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Hello everyone! Fresh back from another adventure through the north end of the state. It's always incredible to drive through Arizona and see how truly diverse the landscape, geography, people, and the weather can be here. It's amazing. Folks on this trip included: @Bradywgn71 @theksmith @Dennis Szymanski @Ken Ford @Mick Bowers @AZRNintheJeep242 @OffroadFun @Curly For this adventure we laid down the miles and met up in Seligman at the famous Roadkill Cafe, right on old Route 66. It's a sleepy little down, but one full of history and interesting things to look at. We enjoyed a hearty breakfast at the Roadkill Cafe and then jumped on a beautiful section of Old Route 66 on our way into Peach Springs. The road was nice and smooth, the white plains of grass ebbed up and down with the mesas and plateaus in the distance. We descended into Peach Springs, a very small town on the Hualapai reservation, and quickly found the Hualapai Lodge. Across the street next to a market was the one-room office that Hualapai Game & Fish uses for their permit operations. We queued up in line, paid out $16.27 per person, and then received our "Permit to Trespass" down to the Colorado River via Diamond Creek Road. As we aired down, someone noted that the BNSF railway had trains thundering through on almost 15 minute intervals. After we were aired down, we hit the trail, which was literally across the street. After passing through the pretty depressing suburbs of the reservation, the views quickly opened up into pristine and towering canyon walls. The road was graded in some spots and bumpy in others. We only saw 3 other vehicles our entire time on the road - with an additional stop by a Hualapai Ranger who meticulously checked every permit in the group with a discerning eye. You can see my permit jammed up on the center of the windshield. Running deeper and deeper into the canyon, the walls grew taller and taller. Eventually they topped out at almost 3,000 feet above road level. Not as deep as the well-known south rim of the Grand Canyon, but 3K feet of vertical rock ain't nothin' to sniff at. For reference, I shoot with a 35mm camera - this gives you the approximate field of view of the average human eyeball. Hopefully that puts some of these images in perspective. We drove through the thickest ocotillo forest I've personally seen here in the southwest. They were everywhere, green, and thick with life. We made multiple creek crossing over Diamond Creek, which was bubbling and flowing with crystal clear water every few thousand feet. After about an hour, we made it to the mighty Colorado. The water was MOVIN'. Like really moving. You could see powerful ripples in the river as it moved over the rocky bottom, scraping the sides of the canyon and picking up silt and mud. Checking the topographical maps, the peaks around us topped about 4,600ft above sea level - the river is at 1,300ft. Fun Fact: The elevation of the Colorado River at Bright Angel in the GCNP near the South Rim visitor center is 2,540ft above sea level, so there is more than a 1,000 foot drop over in water surface level about 125 miles. This helps explain the extreme momentum of the river. By the time the river hits Lake Havasu you're just 440 ft above sea level. The surrounding canyon walls on the South Rim are 7,000ft and over 8,000 at the North Rim. Here's the crew checking out the river. We broke to lunch at some nice pavilions with concrete tables with the roar of the river in the distance. After lunch, we made our way out the canyon. We made it back to Peach Springs, aired up, and headed up the 66, connecting to I40 into Williams. After a brief fuel stop, we made our way to camp for drinks and some fireside socializing (always my favorite part of every trip!) The next morning - we packed up and started our whirlwind tour of the wonders Kaibab NF has to offer - starting with the grand daddy of them all - Sycamore Canyon - Arizona's little known 2nd largest canyon. We had several first-timers with us who had never seen or heard of the canyon. Here's a nice shot of Dennis and Jeanine ogling the canyon and the snow-capped peaks of the San Francisco Mountains :) Here's the view they were taking in: A few years ago the Raphael Fire swept through the canyon. Note the burned trees along the canyon wall in the foreground: After "oohing and aaahing" the canyon, we headed north to connect with Sarah, Chris, Devon, & Tim. Sarah brought doughnuts! YUM! Our next destination was nicely labeled: If you know - you know: Our plans to check out the Hardy Hill Trestle didn't pan out as there was a large tree blocking the trail, so we took an alternative route down a pipeline trail, which was surprisingly pretty. We made our way to Johnson Crater, an approx 1km wide hole in the ground. The story on it is its either a sinkhole or somehow related to past volcanic activity. We then made another fuel stop in Williams and made our way to camp. The site we stayed at on Friday night was so nice, we decided to do it all over again! Here's Jack's neat "spaceship tent". Ken - setting up the Leslie's Pool Guy truck camper shell: Dennis and Jeanine's nice custom overland trailer and RTT setup: Darryl's rig, blending in to it's surroundings: Here's Kristoffer - enjoying breakfast in the sunrise the next morning: Marty's Betty Lou: Mick's sweet trail limo: Sunday morning we took Jerome-Perkinsville Road into Jerome, stopping a few times to take in the views. Government Canyon was pretty neat, hidden beneath a pretty inconspicuous bridge. Of course, it wouldn't be ORP without some shenanigans! This photo makes me think ORP is about the drop the sickest alt-rock album of 2023: "Boats & Hoes" Jumping back on the trail, things were pretty dusty (for most of the trip!). The switchbacks always make for fun photos: We stopped at the Perkinsville Bridge for a quick photo and to check out the Verde River. The views all along J-P road are always stellar: All in all - it was a great trip with a great group of people. I love the ORP fam! Thank you all for coming out and making it such a great and memorable trip!

For the last several years George and I have found ourselves yearning to spend more time at the beach. After moving to Kingman, the wish turned more into our constant focus, to the point that we're planning to move to Mexico within the next year or so, to invent a beach-bum lifestyle for ourselves. Obviously, numerous logistic issues arise in terms of our ORP responsibilities when considering an international move, and under these circumstances George and I can't devote the kind of time and energy that we feel ORP deserves. While it was a very difficult and emotionally bittersweet decision, we've sold our interest in Offroad Passport to Kristoffer, and we're confident that he will carry on the vision of ORP we all three always shared. Offroad Passport is the most worthwhile thing that either George or I have ever done. It's gone from the idea of 3 wheeling buddies into a thriving community of helpful and considerate adventure-minded folks. Considering the places that we traveled to, the things that we saw, the experiences we experienced, the people we met, and the friends we made; this turned out way beyond any of our wildest imaginations back in the day. And thankfully us 3 original wheeling buddies remain friends today, even as we go through life changes. We're super enthusiastic for the future of the club and will still be members, attending adventures and events as time/travel allows.

