UNOFFICAL & UPLANNED 50th Annual Moab Easter Jeep Safari WAYALIFE Adventure 2016

wayoflife

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As much as Cindy and I love Moab, attending the annual Easter Jeep Safari was just becoming way too much work for us and far from being the fun that it used to be. After all, we got into Jeepin to get away from the crowds - not to surround ourselves with them. So, a couple of years ago, we decided that we'd still make regular treks out to Moab but we'd do it off season and when there weren't so many people out there. Needless to say, heading out to the 50th Anniversary of the Easter Jeep Safari where they were expecting thousands of more people than normal wasn't exactly something we would have preferred to do but, it is something that we ultimately did end up doing or should I say, for a part of it anyway.

After watching Mel race EVO 1 at the Mint 400 down in Las Vegas, we got an invite from our friend Jim at Dynatrac and he had asked if we could come out to Moab for a couple of days and help him with a photoshoot. Turns out that he was in need of another Jeep to use as a prop and another driver to help drive one of the other Jeeps he had with him. And, being that we had nothing better to do, were already down in Vegas and that this would all take place a week BEFORE the Easter Jeep Safari, we decided what the heck. Of course, once we were in Moab, there was always another reason why we needed to say longer and before we knew it, two days quickly turned into a week and then some.

Because we weren't really planning to do this trip at all and being that we were going more to help out than anything, we don't have as many pics to post up from our adventures and this is especially true of our time in Moab. However, we were able to snap a few and I hope you'll enjoy them just the same. :cool:

Here's a shot of Rubicat with the brand new set of Cooper Discoverer STT Pros that we had literally installed onto our ATX Chamber Pro II bead lock wheels a couple of days before. This was taken just as we were leaving Primm, NV after watching Mel place 2nd in EVO 1 at the Mint 400 Race.
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Heading east and crossing into Arizona.
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Unfortunately, there was a crazy amount of bumper to bumper traffic in the Virgin River Gorge.
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Fortunately, the traffic did eventually clear up and before we knew it, we were crossing into Utah.
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Light speed for a Jeep! Gotta love the 80 MPH speed limits in Utah.
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Capitol Reef - Cathedral Valley
Rather than head straight to Moab, Cindy and I decided to take a side route across Highway 24 and through Capitol Reef. Here's a couple of shots of us taking a break along the shores of the Koosharem Reservoir.
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Crossing into Capitol Reef National Park.
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What makes the Waterpocket Fold area of Capitol Reef so cool is that you can literally see sedimentary rock records dating back to 270 million years ago everywhere.
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Our plan for the day was to make a trek into the Cathedral Valley which is located in the northeast corner of the park. To do this, we needed to ford the Fremont River which is normally more of a shallow creek than anything but, when we were there, the water was a bit deeper and flowing quite fast. In reality, it was nothing difficult but here's a short clip of what it looked like.

