Steel Bender
Tom recommended this trail and it was the club's first time to run Steel Bender. What a blast! We ran it South to North after Kane Creek Canyon and finished it in darkness, completing The Wall and taking a short cut out as the sun was setting.
This was Darrin's first run with us -- we found him on the Kane Creek Canyon trail. Running the trail in this direction was definitely more challenging than it would have been in the other direction, largely because of the big rock Wall.
This was the only trail of the trip where we ran into any large groups of vehicles. We came across the 17 Jeeps in Jeep Jamboree, luckily in a place where we could easily pull over to let them by. It was cool to see some of the vehicles attempting the difficult trail, including a Liberty.
The trail started out with fun rocks to climb, largely of shelves and ledges. It eventually mellowed out to a dirt road, then started up again with the rocks. The Dragon's Tail was fun for everyone.
When we got to The Wall we found a difficult section of rock next to a cliff. It was difficult because it was on a climb, with a large rock to be driven over before attempting the ledge of The Wall. This was putting our tires in flexed positions that made it difficult without lockers. We all made it through without help, though.
Then came The Wall. It proved to be very difficult for Matt and Darrin in their Wranglers that were close to stock. It was challenging for everyone, though, and we all had a smile on our face at the end.
We took the Flat Pass way because it was dark, and we got off the trail pretty quickly.
This is going to be a trail we run all the time -- what a great time!
Reports from Other Days: 6
Use the arrows or dots to flip through the previews of the other reports for Steel Bender. Click one of them to read more and see all of the photos from that day.
