BTG In AZ

Last week I got a call from a friend in Arizona inviting me to go out wheeling with them the coming weekend. It was really late notice, but once he told me where they were going I knew the trip couldnt be missed. Plus wheeling with the Built To Grind club is always a treat as the trails they build are some of the most challenging and scenic possibly anywhere in the world.

There was a bit of an issue at first, I had just sold my buggy and trailer a couple weeks prior to help fund my trip. But as luck would have it, there was an extra seat available. I quickly got the time off work and headed out to Phoenix that Thursday to met up with Jack and Scott at their house.

Scott had to work early Friday morning, so Jack and I loaded up and headed out of the desert and into the mountains. When we pulled into camp Mark had already arrived and setup, so we started exploring the river. The flow was pretty decent, but all the swimming holes were too shallow to swim. After hiking around for a while, we returned to camp to find Scott had arrived. Shawn and his girlfriend got there not too long after that.

The next morning we all headed to the first trail. It started out as a very challenging boulder crawl. Already I knew it was going to be a great day as long as no one broke anything big or got injured.

The trail got progressively harder until we reached the first "obstacle." Shawn was up first on this Volkswagen sized boulder. He gave it a valiant effort, but snapped a front axle quickly ending his day... or so we thought.

Scott graciously offered up his buggy to Shawn and let him drive it through most of the trail. He proceeded to drive the obstacle so quickly that I didnt even get a pic of it. Next up was Jack then Mark.

More boulder crawling with a nice little ledge.

Up next was the Screw. If you fell in... you were SCREWED. It was basically two consecutive notches. The goal was to straddle the notches and ride the walls. Shawn was up first and fell in. After getting winched back into position he drove right through. Jack was up next.

Jack entering the Screw.

Jack getting SCREWED!!!

A couple of the trail dogs. My dog Sedona and Chopper, Scott's dog.

A little ledge with a big water hole at the bottom... dont slide off.

Next up was "Roofie" a tight squeeze with a series of stacked boulders that pushed your roof into a rock causing it to open like a tin can if you weren't careful.

 

The last obstacle was The Big Nasty. A HUGE technical climb with a large puddle of water at the bottom. It was already starting to be a long day and with all the water at the bottom, everyone wisely winched.

Shortly after the end of that trail began the next. A lot more boulder crawling, ledges and a few big climbs involving some skinny pedal.

 

It was a fantastic weekend. The weather was nice, the company was good and the wheeling was awesome. I really couldn't have asked for much more. I want to again thank Jack for the invite and the guys from BTG for always making me feel welcome.




On a side note, I tweaked my back pretty good this weekend meaning the stretches and exercises I have been doing arnt helping. So I need to go back to the Dr to figure out how to keep it from acting up on my trip.