She is named after my 2nd cousin - Grace Mildred. I had only met Grace 2x in my life, probably 20 years ago, and she seemed pretty nice. In 2018 her home in Paradise, CA burnt down, and she was in a hotel in Chico CA with her dog, widowed, age 90, with no children, no belongings except her and her dog and her car. So I flew in and drove her to her brother's in NY. We got along famously on that one week trip in December across the snow filled US 80, and every time that I visited my mom and dad in nw PA, I went to see her. We talked often on the phone. She passed in October 2022 and I still miss the dear friend. This one was from her, for her. Meet Millie.

Introducing Bumble, our new Jeep. Bumble is a 2023 Sport S with a V6/Automatic. After many years of driving Barbie, we decided an upgrade was due, so we made the change. We already have the Mopar 2 inch lift installed and will be buying tires soon. We named it Bumble after the snow man from the Rudolph cartoon. We are already having fun with the name. A Rubicon style name graphic is on order for the hood and the graphics shown below will go on the windows. No big plans for modifications. We will add or change what is needed to continue doing the trails we have done in Barbie. I am impressed with how high the jeep sits with the Mopar lift. It is supposed to be 2.5, it feels like more.

just got back from Alaska, and a highlight of the trip was the all-day backcountry tour we did where we drove a couple of Argo 8x8 Conquest 950 Outfitter series rigs with aftermarket tracks. the adventure was through Destination Alaska Charters, a family business in Homer. the owner Scott was our main guide, along with one of his employees, Timmy. we got to do all the driving though. this part of Alaska in the summer is primarily really wet mud. often where there's grass or brush, there's still insanely deep mud waiting just an inch below the surface - found as soon as you step or drive there. 20230612_124032.mp4 even 6x6 side-by-side rigs get stuck easily here. but this is where the fully sealed, smooth bottom, high-floatation Argo's excel. they aren't very fast (maybe 11mph max), but they churn through muck and can float in rivers. they even have built-in bilge pumps! with the optional tracks installed, the 8x8s are *nearly* unstoppable. we did manage to need the winches a couple times though! 20230612_115158.mp4 the Argos have a hybrid skid-steer type system that is a bit sensitive and takes some getting used to. there's a normal looking handlebar, but turning it actually engages brakes on either side so you get sort of a tank steering effect. we didn't manage to find any wildlife besides ptarmigans, but we did see fairly recent tracks from a moose with 2 calves and some huge prints from a bear that seem to be tracking them. this tour was expensive, but IMO totally worth it to experience driving a unique type of rig in one of the most scenic areas of the country. and for those that know me, i'm sure you're wondering... no i didn't wear my trail flops as they provide these suave waders instead!

