Arizona State Association of 4 Wheel Drive Clubs 26th Annual Jamboree

October 13-17, 1999

Black Canyon City and Florence Junction, AZ

By Lennie Nelson

More than 300 4 wheelers from as far as Georgia and South Dakota came to Arizona for the 26th Annual ASA4WDC Jamboree near Phoenix, AZ. As a "rookie" 4 wheeler, I've only been doing it for a few years now, this was my first big off road event. And I have to say, if other events are run with half of the professionalism, I am going to be going to a whole lot of them. The ASA4WDC offered 18 different trails for everyone from the rookie driver in their stock vehicle to the extreme rock crawlers. The weekend was filled with 4 wheelin (of course), great times with the other attendees, broken parts, a barbecue, a raffle and a bit of dust.

Upon arrival you went to registration and then to your tech inspection. There they jacked you up to see what kind of locking devices you had, checked for your safety measures, gave you a color coded sticker and told you to have a good time.

Here is a list of the trails that were offered and the difficulty of each one.
TRAILS:

Ajax Loop (2,0)
Martinez Cabin (2.0)
Coke Ovens (2.5)
Pictograph Wash (2.5)
Flat Tire Canyon (3.0+)
New Trail TBA (3.5) (Which turned out to be named Jack Handle Trail, because we all know what a Hi Lift jack handle can do for bent tie rods)
Powerline Road (3.5)
Raw Deal (3.5)
Orvilles Loop (3.5+)
Lower Ajax (3.5+)
Upper Woodpecker (4.0)
Lower Terminator (4.5)
Martinez Mine (4.5)
Upper Ajax (4.5)
Upper Terminator (4.5)
Axle Alley (4.5+)
Lower Woodpecker (4.5+)
Predator (4.5+)

I only had the opportunity to run 2 of the 18 offered trails, but I am sure, I will be doing others in the years to come.

Powerline Road - Rating: 3.5+

I decided to take my full-size Dodge Ram V10 P/U on this trail, figuring there are bypasses by the harder parts, and I really don't like my bumper anyway. It turned out the trail was rated a bit high, but was fun nonetheless. This trial does a figure 8 through the hills near Superior, AZ and runs directly under the high-tension power lines. There were a few nice long off camber hills and grassy meadows. In the meadows were some puddles left from the recent rains that the mudheads (including myself) in the group decided to play in. After the meadow came another hill which had a stretch of about 200 feet that was an easy 4.0+. Now we all know that Jeeps and Broncos can more easily traverse these tough rock climbs, but a gentleman in my group, driving a full size, long bed, extended cab, Ford pickup was following the Samurai and the TJ right up this 4.0+ hill. And other than the bent bumper, he did a pretty good job. I decided to take the bypass up this part. Other than a bit of dust throughout the day, this was a great run with absolutely no problems.

Flat Tire Canyon - Rating: 3.0

Let me preface this by saying this trail was rated wrong. This is a rocky canyon with some tight spots to squeeze through. There's only one way in and one way out. We had planned on going to the end, turning the group around and heading back to camp. The large group and limited ability of some of the drivers on this run, made the goings a little slow at first, but then I heard a sound that we all hate to hear. A Flat Tire. I thought it only appropriate since we were on Flat Tire Canyon. But I didn't want to fall victim to the trail. After giving me a few minutes to change the tire we were moving again. This trail WAS NOT suitable for a full-size pickup, but I kept moving along just fine and thanks to my lack of inhibitions I was keeping up with the TJ in front of me. 4 hours into the canyon, we were only about ½ way in and our trip leader decided it was time to turn around and head back or we would be going home under the moonlight. This is where things got more interesting. On the way in, I was near the end of the group. Now that we had all done a U turn (which is very hard in a full-size truck in a tight canyon wash), I was right behind the Tail gunner. After passing the first obstacle just fine and spotting the guy behind me, my tail gunner was out of sight and up on a hill. So now I was leading the trip. Well, with my spotter on the top of the hill I proceeded through the next tight spot figuring I'll be OK. I was pretty off camber and was turning my wheel when a rock lipped out from under my wheel. This caused the truck to slide a bit and put a nice sized dent in my door. This was my first true battle scar from 4 wheeling, but I didn't really want it that bad. After helping the guy behind me get through that spot, we proceeded on up the hill and caught up to the tail gunner. Then we met a washout in the trail that the tail gunner in his locked CJ 7 almost flipped over attempting. He had 2 wheels in the air and I figured he was coming down, but he made it. I was next in line and figured he just took a bad line, but I just preyed my limited slips would give me the traction I needed to get over this one last tough spot. Upon my first attempt, I tried to take it easy and lost traction. A guy came up and spotted me on my next attempt and with his aid; I smacked my front Diff Cover. You only spot me bad once. I got out, surveyed the land a bit better, and decided, enough trying to crawl, lets show off what V10 power is. With the gas pedal mashed, I picked my line, told my passenger to hold on and bounced right on through. What a rush. After pulling 2 vehicles through and getting the group back together, it was time to head back to camp and get some dinner. Even with a flat tire, a dented door and a bent tail pipe, I still left the trail saying "A bad day 4 wheeling is still better than the best day at work."

All in all, the event was a great time. I am already planning on going again next year and getting revenge with that Flat Tire Canyon. With the variety of trails offered, this event would be fun for anyone who enjoys the adventures 4 wheeling can be. I had fun on the trails, looking at the vendor tents and just being around other people who enjoy 4 wheeling as much as I do.

For more information about the ASA4WDC or the Jamboree
ASA4WDC WEB SITE: www.asa4wdc.org
(602) 258-4BY4
Email: asa4wdc@asa4wdc.org