On the other side with chocolate powdered Cooper STT Pros.
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Continuing our way up toward the Bentonite Hills.
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Up in the barren Bentonite Hills where it feels like you're driving on the Moon.
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Looking across the Cathedral Valley and enjoying the breathtaking view.
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Heading down into the Cathedral Valley.
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Making a stop to check out the Gypsum Sink Hole.
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It's hard to capture the true scale of this sink hole but it was created as gypsum that once resided underneath the ground dissolved over time.
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Heading out to a monolith known as the Temple of the Sun.
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And this monolith is know as the Temple of the Moon.
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After paying homage at the Temple of the Sun and Moon, we made a stop over at a geological feature known as the Glass Mountain. Unlike the name suggests, this mountain is more of a large mound than anything and it's actually made of large selenite crystals or gypsum. 165 million years ago, gypsum was deposited and buried under sediments here as sea water evaporated and then over time, it migrated up through fractures in the form of layers. From what I understand, a mound or dome like this is quite rare.
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Making our way out of the Cathedral Valley.
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Top of the World
The next day, we pulled into Moab a bit early and being that we wouldn't be able to check in till later that afternoon, Cindy and I decided to drive up along the shores of the Colorado River and out to a famous destination known as Top of the World.
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About as soon as we got started, we were stopped by an unexpected traffic jam... traffic jam of cattle.
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Past the 100 head of cattle, we eventually turned onto dirt and started our way up the trail.
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After having some fun wheeling, we finally made it to the Top of the World overlook.
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It sure is crazy high up here!
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Of course, no trip to the Top of the World would be complete without taking an iconic shot of our Jeep sitting on the edge of the diving board of a ledge.
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Shot from further back.
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Behind the Rocks
On our first official day of work, we met up with Dynatrac out on the Behind the Rocks trail. Their first set of shots would be under the Balcony Arch.
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Unfortunately, we weren't able to film or take many pics so we took shots of things like our aired down Cooper STT Pros.
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Being that I got the job of spotting, Cindy was able to snap off these pics of Dynatrac climbing Upchuck.
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Ohhh, how pretty.
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Quick shot out the window as Cindy drove Rubicat.
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Hell's Revenge
Our next photoshoot was to take place out on Hell's Revenge. For today, I got to drive this fun Jeep LJ that belongs to Jim and has a HEMI under the hood.
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Being that we've always come out during EJS, it was really cool to see the trail so empty.
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It's always fun driving on top of the fins.
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Setting up for the sunset and night shots.
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Yeah, the shot's blurry but it was hard to drive on top of a fin, in the dark and try to take an iPhone pic all at same time.
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Gold Bar Rim & Golden Crack
Our next photo shoot would take place on Gold Bar Rim, Golden Spike and we'd spend a good amount of our time at the Golden Crack.
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Cindy making the drop down Slide Rock in Rubicat.
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Cole making his way down.
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Coming down the steps.
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Pulling into the Golden Crack.
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Tessa scoping things out for us and picking out a good line.
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Time to take some photos!
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Couldn't pass up an opportunity to snap a few pics of Rubicat while we were here.
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Unfortunately, our day would be cut short after the Dynatrac JK broke a factory drag link.
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Fortunately, Cindy and I brought our welder with us and so we were at least able to make a solid trail repair.
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Cindy climbing up Slide Rock with ease.
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Jim carefully taking up the Dynatrac JK.
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Jim getting his LJ up as well.
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Cliffhanger
With the 50th Annual Moab Easter Jeep Safari in full swing, Cindy and I were so ready to head on home but got talked into doing one more run up Cliffhanger and with Jeep. Here's a shot of us lining up and getting ready to head out bright and early in the morning.
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Pulling onto the trail.
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There's an obstacle immediately after you cross Kane Springs Creek and there's two ways you can take it. To the left, there's an easier boulder climb and to the right, there's a steep rock face that can be a bit tougher if you don't have the break over angles or good traction. In this short clip, you'll get to see me in Rubicat taking on the right hand rock face side and without lockers on but only because I forgot to turn them on.

Coming around the cliff and getting ready for the drop.
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Out on the overlook having some lunch.
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On our way back.
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Clip of me making the climb back up the ledge on the edge.

A friend of Jim's made a turn just a bit early here and almost dumped his Jeep. Fortunately, we were right behind him and was able to winch him back.
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And finally, here's a short clip of me making the final climb up and out of Cliffhanger.

I know it wasn't much but I hope you enjoyed seeing the few pics and short video clips that Cindy and I were able to take while we were out on our unofficial and unplanned Moab EJS run. :cool:
 
Looks like a ton of fun! Thanks for sharing. I really like the patch you put on the Dynatrac Jk!
 
I am so enamored with the quality of your event pictures and the commentary used in the postings. Thank you for sharing.
 
Very cool! Thanks for posting this. :thumb:

This is one of the main reasons I came to this site. Well worth the price of admission.
 
This was my first year out to EJS and had an absolute blast but I definitely understand now what you mean about dealing with the crowds lol

Great pics and glad you guys got to have some fun out there.
 
it was crowded but I was lucky to have runs with good group of people, we had a great time. :thumb:
 
Amazing shots Cindy and Eddie! Looks like your uplands trip turned out to be a great one!
 
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