Project-JK Valley of Fire Presidents Day Weekend Run 2009!!
Thread Starter
JK-Forum Founder
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 36,534
Likes: 16
From: Laguna Niguel, CA
Project-JK Valley of Fire Presidents Day Weekend Run 2009!!
As most of you know, we try to use every holiday weekend we can to head out of SoCal and/or do runs that require multiple nights of camping or lodging. Needless to say, for Presidents Day Weekend 2009, a small group of us made our way out to the Valley of Fire which is located north of Las Vegas, Nevada, near to the north shores of Lake Mead. While there is no wheeling within the State Park boundries, the area to the east which is near to the town of Logandale has about half a dozen moderate to difficult trails and in some places, has a terrain similar to what you would find in Moab, Utah.
For our purposes, we decided to spend both Saturday and Sunday on the trail and checked out what is known as the Shitter, Hawkins, Bowl, Mattahorn and Rock Bottom Trails. And, along for the ride we were accompanied with toad, Trail Bud, JeepCacher & Family, SGT. EVIL & Mrs. EVIL, serveapurpose, rangleme & her son and last but not least, blazer4949.
Being that we had such an outstanding time, we were able to take over 840 pics from our trip (you can see them all in our photo gallery). But, to keep things simple, here are just a few pics to give you an idea of all the fun we had. I hope you enjoy......
Being that we have never run any of the trails out in the Valley of Fire, WOLette and I decided to come out a day early and scope things out. Here are a few pics that we took from our exploratory run....
Walking our way through some of the harder offshoots on the Shitter....
Shot of a ridgetop as a storm started to roll in....
At the Overton Bestwestern getting ready to hit the trail....
rangleme showing off her new trail attire....
Making a quick stop over at Lin's for some last minute provisions....
serveapurpose airing down at the staging area....
toad disconnecting her sway bar links....
Trail Bud making a mental note that he now needs to add rock lights to his list of future mods....
At the start of the Shitter Trail where there is an amazing overlook....
Now, I had always assumed that the Shitter Trail was called as much because there was a restroom at the trailhead but I think this is the real reason why....
Quick group shot (minus camera people) before heading out....
toad doing a little stretch as she makes he way down with SGT EVIL in the background looking on....
Scoping out an optional side climb and going over what everyone can expect....
blazer4949 crawling his way up with ease....
SGT EVIL flexing his way up a rocky obstacle....
serveapurpose briefly hanging a tire as he made his way up....
Making a stop for lunch among the massive red rocks....
toad showing off what she bought for lunch....
Most of us also used the opportunity to strip down and go topless....
Slowing making our way across a narrow shelf road along the Hawkins Trail....
rangleme expertly climbing her way up a tough dry waterfall....
Lined up at the end of the trail....
View from higher up to show the earthen dam that a mining company built to prevent people from using the trail ahead....
View of the amazing landscape and trail beyond....
More pics below....
For our purposes, we decided to spend both Saturday and Sunday on the trail and checked out what is known as the Shitter, Hawkins, Bowl, Mattahorn and Rock Bottom Trails. And, along for the ride we were accompanied with toad, Trail Bud, JeepCacher & Family, SGT. EVIL & Mrs. EVIL, serveapurpose, rangleme & her son and last but not least, blazer4949.
Being that we had such an outstanding time, we were able to take over 840 pics from our trip (you can see them all in our photo gallery). But, to keep things simple, here are just a few pics to give you an idea of all the fun we had. I hope you enjoy......
Being that we have never run any of the trails out in the Valley of Fire, WOLette and I decided to come out a day early and scope things out. Here are a few pics that we took from our exploratory run....
Walking our way through some of the harder offshoots on the Shitter....
Shot of a ridgetop as a storm started to roll in....
At the Overton Bestwestern getting ready to hit the trail....
rangleme showing off her new trail attire....
Making a quick stop over at Lin's for some last minute provisions....
serveapurpose airing down at the staging area....
toad disconnecting her sway bar links....
Trail Bud making a mental note that he now needs to add rock lights to his list of future mods....
At the start of the Shitter Trail where there is an amazing overlook....
Now, I had always assumed that the Shitter Trail was called as much because there was a restroom at the trailhead but I think this is the real reason why....
Quick group shot (minus camera people) before heading out....
toad doing a little stretch as she makes he way down with SGT EVIL in the background looking on....
Scoping out an optional side climb and going over what everyone can expect....
blazer4949 crawling his way up with ease....
SGT EVIL flexing his way up a rocky obstacle....
serveapurpose briefly hanging a tire as he made his way up....
Making a stop for lunch among the massive red rocks....
toad showing off what she bought for lunch....
Most of us also used the opportunity to strip down and go topless....
