Tuesday, May 1, 2007

Wheelin' on Steelbender

A few days ago we were invited by our friends Geir and Jan to come along with their family on the Steelbender off-roading trail here in Moab. It took us seven hours to go about 15 miles on the trail. But it was an exciting day. The trail crosses Mill Creek in several places, takes some steep ledges and affords many panoramic views of the valley and mountains surrounding it.











We also enjoyed the many desert spring flowers popping up everywhere. This is a Desert Paintbrush pushing up between the rocks along our way.












We all appreciate Geir's spotting advice. In this photo he points to the best route for his son Jon to take up this little (ha, ha) rock.















Jon's wife Sarah, son, Tristin, and seven-month-old daughter, Valerie, watch as he does some fine wheeling up this grade.
Lockers came in handy on this one!






















Little Valerie was a great sport all day long. Here she is with her father, Jon, and grandfather, Geir.



One of the most challenging obstacles on Steelbender trail is what they call the shelf road. This is slick rock that starts with a gradual slope and then drops about four feet so you have to free fall down. There's a cliff next to this drop off which means you don't want to get your vehicle too far to the right when coming down.






In these photos you can see first, the cliff that's to the right as you slide down this obstacle.






The next photo is Jerry bringing Ole Yeller over in fine fashion.
Next is Andy and Allison taking the plunge in their Jeep equipped with a V8 Corvette engine. We enjoyed listening to their rumble as we followed them on the trail.
It was a long day that included lots of exciting 4wheeling. And what a great group!