We joined a small group of capable offroad vehicles for an “easy forest service” road picnic. This was a chance to test out our 4x4 that had been making a weird rattle noise for sometime. We started in Williamson Valley and the plan was to have a nice lunch and exit through Skull Valley area near Iron Springs Road. It was a beautiful sunny day and the first portion of the trail was easy sandy roads with some minor running streams. We had to turn around once as one of the trucks wouldn’t have made a stream crossing. Not a big deal it happens. We then took a long route up to a ridgeline with nice views of the mountains towards Baghdad, AZ. In the middle of nowhere we came across a rancher with a flatbed Unimog. He stated it had been stuck in deep mud for several days and he just got it out. He warned us to be careful the trail had some deep mud but with our built rigs we should be ok. We thanked him and moved along. **This was one of those here is your sign moments** We found the spot he had been stuck in but it was only a short section and we made it through with horsepower and careful placement. A little further on we found our first quicksand/mud area. The lead vehicle (suburban) sunk in front of us. With a heavy Factor 55 kinetic rope we were easily able to pull him back. During this time one of the group members, in a very nicely modified Gladiator, attempted to come around that area but found even deeper mud. Sunk his whole rear end and not going to move. He had to use his winch line to pull himself up and out of that. 20230325_132312.mp4 We continued and the trail became the normal rocky Arizona forest road with not much difficultly. Along the way we stopped for a BBQ lunch and enjoyed finally getting out after a long winter. After lunch, we joined a larger main easy road and made our way to Skull Valley. Lots of running water but no mud and no issues. We were a few miles from town and hit a locked gate. Such a bummer. We were told it was a 50/50 chance on the gate being open. Not our lucky day. The trail leader knew this area well and we had two other options. A direct route back to Williamson Valley on a newer small forest service road or a power line trail to the south. Our group chose the shorter route since storms were in the area and it was later than expected. We had some kids who needed to get home and animals at home that needed fed. We made our way to the north and the trail was fine. A few small stream crossings but nothing much. As we were about halfway to being done with this spur trail the Suburban in front of us just sunk in seconds. The trail was dry and it was a big surprise. Turns out there was a crust of dry dirt over “mud soup”. It was clear none of us could go forward with the trail melting in front of us. Chris was behind the Suburban and we attached our winch line and attempted to drag him backwards. Unfortunately, our big Grand Cherokee (on one-tons) then also broke through the crust and sunk on the right side all the way to the frame. The entire 37” tires gone on the right side and no hope of moving. The whole front right bumper at ground level. This was the most stuck we have ever been in years of wheeling. We had to shuffle the group a bit and got the big Gladiator behind us. He attempted to winch us, but our Jeep refused to move. The mud was too deep. Tires turning freely and no hoping of escaping the mud soup/quicksand crap! Chris tried to then pull himself forward using the Suburban as an anchor, but it just wouldn’t move. Our jeep was sunk. The Gladiator then got turned around and got out his kinetic rope. We are so thankful he had this!! We pulled a stupid and all our recovery gear, except for 1 soft shackle, was sitting in our other jeep at home! Now that is super helpful and not our usual!! The Gladiator had to take several attempts at pulling us out but eventually got the big WJ pulled backwards to a small patch of more solid ground. See Video. By this time it was dark out and getting cold fast. Snow was even starting to spit at us! Not ideal for sure. Now the issue of getting the first vehicle pulled out started. For several hours the group tried multiple plans that failed. Finally, Chris was attached to the Gladiator with a tow rope. Then the Gladiator was attached to the Suburban with that kinetic rope. They took several shots at it and finally after a long time and much shoveling of mud the vehicle finally was forcefully yanked out of its happy mudhole. They had to drag him around 30 feet backwards. This was around 7pm. I’m sorry I don’t have video at this time or photos of this one as I was helping spot and communicate to Chris. I should add we were all soaked with mud and one of he guys even lost his boots to the mud and was barefoot in this cold. Additionally there were some minor injuries to hands and feet from helping out during the recovery. The bushes were not kind in this area and the shoveling was rough without gloves for some of the people. Link to us getting dragged out of the first sinkhole spot: https://photos.app.goo.gl/XuDbYQ9NUMnwmJru6 One other “fun” factor was there was almost no cell signal in this area. The one group member was able to get a text out to a panicked mom (was a friend of one of the other kids who was with us that day) and get someone to take care of her horses. After that the cell signal died and no one could get messages out. Totally alone and miles from a “town”. The group then backtracked and hoped to smoothly get back to the main road so we could try going home on the powerline trail. We were in the lead and navigating in the dark. I’m thankful I was recording the gpx track. As we were approaching a stream area, we knew we needed to stay hard left as and then make a turn up the bank to the right out of the stream. This was all solid when we went in but leaving the earth opened up swallowing the front right of our jeep into quicksand. We sunk over the front right bumper and leaned hard into the bank on the passenger side. There was no going forward or back, and we were again stuck. This time though we had stream water coming in and filling the passenger side. I couldn’t get out of the vehicle to pull the winch line so our team leader had to come through the water and mud to pull our line to a tree. Thankfully in this area there was a large tree. Our jeep also decided in this moment to break the window regulator, so the driver’s back window was down. Karma considered running away during this moment! Our winch pulled us out thankfully and we got up to the dry bank in maybe 15 minutes. This was certainly a surprise and I’m thankful for our good Warn 10k winch. It would have been helpful earlier to have our full recovery gear, but we thought we were going to make it back out to the main road where we started this spur trail. However, the truck behind us was mostly stock and we warned her to try to avoid the hole we just ended up in. She unfortunately also found the sink hole that had expanded since we got out of it. She sunk even deeper than we did and we later learned she had some electrical damage. Chris flipped around and tried from multiple angles to pull her out using the winch. We were limited on dry ground and didn’t want to sink in the steam as then the whole group would be blocked by us. NO such luck. She was stuck too deep and the bank in front of her right front tire was too steep. Chris then turned around and we tried to use the kinetic rope to pull her forward. Tried again several times and several angles. Even tried backing up the steep bank on the other side of the stream but we started to sink, and we all agreed this wasn’t working. This is after she pulled back. She was sunk in about 4ft deep on her right front when up at the bank wall. We moved our Jeep out of the way while the rest of the group scouted the area around us to see how we were going to get her out and the rest of the group around this deep sinkhole. The Gladiator then pulled her backwards and the group had to bushwhack up and around the trail. The issue now is a very steep bank (8 ft vertical) that dropped the truck on her nose, and she couldn’t make it to the other side of the stream. One of the guys attempted to shovel out her front to find her tow point but couldn’t find it. They had to pull her backwards and hang by the rope and then one of the guys attached the tow strap. That was scary! Chris then dragged her out and up to a safe area. I hate having to go off trail and do this, but we’d otherwise be spending the night, abandoning vehicles, and walking out. With the cold this got scary fast. Lot of prayers said. My poor dog was shaking from fear and all the rough rope pulls. Most of us were shivering badly in this area for hours. The group was amazing despite this. Everyone worked well together, communicated respectfully, and even tried to bring humor to a very very tough evening. While the rest of the group was making it through “the bypass around” and dropping into the creek, we noticed the truck’s tire was flat. This is when we discovered she didn’t have a spare. A few of the guys attempted to see if it could be plugged but it turned out to be her inner TPMS valve was leaking. They fixed that but later found that the bead had come off and wouldn’t reseal due to all the mud and sand. We continued to lead the way out and in the dark it was a challenge. We kept needing to stop to fill the truck tire with air but eventually she decided to leave her vehicle at the main road once we got back there. So now it is around 1am and we have to try the Powerline trail. Our nerves were fried but the group was successful and it turned out that the powerline trail was in much better shape and limited mud and no sink holes. We made it to a main gravel road and out to Williamson Valley by around 230am. Home by 3am. In reflecting on the situation a lot went right but we certainly could do better in the future. Hopefully no mud sinkhole futures for us again and we won’t be wheeling in areas that get this much water or snow. There have been record amounts of rain and snow in central Arizona so please be careful. I swear I have mud PTSD now. We were on trail almost 16 hours not counting the time for lunch. What a long day! We did make some new friends and have a crazy story to tell!! The woman was brought back to her truck the next morning with a spare tire. We spent the next day cleaning the jeep and are still trying to dry out the r side. I am shocked but no major damage. Lost a spot mirror, a few new scratches, need to fix the window regulator, regrease everything, and check the diff fluid. Lesson Learned/Tips -Actually, pack your recovery gear in the vehicle you are in. We are now building a full second recovery kit so we have a dedicated set. We are adding a factor 55 winch line repair tool https://factor55.com/product/fast-fid-new/ We are adding heavy 1” kinetic rope likely the Yankum Ropes https://yankum.com/collections/kinetic-recovery-ropes/products/rattler-kinetic-recovery-rope?variant=39734984999118 made for 1 ton vehicles (we weigh around 6500lbs), and adding a winch retention pulley https://factor55.com/product/rope-retention-pulley/ and some extra soft shackles. A warn 10K winch not enough with a straight pull for this mud. Had we had the donut tool we could have doubled the winch line for more strength. In the first sinkhole there were no trees so that was not helpful either. - I'm thankful we all knew how to use the winch, what tools would work best, and working together we were able to make it home that night. Some of the guys race in King of the Hammers and have a ton of trail recovery experience. I am so thankful we were with awesome people who were committed to not leaving anyone behind and doing it as safely as possible. -Kinetic ropes are amazing in these conditions. It really is the only thing that saved all of us all evening. I highlight recommend you get a good quality one. -Understand that with the months of rain and snow Prescott National Forrest in this area is soaked and even if the trail looks dry underneath it likely is not. This area and further north are going to need a long time to dry. Seen two other friends get seriously stuck in the Camp Woods area recently. -Make sure to have a full set of spare clothes and warm weather gear. We personally had winter jackets but could have used a change of pants and socks. Others in the group needed heavy jackets for this freezing nighttime temps. Don’t forget your dogs too and bring jackets if they need them. -Add extra hand warmers for other members of the group. Add emergency blankets and other items to stay warm. We had about 4 handwarmers but not enough to pass out to everyone. We personally could have slept the night (even with the open window) and would have made it. -Have extra high-quality flashlights with enough battery life to get you through the night. We personally had 3 flashlights to be able to help with the recovery but discovered 2 of them were crappy. I have ordered better ones. The waterproof flashlight came out handy when our jeep took on water and of course the flashlight fell into the water!! -Have your active Garmin In -Reach or Spot. Are we were in had zero cell signal. We hadn’t been trail riding much and had deactivated it to save money. But looking back this should have been on and could have gotten us help sooner. We just said oh it’s an easy picnic forest service road shouldn’t be any issue. Have cellphone numbers to text through Garmin or Spot when you need help. -Pack an extra meal and more water than you think you need. Other members needed food and water and we were limited in what we could share. Needless to say we were super hungry from eating lunch at 1pm and getting home at 3am! Pack extra meal and water for your dogs too! I had plenty of snacks for them so they were fine thankfully. -Harness your dogs and have a net or attach them to the jeep somehow. Karma went flying at one point and hit the dash super hard during a pull. I couldn’t have her and Cooper out of the Jeep and help. Plus it was in theory safer inside than in the mud and cold. Dogs are ok but it could have been worse for sure. -Make sure to tell someone what area and preferably what specific trails you plan to run and when you plan to get back. I tried sending a text at 3pm to a friend saying where we were but it never transmitted until 1am. Lessons we got right -Knowing how to navigate your way out if the trail leader can’t or if someone’s device fails. -Knowing where your first aid is and how to use it -Know how to use your recovery gear and be prepared to use it for others benefit. -Know hand signals for winching and winching safety. Be able to communicate effectively under stress was key for us. -Know how to trail repair a tire. Have someone with on board air to continually refill a tire that can’t be repaired -Have a SPARE tire. - Bring extra gloves -Bring full size shovel. We only had one for the whole group which slowed down the digging out of the vehicle. -Have a bottle jack available. High lift was available but didn’t work for the vehicle we needed to use it on. -Had extra blankets in case we had to sleep in the Jeep that night -Have hiking boots for when you need to walk to town - Communication with GMRS and had an extra radio to share. Despite being a new group we ran with everyone was patient, respectful, and worked very well as a team. They even kept a sense of humor even thought the situation is dire! -Ask for help. We had some newer people on the trail but they did a great job of staying calm and asking for help when they needed it. Everyone was excellent at making sure they were as comfortable as they could be and being supportive. So that is the story of our long Saturday night on an “easy forest service road”. I am so thankful we made it home and will be making changes to what we bring on “just a day trip.” I may have more videos of us being recovered but trying to obtain those.