Slowing making our way across a narrow shelf road along the Hawkins Trail....
rangleme expertly climbing her way up a tough dry waterfall....
Lined up at the end of the trail....
View from higher up to show the earthen dam that a mining company built to prevent people from using the trail ahead....
View of the amazing landscape and trail beyond....
More pics below....
Last edited by wayoflife; Feb 17, 2009 at 04:03 PM.
Thread Starter
JK-Forum Founder
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 36,534
Likes: 16
From: Laguna Niguel, CA
Day 1 - Part 2
Back in business and now on the Bowl Trail....
rangleme dropping down into one of the many steep gullies we had to cross along the way....
toad hopping her way out of the gully....
blazer4949 slowing making his way up and out as well....
What the view ahead looks like as you drive along the ridgeline....
blazer4949 explaining how the guys he's seen go through the infamous 'S-Turns' did it....
Here are a few shots of my first attempt through....
After coming real close to dropping my JK on the side of these rocks, I made my way back and out of the S-Turns....
serveapurpose coming in to make his attempt....
and he's through!!!
Thanks to serveapurpose, I had to give it another try....
What it looked like from behind....
and I'm through as well....
With the sun going down, we decided to make a run into The Bowl....
Struggling to make my way up and into The Bowl....
After a few attempts, my steering becomes near impossible to use and power steering fluid is dripping everywhere. Needless to say, I pull off the obstacle and start to work on my Jeep.....
toad was up next and made several valient attempts as well....
In the end, only Trail Bud was able to get just the right bump up and made his way in....
As luck would have it, the force of my front tires working their way up into The Bowl were strong enough to cause my front tie rod to bend foward and out. This caused my toe to be 4" off and needed to be fixed before continuing on our way. Also, the reason why my power steering was boiling over was because my TeraFlex steering stabilizer got crushed as the tie rod pushed it up into the track bar. Needless to say, it was now frozen in place and needed to be removed.....
In order to help fix my tie rod, we looked for a small boulder and purposefully rammed my tie rod into it. And, if you can believe it, this worked very well.....
Making our way out Mattahorn was challenging in the dark. Here's blazer4949 negotiating his way over a large rock obstacle....
Taking a quick break along the way down....
SGT EVIL airing back up under the I-15....
serveapurpose using his WalMart rocklights to help him out....
Making some final toe adjustments before getting back onto the highway....
More pics below....
rangleme dropping down into one of the many steep gullies we had to cross along the way....
toad hopping her way out of the gully....
blazer4949 slowing making his way up and out as well....
What the view ahead looks like as you drive along the ridgeline....
blazer4949 explaining how the guys he's seen go through the infamous 'S-Turns' did it....
Here are a few shots of my first attempt through....
After coming real close to dropping my JK on the side of these rocks, I made my way back and out of the S-Turns....
serveapurpose coming in to make his attempt....
and he's through!!!
Thanks to serveapurpose, I had to give it another try....
What it looked like from behind....
and I'm through as well....
With the sun going down, we decided to make a run into The Bowl....
Struggling to make my way up and into The Bowl....
After a few attempts, my steering becomes near impossible to use and power steering fluid is dripping everywhere. Needless to say, I pull off the obstacle and start to work on my Jeep.....
toad was up next and made several valient attempts as well....
In the end, only Trail Bud was able to get just the right bump up and made his way in....
As luck would have it, the force of my front tires working their way up into The Bowl were strong enough to cause my front tie rod to bend foward and out. This caused my toe to be 4" off and needed to be fixed before continuing on our way. Also, the reason why my power steering was boiling over was because my TeraFlex steering stabilizer got crushed as the tie rod pushed it up into the track bar. Needless to say, it was now frozen in place and needed to be removed.....
In order to help fix my tie rod, we looked for a small boulder and purposefully rammed my tie rod into it. And, if you can believe it, this worked very well.....
Making our way out Mattahorn was challenging in the dark. Here's blazer4949 negotiating his way over a large rock obstacle....
Taking a quick break along the way down....
SGT EVIL airing back up under the I-15....
serveapurpose using his WalMart rocklights to help him out....
Making some final toe adjustments before getting back onto the highway....
More pics below....
Thread Starter
JK-Forum Founder
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 36,534
Likes: 16
From: Laguna Niguel, CA
Day 2 - Part 1
Trail Bud helping to get rangleme's swaybar links fixed before she and serveapurpose left us on Sunday.....
Everyone coming in to say their goodbyes....
With the JeepCacher's with us now, we made a trip back to Lin's to stock up for the day....
Tanking up before hitting the trail again....
First on the menu - The Rock Bottom Trail....
Before heading up, we decided to walk up the hardest part of the trail and scope it out....
Here's me making my way up....
