After last weekend's run with the Arizona Virtual Jeep Club I just couldn't help but ask for a helping of seconds. This means that when Alan announced a trip to Florence to run Elvis and the Jack Handle and head back out through Box Canyon, I was all in. Peachy was excited and a little nervous after hearing about the trail conditions from last weekend but she's a great spotter and after the last few days at the office she needed to get out too.
We met at the usual spot and headed out to Florence. I had never actually be to Florence, AZ before and after seeing it... I think I understand why. There's just not a lot there. Fortunately, the wheeling makes up for it.
After staging off the main road we spaced out and followed Price Station Rd. for what seemed like a million miles of dusty twists and turns until we finally hit the trail head:
Right out of the gate the first obstacle is a doozy. It reminded me a bit of Logandale when we came upon what looked like a big friggin' wall'o rock and weren't exactly sure what to do. Fortunately, after a few looks we began to see some viable lines. Alan had done this train many times and explained the most popular ones. He then proceeded to take the one what could land him sideways into a massive rock. Hey, the guy's got stones:
Now, I'm not going to say he walked it but he pretty much walked it. I think he had to reposition once and other than that he made it look deceptively easy. I wasn't quite ready to try this (locker or no locker) and decided to take the easier line to the right. This was probably a wise choice and my 2.5" lift proved barely adequate to the challenge and I got hung up a few times on the second ledge:
Alan joked appropriately, "Sometimes despite what women may tell you, a few inches makes a big difference." Needless to say after making it up and over Peachy hopped back into the JK and commented, "I think we need a taller lift and bigger tires." What can I say, she had me at "hello".
Bugs was next and his TJ with a 2-inch body and 33" tires (maybe closer to 32" and pretty worn) were giving him no advantage here. In fact, the ledge became a bit of an impediment and he needed a little help. Fortunately, I had managed to fix Jeyr's old Shittybilt winch cable and mount it on my winch and now was finally the time I got to test it out. Wadya know, it worked like a charm!
The Montero, even locked front and back just couldn't make it over and after a few tries decided that caution was the better part of valour and took the bypass. David and Melinda were running a massively built TJ with 60's on 40" tires. This thing was a full-width monster and just walked the notch, the ledge and every hard line. It was something to see. They got through so quickly that nobody even had a chance to snap off a good picture:
Now it was Mark's turn. His Green Beast was actually a moderate rig in this crowd. We spotted him through the notch and while he could follow David his narrower track meant he had to adjust a little. Not too much drama here:
Next up was Rich in the built JKU. Let me tell you, this thing is a beauty. Terra 60's on 40" tires are no joke kids. Teraflex long-arm suspension and ACE bumpers front and back. This rig had me drooling. Funny thing was, the extended wheelbase really didn't help and if anything proved to be a real hinderance on this trail. Despite the specs Rich had to set up a few times to make it over the same ledge that Alan's shorter TJ JKU breezed through:
The next obstacle of mention was a little crevice. Most Jeeps had to go over and through on one side while the biggest rigs went right over the top. It was becoming apparent that Elvis was a trail that could cause some nice body damage if either the driver or spotter weren't on their game:
A bit further up and we ran across another ledge. Like the first, this one also had a bunch of visible lines. The left was a notch which was traditionally the easiest line but it looked a bit washed out at the moment. In the middle was a nice rock and notch and to the right was a two-step ledge (this was my cup of tea). I saw another line on the right but Alan cautioned that his buddy flopped his Jeep the last time he tried that line. Alan took the middle and I followed slightly to the right taking the two-step. David went right up and over in the yellow behemoth:
Not to be outdone, Mark followed the same line:
Then things started to get interesting. While trying for the same line, Rich had to back his JKU up to make the cut. He needed to take a 3-point turn to get set up properly and as he backed up we all heard something go very, very wrong. At first we though he had blown an airline to his locker but a quick glance at his tire proved that to be a mistake. Somehow the tire had deflected and actually grabbed his rear sway bar and bent it into the tire, puncturing it:
This stopped the party faster than a broken condom on prom night.
It turns out that with the massive 40" tires on there was less than an inch of space between the tire and the sway-bar links. When the tire was aired down it deflected while reversing and caught the link, bending it backwards and impaling it into the tire. Pop went the weasle (or in this case, the $600 tire).
Peachy supervising in the shade:
Fortunately, this group travels prepared. In fact, I'm now pining for a Milwaukee electric impact gun which made short work of removing the bolts (except for one as it turned out the stud was bent and promptly snapped off). By now, a second group of Jeepers caught up to us and kindly offered assistance. And hour or so later and we were back up and running:
We continued to snake through the wash with the occasional obstacle, a rock outcropping here, a small set of boulders there. It was a very pretty, albeit somewhat dusty, drive and the group stayed together pretty well. Finally we made it to a squeeze. Now this was interesting. At first glance it looked like we were going to try to fit our rigs through a nook in the rocks barely big enough to fit a Jeep through. When I saw Alan start rolling his TJU forward I quickly realized... that was exactly what we were going to do:
Just to give you an idea of what it looked like from the other side:
Immediately past this squeeze was a set of ledges, one of which looked almost ridiculous. Funny thing is, that ledge would have probably proved to be easier as it was a fairly high traction area whereas the alternate route on the right required some tight maneuvering. After a few 3-point turns and some spotting from Peachy I was up and over. Right behind me was Bugs in his TJ. While his rig was locked front and back, his lack of lift really made this difficult. In fact, Bugs literally got stuck between a rock and a hard place:
Even with stacking it was hard to get him over the boulder as his front lower control arm mount got stuck:
To make matters more exciting, we appeared to have landed smack in the middle of a scorpion nest. These little critters were everywhere! Fortunately everyone was wearing boots but it was still a bit creepy to have them littering the ground like that:
A little more creative stacking and some grinding of metal on rock and Bugs was through. He causually mentioned that next weekend he was planning on installing a 2.5" lift. Good idea. The Montero took a different line and managed to blow out a front locker (or some teeth on the gears) and had to be turned back into a 2 wheel drive. Fortunately, we were past the last obstacle and the rest was fairly straightforward on the way out through Box Canyon:
Headed towards Box Canyon:
The rest of the group in tow:
Following Alan out through Box Canyon:
Once out of the canyon we headed back up the dusty Price Station Rd. (in the process almost turning a reckless dirt-biker into a hood ornament) and headed back to the staging area to air up. It was an amazing trail and once again reminded me of just why I enjoy wheeling out in the desert so much. The crew at the Arizona Virtual Jeep Club is really growing on me too. They're just really nice people who love to wheel. Alan has obviously been doing this a while and his enthusiasm for the sport is infectious. Hell, I had so much fun that after some pondering and internet research I ordered a set of taller 3.5" progressive springs for the Short JK in hopes of helping our little clearance / break-over problem.
Until next time, keep the rubber side down.
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