By: Bob Flemming

Tabasco Twister, Habenero Falls, Rocotillo Rapids, Patzcuaro’s Revenge, Broad Canyon and Amities Ledges. If you’re into rock crawling, you’ll recognize these names as some of the toughest trails found anywhere in the USA. They’re located in the Las Cruces, New Mexico area, where the Las Cruces 4-Wheel Drive Club and Southwest Four Wheel Drive just held their “Chili Challenge” on these trails and others.

The “Chili Challenge” is one of four major events that are sponsored by the Southwest Four Wheel Drive Association. Southwest Four Wheel Drive is an association of member four wheel drive clubs from states west of the Mississippi River. With over 46 member clubs representing close to 1,000 members, Southwest 4 Wheel Drive Association puts on some pretty serious off-road events. This year, the trails included the same ones used in the 1998 Rock Crawling Championships.

While some of these trails are classified as Extreme, there were plenty of trails for the novice, amateur and accomplished drivers to enjoy also. Over 20 trails were open in the Chili Canyon and surrounding Dona Ana and San Diego Mountains. Some of these have been featured in past events and carry the names of, Broad Canyon, Box Canyon, Dona Ana, Amaitisa Ledges, Hopping Jalapeno and others. These trails are rated from easy to moderate, hard to extreme. I decided to try a few out and was not disappointed.

I registered for the “Chili Challenge” in January and the run was held February 24th through the 28th. The weather couldn’t have been more pleasant. Mornings started out in the high 50’s to low 60’s and the high temp was only 80 degrees all week. No rain and clear skies made for a fantastic outing. Vehicles of every sort, from pure stock Jeeps and SUV’s, to heavily modified off-road monsters were on hand to battle the trails and claim their respective bragging rights.

Easy trails were designated as being able to be transversed in stock 4x4 vehicles, with 4-wheel drive only being required sparingly. Moderate trails were designed for vehicles with 31” tires minimum, a limited slip differential or a locker and 4-wheel drive required quite often. The hard trails are reserved for the more experienced drivers and those vehicles with 33” tires and at least one solid locker. Vehicles with limited slip differentials only are not allowed. The extreme trails are just what the name implies. Vehicles on these trails are required to have 33” tires minimum, two solid lockers and a total disregard for any body or mechanical damage. Of course, all vehicles going on any trails were required to have fire extinguishers, a first-aid kit and the drivers and passengers all had to sign liability waiver forms. It was also strongly suggested that each vehicle have the tools to affect any needed trail repairs. It was also communicated that any vehicle suffering mechanical break down would be assisted in repairs, but that the whole group would not be held waiting while repairs were being made. This made the use of a “buddy system” very important.

My Jeep is pretty well equipped, but I also need to drive it every day to work, so the extreme trails were a definite no-no. Plus, I decided that since so much coverage is given to the extreme trail riders and the gory rollovers and body damage, it was time to give the “average” trail riders their due. I stuck to the moderate and hard trails and, believe me when I say, these gave me all the excitement I wanted and then some.

I selected my trails based on my off-road driving experience and vehicle capabilities. My Jeep is a 1997 TJ with the 2.5L engine, 5-speed transmission, 4.56 gears, 33” tires and an E-Z locker in the rear. I have been driving some pretty difficult trails for a little over a year and felt comfortable in selecting the Broad Canyon (hard), Hopping Jalapeno (hard), Amaitisa Ledges (hard) and Dona Ana (hard) trails. I figured that these would be among the most popular and I was right. The trail groups were limited to a maximum of 15 vehicles each, per day and these filled up quickly. The size limitation was done to insure that every body got to experience the whole trail and also, to minimize any possible delays due to difficulty in conquering the obstacles.

The Loony Toons” - “Bob’s Jeep, before the trails began.”

The first day was pretty light, due to the run starting on a Wednesday. In fact, the trail I signed up for had only two vehicles show up. As such, we were able to actually run two trails that day; Hopping Jalapeno and Amaitisa Ledges. Both of these trails are known throughout the southwestern states for their medium to large ledges and boulders and some pretty nasty cracks that must be transversed, not to mention the cactus and other thorny plants the desert is known for. Our trail leaders for the day were Ryan and John, from the Las Cruces 4-Wheel Club.

