Day 2, Sunday: Rattlesnake Alley, outside Boise
Our first day of trails took us to a hidden rock canyon not far from Boise that our local trail leaders, Howard Shields and Bill Taylor, refer to as Rattlesnake Alley. The Idaho Off-Road 4x4 Club hosted our team of 20 vehicles and took us to one of the toughest trails in their neck of the woods. Now there weren't a lot of woods where we went but rather a deep canyon surrounded by acres and acres of prairie grass. It was pretty wild because had you been on one of the local two-lane roads you would never guess that there was a world-class rockcrawling trail just behind that pasture full of cows. If you want to try this trail for yourself, you'll need to contact the locals at www.idaho4x4.com, because it's not the easiest place to find.
Once you find the trail it is anything but easy. As with any trail, this canyon shouldn't be attempted alone, or in an unqualified vehicle. One reason for this is that the name Rattlesnake Alley refers to the many reptilian residents amongst the lava rock. Though we were lucky to only encounter one such rattler, he was as big around as a grown man's arm, and was armed with eight rows of rattles telling us to bug off. However, even if your personal body comes out unscathed from any slithering snakebites, it doesn't mean your 4x4 is going to be free of bites from vicious rocks. The volcanic boulders reside in a bed of loose sandy gravel, and though some seem attached to the center of the earth, many are as loose as marbles and move continuously about under tire treads.
The trail consists of boulders ranging from basketball to hay-bale size that continuously shift under the weight of vehicles, with even larger ones hiding in their midst ready to claw at clean paint jobs and virgin rock sliders. Then just to make sure that Warn, our Official Winch sponsor, didn't think we had ignored them, the trail concludes with not one but two extremely steep and extremely tight rocky wedge climbs that had most attendees pulling and double-pulling cable. Of course it only got more exciting when the scorching hot day was relieved in a chilly thunderstorm to make the remaining obstacles just that much more difficult. It was a trail worth the long trip there, and the perfect way to break in any Ultimate Adventure newbies.
Thinking of Boise may not bring extreme rockcrawling to mind, but the Idaho Off-Road 4x4 club took us to a secluded canyon that would challenge any of the nation's best-built 4x4s. Trail leaders Howard Shields and Bill Taylor got our group through this Rattlesnake Alley with a few challenging trail repairs but no snakebites. | 
This first trail of Ultimate Adventure 2006 wasn't a warm-up trail, but rather a snake pit full of sharp lava rock that shifted position each time you tried to crawl over them. Mac McMillan of Yukon Gear, Scott Frary of Detroit Locker, and invited reader Nate Marsh dove right in behind our lead vehicle and helped sort out the many different lines over each obstacle. | 
UA alumnus and TV show host Trent McGee brought back trail jester and breakfast cook Sam Gillis as his copilot for the week. Trent was nice enough to let Sam drive on this first day of trail, but that may be since they were driving Trent's boss' Jeep. Nothing wheels like a rental. |
What would a trail day be without some burning metal repairs? Pint-sized blacksmith Tim Hardy can repair just about anything made of metal with just a few tools, and when the Fab Fours' Hemi-powered Suzuki Sumo broke a steering arm, Tim quickly had it repaired better than new. Note the extinguisher ready to keep the dry grass from flaming up due to random sparks. | 
Clifton Slay, proprietor of Poison Spyder Customs, went beyond the call of duty this year. Not only did he ride shotgun in the pink Jeep of his fiancee AJ, but he also loaned his orange Unlimited to UA veteran Tom Boyd, whose truck had a last-minute fatal break before the trip. This resulted in many days of hiking and spotting for old Clifton, but very little body damage to either rig because of it. | 
The Rattlesnake Alley trail ends with a serious winching climb taller than the wheelbase of even our biggest attendees. Returning reader Nate Marsh had the skins off his custom tube doors to combat the lack of visibility many fullsizes have, and completed the trail without any issues. Both returning readers Nate and John Hughbanks had changed their trucks for the better following UA 2005. |
The guys from Fab Fours, Greg Higgs and R.J. Lynn, had a rough first day on the trail. After breaking their steering they progressed slowly to the final waterfall climb. Unfortunately, when at such a steep incline, their fuel pickup had the underhood Hemi starving until it shut down. Then to make matters worse, when winching up the climb some tubing in their frame literally tore apart and the front of the frame with bumper and winch attached broke free. Before we could get back to repair their frame, a group effort of three winch vehicles helped drag their maimed Suzuki up to level ground. | 
As stubborn as UA alumnus Tim Hardy is, even he opted for the eight-man winch system to help drag his go-cart-sized Suzuki up the final climb of the day | 
Before the end of the day a ferocious thunderstorm rolled in over our canyon of lava rocks and added just enough moisture to make easy obstacles more challenging. BFGoodrich Tires' Fred Perry offered a hand to Scott Sweeny and his Tuff Country-emblazoned Toyota tube truck when the wet rocks kept slip sliding around underneath. |