Vance and I were itchin to go on a trail but it was the middle of the summer and scorching hot on all of the close trails so we decided to go on an over nighter and wanted it to be a little cooler. So we agreed on a trail called Pyeatte Draw, just north of Payson. This is us fueling up and waiting for Sam and his friend Jesse to meet up with us. Notice the blazing hot clear sky in the background.
This is what greeted us just up the hill in Payson. We went from above 110 degrees to the mid 30's for a moment. Shortly after this picture was taken, the rain started pouring down. It was so cold, I loved it. Being able to go on as many trails as I did this year is such a blessing and this made me feel even more blessed. It felt like a beautiful fall day only on the fourth of July.
From Payson we headed to Tonto Villiage to stay in Kyles Grandpas house, which no one lives in. Because it's no fun setting up camp in the rain. When we got there the rain had stopped and we went over to Say hi to Vances dad and his wife Janice. They live in Tonto Villiage. Oh...and see that little window at the peak of the gable? That's where I slept, and also where i hit my head multiple times on the slanted ceiling. Yeah, that room wasn't made for big guys...neither was the bed! But I'm not complaining, thanks for the dry beds Kyle.
This is the beginning of the trail. Looks pretty mild huh?
Well...it stepped up a notch real quick! the trail went from rocky creek bed to huge boulders and steps in just one turn.
It's no fun being stuck. Kyle got his center section hung up on a big boulder and didn't want to be yanked out. He wanted to do it himself.
Vances bedside found a big limb that was camoflauged in a little bush.
Here are some of the steps I was talking about earlier.
And here's Kyle stuck again.
Only this time he got some body damage and it wasn't from a rock or a limb. It was from the handle on his high lift jack. Poor guy...not a good day.
I don't know why,but I sure do have alot of lizards pose for me.
Vance looks like a good supervisor.
Now it's Vance's turn to be stuck. See that boulder underneath the passenger side? That's just one of the problems.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Pyeatte Draw
Bulldog Canyon 08
This was our first Latter Day Wheelers run. Latter Day Wheelers aka LDW is an off-road club that was formed by a guy that wanted to be able to take his family on a trail with a group of people that share the same values and standards. And anyone who would agree to abide by certain standards while on the trip is welcome to join the run or the club. Someone found an artical about the club in the Beehive magazine and that's what brought us here. The trail wasn't to difficult but it was good for a first run to get to know each other. I don't know everybodys name so I'll let the pictures do the talkin.


What's with all the white vehicles?
Here's a couple a cool lizards that I saw along the way. You can't really tell how big they were in these pictures but they were a pretty decent size. 


Sunflower Mine 2 for 2008
Towards the end of March 08, a whole bunch of us decided to do an overnighter at Sunflower Mine, since it was so much fun and not everybody got to finish last time. Well it turned out that no one finished this time cuz we decided to turn around after we got to the mine. I can't really remember why...Oh! maybe it was the fact that the other half of the camp couldn't even make it to the mine, because of flat tires, dirt bikes or 2 wheel drives and we just felt bad. Anyway...didn't get much pics this trip and not any real cool stories so I hope you enjoy what's here. 


Vance and Jessica posing by the Beginning of his new bumper.
Vance and Jessica posing by the Beginning of his new bumper.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Hackberry Creek
In February of 2008 we all planned on runnin Hackberry Creek cuz we knew Levi and Crystal were gona be in town from Utah. Here we are in line ready to go. Thats me up front in the Liberty. Vance and Jessica are in the Dodge. Levi, Crystal and Chelsea are in the Chevy and Kyle is in the Toyota.
As you can tell from some of these pics, it was a beautiful day and the creek was runnin a little cuz of some previous rain.
Which wasn't good for Vance. Water, sand and dirt, in my experience make quicksand. Oh Yeah!
I was able to cross this mud hole in my Liberty cuz I straddled the rutts by keepin my tires on the right side of the hole and on a little ridge that used to be between the two rutts. Vance was right behind me and tried the same thing but slipped right in. We came to the conclusion that it was a combonation of the weight of the truck and his locker makin him fish tail off track. Once he noticed he was slipping he throttled up to try and make it out. Which I really think he would have if i wasn't for the huge sunken boulder at the end of the hole that he caught his differential on. As barely seen in the picture below.
I tried to pull him out the front of the hole strapped to my Liberty but couldn't. So Kyle (pictured above) said he could do it with his winch. Well...it didn't work cuz he was to light and couldnt get enough traction. The same problem I had.
So we all decided that Levi should strap to Kyles truck for the extra weight. Well on the way around the mess he found one of his own. Those other tracks you see in the mud are Kyles so Levi thought it would be a safe path. I guess his truck was to heavy.
So now Kyle had to go winch Levi out. Which thankfully was pretty quick.
At this point we were probably already here for an hour and Kyle is tryin to winch Vance out by himself.
So we decided to hook Levi up again. Even with him winchin and both of them runnin in reverse there was still no movement.
We finally realized that we had to bust out the high lift jack. We lifted it enough to stack some rocks under the tires so he wasn't plowin so much mud, hooked up a chain and jerked him out.
FINALLY FREE!!!
Over two hours later and minus a bunch of mud that's been plowed out of the hole. It was a fun experience.
Here's a picture of Kyle and Levi comin down the back side of the long rocky hill, that I didn't get any pics of cuz I was busy spottin, back into the little valley with the windmill. It's a pretty place.
Headin out after a long day. Hey look...I even got myself in the picture! Here's a few more mud pics to enjoy!
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