Golden Spike
The best part about this trail run was that we ended up at Golden Spike with lots of daylight to spare. The worst part is that we ended up split into two groups and you didn't get to see much of the group other than the one you were with. As always, though, this was a great run on a great trail and no one broke anything.
Launch Pad gave us its usual thrills and Sean left the first of many sand trails on the obstacle as the sand from Poison Spider Mesa leaked out from his transfer case skid plate.
Eric gave us all a scare in Witch's Crotch when he got a bit too far over to the right and did a major wheel stand. He killed the engine and tried to roll back slowly to get out of it. When he was down and out of danger the first thing he wanted to do was try it again.
Though we usually stop for lunch on Skyline Drive we ended up on top of the dome at 11AM which was too early for lunch. We decided to head back down and have lunch in the Washtub because we always spend so much time there.
When we came around the corner at the bottom of the Washtub obstacle we were very disappointed to see that the obstacle had been widened by about 10 feet to the right. This meant that the ledge at the top wasn't mandatory anymore, making the obstacle much easier. You could simply go to the right now over a few short, sandy ledges. The bypass was even easier as the two sections merged together.
That meant we got through the Washtub in record time and everyone barely had lunch eaten by the time we were off again. We ran into a group of people we had met the day before and caught up a bit, and then we were off again.
By the time we worked our way to the ledge above Highway 191 there were two groups behind us. We decided to pull up to the overlook area to let them pass. At that point a couple of people started checking things on vehicles so we spent some time there, taking pictures and exploring.
The ledges between the overlook and the Golden Crack were as fun as ever, and no one did any serious damage. We got to the Golden Crack with plenty of daylight and we took lots of pictures.
No one had any issues at all in the Golden Crack except for Monica and Eric. The Golden Crack is one of the few places where having a flexible suspension is a bad thing. They would drop their front tire in and instead of having it drive up the other side like everyone else it would stay there and their back tires would slide to the right instead.
Monica solved it by going straight across it with both tires, straddling the Golden Crack. Then she turned sharply to the right to drive the rear tires through at as much of an angle as possible.
Eric solved it by airing up his front driver side tire so it wouldn't fold into the crack as much. Because he didn't go so deeply into the Golden Crack he was able to pop his tire up and drop the right front tire into the crack like normal.
After we went through Robert decided to go through the Golden Crack in the other direction. He almost did a nose dive into the crack but then he pulled it out and went through without any issues, turned around and went through again.
Ladd did the same thing, going through the Golden Crack in the other direction, then turning around to go through the regular way. It's nice to have sunshine to work with!
We kept going and everyone went up the Golden Stairs without any troubles. We ended up driving right past Double Whammy by mistake, but there wasn't anyone who would have done the obstacle anyway so we didn't go back.
It was a nice change to not have any issues in Body Snatcher. Everyone drove right through it, and Mike with his longer wheelbase went through it like he's done it a million times before.
We ended the last hill and started Gold Bar Rim in daylight for a nice change. It was yet another great time on Golden Spike.
Reports from Other Days: 9
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