Hopping Jalapeno was the first trail. It started off fairly tame, but quickly escalated into a genuine gut-check of a run, with three foot ledges to be transversed and the infamous “grease pit” obstacle. The “grease pit” is a rather large, 4-foot deep crevasse that only the most stouthearted should even attempt. I decided to see if I could make it, but after getting half-way over the crack, I decided to have a closer look-see. I found that I would only have about an inch of the tire width on each side keeping my Jeep and me from falling into the abyss. One small mistake and I and my “Loony Toons” Jeep would be looking for a body shop. I promptly decided that caution was the better part of judgment that day and backed off to use the by-pass. Others on that trail that week were not so cautious and more than one ended up on their side in the crack. Winching out only caused additional body damage and scrapes to their vehicles. Several made the obstacle without any problem and earned their bragging rights.

A typical ledge on Hopping Jalapeno

“Bob & Loony Toons on the ledge of Hopping Jalapeno”

Dan climbing a ledge on Hopping Jalapeno

Bob at the Grease Pit.

From here we joined up with the Amaitisa Ledges trail. Another group was already making their way along the trail, but a couple of drivers had experienced some minor body damage and were looking to pull out. A Hummer and a Jeep had both gotten on a first name basis with some rather nasty rocks and decided that a quick exit was the best choice. The Hummer definitely made the wise choice, as the trail became very narrow just a little further on and he would have suffered extensive damage if he had continued on. Dan and I opted to take their place on the Amaitisa Ledges trail, while Ryan and John agreed to lead the two exiting vehicles back to camp.

The Amaitisa Trail was even tougher than the Hopping Jalapeno. It was narrow and had miles of boulders and ledges that had to be conquered. The trail claimed two tires and a few body dents and scratches. Luckily, none of these mishaps were on my Jeep. I was very happy however, that I had purchased the heavy-duty skid plates for the steering box and gas tank. These came into some serious contact with more than a few boulders along the trail.

One of the most interesting and challenging sections of the Amaitisa Ledges trail is the area known as “The Bathtub”. This is a long deep crack, surrounded by large boulders. There is a by-pass for those “faint of heart”, but since I was still hurting from not crossing the Grease Pit, I had to attempt this obstacle. With some very good spotting from our new trail leader, Mike, I and almost everyone who tried, made it safely over, with a minimum of damage being inflicted on any of the vehicles. The exit from the Bathtub requires some rather delicate driving and everyone got some “air time” getting over the ledge at the far end. By the time we got back to the access road, I was certain that the “hard” trails were properly rated.

A shot of the Amaitisa Ledges trail

Dan Neuss and his “DANDI-1” Jeep coming up and over the Bathtub of Amestista Ledges

Getting twisted out of shape was the order of the day on the Amaitisa Ledges trail

The following day I headed out for Broad Canyon. The trail leader for this run was Paul Tomicek, Jr. Paul was the coordinator for the event from the Las Cruces 4 Wheelers Club. He had told me that the Broad Canyon trail was the oldest of the “hard” trails and would certainly challenge each and every driver and vehicle. He didn’t lie! There was only a small group on our run and it looked like we were going to be able to make it another two-run day. However, the canyon had other plans for us.

We had just entered the canyon and only crossed a couple of minor obstacles when the first casualty occurred. One of the Jeeps suffered a broken airline to the rear ARB locker. The driver did not have any tools, so I quickly broke out my tools and began to attempt repairs. A couple of other riders happened by going the opposite direction and also offered their help. Between the four of us, we were able to make the repair in only an hour! I could only hope that this was not a forbearing of things to come.

Entering Broad Canyon - “Things looked so peaceful”

We headed deeper into the canyon and soon came upon “Test Rock”. Paul informed us that this ledge was so named, because if any driver and vehicle could not conquer this obstacle, they would not be able to negotiate the rest of the trail without the strong possibility of body damage. Climbing Test Rock requires pulling some pretty serious “air”, no matter how slow you try and take it. If this was the foretaste of things to come, this trail was going to be very interesting indeed.

Paul (red hat) explaining the best line to take on Test Rock.