Got the rocksliders installed today. I went with the LOD signature series sliders. Heavy as hell, but a pretty easy install. I had to grind one bolt hole a bit larger. We are ready to go offroading!!

"The only way you can predict the future is to build it." ~ Alan Kay Everyone please join me in wishing George and Diane well on their next adventure! I'm going to miss having you two as partners immensely, but am happy to know you'll be fulfilling a new dream. We've worked together so well over these past 13+ years to foster a great community. Thank you so much for all the love and hard work you've put into Offroad Passport. I will continue to look after the website and club with the same dedication you've always shown. I want to assure all our members, who are the life-blood of Offroad Passport, that nothing else is changing. The site will still look the same for the foreseeable future. We'll still have the Gala, the Holiday Party, and all the other exciting adventures that we're known for.

Class dismy

Started today by washing Barbie for the last time. Sold her this afternoon. My first Jeep, first 4x4. 18 years of ownership. More than anything else, this Jeep changed our lives. We have met so many fine people and had so many memorable trips. She is headed for Apache Junction with a young man and his dreams of building his first jeep. I hope he enjoys her as much as we have.

@SonoranWanderer @Michael Trapschuh @Gonzo-Ralph and myself made the trek from Carefee to Dugas via the Verde Rim. We were rewarded with magnificent views of stunning scenery accentuated by color from the wildflower bloom. The run went off without a hitch. The only hiccup was that access to the Verde River was blocked for whatever reason. I guess the government is afraid we would have drowned ourselves in the swollen river. Thanks again to everyone who made it out today! Here are some of my attempts at photos (I hate taking pictures by the way) lol!

Spent the last three days hiking the corridor trails at the Grand Canyon for my volunteer “job”. I know most of Arizona the canyon has had a wetter than normal winter. Here are a couple of pictures of the icicles on the upper part of the Bright Angel trail Also, if the park service recommends shoe traction devices please, please believe them. Some of the slip and falls I witnessed were very, scary.

It's official now. Bumble has his Hood Sticker and some window stickers too. 😎

Starting to do some mods to get Bumble Trail ready. Installed larger, wider off road tires today. Went from 31 to 33 inch. They sales guy at Discount tire talked me into wider rims and I am glad he did. These are about 1.5 inches wider and have a more positive offset, helping to visually fill wheel wells. Plus, I am VERY happy with how the new rims look. When we brought it home: New Tires and rims Installed Seat covers on the front seats. We always cover the seats in any vehicle we buy. This protects them from my butt sliding across the cushion on the way in and out. Removed the rear seats so we can maximize the room for camping gear. Lots of room back here! Next up, Rock sliders. We are leaning towards the LoD brand.

pano from the second night's camp on Table Mountain saddle. in the far distance, you can see both Mt Lemmon (left edge) and Mt Graham (near the right edge)!

