We had a big turnout for the anniversary run at Rainbow Falls OHV area / Lil Moab today. The entire RSVP crew arrived mostly on time and we picked up an old friend of the forum and a random trail user (correction: new member Chuck 'hellige') along the way.
Louis, Dave, Mike, Peter, Schmitty, Shane, Steve, Scott, Ty and Trent met up for the run. While airing down former / occasional FR4x4 member Evan rolled up in his YJ and asked to join the group. Somehow he recognized me and knew this was FR4x4, though he wasn't out looking for us on the trail today.
Around 10:30 we put wheels down from the staging area and began to run the trail. The trail was pretty muddy and snowy, but we found no ice. Some of the early gatekeeper obstacles posed a challenge with the slipper conditions and I nearly slid into a rock on an off-camber ledge early on the trail. We made slow, steady progress towards the Lil Moab obstacle, arriving at the top of the obstacle around noon.
At this point the usual anniversary run activity of watching everyone attempt the obstacle began, but with far more carnage than I've seen in years past. The rock was very muddy and wet, making even the easiest sections very difficult and treacherous. Briefly, the following events occurred in roughly this order:
1) Scott got his full size truck to the bottom of the obstacle and decided to try to climb it on the right side. As he got to the final ledge, he unseated his front passenger tire from the rim. Shane found a can of starter fluid with ether and showed everyone how to use mild explosives to re-seat a tire bead.
2) Louis tried to climb up the far right side 'bypass' route in his 4runner but ruined his rear driver axle. He had to winch himself up the final stretch. Several of the crew left early to escort him to the trail head and figure out how to get his rig home.
3) Shane, after waiting behind Louis while all of #2 happened, followed Louis up the bypass after the winching was complete. Shane slid into a tree and broke the passenger mirror off his Range Rover.
These events all took a couple of hours, and only Evan had much success climbing the obstacles. His YJ on 35s with a driveline stretch is formidable.
After we finished breaking stuff we continued on the trail back to the trail head. Shane and Schmitty turned back to find more trail while the rest of us aired up and headed back home.
A memorable day on the trail, and enjoyable for most of us.