Moab Day 4

Jeff and I met Mike at the Golden Steak Cafe at 6 AM for breakfast. We then went out to the Arena to pick up our registration packets. After we had checked in and got our registration packets, we drove over to County Yard Road and got in line for the "Flat Iron Mesa" trail. Carl and Landon showed up about 5 minutes later, along with John Bennet and his wife and John Ayers and his wife. There were a total of 29 rigs of various assortments for the run. See line up below.

We departed for the trail head at 9 AM, which was approximately 17 miles from town. At the trail head, we did the air down, lock up bit and headed out for Flat Iron Mesa. This trail was mostly flat with a few short rock climbs. The first one had a bypass if you couldn't make it in two tries, I only saw a couple of rigs take the bypass, but I was sixth in line with Mike and Carl behind me, so there were about 20 rigs behind us that I don't know what they did, most of the rigs were well equipped, so I assume most people made it. As the day wore on, I only heard of one breakdown (u-joint) There were a few who scraped rocker panels, etc. which is typical in the rocks. Later in the day as the rock drop-offs got harder, Kat took over the driving for Mike (just kidding Mike) although Kat did some of the driving, including the Tilt-a-wheel obstacle. We stopped near a canyon and I hung over the side for a Kodak moment! Landon really seemed to be having a good time, even though he was riding with Carl! John Bennet was near the back of the line so we didn't get to visit with him. John Ayers, who rented a Jeep for the week, seemed to be doing fine, although his wife didn't seem to be enjoying herself at one especially bad section. Everyone made it through with no major problems, we did get a photo of a Antelope on the way out. It actually crossed the road in front of Jeff and I. The weather was cool, but not uncomfortable. We arrived back in town about 5 PM, stopped by our motels for a quick shower and met at Eddie McStiff's Microbrewery for dinner. After checking out our photos at Action Photo's, we went our separate ways. It was a good run today with a lot of great people, including a couple that were from Santa Rosa, CA. It turned out that they left Sacramento about one hour behind Jeff and I.

The photo's below are just some shots Jeff took through the day of our group!

Jim Boyett