Out with the old and in with the new. I traded in the 2020 Gladiator Mojave for a 2023 RAM 2500 Rebel HD. I wanted 5th wheel towing capability but I did not entirely want to give up offroad chops. The Power Wagon is light in payload and towing, but this new Rebel HD at 2750 payload and 16800 towing (as configured) splits the difference between a Power Wagon and pure street towing pickup. This a new trim level for the 2023 model year. You can get them with either a 6.7L Cummings or a 6,4 Liter HEMI, but beware due to the softer than street suspension of the Rebel, the diesel engine cuts nearly a thousand pound off of the payload and 2K pounds off of towing. Also, diesel models cannot be had with the factory winch option as the intercooler goes where the winch would. Because towing and factory winch, I ordered the HEMI option. Strangely enough, Stellantis anticipated high diesel demand and produced the first batch as entirely diesel. I had to custom order to get a HEMI. Modifications will be light. While I want to create a new "overland" build, distinct from my JLUR which is meant as my technical route vehicle, I want to maintain towing capacity. So for now, no lift is planned and since the factory tires are already 34", I'll leave the wheels and tires alone for now. The most I'd probably go with in the future is 35s. I'm not one good with naming, so I'll probably stick with calling it the "Rebel". Despite no lift nor aftermarket tires, the highest point on the Rebel, the top of the GPS, SiriusSM, and cellular antenna, is higher than the highest point on my JLUR lifter 3.5 inches and sitting on 37s. It's sitting at maybe a hair under 6' 10". But given the wheelbase, I'm not sure it would clear well in parking garages, like the Phoenix Airport calling for <= 6'10". TBD. It was custom ordered with the 6.4L Hemi, RAMBox, winch, sunroof, every towing option including rear air suspension, dual alternators, and the 12" console. At 5'6", sitting in this thing makes me feel kinda tiny to be honest. It does fit in my garage, but just barely. There is no getting past the front or rear of it with the garage door closed. Some options are mutually exclusive and unfortunately not all marketed options were available (eg: trailer reverse steering, digital rear view mirror) but I ordered just about every option you could get in April 2023 for a HEMI Rebel intended to tow and still go back country. 2023 RAM 2500 Rebel HD Olive Green Pearl–Coat Exterior Paint (two-tone over Diamond Black) 6.4L V8 Heavy–Duty HEMI MDS Engine with 8–Speed Auto ZF 8HP75 Transmission Power 410 hp (306 Kw) @ 5,600 RPM Torque 429 lb.-ft. (582 N•M) at 4,000 RPM Dual alternators (380 amp total) BW 44-46 electronic shift transfer case w/ 2.64 low range Limited–Slip diff with electronic locking rear and conventional diff front axles 4.10 Axle Ratio Automatic–Leveling Rear Air–Suspension RamBox Cargo Management System w/ Bed Utility Group Power Sunroof Factory installed Warn Zeon 12 Winch Towing Technology Group Center Stop Lamp with Cargo–View Camera, Surround–View Camera System, Blind–Spot with Tag Trailer & Cross–Path Detection, Trailer Reverse Guidance Trailer Tire Pressure Monitoring System Safety Group Lane Keep assist, fwd collision warning, adaptive steering Level 2 Equipment Group Leather everywhere, front cooled and heated seat, rear heated seats, and heated steering wheel 12" Display w/ 17 speaker Harmon Kardon Audio Bi–Function LED Projector Headlamps Adaptive forward lighting (follows steering up to 15 degrees) Auto dimming rear and telescoping side-view mirrors Adaptive Cruise Control Like the Power Wagon, the Rebel HD has 11.1 inches of clearance and a water fording depth of 30 inches and a 429 RTI (ramp travel index). Misc Stuff: 8HP75–LCV Transmission Gear Ratios 1st 4.71 2nd 3.14 3rd 2.10 4th 1.67 5th 1.29 6th 1.00 7th 0.84 8th 0.67 Reverse 3.30 Battery: Group 65, maintenance-free, 730 CCA

up before the sun dialing-in some recent changes...

40 years in Yuma. We used DV as a vacation spot in July. 😎

The views were awesome. Thanks for another great run. So happy to find that Mrs Shellback really isn’t a figment of your imagination 🤣 Some Pics from the day.

So, I was under the impression that the cabin we visited on Saturday was called Moki cabin, but it turns out it is either Aspen springs cabin or Houston cabin. I found out the main cabin burned in 1976, but I couldn't find a picture of it. The forest service is supposed to have photo, but my google-fu failed me on that one. I did find a picture of the barn taken in 2019, it was in a bit better shape then. I pulled this write up off the forest service site for the cabin: For much of its length the Houston Brothers Trail wanders along the bottom of Houston Draw, a picturesque little valley through which a spring-fed perennial stream flows. T he scenery here is mostly pastoral with a few photogenic rock outcrops and aspen groves to remind you that you are in Rim country. This trail served a number of purposes during a heyday that stretched over most of the first half of this century. The Houston brothers were ranchers who used it for moving livestock from one part of the range to another. The Forest Service used the trail to move fire guards into isolated forest cabins where they were on twenty-four hour duty during times of high fire danger. Evidence of both of these pages out of the trail's history is visible at a number of locations, including a cabin site which Gifford Pinchot, father of the U. S. Forest Service singled out for its peaceful beauty. Today this trail is part of the Cabin Loop trail system, which provides an opportunity for Forest visitors to relive an aspect of Forest history while they enjoy the area's natural beauty.

Minor update to my Smittybilt 5.56cfm air compressor set up. While my compressor was sitting on the floor in the rear the plastic on the air gauge shattered. The gauge and air fitting were hose-clamped on to the end of the original hose the compressor came with. After watching this video on modifying the compressor for a pressure switch, I figured it'd be easy to just ditch the hose all together and with the guage/fitting flopping around. To make it work, you have to adapt the Smittybilt metric fittings over to whatever you're using. In my case, I picked up an M12 male to 1/4" male NPT fitting on Amazon and removed the hose entirely from the compressor. I reused my brass t-fitting and added a replacement pressure gauge and relocated the quick connect fitting I've been using. I replaced the broken gauge with another from Winters, however this on is a little better built with a thicker glass face and is filled with glycerine to help prevent vibration damage on the needle. My old gauge was always read a little higher than reality by about 6-7psi. Hopefully this new one is a little more accurate. A dash of thread sealant and a few turns of a wrench and this mod took all of 15 minutes to complete. And there you go. The solution to a floppy hose! 😁

i recently added a rear swing-out faucet to my existing on-board water setup, writeup here... as part of that project, i consolidated several previously randomly placed switches into a single panel on the tailgate interior vent. all the switches and custom actuators came from otrattw.net. i drew the aluminum panel in a 2D vector program (similar to Adobe Illustrator) and had the part laser cut by sendcutsend.com. while i was rewiring things, i replaced my rear overhead light strip. the old one was slowly getting dimmer and dimmer over the years. i also previously had separate red and white fixtures mounted, but this time i used a single 12v RGBW LED strip and simply power either the red or white channel with a 3 position switch.

