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Moab, Utah. You mention those two words to any four wheeler and their eyes light up like a kid who hears "Disneyland!" Why is this so? Probably due to the efforts of a few individuals in the Red Rock 4Wheelers. They are the club that hosts the annual Moab Easter Jeep Safari. An event so grand even Chrysler let's them use the registered Jeep name on a non-Jeep event. Now that's BIG!
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Now, when you have an event with 1,730 registered vehicles containing about 5,000 people...... and probably at least that many unregistered vehicles out on the trail as well, you're gonna need some help. To maintain their sanity and still be able to lead normal lives, the Red Rock club members turn to Associate Members to help out with trail leading, gunning, and other important tasks.
Well before most Easter Safari participants are even thinking about Moab, the Red Rockers are hard at work. Actually, their work begins on the next year's Safari pretty much the next day after this year's Safari ends. Notices go out to Associate members asking who will be in attendance for the next year and what trails they might want to play official on. In order to be an official on any trail, you must be intimately familiar with that trail. You should know the route, know the bypasses, know the exits, know the lines on the obstacles, and a whole pile of other stuff.
Signing up for a trail at the Moab Safari is a big responsibility. Getting your own trail to lead is a sort of honor. I really look at 'officialing' as an opportunity to 'give back' to the sport which I love so much. For a guy who is known as being a goof-off and wild-card, I definitely take this job seriously.
Early Winter, the Red Rock folks have been working hard and making their choices and Associate members are notified of their trail duties for the Safari week.
And the countdown begins. 4 months to go.....
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For the 98 Easter Safari, I was chosen to lead the Metal Masher trail on Thursday and be gunner on Steelbender and Hell's Revenge. Metal Masher is one of my favorites. I regularly run it in my 4WD and even on my mtn bike. It really is a great trail as it has a good blend of challenge and scenery. From the overlook at the top, you can see all the way to New York City. Okay.... maybe Colorado. Driving across the Gemini Bridges is a heart-pumping highlight for anyone. And a trip out the beautiful Long Canyon would be an awesome way to wrap any trail of.
I spent the winter mapping out exactly how we'd do my trail, what obstacles we would hit, how we'd wrap up the trail. I'd heard in the past of Safari leaders telling participants that certain obstacles would be bypassed. Personally, I don't spend all my time and money building a vehicle to bypass obstacles, and I don't suppose others do either. I build a vehicle to overcome, to complete, to CONQUER obstacles. So on my trail, the obstacles were a definite high point to be enjoyed by all who wanted to..... RockChucker, Widowmaker, Mother-in-Law..... these were all the things that actually made this trail fun to me. I was gonna hit them all!
1 month to go.....
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After a wet cold winter in Moab, the snow is finally starting to melt. We had an internet acquaintance coming in from out of state who wanted to check out Moab while he was here. I figured this would be a good time to get a prerun in of my trails, and so we took a weekend and went on down with some friends. Only having driven Metal Masher in a locked diff vehicle, I was a bit apprehensive about taking my 97' Cherokee through. But, you only live once, so I went for it. As it turns out not having a locker wasn't a problem at all. Being experienced with the trail and a nutcase to begin with, we put the Cherokee up all the obstacles including Mother-in-Law hill, and played around a bit as well.
The prerun pays off. While not really paying attention, I made a wrong turn and took us off in the wrong direction. I soon-after realized my mistake and made a HUGE mental note not to miss this turn at the Safari. turning 40 vehicles around would not be a good thing. We finished up the Masher early enough to take a trip over to Hell's Revenge to finish out that day.
6 days to go.....
We pack up and head for the Safari. Only a day earlier we had some Canadian friends come through and stay with us in Park City on their way to the Safari. We took them out to our dune area and spent the day having fun teaching them bowling and jumping techniques in the Cherokee. It was a perfect primer to get us pumped up for the following week of 4WD nirvana.
5 days to go.....
We're in Moab now. The town gets more and more full every year. This year promises to keep the high school spring break crowd down a bit as the skies look cloudy and its a bit cold. Alot of folks grumble about the safari since it is so large. That you don't get any "quality" wheeling in. Bull-pucky! I always get plenty of wheeling in. More than that though, it is the one tie a year when I get to see alot of friends from all over North America and just hang out with them. Some guys made jokes about going places with me as I always ran into people I knew. In fact, I probably knew more people in that town that week, than I know in my whole state at any other time.
Gotta get back to business though. We check in at the Arena and pick up our "official" tags for the week. As an official, we have a $50 gas allowance funded by registration fees. We opt to have ten dollars of that applied to this year's Associate dues and donate the rest to the MUD fund. A legal defense fund meant to help keep trail open in red rock country.
4 days to go.....
