Fins & Things
We had a big Moab trip planned, but things don't always go as planned. Our first trail of the trip was actually Poison Spider, but we didn't see much of it. Day 1, Trail 1, and Mile 1, and an unfortunate series of events compiled into a busted trip.
This is the part where the bracket holding the track bar to the front axle on Matt's Jeep decided that it no longer wanted to be friends with the axle and the two went their separate ways. Steering was difficult, and right-hand turns were all but impossible. Matt was able to limp his Jeep off the trail and back to base camp at the KOA. It took a bit of driving at about 25 mph down a fast-moving highway, but we managed.
We talked about calling the whole trip and just letting the kids play in the pool, but we decided a little, broken track bar bracket wasn't going to stop us. Everyone loaded into Jason's Jeep, and we tackled Fins & Things.
We know that tackling a trail with only one vehicle might not be the smartest thing we could have done, but it was always a busy trail. We figured we'd see lots of traffic, but we only saw one group of side-by-sides the entire time.
It was Jason's first time on slickrock, so Matt suggested a practice run on Baby Lion's Back. With the angle on the way up and the steep drop-offs to either side, it had a lot of pucker factor. To Jason's amazement, his Jeep drove right up and asked for more. With no issues at all, it was time for the real trail.
Steep climbs followed steep climbs, and then steep descents followed steep descents. Jason would ask Matt if he could make it, and each time he didn't have any issues. Of course, Matt would scream in terror at the wrong times just to keep things lively.
We stopped about half-way to the end to let the boys play with their RC rock crawlers for a bit. And then after the break we left the "things" and headed for the "fins."
Jason tackled an optional hill of slickrock, and his Incline-o-Meter said it was a 31-degree tilt. After two attempts and a bit more rubber on the wall of rock, he gave up. The rest of the trail didn't pose any issues, and it was tons of fun.
Jason aired up his Jeep in the parking area and we called it a great day on the trail. Time for dinner! Even with the unexpected breakage we had a great time.
Reports from Other Days: 8
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