(percussive music)
- [Announcer] All right, drivers leaving.
- Washing my radiator out,
that's probably just packed full of dust.
- Well, I bent my steering,
hittin' it on a rock, so.
- Two days ago, I broke a
hub or both hubs, actually.
- I'm trying to get the tire
rod on and squared away,
get the hydraulic assist going,
'cause the 42-inch tires are really hard
on a steering box.
- Something tells me it's going
to be another hot day today.
- It's a big enough tire rod.
Get your workout on.
- [Driver] Let's go!
We got some shade over here.
It's only going to be 110 today.
- Welcome to Day 7 of Ultimate Adventure.
(cheering and applause)
We made it this far.
So, yesterday was late,
but I thought it was pretty cool.
Did you guys have a good time?
(group agreeing and applauding)
Right on.
Today is all about some
technical rock crawling.
Located less than 15 miles outside of
Hurricane, Utah,
lies a four-wheeling
paradise called Sand Hollow.
It's a state park that's
managed by the BLM,
that consists of a reservoir, sand dunes,
sandstone crevices and canyons
that offer gravity-defying traction,
with everything from mild to
wild hardcore rock crawling.
Guys, we're going to regroup,
pause for just a second,
then we're going to move
on to the first trail.
(dramatic music)
(engine starting)
- My name's Rich Klein and
this is Austin, my son.
- [Trent] Rich and Austin
will be our trail leaders
and it's a good thing,
because it's insanely easy
to get lost in Sand Hollow.
Now Rich has been working very hard
with a small, but dedicated
group of local off-roaders
to turn Sand Hollow into
a place that's bigger
than the Rubicon and Moab combined.
Local Woody Swearingen from IH8MUD
is also helping us with
tailgunning duties today
in his Formula Toy.
- Local here to Sand Hollow,
own and operate a
company called Trail Hero
and pretty excited to be part
of the Ultimate Adventure.
It's been a life-long goal of mine
to be part of it one way or another,
and luckily, they came into my backyard
and I get a chance to show
them around on the trails.
- [Trent] Currently, there's
a 1,300 acre trail system
of developed rock trails,
but Sand Hollow is an open area,
meaning that if you see a potential line,
you can try four-wheeling.
- Now we're heading over to Joint Effort
and from there, we're
going to split Joint Effort
and go into Double Sammy, two
of Sand Hollow's best trails.
- I am lined up on the first
obstacle on Joint Effort,
which is one of the many,
many trails out here.
This place is awesome.
It's just a big play
area, lots of sandstone,
the traction is incredible.
It should be a good time.
After traversing an
extremely soft sand dune,
transitioning to a tight canyon
formed with a natural
version of sandpaper,
is almost surreal.
You go from no traction to crazy traction
in less than 100 feet
with wild climbs, squeezes,
and ledges, to boot.
It's just really steep.
(engine revving)
What was that?
(wheels squealing)
Everyone has one of
those days on the trail,
and apparently, today, it's my turn.
Well, first off, it's
the goal of the last day
of Ultimate Adventure
and I think I just blew the rear end up
in this thing, so, well, it is what it is.
Having only front wheel drive means
being on foot the rest of the day.
The buggy didn't really owe me anything
between the months of
pre-running for the trip
and then seven hard days on UA.
On the bright side, I can relax a little
and watch some of the other guys hit
all these cool obstacles.
You can always learn something
watching different rigs
and different drivers work.
(engine roaring)
- We're here in Sand Hollow OHV.
It is a gorgeous spot and
an awesome awesome trail.
I mean, it's hardcore.
It just took the ring and
pinion out of Trent's buggy.
Everyone else is coming up the hard lines
and we've got a lot
more trail ahead of us.
- The first obstacle set
the tone for the day.
Tough and technical.
The series of ledges favored
long wheel bases in one spot,
and then short wheel bases
just a few feet later.
Did I mention how insanely
cool this place is?
(engine roaring)
(wheels squealing)
Well, we're here at Joint Effort.
We've only been at it for 30 minutes or so
and we're already all mired up.
Rich, what's the terrain like out here?
- You know, there's a ton of traction
and because of that, you'll
see some broken parts,
but really, the terrain allows
you to be gravity-defying.
It's like driving on 80 grit sandpaper.
- Yeah, yeah, as a matter of fact,
the traction is so incredible,
I just blew the rear end up in my buggy
right there on the very first obstacle,
so let's hope that I'm
the only victim today,
although something tells me
that's probably not the case.
