Ultimate Adventure

Part 1 of Ultimate Adventure 2017. Ever hear of a day when it’s literally too hot for airplanes to fly? That was the top news story across the country the day Ultimate Adventure 2017 began in Phoenix, Arizona. And epic heat wave or not, the event must go on. After all, Ultimate Adventure is always an extreme test of both man and machine. With the thermometer hovering around 127 degrees the group pulled out with trial leader Trent McGee leading the way and Editor Christian Hazel putting the very first miles on the newly finished Cummins-powered UACJ-6D Ultimate Adventure Jeep. With the Table Mesa trail in its crosshairs the group got out of the city as fast as it could, locked the hubs, aired down the tires, and go to ‘wheeling. The terrain features razor sharp rocks and sketchy ledge climbs which the served as a perfect introduction to what the rest of the week would hold. Before the day would end we’d have plenty of near-vertical waterfall climbs, big-throttle attacks, trail repairs, welding, body damage, and some fun pranks. And as always, Day One was just a warm-up for more challenges to come. Unlike UA2016, the heat didn’t claim any victims and nobody wound up in a hospital emergency room. But as for the machines, let’s just say UA2017 won’t prove as forgiving.

Part 2 of Ultimate Adventure 2017. The standard Ultimate Adventure formula has typically been one hardcore off-road day followed by a long, slogging road day to get to the next trail system. However, for UA2017 even our road days required low-range. With another incredibly hot day in store, we began Day Two high-tailing it out of Phoenix, Arizona, into the outlying mountains and began climbing in elevation. As the trail continued the scenery got better, the terrain got a bit more challenging, and mechanical issues began to manifest themselves. By the time we got to our camp that night, we had plenty of repairs to make from rebuilding a steering box to bending suspension links back into shape, welding stuff back together, and more. Day Three began early and promised an equally slim amount of pavement as Day Two as we hopped on the DeSoto Mine Trail. With rocky ledges, steep switcbacks, and killer scenery, the hot, dusty trail continued until many of the vehicles were on vapors. After a quick fuel stop, we were back on dirt and more overlanding, taking the Great Western Trail to our final destination for the day. In the end, this would the longest off-road day in Ultimate Adventure history. But it’s not over and the rest of UA2017 would see more firsts for this event.

Part 3 of Ultimate Adventure 2017. On Day Four of the Ultimate Adventure we left Payson, Arizona, and caravanned to the rockcrawl trail, Pyeatt Draw. With huge boulders, big ledges, and dry waterfalls, Pyeatt Draw held the potential for carnage. And it delivered on that potential. Any weaknesses the triple-digit heat didn’t expose were soon made evident by Pyeatt Draw’s terrain. Before the end of the day several vehicles would succumb to its hazards with flat tires, broken hubs, a busted motor mount, twisted driveshaft, and some other axle-related issues. While the trail fixes continued, the rest of the group climbed “the filter”, which is a gnarly off-camber waterfall climb at the end of the trail that’s just begging for any driver to make the slightest mistake. A tumbling fall into the dry riverbed below would be the result. Some gave it a whiskey-throttle high-horsepower attack with tons of wheelspeed, some crawled it with a little bump, and some had to resort to the winch cable. With the whole group through, we hit the road and climbed in elevation to one of the most scenic campsites Ultimate Adventure has ever enjoyed on the Mogollon Rim, which the whole group would discover when we woke up on Day Five. Check back as the adventure continues.

Part 4 of Ultimate Adventure 2017. We awoke on Day Five to a stunningly panoramic view from our campsite high atop the Mogollon Rim. With all of Arizona laid out below us we drank in the scenery before mounting our 4x4s and heading for Flagstaff, Arizona, to wheel one of the coolest natural features in the area. The Cinders area is just what the name implies: huge mounds of volcanic cinder, or less specifically, volcanic lava pebbles. With huge, towering mountains of cinders several hundred feet high and sprawling over a wide area, the group was turned loose to explore and hammer down on the throttle. Making sure to stay well clear of any vegetation, pretty much any line is allowed here so the rigs with more horsepower put on a really good show. And those that didn’t have power to spare put it in Low Range and did their best to putt up the steep slopes. With some fun under our belt, we hit the road because we still had over six hours to get to our campsite at Jacob Lake. On Day Six we awoke at 8,000-foot campsite and hustled over to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon for a Griswold view of the rim and then aired down for 180 miles of dirt adventure driving, including a visit to the Grand Canyon at its most remote location accessible by motor vehicle. After that, it was more dirt into the night.

Part 5 of Ultimate Adventure 2017. Day Seven began with some parking lot repairs in Hurricane, Utah, before the group made the short drive from town to Sand Hollow OHV for some technical rockcrawling and high-speed sand dune action. San Hollow is a completely open off-road play area with incredible sandstone obstacles. We slid in behind our local trail leaders, Rich Klein and Woody Swearingen, locked the hubs, and were climbing crazy-cool obstacles within 100 feet. With tacky sandstone providing insane traction, impossible lines are possible. As the Ultimate Adventure group made its way through the twisting, ledge-filled, off-camber terrain we eventually got to the last rockcrawling obstacle of the day called The Chute, a 150-foot-tall nearly-vertical wall that everybody needed to climb to get to the dunes. Take the right line and there’s no problem, but if you fall off the line your reward will be a tumbling roll straight to the bottom. Some had no problem, some had to back down and fiddled around a bit for the right line, but all the UA participants eventually made it up to the reward of Sand Hollow’s dune area. Once again, horsepower reigned supreme here and those with the most put on the best show, railing corners and going airborne for the cameras.