Wheeling in Elephant Butte, NM

Copied from my post at RubiconOwnersForum...

We arrived yesterday at the Elephant Butte Lake RV Resort for a week of pre-runs. Our water hookup to the coach froze up this morning but we always carry at least 25 gallons of water in the tank, so no worries . I added another 50 gallons this evening and we'll run on the tank water.

We are leading two 3.0 rated trails here and we pre-ran one of them today (White Rabbit.) It's way south of the campground (15-20 miles?) so it took a long time to get to the "trailhead." I have trailhead in quotation because 90-95% of the trail I would rate as a 2.0 or maybe a 2.5 but in the wash (all of the good wheeling is usually in canyons and washes out here) there were maybe three mandatory obstacles that we think bumped the trail up to a 3.5.

The folks that did the pre-pre-run did some light pruning of the brush and the small tree limbs but I found one on the first obstacle (I was leading the trail at this point) and Rubi's hood got a little mangled . This was a very sharp rock notch breakover next to the wash wall with a very small tree growing at the wall side. Even with my good breakover clearance I was struggling on this and finally drove into the short wall and the tree limb got me.

After I got over the notch with brute force I pulled out my tree saw (first time I've ever needed it) and whacked the remaining limbs out of the way and then started stacking rocks for the five behind me which included two four-doors.

Got everybody over the notch and then the next obstacle hung up a 4-door and he needed to be winched backwards, I placed a rock in a strategic place and he crawled up but he managed to put a gash in a sidewall. I pulled out my plug kit and plugged his tire and it held until he got to the highway. Another four-door had to be strapped up the other line on that obstacle but I wasn't there (I'm busy stacking rocks at the previous obstacle.)

It was a long day for a so-so trail.

Today we went on a pre-run for Slater Trail whose sole intention was to extend the trail past The Squeeze and doubling the length of the trail. As mentioned previously, lots of the trails in this area are in washes so that's where we were today.

For the first time ever, we needed to be strapped not once, but twice . The first strap was on the first optional obstacle was a fairly short rocky climb (not a big deal in and of itself) but there was water at the base of it and our MT/R Kevlars became totally packed with the sand/water mix and when we got on the correct line we kept falling off to the left. After three or four tries, I asked for a strap. Then there was a notch that I kept hanging up on and ultimately wound up so out of position I had to get a strap. Couldn't move forward and couldn't go backwards - yikes. Strap #2.

We made it to The Squeeze and after an hour of pick and shovel work on the wall, everybody got through.

When we went through The Squeeze, we slightly scraped our door frame and top - no big deal.

Fun day, fun obstacles and us guys had fun with the demo work - trail blazing was fun! We also had to take several branches off a mesquite tree that was overhanging in the wash after winching it out didn't work.

Hi John - I'm flying back tomorrow.  I can't wait to join back in the fun.    BTW, I'm just down from you in space 151.
Bill

Great Bill - looking forward to saying hi!

Video uploaded of me doing the newly passable "Squeeze" on Slater Trail.

It looks in need of a little C4.

John Canfield said:

Video uploaded of me doing the newly passable "Squeeze" on Slater Trail.

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Next time bring some Vaseline... Good job, it's always good to see how the experienced do it.

Bill - funny you should say that, I thought a quarter-stick of dynamite would have worked well.

Oscar Mike said:

Next time bring some Vaseline... Good job, it's always good to see how the experienced do it.

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It will be interesting to get a trail report when it's run next week.  I thought we should have knocked off more sandstone on the ledge opposite the wall.  The crew didn't want to make the obstacle too easy and they certainly succeeded.

Nice pictures and video again John.

Is there any gold in that sandstone?

hes4all said:

Is there any gold in that sandstone?

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Thanks Terry.  No gold AFAIK.

Our first 5.0 trail!

Yesterday we pre-ran Green Canyon and The Cabin trails, with The Cabin rated at 5.0. Green Canyon is a wash and I would call it a 4.0, and The Cabin is a gully/wash that climbs out of Green Canyon. Our very capable and experienced trail leader says The Cabin is rated a 5.0 due to the very steep (but short) waterfall when climbing out of the canyon which requires winching except for maybe buggies. The Cabin was very technical in a few places and one time I had to make a tight turn against a wall using my driver's slider to help spin me around, I have a long gash along the tube but that's what it's for.

Drop a tire in a hole at the base of the waterfall and you are going over backwards  - there's no second chance so even our trail leader (an LJ on 40s) winched up. The plan was for everybody to get their winches ready - controller hooked up, shackles ready and the winch on free-spool. When somebody was ready to climb the waterfall they pulled the winch line up of the guy behind as the trailing vehicle moved up to the waterfall base.

So when I was at the base of the waterfall and ready to make the climb, I locked the winch into high, front and rear were locked up, one hand on the steering wheel and another one on the winch controller, then make the climb while winching myself up. It was an interesting experience - one more addition to my rock-crawling bag of tricks .

Thanks for the  photos John. They confirmed my  commitment to  3.0 or  3.5 trails only!

Very sweet John, I want to do it!

Betty Brewer said:

Thanks for the  photos John. They confirmed my  commitment to  3.0 or  3.5 trails only!

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We like them also Betty!  With 4+ trails, there is a real possibility of body damage or other breakage, on 3-3.5 trails, we can relax a bit and not pay such close attention.

hes4all said:

Very sweet John, I want to do it!

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You would absolutely like the trail.

Yep, cool lookig pics and video but not for me.  Call me a puss or whatever but too much time and money into mine to beat the hell out of the body.

Mike.

zmotorsports said:

Yep, cool lookig pics and video but not for me.  Call me a puss or whatever but too much time and money into mine to beat the hell out of the body.

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The armor takes most of the abuse, followed by me  .  I have a video uploading right now of Part One of The Cabin Trail, and I'll start the upload of Part Two in the morning.

I am leading two 3.0 trails this week and only have five signed up for each trail so that will make for a very nice day - might have another couple or three show up but that's fine.  I can easily take 13-15 with no worries.  Going on a 3.5 trail tomorrow with play areas so that should be a hoot.

Nice looking rig and trails! How does one join in on this fun?

You have to be a member of the Family Motor Coach Association and then apply for membership in the FMCA 4-Wheelers.

John Canfield said:

You have to be a member of the Family Motor Coach Association and then apply for membership in the FMCA 4-Wheelers.

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My wife and I just joined the FMCA 4-Wheelers last week.  We are still working full-time so won't be able to attend too awfully many rallies but we would like to start attending some anyways and get to know a few more people.

Mike.

Welcome aboard Mike!  We have a great group (About 460 families) and are growing (almost growing too fast!)  Rallies are planned out through 2016 so we'll look forward to seeing you sometime.