Arizona rocks!
(Woodpecker & Martinez Canyon)

by Glenn Wakefield
Photos by Jennifer Wakefield

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In college, I remember the saying... "L.A. Rocks"!  Well, that may be true if you wear earrings in your nose and tight leather pants.  However, if you are more of a 'normal' person, and enjoy throwing 33"+ tires and lockers on your transportation.... Well, I got news for you. Arizona ROCKS!  And for some, you could say ROCKs & ROLLs. But I'll get into that later....

What kind of rocks dwell in Arizona?  The biggest baddest kinds.  The kinds that slap you on the rocker panel and you say, "thank you sir, may I have another!"

A Cruiser shows off his fresh body damage and great articulation on Woodpecker.

As a result, Arizona seems to be the hotbed of extreme articulation nowadays with all of the rock dedicated buggies originating from that region.  Say goodbye to those "most difficult" rated trails through which you can get an OEM Jeep with open diffs.  When you hit a trail like Martinez Canyon or an obstacle like the "Firehole", you gotta be locked and 'loaded', or you ain't gonna go.  Some may think this harsh, but when you have 15 vehicles to get through a 200 yard long stretch of trail that resembles an Australian coral reef.... you don't want it to take all day, and all night.

This year's 24th annual Arizona State 4x4 Convention during Oct 9-12, was nothing less than a gigantic Rock-a-holics anonymous meeting.  You pull in to camp to check in and say something like this.... "Hi, my name is Glenn Wakefield, and I'm a rock-a-holic."  The rock Docs then give you your paperwork to inform you of your schedule for the weekend.

Tech inspection was interesting.  This was the first tech inspect where I've actually seen them test your articulation.  No... not a ramp, though there was one there to test out your RTI on.  After your tire size and TAD (ie. lockers/limited slips) situations have been confirmed, you pull up to a stack of railroad ties with your driver's front tire.  They then throw an identical stack in front of your right rear tire.  Then, you get to climb the two piles and stop on top.  In the words of Martha Stewart, the articulation test, it's a good thing :^)

Later.... All through the camp not a creature was heard, as we went to sleep that first night with visions of boulder bash dancing ran through our heads.

Woodpecker

With a little help from his friends, this Bronco narrowly escapes ripping off his spare tire carrier.

Our first trail on Friday was Woodpecker.  We wound our way through the desert staring at the boniest cows I have ever seen, Saguro cactus, and an old ranch where a lady with a shotgun lives.... if you stir too much dust.  We arrived at our destination only a few minutes after leaving camp.  I looked over at Jennifer and the grin let her know I was gonna have some fun!  The typical trail in Arizona is a dry creek wash.  The trails change from year to year as the flashfloods move the sand around from between the rocks.  Vintage 97, was a good year.

Our group was led by Twister.  I knew these guys!  The Allen Bros. had been at the Top Truck Challenge in the Bogger'd red FJ40.  The FJ was there too, but all the attention was going to Twister.  If asked to describe it, I would have to two words.... fuselage, and Boggers!  Throw all conventional suspension and articulation limitations out the window. This thing could twist. I won't get into the detail of how it works or construction, but maybe you can piece it together from the shadows of the pictures of it in the rocks.

Twister in the Firehole Click on the photo to see a blowup of the incredible articulation

He was the first to try and the only to make it through the notorious Firehole in our group.  What is the Firehole?  It is two rocks slabs which are terribly far apart and which you must keep your tires on to get up and over. Getting into the Firehole is tough enough.  Once there, things are no easier.  Most vehicle with super low gears, hard lockers, and a brain-deficient pilot can get onto it.... but you gotta have full width one-ton axles and a lot of flex to get though it.  (See Firehole Video Clip from another trip)   On the other side of the 'wedge' is where things get really twisty.  And Twister showed off how far his articulation could go. How did this obstacle get its name?   As I heard it, Rick Pewe was the first to ever attempt it.  He took his old beater "Ford" Jeep up into the thing and tipped over.  As he went over his battery was ripped loose and arced a little fire in his hood.  They were able to get it out before it burned up any of his rust though.  And thus, the Firehole was born.

