My first trip to BB was in a stock ifs Yukon that was 2wd at the time on bald tires. If you drive blue out this way to wheel you'll have more of a rig than I did my first trip. Any more excuses will be ignored.
CK5
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BB 2016 Pictures
- Thread starter ktmoutfront
- Start date
Part of why I haven't wanted to do BB yet is that I haven't had a truck worth taking cross-country yet. Is it really worth showing up to a wheeling party with no rig?
The stars are starting to line up, my overlanding truck might happen this year. If so, the call to BB will be significantly stronger.
Yes, if I come, I will be the guy taking way too many pictures and holding up the pack.
I have been to Blazer Bash 3 times and two of them were without a rig. I have had the most fun with mine their of course but it hasn't stopped me from enjoying the trip.
Oh, Blue would be fine out there, I have no doubt of that. I'm even confident that the rig would reliably get there. I don't find the truck comfortable for long trips with the 3 of us, that's why we haven't brought him out West. Even before baby, we wanted more room to keep gear inside the cabin. Another week of camping in the rain this summer has only reinforced this notion. What I am looking for is a barn-door Suburban.
These aren't excuses, these are choices that we have made, to do things that may or may not have been popular. I don't know what next year looks like, but I do know that things keep changing. Mostly I just need to be convinced that sitting in my truck and crawling along at 3MPH won't get boring. Maybe my problem is a whole lot of the pictures that I see are of the rigs sitting and waiting for one guy at a time to conquer an obstacle. Seems like it'd be funner to run such trails with 4 rigs instead of 15. But what do I know, I'm new to all this schtuff.
I thought the crawling thing would be boring. I like speed. I was wrong.
Ask anyone, I like to keep the group moving. Hell's Revenge this year was the exception. Everyone wants to watch the big guys play. We were only on the trail 5 hours even with the down time.
Don't need to go fast, but a lot of stopping gets boring.
Ask anyone, I like to keep the group moving. Hell's Revenge this year was the exception. Everyone wants to watch the big guys play. We were only on the trail 5 hours even with the down time.
Don't need to go fast, but a lot of stopping gets boring.
I chuckled some hearing you telling guys to air down
Dang auto correct.
I learnded real good.
Oh, Blue would be fine out there, I have no doubt of that. I'm even confident that the rig would reliably get there. I don't find the truck comfortable for long trips with the 3 of us, that's why we haven't brought him out West. Even before baby, we wanted more room to keep gear inside the cabin. Another week of camping in the rain this summer has only reinforced this notion. What I am looking for is a barn-door Suburban.
These aren't excuses, these are choices that we have made, to do things that may or may not have been popular. I don't know what next year looks like, but I do know that things keep changing. Mostly I just need to be convinced that sitting in my truck and crawling along at 3MPH won't get boring. Maybe my problem is a whole lot of the pictures that I see are of the rigs sitting and waiting for one guy at a time to conquer an obstacle. Seems like it'd be funner to run such trails with 4 rigs instead of 15. But what do I know, I'm new to all this schtuff.
crawling IMHO is all about thinking and planning. You can't get bored if your doing it right, cause your constantly thinking...every guy waiting in line is watching the guy in front of him thinking to himself if thats the line he can take or wants to take, about where your tires are and where the need to be. what gear should I be in, when do I bump it, when do I throttle thru, whats the line I want to do and is that the best line to take? Then when you think you got it all figured out and your king of the hammers.....well then you go be the first guy up some obstacle without watching someone else do it and then you go do it without a spotter.
Its not better or worse than going fast. Just different. I will tell you this. No amount of pictures or video will do justice to actually being there and doing it. Driver or passenger. Example.. the first 3 fins at the start of hells revenge typically scares the living crap outa people the first time they go over them. Its the mecca trail and 90% of the time its the first trail everyone goes on. It did to me, my wife closed her eyes and made me tell her when it was done. The only thing I could think of was if my brakes fail I'm gonna kill myself and my whole family. Mind you I had watched every Moab video ever made (even jeep stuff), had family that had done it before tell me all about it before I went down and I was following him over the fins. And in the scope of things down there those fins are nothing, they are curbs in the Moab mall parking lot. But the first time your hood points straight up to the sky and all you can see is blue. When you cant remember where your tires were but you do remember you have no room to turn left or right. Thats when things get real.
Well said, that was exactly my experience. Never been there before and first thing I did was that big fin out of the Hell's parking lot. Whoa.
That fin was created to be driven over.
You two will have to do Moab Rim next. That one will excite as well. Then you will have done my first two trails 3 years back.
You two will have to do Moab Rim next. That one will excite as well. Then you will have done my first two trails 3 years back.
Oh, Blue would be fine out there, I have no doubt of that. I'm even confident that the rig would reliably get there. I don't find the truck comfortable for long trips with the 3 of us, that's why we haven't brought him out West. Even before baby, we wanted more room to keep gear inside the cabin. Another week of camping in the rain this summer has only reinforced this notion. What I am looking for is a barn-door Suburban.
