When I realized we would have a day in between the Supercrawl IV and the beginning of SEMA, I thought it would be great to spend some time sampling the local wheeling in the Las Vegas area. I had heard rumors of runs in the nearby mountains but I only faced two small issues. I had no way of finding them and no rig to run the trails if I did find them. Perfect, huh?
So, when I read of a local Vegas 4x4 club that was holding an event the weekend after SEMA, I wondered if they would have any interest of showing us some of the local delights (no, not the USUAL Vegas local delights). To my surprise, the webmaster for VV4wheelers answered my email and agreed to set up a run and provide open seating for C4x4 in some club member’s rigs. Wow.
To make it even more cool, Joe O’Bremski, the webmaster, drives a 404 Unimog. Now, THAT I have to ride in!
Monday morning came, and five club members including Joe and his Mog were there to escort us through the day. A quick spin through town soon turned to open highway as we turned toward the mountains west of Vegas. Riding in a Mog is quite unique. The combination of 40 inch tires, portal axles, lots of gear levers, a cramped passenger compartment placed right over the motor and an engine with the horsepower (and noise) of a Waring blender made for a slow….ahhh….leisurely highway experience. “Yeah, we may be slow, but we are ahead of you and we are much cooler than you are!” was my motto for the trip.
If You think Joe's knees are close to the Mog's dash, you should see mine!
We found the trailhead which was posted with a carsonite sign that read “road washed out ahead”. Perfect. The elevation gain from the valley floor had cooled the temps down and the Junipers were a welcome change from the Joshua trees of the desert.
The wash we were in crisscrossed the road for a mile or two providing a good playground of rocks and ledges to play on. All the rigs were up to the task and the group moved along smoothly.
When we popped out of the trail, we took lunch at a vista point and then continued on, ending up in the Spring Mountains, Red Rock National Conservation Area. I was blown away at the beauty of the area we wheeled in and I can't wait to go back and see more of what Nevada has to offer to Jeepers.
Our hats off to Joe and the entire group from VV4Wheelers for giving of their time to host us in their backyard.
As a postscript, a friend attended the Hump-and-Bump that was held the next weekend North of Vegas and put on by the VV guys and gals. He had nothing but good things to say about the weekend and we plan on being there next year to check it out!