The big meeting. All trail leaders go to a meeting Monday night to go over the event's rules and regs. A big priority these days is litigation protection. Believe it or not, some folks will actually sue the Red Rockers and anyone else they can get their hands on if they manage to damage their vehicle and themselves. We go over the procedures for making sure all the signatures are on the waivers and how to make sure we have all the vehicles registered. We also go over BLM regs for the week. All trail leaders are required to have no more vehicles than what is registered. This makes sure we don't violate the number of vehicles on the trail for the event's permit. We also have to carry a port-a-potty for solid human waste. Trails leaders are also provided with a first aid kit. Imagine what would happen if one of us screwed up and the Easter Jeep Safari permit from the BLM was revoked. Man..... I wouldn't want to be the guy who shut down the Safari. You can bet I'll make sure I follow the regs on my trail!!!
We also get the 'bomb drop'. As trail leaders, we need to watch what we do and not provoke people into going beyond their abilities. So..... that means optional obstacles should probably be bypassed. Damn! Oooops, I mean Darn! That means I'm not going to be able to do Rockchucker hill. Oh well, I'll still have fun watching other guys do it. But when the time comes, I plan on doing the responsible, example-setting thing, pull past the obstacle
1 Day to go......
The Associates party is held every Wed night of the Safari. Free viddles and beverages make this a must do if you have the invitation. A few hundred of us gather at the convention center for a night of fun and visiting. The party even has its own drawing where vendors provide some really great products to show their appreciation to all the folks who volunteer their time to make the event happen. Unfortunately, we didn't win anything :^( However, I did get to chomp down on enough Toblerone chocolate to make me feel sick that night.
Gotta get to bed early on this night as I have to get up early to head out to the arena to pick up my leader's packet, toilet, first aid kit, and get to the meeting place for the trail before all the participants do.
THE BIG DAY.....
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Well, I've been thinking about this day for a few months now. What will I say? I figure it'll probably be best to just be myself and makes lots of jokes throughout the day on the CB. I go get my leader stuff and head to the meeting point. I tell ya..... no matter how early you try to get to the meeting place, there's always guys there lined up. Being up near the front of the line seems to be a substantial trail 'obstacle' by itself! The plan for the day is to hit all the obstacles, go over to Gemini Bridges, head back down via Long Canyon, and roll into town right about 5:30. Why 5:30pm? Because the internet party at Moab Brewery started at 6:00 and the free drink and hors d'oerves start at 5:30. Free munchies and beer? You bet I'll get us back in time!
I meet my gunners for the day and we discuss the signup strategy. I also set up our secret code word. This is something all event trail leaders should do in case some discussion amongst 'officials' needs to take place. Like if someone is drinking on the trail, or causing trouble. This way we can talk on the CB away from everyone else's ears and figure out a plan. My secret code word was 'Flat Mattress'. When my gunners heard this, they knew to go to the alternate channel. I heard a great one that the TLCA event I attended a few weeks later and may use it next year..... "to the Batcave!"
Anyway, being the leader at this point is pretty cool. I have my gunners out running around with waivers while I'm visiting with the folks who will be on my trail that day. I'm really impressed with the great looking vehicles we have and can't wait to see some of these guys go for it on a few obstacles. Driving the Zukinni is pretty cool too as alot of people recognize it from the magazines. It makes for a real conversation piece and ice breaker while we're waiting around to head out.
Time to go.....
Well, the time has come. As we pull out onto highway 191, I start welcoming everybody to my trail. "Hi folks. My name is Glenn Wakefield and I'll be your trail leader for the day. I want to first make sure everyone is on the correct trail. This is the "Its a Small World" trail so we hope you're all in the right place". Most people got the joke, but a few were coming back on the CB..... oh dear, we must be on the wrong trail. We wanted Metal Masher.
I think I set the mood for the day right away with my joking around and useless bantor. People were getting the picture that we were going to be goofing around and having some fun. I think this is great as I don't have nearly as much fun if I'm on a trail where the CB remains dead for the day. We had some pretty good dialogue. I guess it helped provide 'material' that the trail was being led by a Suzuki Samurai. I also made it clear that on my trail, the word "bypass" does not exist. Everyone had spent their money and built their rigs and I wanted them to use them today!
We hit the dirt.....
I hate those trails where you bounce along for ten or fifteen minutes before the leader lets you air down. Not on my trail. We pull just far enough off the highway to let everyone get on the dirt and we air down first thing. Hey! This trail leader thing is pretty cool. I get to do things my way..... just like Sinatra!
Now that we've all aired down, I get things rolling again and start introductions. I request that everyone affiliated with the internet say so when they chime in. I'm pleasantly surprised when a good number of folks confess to being computer geeks.
I had thought about studying up on the slickrock strata and local plant biology, but didn't. I mean, its not my style. So, my trail leader talk leaned more toward making jokes and telling a few memorable stories from doing Metal Masher many times in the past.
The first obstacle......
