- 2 years ago
Part 5 of Ultimate Adventure 2017. Day Seven began with some parking lot repairs in Hurricane
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - All right, drivers, baby.
00:04 (upbeat music)
00:06 - Washing my radiator out.
00:11 That's probably just packed full of dust.
00:13 - Well, I bent my steering, hitting it on a rock, so.
00:17 - Two days ago, I broke a hub, or both hubs, actually.
00:22 I'm trying to get the tie rod on and squared away,
00:26 get the hydraulic assist going,
00:28 'cause the 42 inch tires are really hard on a steering box.
00:31 - Something tells me it's gonna be another hot day today, so.
00:34 - It's a big enough tie rod for me to get your work out.
00:37 - Let's go, we got some shade over here.
00:38 It's only gonna be 110 today.
00:41 - Welcome to day seven of Ultimate Adventure.
00:43 (cheering)
00:45 We made it this far.
00:46 - So, yesterday was late, but I thought it was pretty cool.
00:49 Did you guys have a good time?
00:50 (cheering)
00:52 Right on.
00:52 Today is all about some technical rock crawling.
00:55 Located less than 15 miles outside of Hurricane Utah
00:58 lies a four-wheeling paradise called Sand Hollow.
01:02 It's a state park that's managed by the BLM
01:04 that consists of a reservoir, sand dunes,
01:07 and sandstone crevices and canyons
01:08 that offer gravity-defying traction
01:10 with everything from mild to wild hardcore rock crawling.
01:14 Okay, we're gonna regroup, pause for just a second,
01:17 then we're gonna move on to the first trail.
01:23 - My name's Rich Klein, this is Austin, my son.
01:26 - Rich and Austin will be our trail leaders,
01:28 and it's a good thing because it's insanely easy
01:30 to get lost in Sand Hollow.
01:32 Now, Rich has been working very hard
01:33 with a small but dedicated group of local off-roaders
01:36 to turn Sand Hollow into a place
01:38 that's bigger than the Rubicon and Moab combined.
01:41 Local Woody Swearingen from I Hate Mud
01:43 is also helping us with tailgating duties today
01:46 in his Formula toy.
01:47 - Local here to Sand Hollow,
01:50 own and operate a company called Trail Hero,
01:52 and pretty excited to be part of the ultimate adventure.
01:55 It's been a lifelong goal of mine
01:56 to be part of it in one way or another,
01:58 and luckily they came into my backyard
02:00 and I get a chance to show 'em around on the trails.
02:02 - Currently, there's a 1,300-acre trail system
02:04 of developed rock trails, but Sand Hollow is an open area,
02:07 meaning that if you see a potential line,
02:09 you can try four-wheeling.
02:11 - Now we're heading over to Joint Effort,
02:15 and from there we're gonna split Joint Effort
02:17 and go into Double Sammy, two of Sand Hollow's best trails.
02:21 I am lined up on the first obstacle on Joint Effort,
02:24 which is one of the many, many trails out here.
02:27 This place is awesome.
02:29 It's just a big play area, lots of sandstone,
02:32 the traction is incredible.
02:34 It should be a good time.
02:36 After traversing an extremely soft sand dune,
02:43 transitioning to a tight canyon
02:45 formed with a natural version of sandpaper is almost surreal.
02:49 You go from no traction to crazy traction
02:51 in less than 100 feet with wild climbs,
02:54 squeezes, and ledges to boot.
02:56 It's just really steep.
03:02 What was that?
03:09 Everyone has one of those days on the trail,
03:15 and apparently today it's my turn.
03:17 (engine revving)
03:20 Well, first obstacle of the last day of Ultimate Adventure,
03:24 and I think I just blew the rear end up in this thing,
03:25 so, well, it is what it is.
03:29 Having only front-wheel drive
03:31 means being on foot the rest of the day.
03:34 The buggy really didn't owe me anything
03:35 between the months of free running for the trip
03:37 and then seven hard days on UA.