Dan passes the test - It wasn’t graded on a curve.

There were eight vehicles in the group and seven passed the Test. The one that didn’t had some very serious problems the rest of the day, and ended up with the front and both rocker panels severely damaged. Broad Canyon has virtually no bypasses around the major obstacles and as such, is a very difficult trail. The rating of “hard” was most definitely well deserved.

This was the “easy” part of Broad Canyon

The canyon is actually a dry riverbed and changes every time a heavy rain causes a river of water to flow down the canyon. It is packed with huge boulders and loose sand, making for some very interesting situations. It was here that we lost three of our eight vehicles. One was a very well set up Toyota pick-up. He was running 35” tires and dual lockers, but the canyon showed no mercy. The driver ended up snapping a drive link arm after getting wedged between two boulders, Ouch !

The driver and some other trail riders had to remove the arm, take it back to town to have it welded, bring it back out to the canyon, re-install it and then get winched out. A friend volunteered to remain behind to provide transportation and we continued on. Less than 200 yards further, another vehicle failed, due to a busted rear drive shaft. He was able to return the way we came using front wheel drive only. We were less than half way through the canyon and things were not looking good.

The Canyon’s first casualty - “Caught between a rock and a hard place!

The most notorious section of Broad Canyon is a place called the “Snake Pit”. While we didn’t see any live snakes, the boulders that must be crossed caused the vehicles to flex so much that they resembled snakes themselves.

Paul shows the “Path of least resistance” through the Snake Pit

After watching Paul, the “Mighty Mouse” flat fender Jeep tries vainly to find a by-pass

This Jeep got “Snake Bit” !

The “Loony Toons” did not make it through the canyon totally unscathed either. We suffered some minor body damage on the right rear quarter panel, when we argued with a rock and lost. The tight confines of the canyon made for some interesting climbing. I was sure glad I had just bought my new TSL Radial Swamper tires. The aggressive tread and thick side walls came in handy.

Loony Toons” won this argument, thanks to the thick side walls on the Radial Swampers.

Further down the canyon, it opened up to a large “play area”, with some steep off-camber slick rock climbs and ledges. This was a chance to relax a little before our encounter with the last challenges of Broad Canyon.

Bob and “Loony Toons” negotiate an uphill turn.

The next section of the canyon was a series of ledges that needed to be climbed to exit the trail. It was here that the canyon inflicted the last of the damage. The “Mighty Mouse” flat fender Willys suffered a bent tie rod trying to climb one of the ledges. The damage made the vehicle undriveable and some hasty “trail engineering” was required to get the “Mouse” moving again. Using a chain and another vehicle, Mouse’s driver was able to straighten the tie rod enough to make it out of the canyon and back to camp, where more permanent repairs were made.

Trail repairs on the “Mighty Mouse” - It wasn’t pretty, but it worked.

The last damage of the day was inflicted on my friend’s Jeep. He had managed to make it all the way with a tiny, minor scratch, when the canyon let him know who was boss. On the last ledge, Dan bent the left fender and took a chunk out of his right side body bar. The damage was minimal, but at the end of the day, not one vehicle was unscathed. Maybe they need to add a rating of “very hard” to some of these trails !

Dan climbing the last ledge out of Broad Canyon - If this article had audio, you could hear the left front fender surrendering to the rock. Luckily, we were able to straighten it back out with only minor residual damage.

On Friday, Dan and I decided to take a different approach. The boulders were fun and really required some heavy concentration and deft driving, but it was time for a change. We had been told that the Dona Ana hard trail was the most scenic of the trails. It is a run through the mountains, consisting of some very serious off-camber obstacles. Because this trial is up high and on the side of the mountain, this trail is also the most dangerous of all the trails in the Las Cruces area, according to several of the local club members and others, who had run the trails before. The dangerous part is due to the fact that if you do roll over on an off-camber section here, you won’t stop until you’re at the bottom of the ridge.

The day was another gorgeous day, but high winds were forecast for the late morning and afternoon. We got to the mountain around 9:00 and started our accent. Our trail leader took us on the wrong paths several times, because they all look the same from down low, but we finally found the right one.