Well well well - another EPIC trip on the books with a great group of folks this side of the Mississippi. In fact, I'd have to say they're "totally tubular!" This trip took us down the storied and historic, famous, stupendous Bradshaw Trail in southern California in the Colorado/Sonoran Desert. Along the way we visited Roosevelt Mine, the Chocolate Mountains, the Chuckwalla Mountains, Chuckwalla Well and Stage Coach Stop, the Eagle Mountain Railroad Trestle, some abandoned yachts in the middle of the desert, areas throughout the legendary General Patton's Desert Training Center, and the gorgeous sandstone of Red Canyon. If you're a Club Member, you can read up on the full trip planning thread over here. We rode about 80% of the Bradshaw Trail's length as it exists today - meeting up in Blythe, a short ride on tarmac across the CA border to Ehrenberg and then traveling a whopping 85 miles on dirt to end our trip at Chiriaco Summit, CA. A nice bootyshot at the air down point just outside of Ehrenberg, California. Note the terrible, god-awful, no good weather. Of note was the sheer amount of trash in the desert as we aired up. We found all sorts of crazy stuff - but primarily old tin cans from the last 160 years of travel along the road. We even found some old GLASS Gatorade bottles, which I didn't even know was a thing. Allow me to digress - Gatorade originally started out in plastic, but switched to glass to appeal to the snobby crowd from 1984 to 1998. I did learn that you can sell those on Ebay for around $11-$24 per bottle for a good specimen..... so you know - there's opportunity there for someone with some time that happens to be in the area. Back on track - we figured that folks traveling East out of California and into Arizona for the gold fields in La Paz were dumping their undesirables shortly before boarding William Bradshaw's lucrative ferry service that would take them across the Colorado River. Interestingly - this was really the ONLY trash we encountered out there. By and large, the entire area we explored was surprisingly pristine with few signs of the typical garbage you might encounter out there (like entire boats). I don't know if this is thanks to efforts by clubs and individuals or the State of California - but it was something that was glaringly obvious to me. Another shot of the lineup We made camp just outside of the Roosevelt and Rainbow Mines only about 40minutes into the trail on a nice spur to the north. We have views for literal MILES to the East, West, and South. The ground was rocky, but largely flat. Suprisingly no wind, but temperatures did dip down to about 39 that night. The stars at night over the red light district. That's not the sun - we had a nearly fully moon that really lit up the landscape for us. Sunrise the next day The next morning we awoke and took a short 30sec drive over to see the remains of the Roosevelt and Rainbow Mines. Not much left in terms of junk - the area was surprisingly well cleaned. However there were heavy-duty gates over all of the shafts and adits in the side of the mountain. The shafts were fairly large - a possible glimpse into the size of this gold mining operation. Back on the trail. Dust was the name of the game on this trip. Pausing for a quick photo of the Mule Mountains rec area. This area reportedly turns into a small city of RVs in season. I can see the appeal. Quick photo of myself and @theksmith courtesy of @johnpa INn the foreground of this image you'll notice some parallel lines. They were all over the entire area and long a good chunk of the trail. These are the tracks left from General Patton's maneuvers at the Desert Training Center which operated a series of training camps for the Army during WWII. They were using the area to train for tank warfare in north Africa and beyond. The tracks were primarily made by M3 Lee and M5 Stuart light tanks. Ironically - when the Desert Training Center was in operation - the 773rd Tank Destroyer Battalion described the Desert Training Center in their official journal as “18,000 square miles of nothing, in a desert designed for hell”. Of course - times are different today and we have a totally different perspective on the beauty and rich history of the area! Back on the trail A goofy thing you'll find out in the middle of the trail.... boats! There are several known, abandoned boats all throughout the area. Curious! We stopped for lunch at Chuckwalla Well, an old stage coach stop along the Bradshaw Trail. Back on the trail again - headed towards our Night #2 camping spot in Red Canyon! The entrance to Red Canyon - a glorious sedimentary formation that is showing signs of rapid erosion. Setting up camp - tons of space for everyone! The next morning we made our way down to check out the Eagle Mountain Railroad trail trestle. We had an incoming winter storm in the background coming up and over the Santa Rosa mountains. We doubled-back on the Bradshaw Trail and headed back toward Red Canyon where we then took the Red Canyon Jeep Trail, a rollercoaster of a ride that rode the ridged above the canyons and surrounding mountains. Our ultimate destination was north to Chiriaco Summit, CA. Looking East over Red Canyon, the Santa Rosa's obscured by the coming storm. A good look down into the canyon and wash from the trail above. Gadget Film Noir Gadget The beginning of "Bootyshaker Road" - a hyper-washboarded section of the trail caused by our SxS friends. Note the gentle slope of the perpendicular hillside to the right - a hint as to how high the peaks around here once were and the flow of the rain over millions of years. We ultimately ended up in Chiraco Summit, home to fuel, some food, but most importantly - the General George S. Patton Memorial Museum, which documents a vast reaching history of the entire area and Patton's legacy.

Sunday, we headed out and took a little used track from the East side of the Mtns to the West side. Gearhead (Mike) left us before taking the pass and exited at Wellton. We stopped to check out the Fortuna mine (no pics) and then headed out for home. We stopped to check out Yodaville from afar. (A bombing target made of shipping containers) Yodaville.

A short minute long video of a storm as it was rolling into Bulldog Canyon Saturday. It was awesome and the video doesn't do it justice. This is the kind of cool stuff you will see the more frequent you get out wheeling. This was at the play hill on the 3554 trail.

did an oil change and tire rotation this week, then we had a last minute fix before B and Fiona headed off to college yesterday... the Discount Tire dude noticed the rear sway bar link bushings were almost completely gone (dry-rotted and crumbling away). Amazon Prime delivered these inexpensive replacements in a day and B swapped them out Friday evening. rolling into Flag yesterday afternoon:

Just returning from a massive trip through London and throughout Ireland. In Ireland we rented a car and a series of AirBnB - traveling the Wild Atlantic Way, the Ring of Kerry, and the countryside in south/central Ireland. Along the way I spotted a few interesting 4x4 rigs and wanted to share what some of the Irish are driving. Mitsubishi Pajero - Gen 2. I had the pleasure to spend a lot of time around these when we were stationed in Okinawa and love these (lots of really neat little off-roaders in Japan - including the Hillux, Delica, Jimny, Samurai). This specimen was spotted just feet from the Cliffs of Kerry and looked well-loved. Mitsubishi Pajero, 4th Gen. This one was in downtown Dublin. I've never seen a 2 Door (modern) Land Cruiser before. This bad boy was a turbo diesel and sounded like an absolute animal. This VW camper van was a brand new rental from Black Sheep. It was pretty nice looking. I frankly wouldn't mind one for myself. Some larger BFG KO2s and a mild lift and it'd probably meet the needs of 90% of the overlanders out there. Then we get to the ONLY Wrangler I found.... Was pretty much given the Miami Special. Had more wrapped up in "aesthetics" than capability. An expensive matte wrap, a 4 slot grill (why?), eBay bumper, and about $2-3K in KatSkinz quilted upholstery. Suspension was bone stock. Behind it was a nice G-Wagon - but let's face it, they're all nice. I also spotted (but didn't get pictures of) several Toyota Hiluxes, a TON of classic Defenders, and a FJ40.

So in April our transmission started slipping when we were climbing up from the Colorado River to Peach Springs. We changed two sensors and it slightly helped but it was clear that second gear got toasted. So we thought we were being smart and thrifty and got a transmission from a salvage company shipped to a shop near us. The shop put this in only to find out the transmission was worse than what we have and now the Jeep wasn't driveable!! We did get a refund for the transmission but we're out the freight shipping costs. We continued saving up money and gathered quotes for a transmission rebuild and compared this to just buying a used XJ that was compatible. Needless to say two months went by. Quotes were as high ask 5k for a vehicle not worth that!! We found out that used XJs are insanely priced right now and couldn't find the right deal. In the end Chris found Martin's Performance Transmission Repair in Prescott Valley. They had to order parts but got the work done quickly once the parts arrived and the quote never raised. The owner of the shop was a super nice and knowledgeable guy. Out damage was $2300 to the budget but way better than the average of 4k to 5k quoted around this area and in Phoenix. So far she is driving great and has a year warranty. Fingers crossed we get another 200K miles on this transmission.

