December 2001 - Highway to Hell
Trail Rating - 4.5+
Distance - 1.46 miles
Trip Leader: Erik Malm
Photos submitted by Chris Villarreal
Highway to Hell is a very technical trail, the obstacles are nearly non-stop with a lot of waterfalls to climb. I know we were all grinning ear to ear nearly the entire way thru, this trail redefined a fun trail for me. I can also tell you the wider you are the more brutal this trail will be and that ground clearance is crucial. While Dave only had 31" tires, his Zuk actually has more ground clearance than Jeeps with 33's. Both Erik and myself were amazed where Dave went with a 4:1 transfer case, two lockers, a really flexy suspension and great driving skills.
At the start of the trail you are greeted by the trail sign which is covered with the parts the trail has claimed. As you can see in the second picture it looks like a Samurai sacrificed a t-case bushing at some point in time.
The first short section of the trail kind of leads you into a false sense of security. A lot of large boulders strewn around but nothing to get your blood pumping yet.
Then you get to the first climb. Once you pass this section you are pretty much committed. Erik ran this trail a week ago and since then someone had filled in the hole at the bottom with about 3 feet of rocks, spread the word, remove your rocks when your thru. Anyway the key here seemed to be getting your passenger side tire up and out of the rut to avoid dragging your diff.
Took me a couple tries because I am sitting a little lower than Erik. I was amazed at how well the Swampers were gripping today, as you can see in the pictures they are barely touching the walls and those pictures were taken with me crawling up the notch.
At the top you are greeted by a large boulder right in the middle of the trail. My drivers side tire was actually under the edge of the boulder, I inched it forward and was amazed when it popped up and over the rock, nobody figured it would climb in that situation.