Well, first off I want to say thanks to all involved in this great event, especially Ian

The combination Poison Spider, Golden Spike, Gold Bar Rim 12 hr. run on Wednesday was an epic one for the ages that pushed just about everyone/their X's to the max and they some at times!

This is a photo story of (8) eight Xterra's (XOC, Xtoolbox, Evansxterr, SteelCityX, LAXterra, Kerensky97, Snoppy, and Apwired) successfully completing one of the toughest trails (4+) in the Moab area climbing and descending numerous high rock ledges and making bold maneuvers on the slickrock. Hats off to all the great driving and spotting. Apwired in his stock (sans tires) 5-speed X really showed how capable an off-road vehicle we have when driven masterfully!

Anyway, many more photos, videos, stories will be posted but for now enjoy these & Happy Easter. The work in progress photo album can be found at
http://www.fototime.com/inv/1C44DA7CB5045BE

Nice pic's!!!
Man i wish we had places like that to go 4 wheeling up here in Newfoundland,Canada.
Keep the pic's coming.

Great pics..

Was Brendan (AKA cdnav8r the person from Terminal Reality) there?

He was not there as of Thursday morning when Xtoolbox and myself(including wife and 5 year old daughter) returned to L.A.

That is very interesting....

We never saw him, we left Saturday at noon.

He was not on the list of people attending, so I wasn't expecting him until someone mentioned he was coming.

Less than half the people who signed up showed up in Moab.

That has to make it easy to plan events. Aren't people splendid ?

It's great to see pics of you guys running with Jeeps. I think it really gives you guys a lot more credibility when you demonstrate the 4x4 X's capabilities and those guys are standing arround taking pictures.

Perhaps one more step in knocking down the wall of 4X4 prejudice!

That really is interesting.. I know that he got quite a few things from Calmini on his truck and was showing interest in getting from them a set of gears. From what I understood he was suppose to be there to show off his truck..

BTW the 4th pic, the one of Ian , is probably the best picture I've ever seen to make the case for having an ARB. Do you have any other pics of that series , either as he went into it or as he went across ? They are all just really amazing shots.

The ARB is one reason I had such a tough time getting into the Golden Crack. I never did get the weight off the bumper enough to get traction to go across.

There were about 70 trucks total going across, and we did see plenty of modified Jeeps get stuck and resort to a strap. We threw some spare tires in, and drove the group across just before a stock Jeep Liberty showed us the correct line. However with the ARB sticking out a foot, it still would have been a pain.

My ARB is now bent and scratched, and for sale, I'm going back to stock for awhile so I can drag flexible plastic.

Actually, it was great. it took 12 hours to run Golden Spike with our small group of 8 due to all the traffic.
If there had been 15 or more in our group, it would not have been fun.

You are all bastard people!

Lucky bastards, that is.

Anyone do Lions Back?

So how many trucks in all were there?

It was a great day but a bit tedious after 12 hours.

My adrenaline reserves were shot and I wasn't able to do the run the next day.
I still get tired thinking about it.

Great pictures by the way!

Wow. Those are some seriously cool shots... Damn!!

Yep, "Lucky bastards" would be the correct description here!

Thanks Brian for posting pix, especially mine included!

For those lookigng for just a little more, check out the GONE preview I just threw together - only 40 pix (out of the 2000 digital shot) to give you more of a taste of what was out there...

GONE MOAB Preview

Give me the week to put together a full set and narration.. I"ll add a new thread when I get them done.

Thanks everyone there, I had a GREAT time...
-alfonse

Okay... who taco'd the EOE tie rod adjuster?

That was Brian aka Xtoolbox (the guy in the second last photo), I'll let him tell the story though

-alfonse

That guy from Terminal Reality is some peice of work. He must also be a good salesman. Scam artist is more like it. Has he ever done ANYTHING he said he would?

Wimp

You forget I had to do all 5 days, and drink every night (except Wednesday night, I barely had enough energy to fall asleep).

seriously!!?!?!?!

2 tie rods in two weeks!!! thats just wrong... sorry to here it brian.

Here is a thread about that same stock liberty.

http://www.rockcrawler.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=20;t=000171

To all of you who think it would be cool to flame the other board, don't do it. Anyone who cares about the Xterra aftermarket potential will play nice with other offroaders. Think before you type.

Tempting, considering I don't recall stacking a rock anywhere on Golden Spike, and remember waiting a long time for broken and slow Jeeps to get moving.

The group behind us was very cool. Several were staying right next door to us at the condos, and we had a great time off the trails as well as on.
Rain, from www.raingler.com is local here in Denver, and I'll be working with her to bring her product line to the Xterra.

The upside down Commanche was very sad, but Paul and Crispy walked away with only minor injuries. 2 days later they had the top cut off and a cage welded in and were back on the trails.