These aren't excuses, these are choices that we have made, to do things that may or may not have been popular. I don't know what next year looks like, but I do know that things keep changing. Mostly I just need to be convinced that sitting in my truck and crawling along at 3MPH won't get boring. Maybe my problem is a whole lot of the pictures that I see are of the rigs sitting and waiting for one guy at a time to conquer an obstacle. Seems like it'd be funner to run such trails with 4 rigs instead of 15. But what do I know, I'm new to all this schtuff.
I know of a couple burbs In Co that are headed to relax the rest of their days
Those are the pictures you see because that's when people can get out and take pictures. Probably 90% of the time is moving and no one in our groups is ambitious enough to get and take pictures while running alongside the group.Mostly I just need to be convinced that sitting in my truck and crawling along at 3MPH won't get boring. Maybe my problem is a whole lot of the pictures that I see are of the rigs sitting and waiting for one guy at a time to conquer an obstacle. Seems like it'd be funner to run such trails with 4 rigs instead of 15. But what do I know, I'm new to all this schtuff.
8 rigs is usually the norm for the trail runs. More often we have fewer than that as opposed to more.
The "Hells Invasion" is the exception but that whole experience is entirely different. A lot of people like it because you get to see all the different level of built rigs on one trail. Normally the guys in stockish trucks won't get to see the trailer Queens in action on the trail but Hells is a great opportunity to put both together.
Yeah, generally 4 trucks can move thru a trail much faster than 10, but that's a whole different experience than what Blazer Bash is typically about. The feedback I get is most people like taking it a little easy and enjoy the scenery. There also tends to be a lot better stories that come out of the bigger group runs, for better or worse.
I did my best to put on a show (aside from doing hot tubs) while on Hell's
Also, there are more pictures out there dammit. Where are all the event pics??!!! Man I can't believe I only took 5 and they aren't any good lol
Also, there are more pictures out there dammit. Where are all the event pics??!!! Man I can't believe I only took 5 and they aren't any good lol
I did my best to put on a show (aside from doing hot tubs) while on Hell's
Also, there are more pictures out there dammit. Where are all the event pics??!!! Man I can't believe I only took 5 and they aren't any good lol
I took 10 seconds out of my day and did the Escalator on my water run. I didn't get to do the big hot tub but I honestly hate it. Sitting in the bottom, in two feet of water looking up that wall thinking if I mess up, I get to go snorkeling in this cesspool, or best case is that I make it out first shot and only get a little water/mud in my mouth.
@campfire IMO technical rock crawling is where it's at. Since I've been wheeling when I was in high school, I've done just about every style of wheeling. I've done mud, sand, mild trail wheeling, and harder technical wheeling (I guess the only thing I haven't done is king of the hammers stuff that mixes the fast with the crawling, but still). In the end, once again IMHO, I find the technical crawling to be the most fun. To the point when I've done the dunes stuff, or mud stuff, it really doesn't excite me anymore (I would take a dirt bike in the sand any day over a vehicle....but I love jumping dirt bikes in the sand ). Technical harder rock crawling is what really tests the ability of the machine and the driver. I've always said, anybody can get in a truck and mash the gas through a mud pit or around in the dunes, but you really want to figure out some weak points of a vehicle, or want to figure out if you really can control your vehicle like you think you can...put your left front tire off the side of "No Left Turn" on Rusty Nail trail in Moab and see if you don't almost rip your seat from your butt clinching too tight....you don't get that type of feeling in a mud pit (just ask @miniwally what my face looked like last year when he was spotting me down No Left Turn and he kept telling me to turn more left 
).
I know you have never been exposed to it because of where you live and your wheeling habits...and that is totally fine, but trust all of us when we tell you....when you get bit by the rock crawling bug...everything else will seem just that much more tame
Edit: here is a picture of said moment on No Left Turn with a 100 ft cliff hanging off the side....ya, cheeks were pretty tight here (sorry to be putting a pic from BB15 in the BB16 thread, but if it gets more people to come to BB, then I think it's justified, haha)
). Technical harder rock crawling is what really tests the ability of the machine and the driver. I've always said, anybody can get in a truck and mash the gas through a mud pit or around in the dunes, but you really want to figure out some weak points of a vehicle, or want to figure out if you really can control your vehicle like you think you can...put your left front tire off the side of "No Left Turn" on Rusty Nail trail in Moab and see if you don't almost rip your seat from your butt clinching too tight....you don't get that type of feeling in a mud pit (just ask @miniwally what my face looked like last year when he was spotting me down No Left Turn and he kept telling me to turn more left ).I know you have never been exposed to it because of where you live and your wheeling habits...and that is totally fine, but trust all of us when we tell you....when you get bit by the rock crawling bug...everything else will seem just that much more tame
Edit: here is a picture of said moment on No Left Turn with a 100 ft cliff hanging off the side....ya, cheeks were pretty tight here (sorry to be putting a pic from BB15 in the BB16 thread, but if it gets more people to come to BB, then I think it's justified, haha)
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ChrisP dropping into Hell's Gate entrance
What you see during drop in LOL
What you see during drop in LOL
Brandon and Stephen up Rocker Knocker. ChrisP currently on
Keith doing the Waltz across the ledges
Keith doing the Waltz across the ledges
ChrisP up either Yellow Hill or Axle Hill, not sure which it's called but it's on Pritchett`e
ORD guys working the tow rig
ORD guys working the tow rig
