Do you mean Golden Spike is better than Crack n Back? Crack n Back is essentially Gold Bar Rim so your sentence is contradictory.
It would be a rare occurrence that a first timer to Moab would be on the Golden Spike run. It would be at the discretion of the trail leader.
Yeah yeah the all three in one run.
First time in Moab running that trail would not be a big deal. It is all about making memories. Chances are he would make a bunch.
Your truck hasn't managed to make it through the Jackstand gatekeeper yet. That's the toughest trail of all. Once you get through that and get some seat time worry about what trails you can run.
Since I sort of was the instigator of the Golden Spike rules that started a few years ago I will step in and try to get my point of view through.
I my experience with the Former Trifecta, This was a name started early in BB history because of it being three trails, the "old timers" usually didn't have issues and the newer guys did. Then most of the issue that were seen stemmed from fresh rebuilds and or very inexperienced drivers. We began to see trail times consistently in the 12-14+ hour range on this trail. This wasn't a huge deal if you were on the trail as you knew what was going on and were getting the experience. However from the promoter (Scott Riley) and rescue (usually a group of the standard players one of those being myself) side of things there were issues. There were times that we spent several hours trying to figure out where the group was, if they needed help, if they needed parts etc. There were times that we ended up coming to help and bring parts etc.
While none of that was a deal breaker the years of that going on wore all of us down and Scott was about ready to drop the run. I said I would make it my baby and own it good or bad. Two things that I put in place that I feel greatly aid in the trail being successful the last two years are the limited number of vehicles and making an effort to not take either new builds or newbies on the run.
This isn't supposed to be an insult or put down on you or your vehicle. It's meant for you and everyone else to have a good time, and finding out that your front driveshaft pulls apart anytime you get on a ledge is an issue on this trail (yes this has happened). There are shorter trails that are way easier to deal with that sort of thing which seems to be typical of a new build. Second there is a certain amount of basic wheeling knowledge that is needed to be able to work your way through any of the trails. The Moab bump, how to carry momentum without bashing through things and tearing up parts, where to drive fast and where to slow down. This knowledge only comes from driving and wheeling. Trying to get this knowledge and experience is best suited to shorter trails. NOTE; I didn't say easier just shorter.
I tried to set the trail "rules" which I will say are guidelines at this point so that it wasn't an elitist run. The last two years we have had two rigs with 35" tires, one of which was open front successfully complete the trail. Last year we had to stop and weld on one rig. I think the smaller more experienced group made a huge difference in that we didn't have to deal with huge down time and we really covered ground fast when we were moving. I had zero issue letting the open dif rig come last year because I knew that his wheeling experience and time behind the wheel would allow him to work his way through and we had a small enough group that if we had to give him a tug here and there is wasn't a big issue.
Muddysub I don't know you, or your vehicle very well but if you spend time doing shake down runs and enjoying your vehicle for the summer like it sounds like you plan to do, I would say you would be a good candidate to throw your hat in the ring. My example early on in the rule making was that if Shannon Campbell showed up to BB I wouldn't say to him no you can't run that trail your new to the event. His credentials speak for themselves obviously.
Babaganosh I really think you need to get the truck running and driving before you can even consider this trail. Final registration isn't for several months. Driving the truck out of the garage and onto a trailer and trying to break it in on Golden Spike won't happen. You have good help right now and if you get it running and driving with some decent wheeling time under your belt then talk with the trail leader.
I know there is some disagreement with my "idea" and specifics but in the end this is also set up to allow the specific year trail leader/leaders to make the final call.