I din't really sense much hostility in the thread. I figured it was as you said, the Liberty took the correct line. It does have more travel up front as well.

Driver 90% Vehicle 10%

Craisy Daisy crossed the Golden Crack at GOX I, didn't he?

BTW, excellent 'froadin guys. Perhaps one day I will be up for 4+ trails, but not yet.

They said "I am pretty sure he had a good time harassing the Xterra group in front of us who spent the day stacking rocks (and spare tires?)and blaming it on IFS to get through Golden Spike"

Maybe not rocks, but you did use spare tires to cross Golden Crack. From another thread :

They weren't making it up,
Brent

Yes Brent, I'm aware of what I posted a few days ago. Spare tires was the plan since we had 2 completely stock Xterras with us.

They made it sound like we were holding people up stacking rocks all day, when in fact we spent a lot of time catching up to the group in front of us. In fact they were lost when we found them, and showed them where the trail head was

Why does it always turn into a pissing contest ?
My main goal was to get everyone through the trail. Driving 90% of Golden Spike just to turn back at the crack was not an option.

Did we cheat ? Yes, but so did the dozen lifted Jeeps that had to be strapped across the crack.

The coolest thing we saw was a Volkswagen Vanagon Syncro. He got across the crack with the starter motor, 6 guys piled on his rear bumper and a bunch of damage.

Because it's what men do.

I guess you have to be Canadian to make it across.

Nice pics
-Chris

Hey Ian,

Would a Calmini bumper have worked better than the ARB? What are your plans?

Thanks

Apwired,

Some cool shoots on the preview, I'm sure your videos/remaining pictures will be just as impressive. I especially enjoyed the two below ones and here are a few more of my favorites including one of you dropping in.

All,

FYI I guess I have been fortunate over the last 2 ½+ years seeing how I have only broke/bent stuff a few times on many tails, covering thousands of off-road miles including trails in UT, NV, Moab 3x, Colorado 2x, and all the rock crawling ones I have done in SoCal. I was glad the adjuster didn't break & pleased with its performance. My steering, drive train, and suspension all where working prefect on Fins, Hell's Revenge, Poison Spider and the majority of the Spike before I bent somewhere near the end.

EOE is taking care of me, sending out another adjuster I'm also having my steering box looked at just in case. Being prepared and carrying spares/tools like I was for key front suspension parts is a good ideal for these kinds of trails.

Looking forward to visiting Moab again before/after GOX3 and running/conquering the Spike while reducing/eliminating any suspension related problems!

FYI I was glad the liby made it across (I clapped and congratulated the driver) but it wasn't actually a clean run, needed to be pushed on two different occasions to make it by ~ 4 people at the rear corners.

Any bumper such as the ARB or the Calmini that extends the front end/decreases the approach angle is a liability when crossing the crack IMO. I noticed that there is a more dangerous line that can be taken in an X however I didn't/don't feel the risk was worth it with my current setup.

Or just plain Craisy.
Whatever happened to him and Pika? Sure don't hear much about/from either one.
Sleepless in Seatle...

That's not 'across', that's 'in'.
I spent 10 minutes looking like that, it wasn't fun.

After we all got across, the Liberty showed us the correct line for IFS and made it look easy, and didn't touch either bumper.

He entered almost parallel to the crack until the left rear started to drop, then turned perpendicular, and the right front wheel lifted skyward instead of getting stuffed into the crack. It was beautiful.

I was tempted to go back across and try it but it was getting late.

I saw a picture of that thing somewhere, half-decent looking actually...

Brent

Hey y'all. Figured I'd chime in on this thread. I do hope that you take the comments on our site in stride. It is not the Editorial staff opinion at Rockcrawler.com that Xterras are no good. Quite the contrary, actually. Having had one for review, we put one through its paces last month and were quite pleased. Our biggest beef other than the IFS, of course, was the large overhang up front.

This overhang did seem to cause you folks some trouble out there on Golden Spike, where we witnessed high-speed burnouts as some of you tried to traverse the Golden Crack - even with a tire bridge.

We did see a few of you doing some rock stacking and we did see one or two haul tail through the Body Snatcher. Still haven't figured out why on the latter.

But rock-stacking is not the issue here. If you can't make it over or you get stuck, place a rock or two and move on (but put the rocks back where you got them).

Anyway, I guess I'm trying to apologize for anything that may have offended you guys on our boards. I dig the Xterras and for the most part enjoyed running into you folks on Golden Spike. Your courtesy was appreciated when our gangs came up on each other on the trails.

I personally don't care to enter the Xterra vs. Liberty debate. I have driven them both on the trails and think they are both very capable vehicles. The Liberty that ran with us covered almost everything on the trail in stock form other than his Goodyear MT/R tires and without stacking rocks. In fact, he was running his tires at 35psi we found out the next day!

