Mocopo
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On Saturday, Oct 1, the Tucson Broncos offroad club decided to tackle Charouleau Gap, just north of Tucson AZ. My wife and I decided to take both our Bronco Badlands Sasquatch, and the JLUR-XR. Little did we know the adventure that awaited us....
The trip started as expected. We came across some of the popular obstacles on the trail and were enjoying ourselves thoroughly.
Me on Mini Moab
Me conquering Kiss Rock hard line
Some took the easier line
Some didnt quite have the wheel base for the hard line
We played in a creek bed with some boulders and diff catchers.
After this is when things got bad. We decided to soldier on even though it was getting late. We should have turned around, since the rumors on the Facebook groups were that the trail from this point on was impassable. Boy were we in for it.
The trail continues winding through the mountains, and it was so washed out on some spots that 100 yards would take almost an hour to get past. It got dark fast. Here is one of the dozens of recoveries of the night.
I don't have a video of this next spot, but there was a squeeze that didn't use to exist. I was in front with the JLUR and got some damage.
No way were the wider Broncos going to make it through, so we had to create our own bypass, which took hours to get everyone through. Here is my wife's Bronco being the first to tackle that bypass.
After this, the crazy washed out V notches started. We went over dozens of these it felt like by the end of the trip, and in the dark they were no joke.
After that the night hit its worst point. The TJ currently leading the column fell into a TJ-sized hole. We were able to winch him out, and everyone was OK, but it took a few more hours.
After we got him upright, it was 1:30am. We decided to tackle the hole in the morning.
About 5:30am we started filling in the hole with rocks and spare tires. Worked like a charm. Sorry no pics of this.
After some more v notches, we suddenly found ourselves facing a washed out section of the road... the impassable part we had been warned about. About 30 feet of road was gone, maybe 15 feet deep. The sides were almost vertical. We had no choice. We got to work. We filled in a couple feet with rocks, and used shovels to chip away at the edge to help the approach angle. I was first in line, and there was no way to get anyone else around me... so it was up to me. I had to drop into this small canyon and get out the other side... or we were calling an offroad recovery company. After airing down further and taking the spare tire off for better departure angle, in I went. I had a strap on me to help lower me in at the extreme angle, probably more than 60 degrees.
Then it was time to climb...
Made it! I was able to use a strap to pull up the next rig, and so on. While going down into it, one of the Broncos got tippy. An older gentlemen jumped on the bumper to try and add weight... bad decision. When he jumped off, he slipped and dislocated his shoulder. We made him a makeshift sling and he powered through, driving his own rig the rest of the way out. He did get medical attention, and is doing good.
From here it wasn't exactly smooth sailing, but the remaining obstacles seemed like childs play. We finally got off the trail. Talk about a crazy adventure. A 9 hour off road trip turned into a 29 hour epic adventure that I don't want to repeat!
The trip started as expected. We came across some of the popular obstacles on the trail and were enjoying ourselves thoroughly.
Me on Mini Moab
Me conquering Kiss Rock hard line
Some took the easier line
Some didnt quite have the wheel base for the hard line
We played in a creek bed with some boulders and diff catchers.
After this is when things got bad. We decided to soldier on even though it was getting late. We should have turned around, since the rumors on the Facebook groups were that the trail from this point on was impassable. Boy were we in for it.
The trail continues winding through the mountains, and it was so washed out on some spots that 100 yards would take almost an hour to get past. It got dark fast. Here is one of the dozens of recoveries of the night.
I don't have a video of this next spot, but there was a squeeze that didn't use to exist. I was in front with the JLUR and got some damage.
No way were the wider Broncos going to make it through, so we had to create our own bypass, which took hours to get everyone through. Here is my wife's Bronco being the first to tackle that bypass.
After this, the crazy washed out V notches started. We went over dozens of these it felt like by the end of the trip, and in the dark they were no joke.
After that the night hit its worst point. The TJ currently leading the column fell into a TJ-sized hole. We were able to winch him out, and everyone was OK, but it took a few more hours.
After we got him upright, it was 1:30am. We decided to tackle the hole in the morning.
About 5:30am we started filling in the hole with rocks and spare tires. Worked like a charm. Sorry no pics of this.
After some more v notches, we suddenly found ourselves facing a washed out section of the road... the impassable part we had been warned about. About 30 feet of road was gone, maybe 15 feet deep. The sides were almost vertical. We had no choice. We got to work. We filled in a couple feet with rocks, and used shovels to chip away at the edge to help the approach angle. I was first in line, and there was no way to get anyone else around me... so it was up to me. I had to drop into this small canyon and get out the other side... or we were calling an offroad recovery company. After airing down further and taking the spare tire off for better departure angle, in I went. I had a strap on me to help lower me in at the extreme angle, probably more than 60 degrees.
Then it was time to climb...
Made it! I was able to use a strap to pull up the next rig, and so on. While going down into it, one of the Broncos got tippy. An older gentlemen jumped on the bumper to try and add weight... bad decision. When he jumped off, he slipped and dislocated his shoulder. We made him a makeshift sling and he powered through, driving his own rig the rest of the way out. He did get medical attention, and is doing good.
From here it wasn't exactly smooth sailing, but the remaining obstacles seemed like childs play. We finally got off the trail. Talk about a crazy adventure. A 9 hour off road trip turned into a 29 hour epic adventure that I don't want to repeat!
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