The first obstacle was one called “Sally’s Rock”. It is a very steep slick rock climb with a very sharp off-camber right turn at the top. We came very close to rolling a couple of YJ and CJ Jeeps, but with some very good and careful spotting, they made it safely. We had a Toyota FJ40 that burned out a clutch on the attempt and had to return to camp. Tommy, our trail leader, also experienced vehicle failure and had to leave his Jeep behind. He continued on by hitching a ride in a Jeep with only a single driver. We were down to only 11 vehicles and had only climbed one obstacle. Things were not looking too good. There were only two TJ’s in the group. While everyone else had to pull a little “air” to get over and around Sally’s Rock, the TJ’s made it look easy.

The picturesque Dona Ana mountain trials

Sally’s Rock - Trail Leader, Tommy, showing us what fresh “air” is all about.

The next task was to climb “Hamburger Hill”. This is a very steep hill covered in loose slate shale and another off-camber turn near the top. This trail takes you past the “Eye of the Needle” and down the “Alpine Slide”. The Alpine Slide is a ¼ mile long, steep, loose shale covered slope, which starts off at a 65-degree down angle! You also have to make a very off-chamber left turn to miss a small ledge that could sent you and your vehicle end-over-end, if you make the wrong choice. Tommy and Scott made sure we all knew exactly what we had to do before letting any of us start our decent.

The trip down the Alpine Slide is extremely dangerous and more than one vehicle has been lost, due to rollovers. The only way to safely negotiate the slide is to put your vehicle in low gear and trust in the engine braking to slow your descent. Riding your brakes is an almost guaranteed rollover maneuver.

This is one downhill trip that will definitely give you some pucker power! One driver had his Jeep balanced on a single wheel, for what seemed like as eternity, before getting himself straightened out and safely down the hill. It was a very scary sight and we all thought he was going to roll down the hill the hard way. Unfortunately, I was in the midst of changing film rolls at the time and missed that photo shot.

Tommy and Scot lead the way to the “Eye of the Needle”

The Alpine Slide = Yes, it really is as steep as it looks here!

Luckily, we all managed to get safely down the Alpine Slide and headed around the hill to run the section called, “Mother’s Worry”. This is an extreme off-camber trail section that also has a reputation for claiming more than a few rollovers. However, the group negotiated Mother’s Worry without any mishaps. This trail ends with a very tight, blind, off-camber turn that had all of us catching more than a little air as we made the turn. It’s more than a little scary to feel your front wheel come off the ground as you turn uphill on a steep slope and see nothing but air to your down hill side.

The next obstacle was another very steep hill covered with loose shale and a tight turn at the top.. Another of our club members intoned his method for conquering this hill. His advice was, “Don’t worry, just floor it. You’ll make it.” Tommy christened this hill, “Three legged hill” because one trail rider crested the top with a little too much gusto.

Three legged hill

We had one Jeep burn out a clutch on this section of the trail and another that broke a front U-joint. This series of breakdowns was the last straw for the group that day. We decided to head back to camp before we suffered more casualties. We took a much less severe path going down the mountain and we were all happy that the only damages were small ones. After all, we still had more day to go.

Saturday was the last day of the Chili challenge and I decided to go watch some of the extreme machines and drivers attempt to conquer some of the hardest trails in the southwest. The first trail I went to was the Habanero Falls trail. This trail consists of four very high and difficult water falls and countless huge boulders that must be conquered, all in a very narrow canyon with vertical walls over 50 feet high. Once you start down this trail, there is no way to turn around and the only way out is to get over each and every obstacle. Fifteen vehicles started out under their own power and several suffered mechanical breakdowns.

Trail sign - All the trails were marked with signs, using the skiing legends of diamonds. Note this one has three, denoting an extreme trail.

The first casualty blew out a transfer case and it had to be rebuilt on the trail. These drivers know that having spare parts is an absolute must, as well as having the knowledge to accomplish the repair under the most adverse conditions. This driver, with the help of others, rebuilt the transfer case in only 45 minutes and continued to complete the trail. Other drivers suffered shredded tires, broken shocks and more than a little body damage to their vehicles. And to think that this was supposed to be fun!

