The Pinzgauer crowd had pretty well all arrived by Saturday night and wanted to go on Hell's Revenge. We set a departure time of 9:00, but alarm clocks were either not set properly or were slept through, so we didn't get underway until 10:15. The sky was partially overcast so the ride was pleasantly cool. There were very few delays as everyone on the trail kept moving quite well. We made it out to the overlook about Lunchtime,

and the large group ahead of us was just leaving, which gave us room to park and enjoy our lunch. You'll be interested to know the Hell's Gate has been closed off, so there's no longer any playing there. Too much carnage I guess.

We had a young fellow along with us who covered most of the trail on his unicycle. This kid's coordination was incredible. I was just about to take a picture of my truck when he started down the steep slope so I captured him as well.

After we had finished the trail and stopped at Potato Salad Hill to watch the carnage for awhile, he wowed the crowd by riding his unicycle from top to bottom. Normally, from the overlook one gets a spectacular view of the La Sal mountains, but as you can see, they were still shrouded in clouds.

After lunch, we continued on..

There was a group of Jeep Liberty’s ahead of us, and I have to admit they performed very well. Unlike the group of Nissan Xterra's who held us up on Golden Spike two years ago. The Liberty drivers said their vehicles had all been somewhat enhanced, with lockers and either lift kits or larger tires, but other than that, they were stock.

We eventually worked our way up to the bathtubs and everyone got a chance to go through the big one. On the way down the steep drop off after that, I happened to glance in my rearview mirror and thought it would make an interesting picture.

Seeing blue sky and clouds directly behind you kind of emphasizes the steepness of the descent.

When we got to Tip-Over Challenge, folks were having the usual problems getting up it. When it finally cleared, Eric Johnson did it with no problem at all, followed by me. The Unimogs are a real crowd pleaser on that obstacle. Once we were clear, others tried to follow with the usual difficulties. One young fellow in a Jeep Renegade (I think) bounced around on it until he was sideways and in danger of rolling. I got him to stop to wait for a strap. Three other young guys hooked a tree strap to his front bumper and were going to try to stabilize him for the remainder of his try. I could see some serious injury coming out of that stunt, so made the Jeep driver just sit still until we could get a longer strap hooked onto the Liberty at the top of the pitch and pull him up the rest of the way. Once up, he didn't even have the courtesy to say thanks.

Typically, when leaving Tip-Over Challenge, everyone just heads to the top of the bluff and makes the final decent down to the base of Lion's Back. The trails book shows a bit more trail heading out to the northwest, so we had time and decided to try it. There are a few more obstacles, which are interesting, but not something that really enhances the overall trip. By the time one reaches Tip-Over Challenge, heading for home seems like a good idea. It's still another =BD hour of fairly rough trail to go at that point. The BLM has done a real nice job of setting out trail markers on all the trails, so this helps eliminate the confusion of miscellaneous roads and intersections. Back in camp the sun broke through for a while and I was able to get a scenic picture of the La Sal mountains

**Sunday: Hell's Revenge
Between Saturday night and Sunday morning, we met up with the Pinzgauer contingent. Some of them were in the campground and others stayed in a nearby motel. They were: Brian Gould with his 712 6x6, Park Hill and his 710, Paul and Eric Buckner with their 710, Douwe and Ann Bruinsma and their 710, and Mike Kinsey and his 710. There was another couple of guys with them in Jeeps. One of them had an off-road unicycle. He rode down most of the obstacles we came across including potato salad hill on his unicycle - pretty amazing to see!

We had a great run on Hell's revenge, with no mishaps and great weather. The only big disappointment for me was the Gates of Hell was officially closed off this year. We took a different route out this year, going North after tipover challenge and winding through a bunch of more obstacles before getting down to the sandy flats. The park service outdid themselves this year, marking every turn on most of the trails, making it really easy to navigate. We talked to a ranger after hitting the pavement and thanked him for his work.

After getting down, we drove over to potato salad hill, now renamed "tater salad hill" due to some hick who was entertaining the Pinzgauer crew. After watching some jeeps go up and one near rollover by a Jeep Cherokee, I drove up once just to show everyone how the German trucks work. The first time, I got halfway up before Ron DePugh signaled that my lockers weren't on. It got kind of boring here, so I decided to go up again before we went back to town. My 9 year-old, Forest decided to join me. There was a guy there from Colorado who was really mog-hungry and asked if his girlfriend could ride up with us. I told him both of them could come so they hopped in and brought their dog, too!

After getting back to camp, we met up with Greg and Chris Maiser. They had intended to arrive earlier, but had some serious tire problems en route. Greg trailered his 404 doka from Southern CA.