So we were literally standing at Traitor’s Gate at the Tower of London on the 4th and one of the Yeomen wished us a “Happy Treason Day” 😆

Here is the few pics I took this time. This was a fun and easy trip.

This natural spring flowed out of the rock and across the meadow. A pretty pond near the aircraft arrow. A ground view of the directional arrow. Used to guide pilots before Radios were common. The entire thing reads " Phx 75"

We had really nice secluded campsite away from the crowds. A nice fire that night as well. The weather was great,not too cold at night and just right during the day. Saturday morning we walked down to the old cabin site. I've been told it was a line camp for the Housten brothers cattle company. It was a very lush, beautiful area. Old Stove

60,425 miles Took the Jeep over to see our good friend Joe @OnPointOffroad to get some maintenance knocked out and some ball joints installed. Always happy with the work Joe does on any of our vehicles, Jeep or otherwise. Can't recommend him enough and it's always great to talk with him and pick his brain on different topics. The last time we were in to see Joe we got to talking about the 8 speed ZF transmission in the Jeep JL and the service interval. Jeep seals these trannys "for life" - but that's not reallllllly true. Maybe it's because most American's these days trade their vehicles in every 2 years and roll over that sweet, sweet negative equity. Since I'm in the "severe duty" category, Joe recommended a 60K service interval for the transmission for a new filter and fluid. So there you go. Additionally, Michelle gave me some new Teraflex HD Ball Joints for my birthday back in February. We had those installed as well. They're STOUT and I was really impressed with the apparent quality and design of the new ball joints. Twin zerk fittings on each one allows you to easily grease them up and they allow for adjusting pre-load anytime you need in the future. Lastly, I've been getting some wobble on certain predictable sections of my local roads at certain speeds. Was suspecting a loose trackbar at the axle. Clayton's install instructions called of 90ft/lbs of torque. I recently increased the torque to 105 and that seemed to dampen the wobble a bit. Joe noted that factory spec was around 160ft/lbs (I can't remember the exact number) so they tightened her up. On the drive home, no wobble. And the new ball joints are great! I'm getting a more firm feel from the steering and feel more "stable" on our local windy roads. So far, pretty happy. The last thing to talk about is some cupping on my front Yokohama Geolandar G003 tires. We thought this might be contributing to the wobble, so Joe was kind enough to switch the fronts with the rears so see if there was an impact. Can't really narrow the wobble down to the tires since the trackball torque was upped - but we did notice a shift in braking behavior. The Jeep used to pull left on hard braking, now it pulls right a bit. Possibly chalked up to the tires. All-in-all, that's all I have to report. Looking forward to the next run later this month when we check out Smiley Rock trail and Mingus Mountain!

been working with the bumper some this week... i rounded the sharp edges of the d-ring tabs so they could be used with a soft shackle. cut out the logo, welded in some filler metal and ground it all down smooth. removed the front 2 rock lights, grille, shower nozzle, winch control box, winch line, winch, lower skid plate, vacuum pump, and then finally the old bumper could come off! then yesterday evening i started cutting. hope it's right - there's no "undo" button on a sawz-all!

Some photos from our weekend adventure through the Table Mesa rec area on Crapshoot, led by @SonoranWanderer! My personal first time on this trail - it was fun! The 2 obstacles on the trail were interesting and made you pause to think for a minute. The views were very nice with some scenic overlooks and plenty of wildflowers waiting to burst into color. The desert is extremely green right now. We had an interesting mix of vehicles with us, a 50/50 blend of current and "vintage". 😁 3 JLs, a YJ, an XJ, and a sweet Ramcharger.

my existing pump and sprayer nozzle work well for showering or rinsing off muddy feet. but due to the pressure buildup from the on-demand pump, the setup wasn't great for getting just a small amount of water for something like wetting a toothbrush. it would also waste a lot of water if i locked the sprayer in the ON position for the common task of washing my hands. so, i've added a rear faucet that uses an additional much smaller water pump that is activated with a switch (instead of being on-demand). the swing faucet itself is meant for a wok or other commercial grill. the photo above shows it swung out to fill a kettle, and below is the "stowed" position. i use a small piece of velcro to keep it stationary so it doesn't end up rattling against the rear window. it's mounted to some of my existing contraptions (the spare tire hoist and ham radio antenna bracket). with the tailgate closed you can barely see it tucked in behind the spare. it will also swing out past the tailgate for washing hands or to rinse something when the slide-out tailgate table is deployed. the new tiny 12v pump was mounted inside the tailgate, behind the interior exhauster vent. a 3/16" I.D. silicone hose runs down to the same water tank used for the shower and connects to the existing line with a brass tee. the pump activation switch was placed on a new switch panel i created on the tailgate vent. the faucet switch is a 3 position, ON/OFF/TRICKLE... "ON" runs the little pump at it's full 12v rating which is pretty low-flow but can still fill a pot quickly enough to not be a PITA. the "TRICKLE" feature drives the pump via a 5v DC voltage adapter so that it flows even less. this setting is perfect for rinsing hands without wasting water.

Last fall Rita took a little nap on the way home. I was uninjured, but Rita unfortunately didn't make it. So, last week I did a thing and bought Jack. She's a 2017 Rubicon Hardrock. She was 100% stock and 100% a pavement princess when I drove her off the lot. We salvaged everything we could from Rita, including the 35s. Those went on Jack this weekend. They rub in the front when offroad, but on the pavement they are fine. I've ordered the 3.5 Metal Cloak lift for her. It arrives shortly. I believe I've finally decided on the Fox 2.0 shocks....but haven't pulled the trigger. I'm not usually this indecisive. Here is Jack before with her stock shoes and after with Rita's 35s. And, I've had a lot of questions about Jack's name. She named herself on day one. As we drove to get her all I could think of was I was going to need a drink after the dealership hassle....and on the day Rita tipped over I had just purchased a brand new big bottle of Jack that survived the calamity and soothed my injured pride that night, and so she was named before I even drove her home. Looking forward to having her lifted so I can get some more off-road time. I've certainly missed some ORP trips and the dirt therapy. (Extra hands on wrenching days welcome. 🙂 )

the funny thing is i couldn't get out so i carefully shuffled all my girth and length over the center console to get out the passenger door, only then realizing i could have just put the window down and opened it from the outside handle - doh!