Rick Little attempting the 40 foot, 60 degree climb over three ledges. No one made it without a little help from a winch.

“Lemon Yellow” from Farmington, NM almost made it before sliding back down. The driver’s comment was simply, “You call THIS steep ?”

Rocitillo Rapids was the next trail I visited and here too the carnage was evident. This trail was also a dry, narrow, riverbed with one steep ledge after another, with each getting progressively harder to transverse. Virtually all of the drivers had to be strapped over at least one ledge and no one came away completely unscathed. Only two drivers conquered the last ledge that day, but everyone tried. One Jeep rolled over backwards, and another broke a shock. Several received “trail badges” on the body of the vehicle somewhere along the trail. It was not a pretty sight, but it was exciting. Only a couple of drivers managed to negotiate this trail without resorting to either a strap or a winch, but they paid the price in serious damage to their vehicles.

The only way some made it out of the “Rapids”

One of the easier ledges in the Rocotillo Rapids trail.

Harold Off and his “Off Again” Scrambler climbing a rather steep ledge. ”I could have sworn I had two front wheels when I started.”

This Toyota was well built, but the ledge was built first. He took the by-pass. After all, it was a foot shorter !

The Tabasco Twister trial proved to be as tough as the name implies. This trail requires such a high degree of suspension flex, that only the most serious modified vehicles make it through unscathed. It was really something to see the various Jeeps, older model Broncos and even a couple of Toyotas attempting to conquer this trail. When it was all over, all the drivers I talked with agreed that even though they had completed the trail, they hadn’t won, but merely survived for another day.

From here I traveled to the trial called Patzcuaro’s Revenge II. This was the last trail used in the final round of last year’s Rock Crawling Championships. Sure enough, it lived up to its reputation. This trail was brutal to all who challenged it. This day, ten people pitted their driving skills and vehicles against the trail that the event’s organizers said was the toughest trail in America. After watching several of the drivers sustain damage of one sort or another, I would have to agree that the trail was indeed one of the toughest I’ve seen. The trail included lots of steep off-camber climbs, very tight turns between steep rock walls, high ledges with loose shale on top and very large boulders to stop your sliding in a most ungratifying manner. One driver offered to let me ride along on this trail, but changed his mind about even trying it after seeing the damage it inflicted on others the day before. I have to admit I wouldn’t want to put my Jeep up against this trail either.

Harold Off getting some really good flex out of his WARN equipped Scrambler.

Even Harold Off’s WARN-equipped Scrambler, “Off Again”, didn’t get through without some damage. I guess this was one way to get the super flex, Harold! Check out the left spring. I don’t think WARN designed it to flex like this.

This is the broken shock that resulted from Harold’s attempt at the ledge.

The day ended with a steak dinner and a raffle drawing for several very nice items, ranging from winches to pull straps, tee shirts to floor mats. In all, over $10,000 worth of merchandise was raffled off and nobody had any excuse to go away hungry. The Chili Challenge had over 250 vehicles registered and over 700 people participated. Ages ranged from a couple in their 70’s, who ran both hard and extreme trails, to kids as young as three. The participants came from as far east as North Carolina, to folks from California and from as far north as Idaho. No one had any negative comments about the trails or the ratings and only a very few expressed any complaints about the way the event was organized. The majority of complaints that were received had to do with folks no always getting their first choice for trails. However, with so many folks showing up, the Las Cruces 4-Wheel Drive club did add four additional trails to each day’s offerings. This meant that they were running 28 trails a day with a maximum of 15 riders allowed per trail. No matter how you look at it, this was a huge off-road event.

Personally, I thought that the event was extremely well organized and the trail leaders were very knowledgeable about the area and the trails. The trail leaders I ran with took the time to spot drivers through the most difficult parts of the trails and were available for assistance as required on other sections, too. I would highly recommend this annual event to everyone who enjoys rock crawling and those who have never tried it. Novices to expert off-road drivers and riders have enough variety to challenge any skill level and the trails are well laid out and maintained. I’m already making plans to attend again next year. Hope to see you there too. Look me up, if you come. I’m the nut driving the Jeep known as “Loony Toons”, with the 4x4Review.Com logo. I’d love to meet and ride a trail or two with you.