Thought I left ya?? Cliffhanger and Moab Rim at night

So we survived Hell's Revenge with no visible scars. It was most fun when we were done and could breathe again, at least for me. If I had had some coal I coulda made enough diamonds to pay for the trip for the next 10 years! Intense, but great to see what we could actually manage to do with the Jeep. Apparently I still had some issues with heights, and the skidplates were a very, very, very good investment. 'Nuff said there.
The second day was Metal Masher aka the CAN4x4 Renegade Run. It was incredible. More my style of offroading - technical and rocky, with some ledges. The cliff edges on the way in and out were a test, but as long as you look straight ahead they are not as intimidating. I tried to convince Steve of that, but don't think I was very successful.
So we had a great dinner afterwards with Al and Todd at their condo. They were trying to convince me to join them on the night run up Moab Rim (rated 7, during the day, under good conditions), but succeeded only in helping me think I was good for the run up Cliffhanger (rated 6) today. Sean and I planned on getting up and switching the "new" spare for the scored tire, and packing up my Jeep for the run. Steve had already decided that he was taking the day off, so no shotgun for me.
As I lay in bed trying to get to sleep, I managed to psych myself right out over the run up Cliffhanger. I had picked that trail as the one I wanted to run, and now I was convincing myself that if I did run it something bad was gonna happen. So I ended up going as Ralf's shotgun. I knew I could get lots of pics and video by not driving, so that was fine. When we got to the meeting point, I started to think that maybe I was wrong, I should drive it. Sean said he would take me back to get the Jeep since we had lots of time. Fortunately I declined. More on that shortly.

(Sean aka Warthog has asked me to say hi to the readers and let them know that he is alive and well...)

So we head off and hit the first obstacle. A little interesting. We then hit the second one about 30 yards later. It's a 3ft ledge going down. Right around the corner from that is an off-camber downhill section that has a spotter to help guide you through...sort of. About 125yds later, we see the first Jeep needing some help from the Jeep above him to get up the 4th obstacle. I am getting more and more happy that I left my Jeep at the condo. Not long afterwards Ralf says that the trail is harder than he was expecting it to be. Happier am I...there were lots of times I was thinking "no way I could get my Jeep through that". Maybe after a number of more years of 4x4ing, but not anytime soon!
The cliff is not always right there, but when it is right beside you and you are tipping the Jeep towards the 18 inches of room you have before you fall off 1300ft to the bottom, it gets your attention. On the way up I was on the inside edge against the wall, but on the return trip I was outside along the cliff edge. It was intense, but there was only one section where I had to tell myself "look straight ahead!!" to keep from peering over the side of the cliff. The consensus was that it was a much more difficult trail than the earlier 2 we had run. The Jeeps escaped unharmed for the most part, but all were tired from the non-stop focus you needed for the whole trail. (did you get yourself another drink? go ahead, I'll wait... okay you're back) Sean even said he thought it may have been the hardest trail he's done, and that he was definitely testing his limits today. Glad I picked the killer trail for the week, and that I got to go along for the experience. It was crazy. The pics will have to follow later as Steve is having some problems with uploading them from the computer.

Ralf returned from the night run just after midnight. They left around 8pm and had planned on being gone for only a couple of hours, but ran into a bent front leaf spring, and some rain. They say that Moab slickrock is like driving on glue when it's dry, but you get it wet and you can barely walk on it. It was windy enough too that the rain was coming down sideways. Glad I stayed here for that one...
So tomorrow morning we head off for Top of the World. There is a lookout from 7000ft at one point before we head back. Wonder how wide the ledges are along there? One more trail left, and you know what...

Life is good, as Steve likes to remind you. Especially when you live it like there is no tomorrow!