03:40 On the bright side, I can relax a little
03:42 and watch some of the other guys
03:43 hit all these cool obstacles.
03:45 You can always learn something watching different rigs
03:47 and different drivers work.
03:49 We're here in Sand Hollow OHV.
03:59 It is a gorgeous spot and an awesome, awesome trail.
04:03 I mean, it's hardcore.
04:04 Just took the ring and pinion out of Trent's buggy.
04:06 Everyone else is coming up the hard lines,
04:08 and we've got a lot more trail ahead of us.
04:14 The first obstacle set the tone for the day,
04:16 tough and technical.
04:18 The series of ledges favored long wheelbases in one spot
04:21 and then short wheelbases just a few feet later.
04:24 Did I mention how insanely cold this place is?
04:27 Well, we're here on Joint Effort.
04:30 We've only been at it for 30 minutes or so,
04:32 and we're already all mired up.
04:33 Rich, what's the terrain like out here?
04:35 - You know, there's a ton of traction,
04:36 and because of that, you'll see some broken parts,
04:38 but really, the terrain allows you to be gravity-defying.
04:41 It's like driving on 80-grit sandpaper.
04:44 - Yeah, yeah, as a matter of fact,
04:46 the traction is so incredible,
04:47 I just blew the rear end up in my buggy
04:49 right there on the very, very first obstacle,
04:50 so let's hope that I'm the only victim today,
04:53 although something tells me it's probably not the case.
04:55 - Probably not.
04:56 - Steep inclines and off-camber sections
05:09 demand constant attention,
05:11 as being off the line just a foot one way or the other
05:13 can get you in trouble very quickly.
05:16 The lines also vary with the wheelbase,
05:18 and this is why a spotter is so critical here,
05:20 hence why Joint Effort is the name of the track.
05:23 - That little section definitely illustrates
05:26 why we have this Magnum transfer case system
05:29 and the low gearing it provides,
05:30 because I needed every ounce of control that that gave me.
05:33 This is a big rig to push through
05:35 a really tight squeeze right there,
05:37 and the gearing was a giant tool in making that happen.
05:40 - With the first few ledges out of the way,
05:42 Rich and Austin led us to another area
05:44 of slightly more open ground,
05:46 where once again, you could follow the trail
05:48 or take a line and see if you can make it.
05:50 - Back driver, hard driver, hard driver, hard driver.
06:03 Doing well.
06:06 It's fun getting different types of vehicles
06:09 through the same obstacle.
06:10 Everyone's gotta be spot a little bit differently.
06:13 This is a really gnarly trail.
06:21 I'm pretty silly for bringing something with four doors
06:23 and a bunch of glass in it up here,
06:25 but I'm pretty silly.
06:27 - Among the neat things about Sand Hollow
06:35 is that should the trail get plugged up,
06:37 most likely there's another line you can try
06:39 just a short distance away.
06:40 With Ultimate Adventure,
06:41 you're always wheeling with experienced people,
06:43 so the pace stays pretty steady,
06:45 'til someone breaks, that is.
06:47 It also means there are a lot of experienced wheelers
06:50 milling about to give you a spot when you need it.
06:53 - I'm extremely disappointed
07:03 not to be able to be driving today.
07:05 This is one of the highlights of the trip for me,
07:08 being from Northern California and rock crawling.
07:10 This is right up our alley with some sand to boot,
07:13 but unfortunately we had a cam disintegrate,
07:16 no longer driving my distributor,
07:17 and as a result, we are dead in the water.
07:20 So we are here participating as much as we can
07:22 and watching all these fine folks have a good time.
07:24 - Damon Scout wasn't the only engine casualty of the trip.
07:29 The four-liter in Reader Nick LeBlanc's Cherokee
07:32 began burning copious amounts of oil on day six,
07:35 and he opted to sit out the last day
07:36 in hopes of preventing further damage
07:38 and having a rebuildable core.
