What a Trip DMC: Grand Canyon 2013

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Oct 2013

So last year in August Kayla and I flew out to see her sister in DC. As we flew over the Mojave Desert gazing out the window looking at how much there is to explore out there. Next thing knew we were right over the Grand Canyon. I snapped a few shots continued to stare.

Would it be possible to take dirt all the way from barstow? When i got back I called up Scott.(sdecurti)
And said, "Dude, We gotta do a run to Grand Canyon. You think it's possible? " A few days later Scotty shoots me over a rough draft and said yea man it's 100% doable.

After countless ours of map making / planning We rallied the troops and gave plenty of time for major prep and maintenance. We knew going in this trip was going to be punishing on the trucks and our bodies. Close 1000 miles total for most and 400/500 of those miles were dirt. 5 days Wednesday night- Sunday. 2 nights camping 2 nights in hotels.


Wednesday Night at Barstow Del. 10 pm
Prep for battle
9 Trucks

We all topped up our tanks and hit the pike. I-40 to Ludlow or "Ledew" as some of our group was calling it. We drove in a few miles and set up camp. It was like daylight with the full moon out there.

 

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The next morning we wanted to get a early start on the trail because we had about 110 miles to cover to make it into Laughlin
We packed up camp and hit the trail. Moving at a pretty good pace we get into a awesome sand dune section maybe 12 miles in.
Scott calls out over the radio I need to stop I'm starting to overheat.
We all pull up and sure enough the line that goes to the heater core had split. We all rummaged through our tool boxes and some one had a hose that would fit.

zz

Lost Sole

We topped up the coolant/burped the system and got back underway.

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We now had some serious miles laid down and we had merged on to the mojave road trail which most of us have run 5+ times. posted up for lunch just past mid hills camp ground after I picked up all of the wrenches that Steveboy decided to leave on the trail after his Tool bag exploded! haha And I also picked up his Breather filter.
Ate lunch and hit the Trail again now entering the Joshua Tree forest tons of rad off camber sections/ tight turns/ wash outs/ruts

We get another call over the radio... My truck just shut off and wont restart! We all stop and walk back to Mai tai's yota.

End up having the a loose wire harness. down time was maybe 20 mins or so.

Quick stop at the School bus

 

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Next stop was a to make a memorial flag pole for our Good buddy Jonny B.

From this point we had a about 30 miles to Laughlin

Looking down on Colorado River

this canyon was epic into Laughlin

Day 2 Complete We made it to Harrah's! 120 Miles down lots to go. We hung out got dinner. Gambled a bit and hit the rack. Another long day was ahead of us.

 

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Rise and Shine

A little parking lot prep lol

Flaunt had bad leaf bushing

Pretty Clean Right ?

Loose Alignment Cams?

Eddie needed armor all

all of this led to a late start.
Never the less we hit the trail

Put my new Seat sliders to work and KW took the wheel!

 

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When in doubt ask a rancher for directions to trail head lol

 

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"stevyboy, post: 3446257, member: 29744"]
Here's my little write-up.

Started my weekend off stressing. On tuesday night I found that one of my electric fans (the small one I run continuously) was getting hot and only spinning at 1/4 speed. After I took my midterm on wednesday morning I came home pulled the fans out of the truck which means taking off the the top of the engine cage and all that, pulled the fan apart and then cracked the motor for it apart to see if I could fix it in any way.



I blew it out and sanded down all the brass parts and put it all back together and hoped for the best! by the time I got it all back together it was running late and I only had enough time to really pack the truck up, eat a little dinner and hit the road. I was planning on spending the afternoon doing a nut and bolt check and little things around the truck but that basically was all I had time for. I didn't even have enough time to really check to see if I had fixed the problem, all I knew was that the fan turned back on when I put it all back together and that I was driving out to the desert no matter what...

Gas'd up the truck and met Brian Metcho and Nikki on the road and convoyed to Barstow. To my avail the freaking fan was fixed!!! so excited. Everyone was there and really excited for the adventures we were about to partake on. All the dirt roads we were going to take would be new to me and I couldn't be happier.



I didn't get any pictures of the first night but Elliot did a good job of that. Here's my view coming down from the sand dunes to where Scotts truck blew a hose.



opened up the bat wings and let her breath.



On the Mojave trail. So much cactus!



We had Lucerne in our view at this point, it was the last pee break and then time to shower up, eat, and hit up the casino, but not before we did an amazing canyon trial right before we hit the road



Got to do some gambling. Turned $100 into $1 in 20 min. I was pretty excited. haha Luckily my wife was up $60 and then after I saw Scott win $250 on wheel of fortune I gave it a shot. I didn't know you had to do max bet to spin. Elliot said to, so I did and slammed my can of beer down on it and it hit SPIN! I was screemed and yelling like I had won already haha. I ended up with $67 bucks and cashed out. The hotel only cost $25 I believe so between my wife and I we won enough to pay for the hotel.




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Hit the road the next day after the parking lot prep. ANother great day of driving.



we were getting close to the GC and we all wanted to get there.






I let my wife drive....


Actually my wife drove about 1/4 of the trip offroad. She did really well, just needs more time behind the wheel for the tricky stuff.

I found this old coke can on the trail. I thought it was really cool at first before I new it was a coke can because it said 'please don't litter' then I looked through the rust and saw it said coke on the side.




We drove up to our camp sight. It was amazing. Scott did awesome finding this spot. We burnt the rest of the wood we brought, which was a ton, and had a huge night of partying.

