Yep! Saturday was by far the best wheeling day of the trip. The gang hit Pritchett Canyon on the southwest side of town. Already considered a difficult trail on a normal day, the flood of rain from the day before changed the trail and made for a muddy mess. But the skies were blue and the sun was out so we had perfect weather for wheeling.
Once we finally found the trail head, (no help from the GPS) we also found our friends Tony & Linda there waiting for us at the trail head. Tony is the Jedi master of all Moab Jeep trails, and former owner of Steve W.’s Jolly Roger. Tony and Linda live in Moab four months out of the year and are often times hired to be “trail boss” to many doctors and lawyers who come out to Moab to mess up their pretty Jeeps. It’s apparent that Tony gets a kick out of Phill L. and enjoys letting Warthog lead the trail as trail boss. Also along for the ride was Terry, a friend from Portal RV Campsite.
Pritchett Canyon has two significant obstacles to speak of: Rocker Knocker and Rock Pile…and then there’s the 15 mile trail at the end, Pritchett Arch…and the 12 mile drive to town. This is NOT a trail you start after lunch.
Steve W. broke his rear axle shaft trying to climb a unmapped and unnamed obstacle and ended up parking Jolly Roger off the edge of the trail and continuing as a passenger with Terry.
At a separate obstacle just before Rocker Knocker, Warthog FLOPPED! The first flop of the group ever! Phill L. and I were halfway up as Tony was giving him instruction on how to continue up the obstacle. I have to give lots of credit to Phill. He is one of the only guys out there running a manual transmission and carbureted motor, so he’s got a lot going on and he is one heck of a trail driver. But today, Warthog just got away from him and we slid backward down the obstacle and then flopped over on the passenger side. (Come on, Zack! Where’s the video!) It was a slow flop and I had time to prepare myself to go over. A sincere thanks to Vicky, who told me earlier in the trail that if I ever felt nervous to grab my left hand onto Phill’s seatbelt and my right hand to my shoulder belt. It worked! All arms and legs stayed inside the roll cage and we survived the flop with zero injury! Phill and I were silent during the flop and only after the dust settled a bit and I looked up toward him hanging in the sky did he say “Hi Honey!”
Five husky guys to flop us back over later, (and me OUT of the Jeep)…Warthog continued up the obstacle with a little tug and a tow rope.
We continued on down to Rocker Knocker and decided to take the go around…which wasn’t much of a go around, but a different kind of obstacle in itself. Warthog and FRANK made it over, but Rocker Knocker would claim our next victim: Bro-donkadonk! While trying to nudge his way up the obstacle, Dane slipped and broke his power steering pump. Ouch!
We all made it through the rest of the trail to Pritchett Arch without incident until after the sun went down and we realized that FRANK, too had been injured by Pritchett Canyon! A broken motor mount cause enough shift for his fan to hit his radiator hose! This trail left no prisoners! But we all made it out and back to town…except Jolly Roger. Remember, we left him on the trail!
Once the majority of us made it back into town around 8:30p, Phill L. and Steve W. headed back out to the trail to recover Jolly Roger. Since he was only 2 miles into the trail and only broke his rear axle shaft, he was able to drive out through the trail head and they guys were back at camp by 10:45p.
Poison Spider – Check
Golden Spike – Check
Gold Bar Rim – Check
Pritchett Canyon – Check?
We’ve been on the road since 6:00a towing Frank and Warthog on our way to the first Jeep trip of the season, Moab! Steve and the rest of the group are about an hour ahead of us towing the Jolly Roger and Phill and I just had our first ahh crap of the trip. The Stroker’s (F-250 towing beast) alternator died about 50+ miles back and we made it as far as 9 miles to the next auto parts shop on battery power. Luck for us Napa had the replacement alternator in stock, so Phill took Warthog off the trailer and headed into town to go get it. Also lucky for us…we’ve got most of the tools and certainly all the tools necessary to fix it with us instead of with Steve! Plus the alternator is easy to get to so hopefully we’ll be back on the road soon. I sure am glad Phill is as handy as he is.
Jeep trips never go off without a hitch, but I’m happy this hitch is in the warmer part of our drive. We made it through Eisenhower through snow and icy conditions with no problem, but unfortunately saw too many devastating wrecks of others that were less cautious. 
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