This year some people I work with were heading down to St. George, Utah for the Southwest Crawlfest. This even has been going on for a few years and was originally the Utah Four Wheel Drive Association winter meet.
Seeing that it was a newer event and did not have too many people signing up for the event yet I decided to sign up and join in on 3 days of four wheeling. The event was taking place January 14-16, 2011.
I did not know the trails or how there rating system compared to Moab. But, after arriving down in St. George and checking in I was going to run the upper west rim and rock garding on Friday, Sliplock Gulch on Saturday and I think Renegade trail on Sunday.
We (had a coworker, Justin, along as a passenger) then headed to the hotel to check in and get some sleep. Arriving at the hotel they did not have my reservations, I also forgot to bring my confirmation printout when I made the reservations. I called the hotel 1800 number and my credit card and nothing showed that I had made any reservations. Talking to the clerk and mentioning we were with the Southwest Crawlfest the hotel ended up costing only $13 more than the reservations I made online. Note, after returning home I checked my paperwork and I must not have finished the reservation completely as I did not have a confirmation number. Oh well, after a little hastle we had a room for not much more $$.
Friday morning came along and we headed to the Washington County Fairpark to meet up with the rest of the group. They had all trails being ran meet at the fairpark. They had everyone line up with the trail they where heading to, then had a drivers meeting. I thought after the 1st morning that they did not have it very organized.
So, after the drivers meeting we headed out for the trail. Overall it was a fun day, the trail had a few things that everyone had to go through but had a lot of side obstacles that you could try if you wanted to.
The one thing with not knowing anyone else on the trail is I did not get many photo's. But, hopefully I will get more to post as there was someone on our trail that was taking a lot of photo's and I have not contacted him yet to see what he had of me.
The trail ended at what they call the rock garden. Actually most trails ended at the rock garden and as trails ended they had a company serving a bbq lunch there. The trails ended up being a little short and most ended up at the rock garden between 1-2pm.
After eating lunch and talking with some friends we noticed that the majority of the vehicle that were on our trail were heading out. We ended up catching up with them following them to some sand dunes. After some time at the dunes we headed back to town. Showed back up at the Fairpark around the time they had people starting to play on some junk cars they positioned in the parking lot. Ended up waiting around the fairpark until they served dinner.
The next morning, Saturday, we met at the fairpark and got in line for the Sliplock Gulch trail. After waiting for everyone and another drivers meeting we headed out. The trailhead was the same trailhead as with the upper west rim trail. Another fun day of wheeling.
Again, finishing at the rock garden. The rock garden was a big play area that had lots of obstacles for people to test their vehicles and driving skills. We ended up seeing 3 rollovers of people trying the same little climb.
After the rock garden we headed back to the fairpark where there was going to be another dinner and a drawing for lots of prizes. I ended up winning some axles seals for a Jeep, not going to work well as I own a Toyota, oh well.
Sunday morning we went to the fairpark and found out they cancelled the Renegade trail. So, we lined up with the people running Milts Mile as we knew some people running that trail. We headed out and had to go through a state park to get to the trail. The state park wanted everyone to run an orange flag, the flag I had was white, and they wanted $15 for a flag. Thinking again that the event was not very organized, and not wanting to buy another flag, we headed back to town to find try and find another group heading for a trail. We ended up with the group running John's trail. They even had John as the trail leader. I enjoyed this trail better than the others even though there were a few things that I bypassed as I did not want to take the chance for body damage.
Just past noon they starting running some obstacles that where mainly for the buggies and we watched for a little while then headed towards town around 2pm so we could get gas and eat before starting the 5 hour drive back to Salt Lake.
Had a good time and found some new trails to run somewhere else besides just Moab.
Not sure I will go again next year as I thought they were not very organized and the trails are short. I do plan on heading down there to run trails at somepoint during the year though.
Tony
