It was that time of year again and most of the 4-Wheel & Off-Road crew packed up and moved to Moab for Easter Jeep Safari in early April. Rick headed out with the green Ultimate Adventure FJ Cruiser in tow behind his '07 4x4 of the Year Dodge TRX4, our new guy Ali hitched a ride with Alan in his ZJ on 33s, and Jerrod set out to drive a topless, overly flogged Premudder K5 out to Moab and back. And Fred? Poor Fred had to stay home to find new dwellings after a recent eviction notice (well, not really an eviction notice, more of a double-your-rent notice).
But where were you this year? Moab seemed a little emptier than in years past (and it wasn't just because Fred wasn't around). It was as fun as ever, but we didn't see all of you there to enjoy it. Could it have been due to overinflated fuel prices, trail closures, or maybe both? Regardless, we were just glad to be able to get around on trails more easily, with less pile-ups. It's not that we don't miss you non-returnees, heck, we would love to see every one of our readers out there having a good time. But when Moab is less crowded, it means a chance for us (and you) to do a little more wheeling and a little less sitting.
Have we seen the climax of Moab? Is it on a downward spiral, or was this just an off year? Only time will tell, but one thing is for sure: There are fewer places to wheel in Moab this year than ever before, with some of the most famous obstacles closing up. This year Dump Bump shut its gates, Potato Salad Hill saw its last year of debauchery, and if you haven't heard, even Lion's Back has been closed forever. By this time next year you very well could be looking at condos as you wheel on Hell's Revenge. As long as populations are growing, you should expect more land closures, so do everyone a favor and join your local 4x4 club and let your voice be heard.
Toyotas are becoming a staple of the Moab experience. Though they have always been good wheeling and crawling rigs and have always been around, they made a bigger presence in Moab this year than in years past. In fact, besides Jeeps, a Toyota was probably the most common rig in town. | 
Speaking of Toyotas, check out ol' George Breakall in his flatbed Toyota with an exoskeleton, showing all the young hotshots how to take the extreme left side of Potato Salad Hill without slipping a tire. Nice job, George. You made it look like an art form. | 
Donahoe even showed up in Area BFE with its danged race FJ Cruiser. Huh?! This is supposed to be doing 60 mph through Baja, not 6 mph through the rocks! Even so, it did pretty darned well on the trail it was trying. Maybe someone should try entering a rockcrawler in a Baja race-they might not do that bad! |
Earlier in the week, we drove some high roads until we got to the snow with a few buddies. This time we had the honor of running with Jim McGean's seldom seen '79 F-250 on 39-inch Mickey Thompsons. We all love to see this classic truck on the trail, but Jim rarely has enough time to bring it out since he's too busy building Dynatrac axles. | 
If Potato Salad Hill is a playground, then this was a jungle gym. This monster buggy was driving back and forth and all over Potato Salad's main lines. In this picture he's not coming downhill, he's actually making a backwards run up the face. Maybe they should close it: It's just getting too easy. We need a new Potato Salad Hill! | 
The Coyote Trail is great, fun, and short (only about 1 1/2 miles) to run with constant obstacles the entire way through. A little over halfway in, you'll come to this giant rock that can be handled one of two ways. Scrubbing the side of your 4x4 against the rock wall is the easy way. We suggest you try the easy line the first time you hit this trail, after seeing the hard way. |
Behind the Rocks is a great trail to run, though it will take you a while to get back to the highway on a dirt road after the trail is over. We caught these two Moab locals coming out of the entrance, as the front truck's fuel pump had stopped working. His buddy in the back is actually shoving him down the face of this obstacle and the rest of the trail (he was almost tipped over right before we snapped this pic). Crazy locals. | 
Retro is "in" on the trails. In fact, nowadays, it's always in. Everyone loves seeing something different, and especially something reminiscent of a time that people smile about. Too often we see what we call the red TJ syndrome: red Wrangler, 4-inch lift, 35s, and that's about it. Why so much of the same? Because that's all a Rubicon needs to go almost anywhere! But to spectators and mag guys who need to show new stuff off, it gets old. | 
Something else starting to happen in Moab is the debut and testing of vehicles that you might someday buy. Jeep brought its Mopar Skunkworks fleet out to raise some stir about new Jeep products and to give fans something cool to drool over. From left to right are the diesel Grand Cherokee, the new diesel Liberty Liberator, the Skunkworks Kubota orange JK, a hardtop four-door JK, and the concept JT. |