Thanks for leading a great day run @theksmith. Even with the "fail" it was a great day out on a gorgeous and fun trail. Always great seeing @gearhead and enjoyed meeting @klaykrusher for the first time! On the way up - the area feels out-of-place for Arizona, with tons of trees of all types. Here's a frozen waterfall on the way up. Beautiful area for a break! Here's Klaykrusher at the point on the trail where we transitioned from dirt to snow and mud. Lots of wheel spin and need for lockers or our "brake-lock differential" in several places. Especially when you combine snow and boulders. The trail starts off lush, green, and gorgeous - but then you slowly transition into the eerie dead ponderosa forest the higher you climb - the result of a wildfire years back. Plenty of dried and downed trees that have been cleared by passers-by - and us. Here's one of several blockages we came across. We noticed that some previous visitor had started to saw at the tree up near where Kris and Dave are standing - however they really only scratched the surface. They must have been SxSs, as we also figured they dug out the side of the hill (note the fresh dirt) to give themselves enough clearance to get under the tree - leaving it for everyone else to deal with. Here's Kris hacking away: We hacked enough of the tree away to be able to snap it with a good pull of a winch. We then needed to get the tree out of the trail. We rigged up a pully on a nearby tree to help swing the log out of the way - but literally every tree around us was dead. The result was Murphy's Law: We eventually got the log off to the side with some creative winching by Kristoffer and were able to roll it out of the way. We ended up needing to clear 2 more trees - but they were moveable by hand - rolling the trunk out of the way. Kristoffer had to jump out several more times to remove some smaller logs from the trail as we pushed through. The views quickly opened up to show the surrounding mountain peaks, helped by the lack of foliage. A good look at the boulders that littered much of the trail. Another good look at the dead forest. Quite a bit of off-camber throughout the day, but nothing terribly sketchy at all. **Note the view of Four Peaks in the background on this shot** Here's where we hit a dead-end. The equation ended up being: (Snow + Ice + Boulders) X Steep Incline = No Traction. Even for a rig in beast-mode like Kristoffer's. We walked up the trail a bit at this point and the snow drifts were as deep as 2ft in some spots, with boulders lurking underneath. Defeated by the mountain - we turned around at this point and headed back down. Thankfully, there was a place wide enough for us all to do an 8pt turn and head back down the mountain.

Coconino forest has released what they call the Buttes and Boulders loop. Some of you have done some of this trail as it goes by Apache Maid cabin. I've done most of it before, but not as a loop. What I like about it is Buckhorn cabin, a nicely preserved cabin that backs right to a pretty cool canyon. The portion of the trail that runs from Lake Mary Road to Buckhorn cabin is perfect for an ATV because it is rough as a cob and constantly twists and turns. In the Jeep it was brutal. Luckily, the cabin can be accessed from Cedar Flat, and that portion of the trail isn't bad at all. ( Cedar flats is accessed off of FR 618 in the Verde Valley) Buckhorn cabin would be a great place to overnight on this trail or a modified version of it. I've also been to Hollingshead cave. A pretty drive to a pretty small hole in the hillside. Link to the Coconino Nat'l Forest description: https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/coconino/recarea/?recid=84330&fbclid=IwAR0o_tquFNxwR4L-risa_zI7qRRb_2Nwic7vMf4nVBxwNqEFecS2HkM0o0E Some Pics: Buckhorn cabin: The road crosses a dry water fall that leads to a drop into the canyon. I wouldn't advise crossing if the water is flowing. The drop off Hollingshead cave entrance A real pretty area So, who's going to lead a trip there? :)

Here's some pictures of the awesome winch installation by @Number7 on the Smurftruck. Looking all mad max Done!! Finished product looks really nice!

🙂

Was able to piece together this short film from the drone footage we grabbed during the trip. Enjoy!

Photos... Day 1 - Friday Bates Well From Friday night camp Day 2 - Saturday Leaving Papago Well Dave O'Neil's Grave 1871 Nameer Grave Circle of 8 Grave site Tijanas Altas (High Tanks) Day 2 camp at Tijnas Altas Day 3 - North Tijanas Altas Pass Yodaville Fortuna Mine

Adding my notes on our trip... What a great trip and time with an awesome crew, @shellback91, @gearhead, @Ken Ford, and @Curly! Thanks to all of you for going. 125 miles of dirt: Day 1: Ajo to Papago Well with a stop at Bates Well. Day 2: Papago Well to Tinajas Altas with stops at Dave O'Neil's grave, the 1871 grave, Tule Well, and Circle of 8 grave. Day 3: Tinajas Altas to Fortuna Hills with stops at Yodaville (as close as you can get) and the Fortuna Mine site. It was a really great test of @Ken Ford's new to him stock gen 3 Taco on street tires taking the Tinajas mid pass (A15 to A13 markers) instead of the traditional south Tinajas Altas Pass route. You can see our track and all of the points of interest here. It is also a good collection of information to plan your own trip. Note: I built it, it's how I openly plan this particular trip, so I might be biased. Some things with El Camino del Diablo have changed: Larger volume of traffic. There were so many people on the trail compared to the last time I ran it. Less Border Patrol presence overall No visit from Border Patrol Friday night as expected No indication that roads are being actively dredged for showing footprints Unmarked helicopter flybys both Saturday and Sunday morning Likely Border Patrol contracted helicopters Lots more side trail closures around Tinajas Altas (east side of the mountains) This made a few older camp sites inaccessible Old construction depot east of the TAs is gone except for the dirt lot and a few large piles of rocks. Tule Well's large camping area for group camping has been smooth graded, somewhat leveled, and enlarged. Another item of note: a couple of guys ran a 2500 RAM with a Black Series camper in tow through the Fortuna Mine route. Color me impressed with the trailer. Thank you @Curly for tail gunning! I should note I am grateful to @shellback91 and @Ken Ford for helping me find my phone after it fell into a garbage bag when I wasn't looking. I hear @Ken Ford is cursed to make things get lost whenever he is around. I am also very thankful to and for Courtney of Arizona Offroad working with me to ensure both groups got the best experience of a busy trail and campgrounds. (If she has an account on the forum I am happy to edit this and tag her.) I'll add photos later when I figure out why the forum is limiting my attachment upload size to less than one photo.

Some pictures of Tulle Wells.

I was wanting to camp at Tinijas Altas again some time by myself....... but knowing the top is referred to as "Mesa De Muerte"..... not sure now It was a beautiful campsite none the less with wide view across the desert. Added some pictures of our campsite on the 2nd day.

i thought you were talking about @johnpa for second there!