'98 Winter Quarterly SWFWDA 4WD Trails Las Cruces, New Mexico Feb. 19-22, 1998

"Joy and Pain in Las Cruces"

By: Glenn Wakefield
Photos by: Jennifer Rivera

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"From the dawn of time, it has waited. Its hungry jaws...."

I remember this quote of the trail description of The Guardian from my first trip down to Las Cruces a couple years ago. I remember how it made me salivate. I remember getting a chill in anticipation of challenging this trail. The Guardian, and its twin The Wolf Run, were the reasons to make the long trip from my home in Northern Utah all the way down to Southern New Mexico. Imagine my horror this year when word made its way back that these trails had been blocked to us by the BLM. I was so disappointed to learn that I would not be able to face my old nemesis the Wolf Run, who had claimed a front axle from me 2 years ago. The pain.... Ohhhhh, Woe was me... woe was me!

Oh sure, the Las Cruces guys had built some new trails to help ease the pain and sorrow. But how could these new runs meet the difficulty and challenge of the two which had made Las Cruces 4wheeling famous. I was skeptical....

We rolled into town a day early to possibly do some mtn biking in the area. Not to be though, as it was windy and cooooold. So, after a morning of MTV, we left our cozy hotel room to head over to camp. We got in line behind such notables as the Curries, Rod Pepper, Harold Off, and many more. This was good, misery loves company.

We set up camp and were immediately greeted by Homer VanZandt of the Las Cruces Four Wheelers. I talked with Homer for quite awhile questioning the new runs and was feeling better about things as they were minute by minute. At tech inspection, they slapped a black diamond sticker on my Zukinni. Hey! As a lover of 'extreme' things, I know that Black Diamonds are good thing. As friends rolled in from all over the west we spent the rest of the afternoon huddled in circular groups talking 4x4.

The program had our trail, Habenero Falls, rated as "extreme". Well, we'll see about that. We positioned ourselves between our friends Pat Gremillion (Pull Pal), and Shawn Gregory (Tuffy). I was anxious to check out this "fresh meat", and finally, we hit the trail. After about 20 or so minutes of winding around on old desert roads, our caravan came to a stop. Something was ahead. Being stuck way in back, we had a bit of a hike to get to where the action was. Off in the distance, music to my hears. I heard the roar of an engine, the thump,thump,thump of mud tires lugs fighting for traction. Something wicked this way comes.....

Around the corner, and....Oh yeah boy! Waterfalls. Wonderful, glorious, dry waterfalls were the name of the game in Habenero. The first waterfall was about 10 ft tall with various ledges and loose rocks and all sorts of trouble. This, was cool. We made our way up to check out the action on the next waterfall. It was more gnarly, more vertical, more challenging. Cool! And so it went, each waterfall more difficult than the previous. The tow straps were flying as were broken parts. Not to be one short on braggado, I must say I was one of only a couple who piloted every waterfall without a strap. The Zukinni was kicking some Habenero hiney! All in all, the main obstacles were stacked up into about a 1/4 mile long section. It took us between 5 and 6 hours to get everyone through and we didn't make it back until dark.

I didn't drive 15 hours to pussyfoot around on no stinkin' dirt road. THIS is what I made the trip down for! I was one happy camper. The new stuff was looking good.

Day 2. Patzcuarro's Revenge. By this time I knew the new trails were tough. I just didn't know how tough they could get. Well, ESPN showed up to see for themselves and to show the world how challenging Las Cruces could be. On this day we were invited by the "press" to be toward the front of the group. Our group consisted of all the Bogger Boys with the crazy articulation.

First came the Nemesis. Call this the "gate" beyond which you must pass to enter this trail. Sorta like a Guardian.... ON STEROIDS! I don't even know how to begin explaining each and every obstacle on this trail. Lets just say that only about 1 in 15 vehicle survived the day without taking a strap. And yes, on the first waterfall, I too took the strap. There's not a whole lot you can do though when the ledge you must climb is 3 ft tall, perched at the top of a challenging 15 ft high waterfall, and both your front tires are in the air. This was a 'Potato Salad' with larger ledges and about 15 more degrees of incline thrown in for good measure. We saw some crazy action that day and several near rollovers. This was perhaps the most experienced group of wheelers I've ever been out with though, and so everyone managed to make it through the day without flipping.

Dryfall after dryfall after dryfall..... relentlessly they challenged us. They cut our tires, broke our axles..... but we kept coming. We were an unstoppable force driven by testosterone and unleaded fuel. Patzcuarro's was probably the toughest trail I have ever been on, and I loved every single second of it.

Once again, we made it back to camp after dark. Tonite was 'the drawing'. I walked away with a bottle of Water Wetter while others walked away with a couple sets of tires, a couple winches, an ARB locker, other lockers and ltd slips, and many other great prizes. This was the best drawing I had ever participated in.

And on the third day, the Cruces Four Wheelers had built some formidable trails.... and Glenn saw that it was good. Tabasco Twister was to be our final trail for the event. Once again, Las Cruces lived up to its reputation. The rocks were big, the waterfalls were tall, the challenges were many. The whole day is a blur to me now. The only clear memory I have was the yummy Mexican dinner which the Las Cruces Four Wheelers had waiting for all of the participants at a nearby restaurant.

Like Henry the VIII sitting stuffed and content at his buffet of turkey legs and ale, the trails of Las Cruces had satisfied me. So sad to say goodbye, we lingered in camp and were the last participants to head for home. Yes, the pain of losing the Guardian and Wolf run remains. But the joy of all that was new, is what we took home.

Thank you to all the Las Cruces Four Wheelers who worked so hard to build the many new trails for us to come play on. I can't wait to see what is in store for next year. If you'd like to participate in the Las Cruces Chili Challenge, you can contact Homer VanZandt or visit the Southwest Four Wheel Drive Association web pages.

Glenn Wakefield
Poet, Traveler, Extreme Recreationalist

Live in the outside....

Glenn owns and operates Summit Off-Road.   Be sure to visit his website.

See "Chile Challenge" By: Bob Norton, for another excellent report on these trails.

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