- [Rich] Probably not.
(engine roaring)
- [Trent] Steep inclines
and off-camber sections
demand constant attention,
as being off the line just
a foot one way or the other
can get you in trouble very quickly.
The lines also vary with wheel base.
This is why a spotter is so critical here.
Hence, why Joint Effort
is the name of the trail.
- That little section
definitely illustrates
why we have this Magnum
transfer case system
and the low gearing it provides
because I needed every ounce of control
that that gave me.
This is a big rig to push
through a really tight squeeze
right there and the
gearing was a giant tool
in making that happen.
- [Trent] With the first
few ledges out of the way,
Rich and Austin led us to another area
of slightly more open ground,
where once again, you
could follow the trail,
or pick a line and see if you can make it.
(engine roaring)
- Back driver, hard driver,
hard driver, hard driver.
Back up.
Doin' well.
It's fun gettin' different
types of vehicles
through the same obstacle.
Everyone's got to be spot
a little bit differently.
- This is really gnarly trail.
I'm pretty silly for bringing
something with four doors
and a bunch of glass in it up here,
but I'm pretty silly.
- [Trent] Among the neat
things about Sand Hollow
is that should the trail get plugged up,
most likely, there's
another line you can try
just a short distance away,
but with Ultimate Adventure,
you're always wheeling
with experienced people,
so the pace stays pretty steady,
'til someone breaks, that is.
It also means that there are
a lot of experienced wheelers
milling about to give you
a spot when you need it.
(engine roaring)
(wheels squeaking)
- I'm extremely disappointed
not to be driving today.
This is one of the highlights
of the trip for me,
being from Northern
California and rock-crawlin'.
This is right up our alley
with some sand to boot,
but unfortunately, we
had a cam disintegrate.
No longer driving my distributor
and as a result, we are dead in the water,
so we are here participating
as much as we can
and watching all these fine
folks have a good time today.
- [Trent] Damon's Scout wasn't
the only engine casualty
of the trip.
The four liter in Reader
Nick Le Blanc's Cherokee
began burning copious
amounts of oil on Day 6
and he opted to sit out the last day
in hopes of preventing further damage
and having a rebuildable core.
- All right, out here,
wheeling the ultimate
Dana 60 JK in Sand Hollow.
Having a great time, awesome obstacles,
pretty technical, a lot of fun,
but I've got the Jeep to get over 'em.
(engine roaring)
- This is a really good part.
It's one of the better ones.
It's like Moab with sandstone,
traction's excellent.
They got 66,000 acres out here.
It's unbelievable what
obstacles and trails
we're here to run.
I'd recommend it as a place to visit.
(engine sputtering)
(wheels squealing)
(wheels squealing)
- [Trent] When you're
wheeling in Sand Hollow,
it's easy to start taking
all the incredible scenery
for granted.
Now, Verne is among
the people on this trip
with a Geology background,
so let's get the lowdown on
how this place was formed.
- So it's the last day of
Ultimate Adventure 2017.
We're out here in Sand Hollow.
There are definitely dunes around here.
Like in Moab, we're driving
on petrified sand dunes,
so what we have here are sand dunes
that started like this
and turned into a rock,
and then the rock got exposed by erosion
and as the rock crumbles and gets eroded,
it turns back into sand
and then the sand dunes
when the wind blows,
the sand collects in various
areas and you get sand dunes.
So it's a big cycle of everything.
(engine humming)
- The rock crawling is amazing.
They're cutting in tons of new trails
and they've got 'em everything mapped out.
It's going to be an awesome
four-wheeling destination.
I hear there's a good sand dune area here.
We haven't been to that yet.
- [Trent] After several attempts,
the front end on the
diesel Power Products RAM
finally rotated back into position
and can be re-welded to the axle tubes.
This meant that Cooper was
back to hitting the big stuff.
I just wish I could say the same
for Damon, Nick, and I.
(engine revving)
Even camera crew support
rig driver, Kenny,
got some seat time in the UACJ.
You know it's a hard and thankless job,
so the opportunity was well-deserved.
- All right, we're comin'
to the tail end of the trail
for Ultimate Adventure 2017,
and on this particular obstacle,
it's called The Chute,
and essentially, it's
about a 150 foot straight
vertical wall,
which will put you on
your side pretty quick,
if you're not careful, so,
we're going to get through it
and then celebrate the day.
