I left home at 7am on Saturday and drove a little over 9 hours plus some stop time to make it to the Halls Crossing gas station meeting spot. Gretchen was there already so we hung out and chatted while Shane, Trent & Steven showed up about 30 minutes later. After fueling up we all headed to the Hole in the Rock trail, ran up the trail about 5 miles and then found a cool spot to camp for the night. It was beautiful and the full moon came out and lit up camp that night. We all chatted and got to know each other and had a great time! Next morning we continued up Hole in the Rock trail and after another 5-6 miles it started to get rougher and slower going. For the rest of the day we pretty much had it in 4LO and crawled our way up and down obstacles in an amazing setting, but it was HOT! Hours later and in the hottest part of the day (early afternoon), Shanes G-wagon broke his front drivers side shock and we had to stop for MacGyver... I mean Shane to fix it. Gretchen was going to move her Jeep and went to start it but it just turned over and wouldn't start....... ........ so now we had 2 rigs down! I remembered GoSlo having a similar thing happen years ago and after waiting 30 minutes it started right back up.... vapor lock maybe. I mentioned this and we decided to focus on Shanes rig first and once he got the shock removed, we went back to Gretchens Jeep. Started right up this time!!! Thank goodness because it was SOOOOOO hot in this little canyon we had stopped in and it was good to moving again with AC blasted!
The obstacles started getting harder and a couple hours later when we got to Waypoint 41 on Trailsoffroad.com description, it was decided to turn around. Now Steve and I were a little further behind the group at this point so I didn't really know what was going on until I caught up. Trent's Jeep was not feeling right (mechanically) and he was worried something bad could happen if we continued. Not wanting that to happen or to split into 2 very small groups since it was just 5 of us total, we decided to turn around at that point and find camp for the night. After running back down the trail for about an hour we came upon our camp for the night. Another amazing spot and we were treated with a full lunar eclipse for our efforts! Shane and I climbed up a huge rock and watched it from the start since we were in a rock alcove that didn't allow us to see the moon until after 10pm, during the full eclipse. Everyone got to see the full eclipse so that's cool! We also discussed going to Moab the next day so Shane could get a new shock and then we could do some trails around Moab for a few days to salvage this trip. The next morning we started back on the trail and pretty quickly came to an off-camber section that Trent ended up sliding to the side in a precarious spot. He was able to winch himself to Shanes bumper to get back on trail pretty quickly. The rest of the obstacles going back were a blast to play on and we all had fun doing so until we made it to the easy beginning section of the trail where we hammered it back to the trailhead.
After running the 13 miles back to Halls Crossing to fuel up, we all drove the 2.5 hours to Moab. Trent decided his Jeep wasn't feeling safe and drove home from Moab. Shane found a shock really quickly and we all set off northeast of Moab and found an epic camp spot on the Dome Plateau trail. I've camped at this spot before and was hoping we could have it to ourselves and we did. We slept in a bit the next morning and then we ran Top of the World. It was a blast climbing difficult sections and pushing the limits of our rigs. We got the obligatory pictures at the top and then ran down the trail and were done pretty early so decided to go back to Dome Plateau and see if we could find a different epic campsite. I short cut the trail as we were trying to find a good camp-spot and just as we got to the last section, which is the most difficult, we found that epic camp site. Another night of hanging out together under the stars, drinking beer and whiskey and laughing our butts off! The next morning we left camp only to get to the most difficult obstacle of the trail. FUN! Then we ran down the hill to the road, aired up and headed east on I70 to Colorado.
Steven had to head home right away but Shane, Gretchen and I decided to do a Colorado trail on the way home. We did a cool 12 mile loop (Dotsero Crater) and then tried Tie-rod Breaker, a hard-core crawler trail. The gate keeper did its job and we turned around pretty quickly
Overall, it was disappointing not to finish Hole in the Rock but we had a good Plan B and it was a blast. I had a great time with each and every one of you that participated, thank you!!!!
Now to plan Hole in the Rock Redemption...... looking at mid-October. Already mentioned it to my wife and she seems fine with it
Here’s a couple pics and some video clips of one of the many Hole in the Rock obstacles.