Regardless, the point is, that it's not so much what vehicle is driven, but who is driving it. I was surprised at the high-speed attempts at the Crack, frankly. Picking a proper line and using finesse goes a long way toward success on the trails and getting home in one piece.

Enough for now. Thanks for USING your Xterras! Hope to see you again some time. Let us know if you come to the Alabama region for some Southern crawling.

Hey guys, Those are some great pics.

I can see some of our Jeeps lingering in the background.

We were glad to see a group of Xterras on the trail. Was very cool to see you guys out using them for more than hauling skis to the ski slope.

I was in the condo next to some of you guys in Moab. I wish we had an opportunity to actually run some trails with you guys. I think we all had full schedules for the week though.

I noticed that some of you are from the Colorado area. If any of you would like to come out and play with us you are certainly welcome. (Or, if you don't mind us taging along with you)

Maybe we can get some of those cool Xterra pics into ROCKCRAWLER.com

Feel free to email me anytime you guys want to go wheel.

Very classy posts Rockrawler.com!

Thanks for keeping wheeling a sport, and not a fight.

Bryan

No problem, Bryan. We're all about class over here. Seriously.

Funny seeing Cole's response, since we haven't even talked about it at all.

I had a great time talking to all sorts of people in Moab, Unimog owners, jeepers, Land Rovers, guys with all sorts of body peircing, tubular frame rigs, everyone was great.

I think that even with differences, we all want to keep access to places like Moab. We need not be critical of one another about how we did the trials, but rather on the few idiots who chose not to use trails.

Todd

True, in that picture he was not across yet. I just spoke with Pikachu and he said that CD did make it across with that line, but there's a trick to it and requires careful spotting. Regardless, CD was the first (and only?) Xterra to cross.

that was very cool of the rockcrawler.com guys to come over here and say those things... especialy considering the threads going on on that other board... amazing how totaly different two groups of people who enjoy the same things can act

I get the same great comradely at San Diego 4 Wheelers. Sure I get a bit of ribbing for driving the Xterra (the club is 80% SWB Jeeps) but it's all in good fun.

TXJEEPER and Xtremjeepn, you two are all class!

No group of people is free from having a few idiots. I saw 'built machines' bypass the most difficult obstacles that others in their own group took.

I appreciate to comments made by the guys from rockcrawler.com.

I think of my Xterra as a tool. It may not be the 'biggest badest' tool out their, but boy does if do a number of different things really well. Others choose different tools, sometimes they are much more specialized and only do a couple things well. The master carpenters that I worked with over the years had a suprisingly small number of tools with them at anytime. They had the learned over years what they needed and seemed always to get work done.

I am happy with my truck. I chose not to buy/build something else. To each their own. We all have differing tastes, interests, desires. Just as long someone allows me to live my own life things are cool. Start tewlling how to live MY life, then we will have problems.

Live and let live.

Todd

True, the Xterra is a tool for me too.

It's not as capable as a Jeep but I spend 95% of my time of on pavement so it's better for my purposes.
I'm suprised it made it over Golden Spike too, both of us were at our limits.
Now that I've proved what I can do I think I'm going to stick to the easy trails and just have fun.

Maybe when I've got a better job I'll buy an old CJ-6 and go over Prichet Canyon, but the Xterra will always be my "get out and enjoy nature" vehicle.

Todd i'd venture a gues that you just summed up the original Xterra Ad campaign quite well

"Nissan Xterra, A Toolbox for your life"

Thanks for the kind words, guys. Obviously, I'm monitoring this thread now.

The points about everyone having their favorite tools are right on. If I had the money, my wife and I would have a fleet of trucks, ranging from stock, restored flatfender Jeeps to Early Broncos, built-up TJs and yes, an Xterra.

When we had our Xterra for review, my wife and I literally fought over who got to drive it each day. It was pure fun. Perhaps fun that we couldn't even put our fingers on, honestly.

What one of you said about having different types of rigs is dead on. That's why we have Jenifer's Cherokee that you saw that day and we have my TJ which has been under reconstruction for the last year. It's overbuilt at this point and honestly, I had more fun in the Cherokee a good bit of the time. The TJ is miserable to drive on the street and uncomfortable. The Cherokee WAS nice, now it's noisy and rough on the road with the mods.

The TJ can go just about anywhere on the planet. The Cherokee cannot and is not intended to. It tackled Golden Spike and other trails perfectly. We bowed out of doing Pritchett because we knew our limitations.

My point is, choose your rig wisely based upon your needs and the trails you want to run. Then know your limitations and learn to wheel your rig the best you can and have fun doing it! Not everyone is interested in running in RCAA, UROC, etc. Some of us still enjoy long, leisurely trail rides, right!

This is America. Freedom of choice! Enjoy!

Yup !

I mostly enjoy finding cool places to get away from it all in the Colorado mountains, pitching a tent, drinking beers with our club members and bullshitting around the campfire.