Fins & Things
Is there ever a bad day on this trail? This was the first time we'd actually found the whole thing without getting lost on a spur or skipping any of the sections, so it went really well. It's always so much fun to play on the fins (the "things" are fun too).
Bob had some Jeep troubles that he needed to get fixed before we did Metal Masher later in the day, so he skipped this run. The rest of us headed off to the Sand Flats Recreation Area to go play.
We did Baby Lion's Back first, like always. It was Cheryl's first time on slickrock and she was already enjoying it. We didn't stay long, then headed off to the trail.
We passed a couple vehicles airing down at the trailhead, then started off. It was pretty mellow, then we got to the first big slickrock hill down to the sand. When we got down to the sand everyone decided to try an especially difficult way up the next fin.
Monica spun her tires, and after a big bump managed to get about a foot up the hill, but that wasn't going to be enough. Her spare tire had rock dust on it, so the hill was pretty steep.
Everyone else tried it, but all we got was spinning tires for our troubles. Eric tried a different line, but that didn't work either. This hill proved to be too difficult, so we went up a little further to the right where most of the tire tracks went without any issues.
It wasn't too long before we were starting the second half of the trail, just before 11AM. The fins were getting bigger and the grins were getting wider.
We didn't take the left turn at the campsite, and that proved to be the correct way to go. It brought us around to the intersection where we turned left to go down the ledges to the shady section -- the shady section that is so nice in an especially hot sun. We didn't have that hot sun this time, so we kept going.
We had lunch at the base of the curved hill where the trail gets a little tippy, enjoying our perfect weather.
The sandy section was fast, with everyone enjoying banking the turns and jumping a little over hills. We stopped to check out the dinosaur in the rock, then took off again.
The wide hill that comes next seems to be where we always go down in pairs, and today was no exception. Monica and Eric came down first, with Eric trying to be right up against Monica's tires on the way down. Cheryl and Ladd did the same thing on their way down. Unfortunately, we were an odd-numbered group and Mike had to do a solo run.
We got to a wide, flat section of slickrock and everyone decided to try to park on one of Monica's tires because we were a group of five. Mike was working on getting up on a rear tire with his front passenger tire but managed to connect fender flares and break his turn signal. That's the same turn signal that popped out last year on Coney Flats -- maybe Mike needs to trim his fenders and get rid of that light all together?
We took a few pictures, then we headed off again. Eric had a call from Bob, who had been ready to go since about 11:30. We cruised over to the last of the fins, the fun part.
Everyone took Kenny's Climb without any issues. Then we ended up at Frenchy's Fin where everyone just went right up. It's a steep one!
Once we were off the trail we headed back to the McDonald's to meet Bob and head off to Metal Masher. It was a great time on Fins & Things, like always.
Reports from Other Days: 10
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