07:40 - All right, we're out here wheeling
07:41 the Ultimate Dana 60 JK in Sand Hollow,
07:43 having a great time, awesome obstacles,
07:46 pretty technical, a lot of fun,
07:48 but I've got the Jeep to get over 'em.
07:50 - This is a really good park.
08:02 It's one of the better ones.
08:03 It's like Moab, it's sandstone, traction's excellent.
08:06 We got 66,000 acres out here.
08:08 It's unbelievable what obstacles and trails
08:11 are here to run.
08:12 I would recommend it as a place to visit.
08:14 - When you're wheeling in Sand Hollow,
08:32 it's easy to start taking all the incredible scenery
08:34 for granted.
08:35 Now Vern is among the people on this trip
08:37 with a geology background,
08:38 so let's get the lowdown on how this place was formed.
08:41 - So it's the last day of Ultimate Adventure 2017.
08:45 We're out here in Sand Hollow.
08:47 There are definitely dunes around here.
08:49 Like in Moab, we're driving on petrified sand dunes.
08:52 So what we have here are sand dunes
08:56 that started like this and turned into a rock,
08:59 and then the rock got exposed by erosion,
09:04 and as the rock crumbles and gets eroded,
09:06 it turns back into sand,
09:08 and then the sand dunes, when the wind blows,
09:11 sand collects in various areas and you get sand dunes.
09:14 So it's a big cycle of everything.
09:16 - The rock crawling is amazing.
09:25 They're cutting in tons of new trails
09:26 and they've got everything mapped out.
09:29 It's gonna be an awesome four-wheeling destination.
09:33 I hear there's good sand dune area here.
09:34 We haven't been to that yet.
09:36 - After several attempts,
09:40 the front end on the diesel power products ram
09:42 finally rotated back into position
09:44 and could be re-welded to the axle tubes.
09:46 This meant that Cooper was back to hitting the big stuff.
09:49 I just wish I could say the same for Damon, Nick, and I.
09:53 (engine rumbling)
09:55 Even camera crew support rig driver Kenny
10:05 got some seat time in the UACJ.
10:07 Now it's a hard and thankless job,
10:09 so the opportunity was well-deserved.
10:11 - All right, we're coming to the tail end of the trail
10:14 for Ultimate Adventure 2017,
10:16 and on this particular obstacle, it's called the chute,
10:19 and essentially it's about a 150-foot straight vertical wall
10:24 which will put you on your side pretty quick
10:26 if you're not careful.
10:27 So we're gonna get through it and then celebrate the day.
10:31 - Rich's TJ buggy is a fresh build,
10:36 and this was one of its first outings.
10:38 After putting up an incredible fight,
10:46 including losing two engines in 90 days,
10:49 Vern's grocery-getter S10
10:50 had a remarkably trouble-free Ultimate Adventure.
10:53 Added bonus, it still has all of its glass
10:56 and only a couple of war wounds in the sheet metal.
10:58 Chris Durand's JK Gladiator represents Warren perfectly,
11:08 reliable, and there when you need it every single time.
11:12 He and Fred Perry make a great team.
11:14 (upbeat music)
11:16 Crony Sam Gillis was another person
11:27 who had a mostly trouble-free trip.
11:29 Except for losing the sight tube
11:30 on his Atlas transfer case,
11:31 he didn't have to spin any wrenches on his rig this year.
11:34 Dave Chappelle's Rugged Radio's Amigo
11:43 chauffeured our resident radio expert, Steve Bichard,
11:46 all week and did it in style.
11:48 This rig is something of a sleeper.
11:50 It manages to do everything well.
11:52 - Final day, Ultimate Adventure,
11:59 final obstacle called the chute.
12:01 It's a V-notch, heads all the way up.
12:04 Had a little trouble in the first approach,
12:08 backed it out, moved the rear over a little bit,
12:11 and ended up crawling right up it like it wasn't there.
