Cruise Moab Live (2016)

[BigMike]

You guys all split it! Gotta drop that rear passenger tire in for the tire wave! 

Agreed. Last year Joe from CTS did this:



and I did this:

[blackdiamond]

Agreed. Last year Joe from CTS did this:



and I did this:

Passenger side in the groove is very safe, but doing what you did is pretty risky. I have seen a toy flop doing it and a video of an Xterra lifting both uphill tires doing it.

[BigMike]

Passenger side in the groove is very safe, but doing what you did is pretty risky. I have seen a toy flop doing it and a video of an Xterra lifting both uphill tires doing it.

Triple cases, brotha. Triple cases.

[BigMike]

Continuing with more random pics from the Vendor Night

[BigMike]

Interesting looking 2F







It's for sale but sorry I did not take a picture of the flyer

[BigMike]

12H-T powered Turbo HJ62!

[BigMike]

[BigMike]

Back to back Cruise Moabs featuring MEGA Cruisers!

[BigMike]

FROR

[BigMike]

[BigMike]

Slee Off-Road





Attracting everyone with the evil nectar!

[BigMike]

One of these is not like the others



Doggo and friends

[BigMike]

Check out the 1VD-FTV!! Toyota's first Turbo Diesel V8!

[BigMike]

The hits keep coming!

[BigMike]

and coming!

Tervor from Crawlorado

[BigMike]

The quiet main tent



Awesome banner inside



And that's it from this year's Cruise Moab Vendor Night!

[BigMike]

Friday - Hell's Revenge & Main Event Dinner (May 6, 2016)

I was going to run Elephant Hill today but Christine's shoulder was hurting so much from all the bouncing around on Poison Spider Mesa and Marlin said, "No problem, just ride with Michael in the new Tacoma. It'll be much more comfortable." Sure, the Tacoma is more comfortable than a 36 year old Hilux, but tiny tires and a 6cyl..... I was jam'n on the trail yesterday. Especially as the roads are similar to Johnson Valley's desert roads I was almost going Baja with the Tacoma hammer-down flooring it whenever possible flying through all six close ratio gears in low range are you kidding me! I was having a blast, for sure you don't want to ride with me!

So I decided to stay in town with my mom instead. She had no ride... Would have been by herself alone all day at camp. I know I wouldn't want to do that so we went to Denny's and got breakfast while I spent the day working on marketing projects for Marlin Crawler In the end it was very nice because it was the first time getting some relaxing quiet time since all the hassle of getting the Tacoma.

So here come pictures from Marlin and CJ from Hell's Revenge

Waking up to more and more cottonwood!



Group lining up in town before heading out

[BigMike]

The trailhead to Hell's Revenge is located within the Sand Flats Recreation Area which requires an entry fee to access. This fee is covered with your registration to Cruise Moab so no additional charge



Signage

[BigMike]

Airing down at the trail head







All Pro's 2nd Gen Tacoma equipped with Marlin Crawler's all-new Xtreme Duty TacoBox Supreme Dual Transfer Case System. I did not ask Jon what R&P he has, but the Crawl Ratio here thanks to the Marlin Crawler is most likely 252:1.

[BigMike]

Out on the trail!





A 3rd gen Hilux in the group needed some help -- Marlin and The Crawler Truck to the rescue!

He had some metal rubbing against his rear driveline so Marlin pulled out his electric cutoff wheel and let the guy take care of it.

I heard this from a different person on the run, but this truck was, quote, "full of Sh*t-Gear parts yet Marlin helped him". Not surprising to me because we always find broken-down or issue-prone TG trucks. Looking at the pictures I don't see any Trail-Failure stickers which is a bummer as Marlin has a policy that he will only help repair a truck full of China-Gear parts so long as he signs its TG sticker. We encounter this often in California and the embarrassment is understandable.



Always a great opportunity to help someone out on the trail!

[BigMike]

Marlin having to backup LOL wish I was there to see that

[BigMike]

According to CJ the entire group continued on and entirely skipped Hell's Gate. So Marlin, CJ, and Brian stayed behind while Jon directed the three up Hell's Gate

[ZUK]

Marlin will help if he signs the Trail Gear sticker.....Love it!
I was there where you are now on the HR trail about 3 weeks ago.  A Trail Gear part almost caused me some aggravation.....TG straight pitman.  The splines were cut wrong and it loosened on me but still made it back to Phoenix. 

May I recommend a very nice place to eat for dinner?    "The Broken Oar"  located on the North side of town on the west side of the main drag.  About 300 feet off the road so might go right by it on the first pass.   http://thebrokenoarmoab.com/

The guy in the F Toy....is his name Jim?
Ken

[BigMike]

Marlin will help if he signs the Trail Gear sticker.....Love it!
I was there where you are now on the HR trail about 3 weeks ago.  A Trail Gear part almost caused me some aggravation.....TG straight pitman.  The splines were cut wrong and it loosened on me but still made it back to Phoenix.

Yikes! Glad you made it home safely!

"The Broken Oar"  located on the North side of town on the west side of the main drag.  About 300 feet off the road so might go right by it on the first pass.   http://thebrokenoarmoab.com/

https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-broken-oar-restaurant-moab
Looks very good and really neat atmosphere. Will check it out next time for sure! Thank you Ken!

The guy in the F Toy....is his name Jim?

I will ask Marlin and get back on this

[BigMike]

The guys took some video of Hell's Gate so I put their clips together

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BL2PIF-uy_o

To run Hell's Gate, you must first drop down a couple ledges then swing around and begin the climb up. As others will contest it is a lot steeper than it looks.

edit: Made the video a bit larger

[BigMike]

Not too far beyond Hell's Gate is a short out-and-back trail overlooking the Colorado. This is usually a great place to stop for lunch and this time was no exception.







What much of the landscape looks like out here

[BigMike]

From left to right:
Brian (3rd gen 3.4-liter 5VZ-FE 4Runner), CJ (1992 4.0-liter 1UZ-FE Hilux), Marlin (1980 2.7-liter 3RZ-FE Hilux), Jon (2nd gen 2.7-liter 2TR-FE Tacoma)







ハイラックスせんぱいとタコマこうはいです
"The veteran Hilux and the young Tacoma"

[BigMike]

A couple more from lunch







This is how close you can get to the overlook

[BigMike]

The trail has a lot of exposed slick rock climbs and descents over and over. You'll go a good half hour at times without touching any dirt in fact.

Eventually you'll get to these awesome hot tubs





And of course CJ had to try one!

[blackdiamond]

I hope he tried Mickey's and not Devil's...