Moab Sept. 2011

For Labor Day Weekend we headed to Moab. Moab is such a beautiful place and we love going there. We always have fun adventures and good memories while there too. We went on two trails: Moab Rim and Cliffhanger.

Moab Rim




The kids hiked half of it. They had a blast. MJ prefers to walk.


Overlooking Moab.




On the way down we hit one little scary part. We sadly didn't get any pictures of it but we are all safe. We were at a bad angle and if RB turned the wheels the wrong way we would have rolled the jeep onto it's side. "Moose" (the guy in the gray shirt below) started yelling, "Get the kids out." I jumped out with the kids and Moose, the one in white, and the one in red all jumped onto the back of our jeep to counter the balance. RB drove the rest of the way safely and that was the closest we've ever come to rolling our jeep. A little later on our friend got a little tipsy and so they jumped on his jeep too. I'm glad I got a pic. of at least that. This is also why we will never jeep alone.


We did have to fix one part. Inside the "u joint" are pins held in place by grease. Our pins had zero grease left and so the joint was not rotating like it should. So here is RB and our friend at camp fixing it.


For dinner that night we went out to eat. Poor Lil was so tired she slept from about 5pm till we got back to the tent. Thankfully I brought left overs so she could eat something. Then she passed out again for the night. I guess walking in the hot sun will tucker you out. :)


MJ was completely exhausted.


Cliffhanger
The next day started with a two hour delay. We had just hit the first technical part of the trail and one of the jeeps broke an axle shaft. We all have Cherokees and this guy had a Wrangler. Sadly none of our spare axle shafts fit his. So three jeeps turned around and two of us kept going. The kids had plenty of time to build a rock castle.


This is where the Wrangler broke down.


Lil loves jeeping. She is almost sideways when I took this pic. She had to grab the door and pull herself straight so I could get the pic.


This was also the only place we had to be pulled up.


After lunch RB let me drive. I really like driving. It's a whole new experience to jeeping. I drove over one of the hardest obstacles Cliffhanger has. The scariest part is when you drop head first down this incline. It almost felt like we were on a roller coaster. RB said seeing my face was the best part of the trail. It had many obstacles and it wasn't till the way down that we really started to enjoy the trail (well except that part I drove of course).

The kids playing at the top of Cliffhanger.


I love the beautiful views on top of the trails!!


The last obstacle we had to go up to end Cliffhanger. While RB was trying to get up it 4 mountain bikers went past us. One girl stopped to take a pic. of our jeep. I had to laugh. You will often see people stopping and watching other jeeps drive obstacles.


Back at camp we had a lady come up and ask if we drove Cliffhanger. We said yes and she explained they had been watching us go down in and took pics. too. They were scoping out trails for their ATV's. Very nice lady. Then later that night we went to the camp next to ours and that man and his son had also gone on Cliffhanger. I guess it was a pretty popular trail that day.

We decided we needed hats to help protect us from the sun. Too bad we got these at the end of our trip. Oh well, that just means we need to go back again so we can use them. :)


My parents took Buddy Boy for us. I'm glad they did. It was hot and I didn't want to worry about him on the trials. He loved seeing his sisters again and playing with their new hats.


Can't wait to go back!