Back in April 2001, about a month before I bought my Liberty, I did this trail in my YJ..
At that time I was talking with one of my fellow Red Rock 4-Wheelers about the new Liberty
and he said it would be a fine vehicle, but would never be able to conquer this trail..

Saturday morning, Memorial weekend 2004, we woke to the threat of thunderstorms.. So we quickly packed camp
at Hall's Crossing and went to wake the rest of the team..
By 10:00 am the sun was out and the sky was clear..
We all met at the airport at noon for the 1:00pm departure..(except for 1 participant.)
For the first 5 miles you drive on bumpy gravel road.. So we went nice and slow to give the late one a chance to catch up if he was coming..
At an old Indian fort we stopped to take a look and we could all hear this racket coming down the road we had just traversed..
Sure enough, it was Alex, our late arrival..

6 Liberty's in all were going to attempt to tackle this trail..
We left the fort and right away we came to some slickrock..
It would be all rock of one sort or another for the next 55 miles, until we returned to this point..
Remember every obstacle on this trail has to be done both directions.!!

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Within the first quarter mile of reaching the slickrock the trail gave us a very accurate indication of what was ahead..

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It was a very bumpy, slow going crawl to each and every obstacle..


The scenery is spectacular where we were so it made it nice
that we were driving so slow..
We climbed steep hills and went down steep inclines.. went over bumps taller than the Jeeps, but kept on going..
We wanted to make camp before nightfall..
Finally about 7:00 pm we got to our campsite..
You could feel the adrenaline in the air, from what we had already been through, to the excitement of what tomorrow would bring..
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Within a mile or so of leaving camp we came to this obstacle, which is the start of the climb up to the top of Grey Mesa..
The trail deviates from the original wagon trail for about a mile here because it is just too steep for Jeeps to make it..
(notice the sign in the background.)

btw, we did this trail without moving any rocks, or stacking any rocks..
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This part is a jeep trail that was blasted into the rock in the 50's for Uranium exploration..
It is one of the most difficult sections as it is a very ledgy climb with not much room for error on either side..
If you don't follow the right line, you can get into trouble really quick..
Here it looks like you should stay right, but actually you need to be far left to avoid this situation..

he is less than a foot from his tire going off the edge..
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After a couple of hours we came to the infamous "Chute"..
Here it is "4-lo you go,, 4-hi you die.."
When we got to the top of the chute there was a big collection of 4wd vehicles of every sort..
at least 3 were broken.. When they learned that we were all driving Libertys, they recommended us not to go any further..
So down we went, with some of the bystanders calling us idiots for attempting such a feat..

One by one we all made our way down the chute and started up the other side..about 1/4 mile past the bottom of the chute we climb up
and over an off camber, sidehill ledge.. amazingly we all made it over this most difficult ledge with no problem whatsoever..
And all of it within site of the naysayers at the top of the chute..
So that was a great feeling..

a couple more miles, and a couple more hours
we made it to the end of the trail..
an overlook of the "Hole in the Rock"
it is still 3 miles away.. (center of far background.)

The "Hole" is 1 mile down to the river at a 45 degree slope.. They used this wagon road for over a year and a half, going BOTH directions..

After eating lunch and taking in the sights, we started the trip back to camp..

going up and down over and around climbs, side hills, ledges and rocks..
This is one of my favorite pics of the trip because it shows all the elements on the trail in one little section..
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We were traveling much quicker on the return trip so we made it back to the "Chute" in just over an hour..

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this next pic is taken from where the first Jeep is in the last photo..
Inside the vehicle looking UP..

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I did notice that all of the vehicles were gone that were blocking the trail on our way in..
(probably hurried up their repairs so as to be gone when we came back..)
but we just kept going up what we came down on earlier, and down where we went up..
All the obstacles on this trail require you to do them in BOTH directions..

Finally we were getting close to camp but we still had a few more obstacles to clear..
(Just in front of my red jeep is the sign from the earlier pic..)


It was fun around the campfire that night as we relived the days adventures many times..
sometimes verbally, sometimes just in our thoughts..

All in all it was one of the best Jeep trips I have been on.. even though I have done this trail 5 times..
partly from the excitement of the others that had never wheeled this type of terrain before,
and partly because I was in my Liberty doing a trail they said couldn't be done..
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This message has been edited. Last edited by: deserthorizons,

Awesome pics, congrats on a successful run!

grant

great pix
And an out-of-the-box Jeep is more capable than most people (even Jeepers) will think

None of these Jeeps were quite "out of the box"..
they all had lift kits, bigger tires, skids..
some had winches, and some had lockers..

Not quite go for broke mods, but the mods that were done were necessary to complete this trip..

quote:

Originally posted by deserthorizons:
None of these Jeeps were quite "out of the box"..
they all had lift kits, bigger tires, skids..
some had winches, and some had lockers..

Not quite go for broke mods, but the mods that were done were necessary to complete this trip..

sorry if my remark came across as 'putting the Libbies down'. It was not meant in that way
But recently I've been on trails again with mostly stock rigs (Zukis, Jeeps, Toys) where you forget how capable an almost stock vehicle is (most of them had either slightly larger tires or a locked rear end and also skids)

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go to http://www.youtube.com and search for " deserthorizons "

I have finally put up the videos of the Hole in the Rock run..
(and other trails)

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Does any one else have any Liberty videos.?
Share them with us on youtube.. It's free..
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This message has been edited. Last edited by: deserthorizons,

were you part of the LOST group at the JK launch on the Rubicon trail?

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Nope, I wasn't there..

That is one trail I would LOVE to do, though.
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here is the sign from one of the earlier pics..



and here is the road it is talking about.!!


can you see the road in this pic.??
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.here is a little help..
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btw, this s NOT the Hole in the Rock section, this is just one little obstacle the pioneers faced
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