 |
 |
 |
||
|
|
January 2004 - Matrix Trail Rating - 5.0 Photos submitted by Chris Villarreal This was the trail I almost didn't make it to. I was still wrenching on my rig at 2am on Saturday morning. It seemed like nothing was going together right but I suspect fatigue was a big factor. I got a few hours of sleep but had to get up at 6:30 to put some gear oil in the new front axle housing and pack all my tools and spare parts. We made it out to the campsite about 10am and I had to break out the tools again to adjust my steering ram to get some more throw out of it. Our club was hosting the Tin Benders on a weekend wheeling trip to Arizona. The trail for Saturday was Matrix, one of the toughest in Arizona and maybe the entire country. A few of us headed out in front of the main group. We ended up setting up winch points at the hardest spots which really helped keep everyone moving. I think we got around 12 rigs thru in just over 5 hours, everyone was back to camp before sundown.
(Click for larger images) I walked this trail about two years ago but knew my rig was not up to the task. Even the entrance to the trail makes most people pause. The two 5 foot tall boulders present an obstacle that will only be appeased with a sacrifice of paint and sheet metal :) The start of the trail is a short boulder crawl filled with holes that can and do swallow 37" tires. IF you have problems here, turn around.
The first waterfall needs to be dry to be passable, note the water levels marked on the rocks. The harder line is right up the middle, with an optional line off to the right. We chose to do the line up the middle. I made a few attempts to crawl it without any success. Brian finally told me to hit it with 2nd gear and full throttle so I revved it up and dumped the clutch and to my amazement the rig scooted right up!
Looking from the first waterfall up the trail.
Brian was up next, this first shot gives you a good indication of just how steep the face of the waterfall is.
After a few tries he managed to claw his way to the top.
Adam was up next. With roughly 500hp on tap he went right up it.
There really isn't a lot of room to park rigs to go back and watch others so we kept moving.
This is the notch, the hardest obstacle on this trail. The only rig I know that has made it was Tracy Jordan's buggy with heavy use of the rear steer abilities. As you can see it swallows your rig up and with all the weight on the front axle you have to then power up the wall on the right, straddling the notch that runs up the face.
I got my tire on the wall but it slid off a short way up the notch.
At this point I was done. We setup two winch points, one at the top of the notch and the other about 70 feet up the trail so when you made it to the top of the notch you could then switch straps and pull yourself over the notch.
Brian, just before the notch.
He managed to start up it but as soon as the back end went into the hole, the front end started climbing and he went over pretty hard.
On the way over he ripped the steering wheel off! |
|
||
 |
 |
|||
|
|
||||
|
|
|
|
|
