Moab on the Rocks! It's Here!

This is it! After months of anticipation the day is finally here for our “Moab on the Rocks” expedition in the slick rock country around Moab. Most of the participants were already here and had spent the last day or two on the trails around Moab. Hopefully they had worked all the kinks out of the equipment and had honed their backcountry skills to the point of making this a “walk in the park” for the bride and I . I was thinking that regardless of how good, how prepared you are there is always something these trails throw at you to make it a memorable experience. I was not to be disappointed.

I was disappointed to find out that our wagon master, Captain America, had not yet reached Moab and would not be with us on this excursion. Unfortunately the business of feeding family interfered with more temporal pleasures and he was not to arrive until Saturday. Could his wagon train succeed without his leadership? This would really put the pressure on the other founders.

Thirteen vehicles and about thirty people total were going to participate on this ride. We decided to do a trail I had never experienced before so I was double pumped. It’s always great to see new stuff.

As we started out it looked like having that many vehicles was really going to be difficult to control and getting everyone through in the allotted time was going to be a challenge. We had the whole gamut of experience levels and it took us about 45 minutes to get the first half mile into the trail. Fortunately after the first two obstacles everyone seemed to hit stride and the “wagon train” gelled.

“Spotman” Dave, who is one of the original founders, was doing a yeoman’s job of his usual duties of spotting for everyone and helping in the wagon master duties. “Spotman” also drives a classic Jeep. No sissy automatic transmission or electronic lockers for him! He does it the old fashioned way!

Things progressed nicely until mid-day when one vehicle had an axle problem. If you have read this blog before you should remember that one of the reasons I “ride” and don’t have my own vehicle is precisely for this reason. I’m not mechanically inclined and if I had any kind of mechanical problem that required anything other than flipping a switch or turning a knob I would be totally up the proverbial creek.

Fortunately the problem was not what the gear heads considered a real bad problem and while the rest of us had lunch they performed enough mechanical magic to get the stricken vehicle back on the trail.

Just incredible, incredible scenery, lots of fun and fellowship. We finished the trail at about 3pm. That evening the bride and I hosted the rest of the circle in a very informal chow down at the trailer. What a day…and best of all there is even more to come tomorrow!

Thanks for visiting.

P.S. Click on any of the photos for a larger view.