Comin' over the top of "Zukinni Salad"

The only other to try it in our group was me and my Zukinni. No matter how I tried though, my axles were too narrow.  I drove 13 hours to do this damn thing, and was not going away empty handed.  I decided a previously thought undriveable line up the rock on the right of the Firehole would be mine.  Everyone thought I was kidding around as I pulled up onto it.  They soon saw that I had crossed the lunatic fringe and was going all the way.  I climbed and tipped and pitched and clawed my way up, and over it.  I was high-centered on top momentarily, but quickly dislodged with a 'Samurai-skid-plate-pivot'.  No problem. A new obstacle had been claimed on Woody that day... Zukinni Salad it was dubbed.  I had fun back at camp listening to rumors of the new line that had been conquered.

Martinez Canyon

Twister on Ajax "Boggers and a Fuselage"

Saturday we were signed up for Ajax. Jay K. convinced us to hit an "unsanctioned" run up the brand new 4.5+ rated Martinez Canyon (this is on a scale of 1-4+).  How could I pass this up?  We let everyone else take off on their designated trails and may our way to Martinez.  It sits high in the hills about 35 minutes from camp and is quite a scenic drive.  The desert changes color from tan to reds, yellows, and green.  Trees actually start to show up.  Almost there, my power steering belt gave out.  I decided I would hit the first few rocks and then make my way back to town for another belt.  This plan didn't last long.... though it was an omen I should have heeded.

At Martinez a bit of an impromptu reunion occurred.  First we stumbled across Ned Bacon, Randy Ellis, and Shannon & Don Campbell who were judges at this year's Top Truck event.  Then up the trail comes Bill Shea in his stretched Willys.  And finally, Sam Stein who was a Top Truck competitor too, though this time he left his Hummer at home and brought along a new Unimog instead.  Too cool!  We had turned into the 'rock group' from hell.  I forgot about my power steering and hopped on board the thrill train!

A well-built Cherokee dances his way through lower Martinez Canyon.

As with many old west trails, this was once a mine access road which had been ravaged by flash floods. The water had rid the trail of all that pesky sand, dirt, pebbles, and other "fill" material to make way for the rocks. There are too many obstacles up there to begin naming them. Needless to say though, we had a blast though as our small group of 5 quadrupled. There were some good shows put on. We had some breakage along the way, but with a well-prepped group carrying lots of spare parts, it was no big deal.

Sometimes you gotta give it some "mojo" to get up this stuff.

With the vision of Ned and Shannon, we did open up another section of trail.  The last couple hundred yards of canyon floor had not been driven before Saturday.  To tell the truth, I would have thought it impossible and driven right on out if I hadn't been with these guys.  Ned was the first to go and it took some doing to get him through.  We learned more after Shannon and Mike Flores drove through.  I was 4th, and by the time I got there, the line had been established.  I drove right through.... with the help of a good spotter.

....then came the fatal moment.  The moment that doomed me.  I was clean to that point. Not a scratch on Zukinni.  Since it was new trail through, a small branch popped out and did put a scratch in my paint.  DAMN!  After we got back onto the mine road, I did something really stupid.  Jennifer even looked at me and told me to "put that stuff away."  I had brought out my "touch-up" paint and covered the scar.  That was it.  The rock gods could take no more.....

We wound our way up the very scary mining road to take us back home.  The views were spectacular from a few thousand feet above the desert floor.  The only obstacle I've heard named on Martinez is a dozy.  The "Luge".  I had heard about it in camp.  I had been flapping my gums all weekend about how "I cannot roll." HA!  The Luge was a section of mining road which had washed out.   The 'thing' was to drop off the ledge into the Luge while making a 90 degree turn.   Once into the rockslide, you were in a semi-controlled freefall for the next few hundred feet on a slide of loose rocks which one could barely walk on.