(dramatic music)
- [Trent] Rich's TJ Buggy is a fresh build
and this was one of its first outings.
(engine revving)
After putting up an incredible fight,
including losing two engines in 90 days,
Verne's grocery getter
S10 had a remarkably
trouble-free Ultimate Adventure.
Added bonus?
It still has all of its glass
and only a couple of war
wounds in the sheet metal.
(dramatic music)
Chris Durham's JK Gladiator
represents Warren perfectly,
reliable and there when you
need it every single time.
He and Fred Perry make a great team.
(dramatic music)
Crony Sam Gillis was another person
who had a mostly trouble-free trip,
except for losing the sight
tube on his Atlas transfer case,
he didn't have to spin any
wrenches on his rig this year.
Dave Chappelle's Rugged Radios amigo,
chauffeured our resident
radio expert Steve Bechard
all week and did it in style.
This rig is something of a sleeper.
It manages to do everything well.
- Final day, Ultimate Adventure.
The final obstacle called The Chute.
It's a v-notch, heads all the way up,
had a little trouble
in the first approach,
backed it out, moved the
rear over a little bit
and I ended up crawling right up it
like it wasn't there.
(upbeat music)
(engine humming)
(upbeat music)
(engine revving)
- [Trent] The Chute
tended to be more friendly
to longer wheel base rigs
as the Watsons demonstrated.
Slow and steady with just the right gear.
- It looked really steep
when we looked at it.
It looked less steep when other people
just drove right up it
and then when we got back on it,
it looked really steep again.
- Ultimate Adventure 2017
has been totally amazing.
Seven days of wheeling
with a great group of guys.
Seeing parts of America
that not very many people
get to see anymore, or
have ever seen, probably,
just because we're wheelin' a
lot of very capable vehicles
that can get into some very remote
and difficult-to-get-to places.
Really a great time,
a great bunch of guys,
test rigs to the limit.
You know, a lot of camaraderie
and a little shenanigans,
but it's all fun.
(engine humming)
- Well, that was quite the obstacle.
I felt like I was going
straight up on that.
The biggest thing is I can't see anything,
so I have to rely on my spotter
and people just givin' us some direction
and they did a great job,
and I tell you, I really got
a rush out of doin' that.
That was fantastic.
- Today, my little tube sock
Jeep is kind of outgunned.
It's got a really short
wheel base, so I either have
to really turbo it up to
get up some obstacles,
or it just gets all tippy
and feels like it's going to flop over,
but overall, I'm really
excited about my little Jeep.
The little diesel's been
working great all week.
I'm getting awesome
fuel economy compared to
a lot of these guys with
their big V8 engines.
Overall, it's been an awesome week
on Ultimate Adventure 2017.
- And I'm about to
tackle this steep climb.
A little bit nerve-wracking.
It looks steeper than Hell's Gate,
which I've done, but let's give it a try.
- [Trent] Chris Paul's can-do attitude
was typical of all the
readers on the trip this year.
Despite engine failures
and other setbacks,
these guys stayed positive
and that's a key part
of having a successful
Ultimate Adventure.
(engine humming)
- We just got done comin'
up a really steep Chute,
a lot steeper than anything
we've ever done before,
but the traction here is unbelievable
so we didn't really even spin a tire.
We just drove straight up it
like driving up a straight wall.
(engine humming)
- [Trent] The UACJ may be
one of the most trouble-free
Ultimate Adventure builds ever.
Other than a steering clamp
and multiple clogged air filters,
Christian has had a great week,
thanks to the Cummins torque,
a wide range of gearing choices,
Dana axles, Skyjacker
suspension and much much more.
(engines revving)
Well, one of the awesome
things about Sand Hollow
is that it's not just rocks,
there's also a lot of dunes,
so we've got two guys
playing in the rocks,
but some of the guys are out
here playing on the dunes,
rippin' it up and there's
just tons of stuff out here.
It's awesome.
(upbeat music)
- So that's a wrap on UA 2017.
We started in Phoenix.
We had some epic hot weather.
We had some epic trails.
Overlanding in dust, we
saw the Grand Canyon.
Hardcore rock crawling.
Finished it off here
with some wheel speed,
throwing some sand and
jumpin' some trucks.
Great UA, another one in the books.
(upbeat rock music)
(engines revving)
