December 2001 - Gila Monster
Trail Rating - 3.0
Trip Leader: Joey K.
Photos submitted by Chris Villarreal, Scott Bruns (most of the pictures of me)
Aerial View
I had heard about Gila Monster a while ago and finally found a day Joey and I were both available to run it (and Cheap Trick). I showed up at the meeting spot a little early, followed by Scott Maiden (driver) and Scott Bruns (passenger/photographer) in the green YJ. Joey showed up a short while later along with Jim Kawa. Unfortunately Jim's alternator wasn't charging so he had to wait for a tow, turns out the brush holder inside his alternator was broken.
We parked my trailer close to the trailhead and aired down.
Gila Monster is an interesting wash, there are little side obstacles like this all over the place. Looks like a couple good rains could turn this into a really hard wash.
About mid trail we came across a really large rocky outcropping. There's an easy way to the right.
An extreme line to the left, check out this waterfall!
I went up the middle, the debris at the top of the rocks makes it tough to get traction on the front tires.
Joey's YJ is open on both ends right now so we didn't get many pictures of him playing on the rocks. Here's a nice little S turn, Scott decided to drive over the rocks (see next page).