I was the first of our little group there.  I had mocked the trails and their attempts to overturn me.  I had rebuffed the small "damage" I sustained with a small brush of the touch-up paint.  My number was up, my ticket had been drawn.  I thought about taking a strap down since the drop-off was so large and my Samurai so small.  Nah!  I could do it.  I ever-so-slowly edged over the ledge until the tires would hold no more.  I immediately got off the brake and nudged the gas.  Too late.  My fate had been sealed by not taking the strap.  We dropped onto my front bumper and bounced upward and forward.  We were going over.... an airborne-endo into a very steep downhill chute.  It happened in a second.... but there was still time to react. Jennifer looked over at me and asked what to do.  I said "tuck in tight".  As we were going over, I remember thinking that we were going to be all right.  I had designed my roll system well, and we would not get hurt.  I also had in mind that my vehicle was about to be demolished.  The sound of breaking glass brought it all into focus real quick.  We landed upside-down and finally came to rest on my side of the vehicle.  I instantly turned the ignition off.   The tranny was dripping hot oil down my leg, the fire extinguisher was spraying the side of my head.... but we were okay.  I looked at Jenn and she was smiling.  We were okay.

After our scary ride, I'm still smiling... even though I can hardly stand on this steep rockslide.

Everyone ran down to help us out.  Jennifer was hanging by her seatbelt and it took a little doing to get her out.  We were now half on my side of the vehicle and half upside-down facing the wrong way down the chute.  After picking up all of our gear which had scattered down the rockslide, we jockeyed Ned and Billy into position.   Using two winches we were able to upright the vehicle.  I think everyone was amazed.  What damage?  I'd had the roof and doors off and the windshield down which had saved them.  The paint was scratched on my side, my mirror was broken, the roll cage had been pushed in by my head, and I had broken a Rancho 9000 almost in half.   Other than that though, the vehicle was fine.  After putting the rubber back on the ground, we started it up and Randy Ellis backed it down the hill for me (I was still a bit shaken).

Everyone else but two took a strap down after that. Billy in his stretched Willys made it down all right.  Randy took his CJ5 down it.  Anyone that knows "Chainsaw", knows he has no fear of rolling and almost seems to seek it out.   He dropped off the ledge.  He started to go over as I did, but knew what was coming.  He floored it.  Everyone was yelling as we watched him flying down the chute on his front two wheels while he tried to catch up with his rears which wanted to come over the top.  He eventually "outran" the endo and made it.  What a wild ride!

We played Ivan Stewart and all raced back to camp for the dinner.  With Pat Gremillion's help the next day, we were able to straighten the roll cage out enough for me to drive without bumping my head on it.  Talk around camp was again interesting as word of the Zukinni Flop got out.

Lower Woodpecker

Jay K. tries his hand at a new route into the "Playground" on Lower Woody.

Were we ready to quit?  NO WAY!  The next day we hit Lower Woodpecker with another very fun group.  This trail was very short but had some great "playgrounds" to rock around in.  One of the great things about these "conventions" is the variety of vehicles there.  We had Samurais, Toyotas, Jeeps, and even a Mog.  Everyone has their idea of the best line and watching all the different vehicles makes it exciting.  The playgrounds of Lower Woody was a great way for us to finish our Arizona trip.

Aftermath.... The roll cage has been rebuilt better than ever.  I used DOM heavy gauge tube all throughout this time.  If there is a next time, I'll be more than ready for it.  What happened with Jennifer you may ask... after all, she coulda died in that flip.  She says it was a 'bonding' experience, and loves wheeling more than ever.  What a woman I say.... I'm gonna marry that girl one day.

What do you do if you wanna participate in next year's Arizona Rocktoberfest?   Contact the Arizona State Assoc of 4WD Clubs..... and I'll see you there!

Glenn Wakefield
Poet, Traveler, Extreme Recreationalist
Do, or do not ......There is no try --Yoda--

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