Sand Hollow... why did I wait so long!

Living in Utah has its perks... even if you’re not part of the local “cult.” I’m less than an hour away from some fun trails and only about 3 hours from Moab. And because of that I usually just go there for the weekend. But lately it’s just... not the same. Too many people. Too expensive and with the construction of a new bridge, the traffic congestion is just fucking awful.

So, we decided to pack up and head down to Hurricane Utah and spend the weekend playing in the Sand Hollow and Sand Mountain OHV area with a few good friends. I didn’t get a ton of pics but I figured I’d share what I did get. These are out of order in terms of what pics go with what trails but, well... so are the trails. It’s a huge network of “go wherever you think you can go” with quite a few actual built trails that often intersect each other and, more than once. Few places I know where you can run 5 trails in 2 days, and in the middle of January.

For this trip it was myself, Don (Clearskies) our good friend Jason in his incredibly underrated 99’ XJ on Currie axles, long arms and an atlas with 35” BFG Krawlers that I swear as old as us.
We also had out our good friend Tyler in his JK with a fresh Superduty/Sterling 1 ton swap running 40” Toyo MT’s. Another Anvil JK on BFG KM3’s and a rad stretched LJ on king coilvers and Long arms.

As for us, still running our tried and true setup of 3.5” AEV brute springs and Falcon 3.3 shocks and a fresh set of 39” KM3’s and PSC hydraulic assist. This would be our first trip hardcore on the new tires and hydro setup.

For the most part we spent the better part of 2-1/2 days dodging the rain, which made for really slick and sand covered trails on Saturday and Sunday.

Friday we ran Double Sammy and west rim
Saturday was Plan B and the famous Maze trail
And the for Sunday a quick trip out in Milts Mile.

For the most part it was all drama free until Sunday with the exception of Jason exploding his front driver side hub on The Maze and Don, deciding his Jeep needed to take a nap on Sunday during our Milts Mile run.

Hope y’all enjoy. And if you get a chance to hit up Sand Hollow... Do it. Everything rated 7 and up is pretty much on par with the hardest Moab has to offer and then some.

Getting ready to run Double Sammy under gray but, dry skies
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Getting a little flex in on the first main obstacle
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And here’s Don with his EVO long arms and bolt on Coilovers
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Starting our climb up a fun extra credit gap
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The Chute obstacle is quite fun. But I do have to say, somewhat over hyped. It’s basically a shorter version of Hells Gate in Moab minus the V-notch and holes
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Plenty of spots to get a little tippy as well.
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Carnage on The Maze
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Jason was attempting a pretty steep climb with a large step at the top and, due to the wet sand had to give it a little extra and his front driver side hub just wasn’t up for it and decided to check out.
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But, a quick swap of the new one and we were back to it.
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Climbing up and into a bowl, followed by a sharp left turn and into another bowl
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More to follow.....
 
Ending the day with an epic shot overlooking nearby St.George Utah
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Sunday it was Time to pack up and head home, but not before making a quick run up Milts Mile.
Somewhat unassuming in video, the wet sand was still making everything much harder. And it’s 7/10 rating was much closer to an 8.5/10

Here’s Tyler giving the first optional climb a solid effort but in the end, it was just too slick and he decided to save it for another day

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Wouldn’t be complete without a poser shot

But I think Don stole the show with this one
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Coming up a fun optional climb that wedges your Jeep into a large gap
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All in all, things were going well and drama free until Dons Jeep decided it hadn’t enough rest and took things up a notch
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But, thanks to a level head and quick action, he was back on all 4 in a matter of minutes and, thanks to the outstanding design of his EVO frame mounted sliders, there was ZERO damage to the body and only a few broken clips for his fender flares.
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Tyler deciding to try out a buggy line
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Not really what he was hoping for
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But, a couple nearby winches and he was back on the mail trail
The next and final obstacle was Hard Left Turn and as the name implies, you have to work your way up a V-notch and make a sharp hard left turn up a steep ledge at the top which makes for an epic Jeep wave. Only Tyler and Jason were up for it being that Don had just flopped and I had a Jeep full of people and gear.

Here’s Tyler giving it the Wave
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And for Jason
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All in all a great time with great friends. Sorry Moab, you just got moved to the “B” list.

Just some random parting shots
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Clearskies

Caught the Bug
That was one of the most memorable trips I've ever had.. even setting the flop aside.
Casey and Jason were spot on with my recovery.. absolutely perfect. I'm really grateful to have you guys as my friends and wheeling buddies.

I love Moab too.. I usually do at least 2 trips a year there but I think it'll have to share with Sand Hollow now. I had no idea it was so amazing there.

If you want hard core wheeling...
Sand Hollow for the win.

Sent from my SM-N960U using WAYALIFE mobile app
 
That was one of the most memorable trips I've ever had.. even setting the flop aside.
Casey and Jason were spot on with my recovery.. absolutely perfect. I'm really grateful to have you guys as my friends and wheeling buddies.

I love Moab too.. I usually do at least 2 trips a year there but I think it'll have to share with Sand Hollow now. I had no idea it was so amazing there.

If you want hard core wheeling...
Sand Hollow for the win.

Sent from my SM-N960U using WAYALIFE mobile app

No doubt one for the books. Everything you could want and more. That flop was best case scenario. Slow, we were close by. And no damage. Still trying to figure out how Jason covered 200 feet in his XJ turning around in the amount of time it took me to run 50 feet 🤯
 
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