12:14 - The chute tended to be more friendly
12:38 to longer wheelbase rears, as the Watsons demonstrated.
12:42 Slow and steady with just the right gear.
12:44 - It looked really steep when we looked at it.
12:51 It looked less steep when other people just drove right up it
12:54 and then when we got back on it,
12:55 it looked really steep again.
12:56 - Ultimate Adventure 2017 has been totally amazing.
13:03 Seven days of wheeling with a great group of guys,
13:05 seeing parts of America
13:07 that not very many people get to see anymore,
13:09 or have ever seen probably,
13:11 just because we're wheeling a lot of very capable vehicles
13:14 that can get us to some very remote
13:16 and difficult to get to places.
13:18 Really a great time, great bunch of guys,
13:20 test rigs to the limit,
13:22 a lot of camaraderie and little shenanigans,
13:25 but it's all fun.
13:28 (truck engine roaring)
13:31 - Wow, that was quite the obstacle.
13:44 I feel like I was going straight up on that.
13:47 The biggest thing is I can't see anything,
13:49 so I have to rely on my spotter
13:50 and people just giving me some direction
13:52 and they did a great job,
13:53 but I'll tell you, I really got a rush out doing that.
13:55 That was fantastic.
13:57 - Today, my little tube sock Jeep is kind of outgunned.
14:02 It's got a really short wheel base,
14:04 so I either have to really turbo it up
14:07 to get up some obstacles,
14:09 or it just gets all tippy
14:10 and feels like it's gonna flop over,
14:12 but overall, I'm really excited about my little Jeep.
14:15 The little diesel's been working great all week.
14:17 I'm getting awesome fuel economy
14:19 compared to a lot of these guys with their big V8 engines.
14:22 (truck engine roaring)
14:25 Overall, it's been an awesome week
14:28 on Ultimate Adventure 2017.
14:29 - And I'm about to tackle a steep climb.
14:33 A little bit nerve wracking.
14:34 It looks steeper than Hell's Gate, which I've done,
14:37 but it's good to try.
14:39 - Chris Paul's can-do attitude was typical
14:45 of all the readers on the trip this year.
14:47 Despite engine failures and other setbacks,
14:49 these guys stayed positive,
14:50 and that's a key part of having a successful
14:52 Ultimate Adventure.
14:53 (truck engine roaring)
14:57 - We just got done coming up a really steep chute.
15:14 A lot steeper than anything we've ever done before,
15:17 but the traction here is unbelievable,
15:19 so we didn't even really spin a tire.
15:20 We just drove straight up it,
15:22 like driving up a straight wall.
15:24 - The UACJ may be one of the most trouble-free
15:34 Ultimate Adventure builds ever.
15:36 Other than a steering clamp
15:37 and multiple clogged air filters,
15:39 Christian has had a great week
15:40 thanks to the Cummins torque,
15:42 a wide range of gearing choices,
15:43 Dana axles, Skyjacker suspension,
15:46 and much, much more.
15:47 (heavy breathing)
15:49 (rock music)
15:52 - Well, one of the awesome things about Sand Hollow
15:57 is it's not just rocks.
15:58 There's also a lot of dunes.
15:59 So we've got some guys playing in the rocks,
16:02 but some of the guys are out here playing on the dunes,
16:04 ripping it up,
16:05 and there's just tons of stuff out here.
16:07 It's just awesome.
16:08 (rock music)
16:10 (engine revving)
16:13 - All right, so that's a wrap on UA 2017.
16:24 We started in Phoenix.
16:25 We had some epic hot weather.
16:27 We had some epic trails.
16:29 Overlanding and dust.
16:30 We saw the Grand Canyon.
16:32 Hardcore rock crawling.
16:34 Finished it off here with some wheel speed,
16:36 throwing some sand,
16:37 and jumping some trucks.
16:38 Great UA.
16:39 See you in the other one in the books.
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