 

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In the morning Jesse saw that the cams had cracked a little. We whipped out the mobile welder and went to work. 3 batteries wired up in series does the trick. After rewelding them we were out all the welding rod I had and again hoped for the best...

Pretty amazing view behind him too. about 20 feet further you was maybe a 500 ft cliff. I woudn't know I was too scared to get to close.



The morning stroll after a beautiful wilderpoo






I hung out here which was a cool view.




to be continued...

 

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Motiracer38, post: 3446566, member: 6064"]
I got a few pics and had a blast.

The campsite the first night.


Stevey woke up on the right side of the bed.


Flaunt getting a head start on the day.


Mikey inspecting his awesomeness.


Just Elliot.


So jealous of Metcho's trunk.

 

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Day one scenery:




Day two:







We ended up on a few trails like this, aka super fun.


And great scenery on the road that shall not be named.


Day 3 morning scenery was awesome.




Superman working on his truck oblivious of the view behind him.


And the steed that wouldn't let down.


Thanks for setting up a great trip and putting all the hard work in Scotty. Everyone on the trip was a great group of friends. Sorry for partying so hard Flaunt, your shin will heal. I know I said I was out to build a house and crap but the next epic trip, I am in for sure!

 

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Alright where did I leave off. Sorry had to get some Sleep the other night I was dead tired after all the driving and adrenaline rushes all weekend.


Had to bush wack our way across this part of the desert to the power line road... Seriously have no idea how I made it in 2wd lol There were some massive drop offs we had to drop down and climb up took everyone a bit to regroup... All I heard over the radio was oh man I think wasted my rocker panels lol or am going to be missing a bed side. Pretty sure Stevypop got stuff for a few moments had to throw it in 4 times four.

I was stoked on this shot haha. I'm standing on top of my truck saying "DUDE ! I can see both bumpers in the shot!"

Olive Dog Posted up

Nice little Friday drive.... Bless

 

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AJ this is for you

Driving this ridge for miles in heavy dust and then finally getting our first glimpse of the Canyon with the sunset lighting up the canyon walls Is an image that will be burned in my mind forever. Simply breathtaking.

The Mouse in its element.

Drove into our camp site... arrived just after dark... Way up on some Ranch that was open to the public.We all got pretty spread out heading camp after some miscommunication. Everyone was tired and hungry and ready to get out of the trucks. Scott had quite the locations picked out he was set on going there.... We all regrouped after 6 mile drive in from the ranch main gate.

Let me put it this way... You know let me the let my photos do the talking.

Mind Blown

So this one is taken from the peak in the above photo

Looking off the Peak.... check vegas out in the background

Metcho haha

 

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So we follow the Signs to Grand Canyon West Thinking we can basically pull up get out snap a few shots... stand there with our mouths open for 20 or so mins and hit the pike. Cause we got a long way to go and a short time to get there.

We come up to and airport. Helos all over the place....though Bobson was filming recoil 3. They directed us to the parking lot explained as mai tai said 30 bucks a pop and 2 -3 hrs tour and for me the big thing was no Dags allowed we had to put them in a kennel.

Olive told me Aint nobody go time for that

So we did a group vote... and all were bummed but just didnt have the time to spend to hit primm that night.

so we loaded up and hit the road and headed for Lake mead for lunch after snapping group shot.

 

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We all forgot about it pretty quick

after shredding one of the best sand washes i have driven.

Smiles were ear to ear....

lunch time in a little cove right on Lake Mead

Harmony even took a little dip in the lake!

 

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Back out that sand wash to a section of epic rollers sweeping truns. Every one dropped the hammer through here. Calling out things for each other really helped the back of the pack in the dust.

We all were extremely low on fuel.... everyone had dumped their jerry cans I was below E lol
Hit the highway i was 97 % sure i was going to run out of gas putting it in netral down all of the hills on the highway. We passed the hoover dam exit and found a station!

We had made it!

Next stop was the Hoover Dam

 

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Then we hit the dirt to primm. up and over the mountians trail was the most challenging trail i have done in 2 wd drive.It is truly amazing what you can take a 2wd truck through with a locker and some skill... all of our group did awesome we had not one issue with driver error. Getting stuck or bad line selection.. We finally made it out of the mountains back on to the open desert with primm in our sites... Jesse exploder got a rear flat

We changed that out with the help of everyone. Such a great group everyone one is ready to jump in as it was their own truck.
Finally about 10 pm we pulled into Primm.... We celebrated at the tree bar for after completing 400 miles of dirt.
Most of us retired pretty early. A few of us hadnt had enough yet. Scotty, Stevypop and Eddie and I decided that the highway was for quiters. we were taking the dirt into barstow.
So 3 hrs later we pulled into barstow Del where we had started just a few days prior.

 

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This trip was by far the gnarliest trip I have ever driven/been of part of planning. Scott was a absolute wizard mapping this run out. Thank you for all of your hard work. I seriously still cant believe we pulled it off and I've been home for 3 days. This trip, as everyone has said is going to be tough to top but we sure are gunna give it hell trying! Seriously, some of of the sections of this trip are the best times I've had in the desert.

Everyone can do this! Get a plan together, get some buddies, go prepared for the worst, Prep your truck. and go. Theres no secret here, it's just about doing it. Don't talk about it online. Go see what the dirt has to offer.



It's all about dirt miles...