This was my first visit to Sand Hollow Utah and Trail Hero. What a crazy packed week! So much fun!! (We will be posting some YouTube videos with lots of highlights of our trip.) Sand Hollow is a beautiful place to wheel and I signed up for “official trails” all 5 mornings of our trip. (This was a mistake in hindsight). All the trails I chose were challenging ones. With our 2 youngest kids along (3 and 4 years old) and far too many rigs in each group that trailed, there were some VERY long days out there. These trails are technical and jam packed with obstacles, which means a lot of stopping, especially with a large group. With a good spotter they are all doable and so much fun!
Our first day on Double Sammy was led by a last minute guide, in a rear steer buggy. We had 38 rigs and got lost 3 times! Not the best first impression. Matt was asked to spot the jeeps behind me, leaving me and my kids to continue along without our spotter! This was pretty stressful to me as I had never trailed there before and there were definitely some sketchy parts! I expected this event to have dedicated spotters at the hardest obstacles and to cap the runs at 35. That was definitely not the case. Still, Double Sammy is a fun trail and I might try it again on our next visit, with a small group ;).
Our second day we tackled the Maze. I had watched too many “roll over” videos of this trail before going and let it get into my head. I was very nervous for this one, and with 55 rigs on this run, I knew it would be another long day. It was. Nine hours to be exact! 3 roll overs, and 3 broken Jeeps (everyone was ok!) really slowed it down. There is a reason the trails have minimum equipment recommendations. Lockers, lift and tires made a lot of difference. Unfortunately many of the rigs on these runs did not have them. Even with the long day, this was a super fun trail and we were around some wonderful people. I ended up with a great spotter, Brett Carlson, who did a phenomenal job of spotting! We also met some new friends who happen to live in the next town over in AZ with us! And there were several other children in our group and that made my kids super happy!! Even with the 9 hour day it was a good one! I have to say this was my favorite trail in Sand Hollow. I can’t wait to run it again!!
Thursday we ran Plan B. This was a fun day with a great group of people and good leader. (Thanks to Stephen my patient and slightly bruised spotter, and Aaron for leading!) There were definitely some fun and challenging parts to this one too, but it was easier than the previous days and even with a larger group we had a great time!
By Friday we were all exhausted. Our friends Alyssa and Aaron were wiped out too. I was scheduled to do Sliplock Gultch on the ladies’ run and was so excited about it! But it was pouring rain and we were all beat. So we decided to skip that trail and go to Toquerville Falls that day instead. This was a great decision! What a beautiful waterfall and it was an easier day giving us more down time that we all needed. We all had a fun time and the break did us good.
Our final day was on Triple 7’s. After all of the rain the previous day it was so slippery out there!! This trail was intense – the obstacles started right away and kept on coming! But, we ended up getting to follow Brett (who was such a great spotter on the Maze) and his sweet family again. I must have said “this is so sketchy” so many times while I slipped along this trail.
We had a great time at Trail Hero. We met so many wonderful friends and made lots of new ones. We love supporting this event that gives back to Veterans and special needs children. I think my expectations of dedicated spotters and reasonably sized groups set me up for some disappointment. I don’t think the intention was for 40-50 rigs on the trail. Unfortunately, the vehicles that were on our runs must not have been registered or appropriately equipped. Even with that, the whole week was so much fun and pushed me out of my wheeling comfort zone. My new slogan is: “This is so sketchy”! I got to practice all kinds of throttle control, used my lockers more than ever before, and realized a new found need for hydro assist steering! 😉
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