Here's a few shots Trail Bud making his very impressive way up....
After a lot of thought, SGT EVIL decides that he's gonna do it too and with ease....
With a new set of ARB's front and rear, toad makes her way up with ease as well....
Here are a few shots of JeepCacher's valient attempts....
Unfortunately, JeepCacher's front locker was acting up so he decided to pull off the obstacle....
More pics below.....
Everyone coming in to say their goodbyes....
With the JeepCacher's with us now, we made a trip back to Lin's to stock up for the day....
Tanking up before hitting the trail again....
First on the menu - The Rock Bottom Trail....
Before heading up, we decided to walk up the hardest part of the trail and scope it out....
Here's me making my way up....
Here's a few shots Trail Bud making his very impressive way up....
After a lot of thought, SGT EVIL decides that he's gonna do it too and with ease....
With a new set of ARB's front and rear, toad makes her way up with ease as well....
Here are a few shots of JeepCacher's valient attempts....
Unfortunately, JeepCacher's front locker was acting up so he decided to pull off the obstacle....
More pics below.....
Last edited by wayoflife; Feb 17, 2009 at 04:07 PM.
Thread Starter
JK-Forum Founder
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 36,534
Likes: 16
From: Laguna Niguel, CA
Day 2 - Part 2
Lunchtime near the red sand dunes.....
Josh and Andrew strapping onto a makeshift sand sled made out of what looked like a hood of a car that someone left behind....
SGT EVIL taking them for a ride....
blazer4949 climbing up a ledge on our way to the petroglyphs....
Making his way up a hard line on this ledge, JeepCacher's GPS flys out the window and if you look real close, you can see it on the ground just below his driver side rocker guard and just in front of his rear tire....
Picking a real hard line, Trail Bud manages to hang a tire....
Working our way across the Navajo sandstone....
Timmy, Trail Bud and Josh attempting to desphyer the petroglyphs in front of them.....
Hiking out to the old settler's reservoir....
Checking out a ton more petroglyphs that we found....
Making our way down into the Overton Wash.....
Playing in the Overton Wash narrows, Josh finds his way into a big hole created by huge boulders....
Climbing up and over a dry waterfall on the way back out....
Trail Bud taking a similar line....
On our way out, we decided to do a quick night run up The Shitter Trail so that JeepCacher could get a little more play time on the rocks....
JeepCacher on the rocks....
Here's a shot of toad just after making her way up a tough rocky section....
And finally, here's Trail Bud with lights blazing ahead....
Being that we ended our journey back in Logandale, we decided to just drive back to our hotel and air back up there....
Without a doubt, this was one of the most amazing runs that we've done to date and WOLette and I are so grateful that we could do it with good friends. If you would like to see a ton more action shots of all the JK's that came on this run as well as a ton more scenic shots as well, simply click on the link below and you will have access to all 873 photos that were taken:
Project-JK Valley of Fire Presidents Day Weekend Run 2009 Photo Gallery
We look forward to hitting the trails with all of you again and soon!!
Josh and Andrew strapping onto a makeshift sand sled made out of what looked like a hood of a car that someone left behind....
SGT EVIL taking them for a ride....
blazer4949 climbing up a ledge on our way to the petroglyphs....
Making his way up a hard line on this ledge, JeepCacher's GPS flys out the window and if you look real close, you can see it on the ground just below his driver side rocker guard and just in front of his rear tire....
Picking a real hard line, Trail Bud manages to hang a tire....
Working our way across the Navajo sandstone....
Timmy, Trail Bud and Josh attempting to desphyer the petroglyphs in front of them.....
Hiking out to the old settler's reservoir....
Checking out a ton more petroglyphs that we found....
Making our way down into the Overton Wash.....
Playing in the Overton Wash narrows, Josh finds his way into a big hole created by huge boulders....
Climbing up and over a dry waterfall on the way back out....
Trail Bud taking a similar line....
On our way out, we decided to do a quick night run up The Shitter Trail so that JeepCacher could get a little more play time on the rocks....
JeepCacher on the rocks....
Here's a shot of toad just after making her way up a tough rocky section....
And finally, here's Trail Bud with lights blazing ahead....
Being that we ended our journey back in Logandale, we decided to just drive back to our hotel and air back up there....
Without a doubt, this was one of the most amazing runs that we've done to date and WOLette and I are so grateful that we could do it with good friends. If you would like to see a ton more action shots of all the JK's that came on this run as well as a ton more scenic shots as well, simply click on the link below and you will have access to all 873 photos that were taken:
Project-JK Valley of Fire Presidents Day Weekend Run 2009 Photo Gallery
We look forward to hitting the trails with all of you again and soon!!
You guys really bring some pics to the table thanks for sharing