. He managed to reverse out and move to a line further right.
Many thanks to the years of hard work by so many NM4Wers who have put hearts and labor into giving us such an amazing place to play right in our own back yard. Go, Go, Gordy's!
Huge thanks as well to Jack and Rich for offering truck storage space for Doug Elkins and I, who both swapped our hard doors for tube doors for the day.
