NextStepDesigns

I participated in a wonderful event this past weekend.  Once again I assisted as a trainer/photographer for the “Dipped in Green” training event hosted by OffRoving.com in Sedona and Flagstaff, Arizona.  On Day 1 we conducted a “classroom” training session at the lovely Casa Sedona bed & breakfast inn, then we ran the famous  Soldier Pass and Broken Arrow trails. Broken Arrow is the most difficult trail listed in our Arizona trail guides. It is a terrific little trail, but certainly did not exceed the capabilities of the stock Range Rover Sports.

On Day 2 we visited the very interesting Cinder Hills volcanic park that is open to ORV’s.  This park consists of 13,500 acres of unrestricted open wheeling, with some very challenging hill climbs.  The entire park is made of volcanic cinders and rock.  There is no dirt anywhere!  The cinders are very similar to sand, and provided a wonderful training ground.

I really liked the Sedona area, and it shows.  I shot over 1,700 photos!  Each Participant receives a DVD with several hundred hand selected images as mementos of this wonderful weekend. Here are a few images sampled from the main galleries that best illustrate the entire experience:

DIG-Sedona Photos (43 images on SmugMug)

Few people have run the Nighmare Gulch trail in the Red Rock Canyon park this season, so I took a small group through as a pre-run before SCLR’s club run next month. On this trip we had two new SCLR members, Randy and Brad, both in their shiny new Land Rover LR3’s. We were joined by Patrick who monitors a Jeep forum I participate in, and ironically, in addition to his 2006 Jeep LJ (Unlimited TJ), he also has an LR3 and was very curious in how they would do on the trail (his has never ventured off the pavement it seems).

I was not worried about the LR3’s abilities on this trip, but I was concerned about the status of the trail. Particularly, this rock and this water crossing. I was fearful that the large rock may have finally come down, and after recent rains, the water crossing was anybody’s guess.

As it turns out, the trail was in great shape, and has changed little from last year. Except for the last hill! The rocks on the last hill are just perfectly sized and spaced to really give the LR3’s a hard time. Not to mention that the hill is steep, and the soil is a traction robbing silty sand. Not a good combination. With some strategic rock stacking, Patrick’s Jeep (3″ lift and 33″ tires) made it up, and eventually pulled us all up the hill. I’m confident we could have made it on our own, but it would have taken quite an effort and we would have had to move a lot of rocks to make it happen. I’m grateful Patrick was there!

All said and done, the day was a great day. I enjoyed “threading the needle” with Brad’s virgin LR3 with the stock tires and negligible sidewalls. All three of us made it through without a scratch, but I did put my rock sliders to good use on several occasions, mostly just because I knew I could

Personally, I feel that I did not drive my best on this day. I was very focused on spotting for the other guys, and simply rushed through my parts to the next staging area and just didn’t have the “flow” that I have enjoyed in the past. Well, I look forward to more practice!

Nightmare Gulch Photos (55 images on SmugMug)

Also, check out the cool images from Brad:
http://gallery.allkinds.ods.org/main.php?g2_itemId=7159