 As a trail leader, it is my job to make sure everyone has a good time. Obstacles are not excluded. |
 This Forerunner broke on Rockchucker. Something else trail leaders have to deal with. |
 Finesse & experience get Joe Maleski easily to the top of Rockchucker |
Rockchucker Hill. I love this thing. If you know the line, you can walk right up. Its fun to see the looks when you take a Suzuki right up the thing, but today I didn't I broke my #1 rule..... I bypassed. But, it was for the greater good since I had to set an example. Several brave souls gave it a go and some made it. We also had our first breakage of the trail here. It wasn't good either as I later found out welding was to be required. With a vehicle sitting broken, a decision had to be made. Were I out with my buddies, we would have taken whatever time needed to get "the broke guy" all fixed and running again. As it was, I had more than a hundred people all waiting to get on with their day.
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My decision was to drive on ahead to the lunch break view point which was only about a mile further. This way the "wait" wouldn't feel like so much of one since it was lunch. At the viewpoint, I ran back down the trail to see what needed to be done. It seemed in order to get his rig off the trail, it would have to be welded as his front suspension was pulling out of the frame (a Toyota IFS). Of course..... I had the only on-board welder in the group of 40. As trail leader, I couldn't force my vehicle back down the trail. Fortunately, one guy had a kinda portable welder unit thingamajig. I ran back up and helped him carry it down. We had a few problems getting the thing to work and ended up taking way too much time. As minutes ticked by, I finally said we'd have to leave the welder with the broken guy and his buddies, and pick it up later in town. I knew they were familiar with the trail and felt confident leaving them wasn't going to be a bad thing to do. We ran back up to the vehicles, jumped in and moved on again. So much for my lunch......
I knew we were behind schedule at this point and tried to speed things up. It amazing though how slow some folks can go. I'd look back and we'd all be strung out everywhere. I kept trying to speed things in back as we had large broken spaces in the line, but that didn't work. No matter how slow I tried to drive, even an idle with a 102:1 crawl ratio couldn't get us all back together. Oh well, next obstacle Widomaker Hill.
The leader needs helps....
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How many times have I done Widowmaker. I don't even know.... countless. It is intimidating, but if you know the line, doable..... so I thought. This year had brought some heavy rains. With the rains came washouts. And the bottom of Widowmaker, was a big washout. It was definitely taller than I had ever seen, but I felt confident in making it since I'd done it so many times in the past. As I started up the obstacle. I jokingly voiced over the CB, "tell my mother I loved her!" First try, no go. I readjust my line to the spot where I've been up so many times before. Second try, still a no go. I did get a little higher though. Which produced the side effect of pulling me into a wheelie as I slid back down and hit the bottom. Third try, Fourth try, Fifth try.... the only thing that was happening was that my wheelies were getting bigger as I slid back down. Now I was getting stressed. The trail leader can't make it up? So much for the power of the Zukinni!
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I finally had to admit defeat. The short wheelbase which had served me so well through so many boulder fields was my nemesis on this steep face. My friend Bart was right behind me in his Cherokee. We got him on line and he went right up. Ugggh. How embarrassing! I then took the strap and got pulled up. Believe you me, I was not happy about it either. Good natured.... but not happy. We had quite a few straps that day. More than I'd ever seen before. We even had a couple breakages.
Time? Time? No time.....
My plans had been shot. I had hoped we could all play at Mother in Law hill as a group and have more obstacle fun. This however, was not to be the case as it was getting later and later. Once we arrived at the obstacle, I gave everyone the options before us. Those who wanted could stop and play and I'd take everyone over to Gemini Bridges, or we could all just move on. We all moved on.
When we came to the fork in the road that led to Gemini Bridges, I saw that we were really out of time. Again the options. Only a few decided to go to Gemini. A few more decided to take the highway home. The rest I led home through Long Canyon.
I waved farewell to all of my trail people and headed on to the free beer and goodies. 5:50pm, we roll into the Brew pub parking lot. Twenty minutes late and a couple of obstacles shy of a perfect day. I still think it turned out all right.
Later.....
The next day I turned in my leader packet and other trinkets and reflected back on the big day. Yes, it was a good day.
As I look back now. One vivid thought comes to my mind..... Several folks on their way out stopped and not only took the time to say goodbye, but also told me that this had been the best trail run they'd ever had at the Moab Safari. The best one...... now that's a biggie.
In closing, I'd like to thanks the Red Rocker for their tireless efforts in hosting this huge event, my gunners for helping out so much, my friends who were able to make it along on my trail that day, and everyone else who was there. I can't wait to see what trail I might get next year......
Glenn Wakefield
Poet, Traveler, Extreme Recreationalist
Where the road ends, life begins....
For more on the Moab, Utah Jeep Safari see:
34th Annual Easter Jeep Safari
(2000)
33rd Annual Easter Jeep Safari (1999)
32nd Annual Easter Jeep Safari (1998)
31st Annual Easter Jeep Safari (1997)
30th Annual Easter Jeep Safari (1996)
Moab, Utah, 4WD Trails Map with Links to all 30 Trails
Trail Difficulty Ratings
Utah Trail Guidebooks, Trail Maps, and Trail Videos
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