Well, I got home last night from GOX. I was not able to take more time off and go onto MOAB with others.

Sunday I cruised Yankee Boy Basin and Imogene and made the night run. It was really nice.

Monday - Poughkeepsie - Well, the WALL and I did not get along. Too much mud (corrected) on the trail leading to the WALL, and too much dirt and debris on the WALL for my liking. I chose not to hammer up the wall after a couple more passive attempts. The good news is that my Tie Rods are intact.

Tuesday - Beautiful day and ran Black Bear with the Imogene return. Sunshine, and had a lot of fun. I attempted a "Nose Stand" on one of the switchbacks. Granny gear in reverse really is fun. Hopefully this picture will be posted. I was busy holding things from falling.

Wednesday - Went back for more Black Bear. It was raining. This made the STEP's very interesting. lots of rain during the day, but again, it was beautiful.

Damage report: ME - none (tie rod intact), OTHERS - they can fess up individually. :rolleyes:

Todd

why did i choice South Dakota over GOX? hell if i know - guess cuz SD is free this year. oh ya the wall, gotta love it, the memories. glad you made it back safe and no carnage

I assume you meant too much MUD...

Brent

The rain at black bear was a little freaky. I was puckered most of the way down the steps. The wall was a cast iron bitch. I wasn't there last year but it seems the terrain changed a lot so only Ivan and Roger made it. I tried but ended up busting up my right front wheel after a bad spot (should have used my own spotter, no biggie). Others had more damage. OH! and it is my duty to inform all of you that I beat Ivan in the shingle shot race. He has pics.

I'm back home in one piece. Total milage count 3,124. Carnage suffered, cap screws loosened up on warn hubs, eventually loosing two of them on the drivers side somewhere on the trail :rolleyes: .
Trails were fun and scenic, wish I had more time to spend out there. At one point (in the middle of nowhere) we had to stop so flocks of sheep could cross the trail, at that point in time I thought to myself lunch anyone?
Got to meet some cool people and finally place screen names with faces... Also got to see first hand lots of cool mods people have done to their trucks. Hey Andy and Gary I'm jealous!

Sure glad you were thinking that as opposed to "I wonder if she's seeing anyone?"

Well, after the initial reports of the Wall on Poughkeepsie, the RMXC group led by Ian thought we would encounter some problems climbing it. BUT, 5 out of 6 trucks made it up (2 being stock-height).

The exception being me, I lost my nerve after I broke a second motor mount(my first being in Moab). I think I still could've made it but I didn't want to chance any additional damage.

Nissan really needs to fix this motor mount issue. They just aren't holding up.

Also, Jorge and Ian both made the ledge obstacle at the waterfall on Imogene. It was pretty hairy. The obstacle was soaked and there was a serious drop-off on the right hand side. Jorge and Andy(UXOC) have video.

Had a great time...too bad we could only stay for two days. Black Bear was awesome, intimidating but really not all that technical. The sidehill on our little lake excursion still has the wife puckered! Oh....and KUDOS to XROCK for doing a switchback on Black Bear in a very original fashon!!

Did anyone in Ian's condo take my Motorola Talkabout 200? I have your 250 that I got on Thursday morning off the bar. I left mine Wednesday night there and I'm sure it was taken by mistake. No biggie, I don't realy care. They look the same except one button. Let me know!

I'm still stumped why everyone had trouble on Poughkeepsie on Monday. It was the same as it has been for the last few years. Pick the right line and drive right up.

I just have to say..... Thanks to some good spotting I made it up Poughkeepsie with the other 5 trucks on Friday . Thanks for listening, I feel cool now

And Vince definitely would have made it up too if he hadn't broken that damn motor mount

Ron

Great reports, made me feel like I was there.

The sidehill was way wrong and still has me puckered. Sheesh.

There was no other damage. OH and on a totally unrelated subject does anyone have a spare warn manual hub out there. Oh and does the hub mount to the rotor or what.

Ivan, Did you ever get it fixed in Moab?

Well Ian..
The first year at GOX you said that an Xterra could not even make it up Poughkeepsie and I did it with a BRUSHGAURD up the "hard line".

This year I broke a halfshaft and due to the fact that I did not want to be late to the Chili Party I was suppose to be hosting I turned the group around. Only a handful of people tried and of the ones that did try 2 made it up. So "everyone" did not have a hard time at the wall. Just two people.

The short version is that there was not enough time to get everyone up and get to the chili party in time.

In total 5 people attempted it and 2 made it up. OH and I was one of the 2 and carlton wasn't. Just clarifying.

That confuses me too.

We left Ouray at 10AM on Friday and were at the wall by 11AM. We were at Lake Como eating lunch at Noon, and back in Ouray by 1:45 after fixing a Triumph Tiger motorcycle a guy had crashed and fixing Jason's truck twice after driving over a wierd rock at lunch.

But don't forget Ian..

I am not speed racer on the trails and stop for photo opps and for people to get out of their trucks and look around.

It was a combination of a bunch of crap that slowed us down so much. Failed attempts, lotsa picture taking, the broken down friggin jeep, the whole changing a tire while on poughkeepsie debacle. It just was getting late and many in the group looked like they had no intention of even trying the obstacle after seeing 2 xterras and a jeep break themselves on it. Granted the destroyed rim seemed to be the result of bad spotting. In any case it was the right thing to do to turn back. You would have loved to see my brown ass sweat as I helped hi-lift the stuck X and change the tire as it was off camber. I thought for sure I was gonna eat fender.

Yeah I remember in 2001 me and Sgt. Lobo got left behind for a while because we stopped to take some photos. It was my first time in Colorado and I wanted to take a few pics of it. It took us several minutes driving very fast on the trails to catch up to Ian and the rest of the group.

I drive in the correct gear, at the correct pace for whatever trail I am on. I rarely hurry.

Simple math will explain that if you get one mile behind, and the group is traveling three miles an hour, you will have to travel faster than that to catch up.

But you also rarely stop. And don't forget that there are newbies that don't feel comfortable going the correct speed on a trail and need to slow down.

Maybe it is just a "southern" thing and I like to go a bit slower.
:p

I stop at scenic places, places to pee, and when anyone asks to stop. I don't stop to film tiny rocks on the trail

Just pulled into the driveway at about 1:00 this afternoon completing just over 3700 miles. Trip cut short a little bit because of all of the rain in central Colorado. Did a little ghost town hunting in eastern Nevada at the Belmont Mine on the way to Your-Ray. One day in Moab as well. Had a great time, many thanks to Ian and Carlton. After we left Ouray Thursday morning we visited Henson, Capitol City, Lake City, Creede, Bonanza, Turret, Ohio City, Pitkin, Tincup, St. Elmo, Leadville, Fairplay, South City, Como, and Georgetown. We drove over the Cumberland pass at over 12,000 ft. and made the appropiate changes to the Dept. of Hiways sign with a ballpoint pen, as to the correct altitude, thanks to Andy's GPS. We also made it over Tincup pass. One thing we did notice as we went over several high passes on the way home was that compared to Andy's GPS everyone of them was listed at least 12 ft. lower than the GPS readings. I don't remember the location but we exprienced marble sized hail at one of our campsites. Ouch! That stings. We spent yesterday at the National Air Races in Reno and watched the Air Force Thunderbirds put on a great show. Thanks again. Gary, Andy, & Matt. NCCX