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Five Mile Pass: (1/99)
The 5 Mile Pass OHV Area and the neighboring "Charlie's Trail" were the setting for Utah 4-Wheel Drive Associations' winter trail run. This designated off-road area is literally covered with trails (the remnants of early mine exploration) and is one of the closest places to go wheeling for people who live in Salt Lake. You get there by heading West from Lehi (about 25 miles South of Salt lake) throught the small town of Fairfield on state route 73, just North of Utah Lake. We met in American Fork at a very strange (and very hard to find *&!$#!) eatery called Mellor's Banquets for breakfast and U4WDA elections. After barely escaping an attempt by Brett Davis (Pres.) to nominate me for a vacant Vice pres. position (I'll be leaving "Happy Valley" near the end of May), the group headed out to the 5 Mile pass staging area to regroup. I would guess, and this is only a guess, that there were 50-60 rigs, maybe a few more by the time stragglers showed up. Lots of great 4x4's from totally stock (a Suzuki Sidekick!) to seriously modified, like Brett's "Scranglerado" or whatever the hell it's called :) There seemed to be a lot of full-size Blazers, Bronco's, and CJ's. Many people took the opportunity to put on chains, an item I would be wishing I had brought as the day wore on!
After playing around in the foothills for an hour, most of the group headed across the road to watch the hardcore wheelers tackle the first obstacle on Charlie's Trail. This trail follows a drainage that is very narrow and steep in spots. The pics below are of the waterfall and bump at the bottom. The recent snowfall made this an interesting scene to watch. Even with lockers front and rear and tall tires, the short wheel base CJ's had a tough time getting over the first rockpile. Longer rigs like Brett's and a pair of very flexy Toyota pickups made it look too easy. The short rigs smoked tires and came perilously close to slamming into the wall on the driver's side, and it just got worse with spinning tires. The first truck up was a big Blazer, open on both ends but chained on all four corners.
After watching the action at the bottom of Charlie's, Mike Wilson (with Storm Mountain) was nice enough to offer his services as a guide for those of us driving less well-endowed vehicles. We had some fun trying to climb a steep uphill section between stands of Juniper trees (I took the bypass after sliding off the trail on my first try), then ended up in a smaller group back on the other side of the road. The group decided to see how far it could get up 5-Mile Pass in the snow. I had barely done any wheeling up until this point, so I was game. The "hog" had the smallest tires of the group (next to Mike's CJ-5, but he had chains on the back), and definitely was the most underpowered for churning through deep snow. I was a little apprehensive, but it looked like fun! The goal was to get over the summit and get a nice aeril view of the Mercur mine, but toward the top the going got very slow. We stopped to play on a steep hill with a couple feet of fresh untracked powder...
Near the upper end of the trail, there was a very steep off camber hill climb that everybody tried, as well as an even more difficult line off to the side that Gary in his monster Ford p-up blazed up with little trouble. I made it within 30 feet of the top on my second attempt, but had to take the strap from Mike to get all the way up. A big Bronco also took the really hard line, and made it on the second try with a little help. He ended up busting an axel or something shortly after. I had no idea at the time that there was a bypass, otherwise I might have taken it! A little further on, and about the time it was getting dark and very cold, we hit another steep climb. The blue Blazer had to get strapped by the other Blazer with chains after it got sideways on the hill and looked like it was near rolling. From here Gary's Ford blazed trail in some pretty deep powder. Those with chains made good progress, while those without chains or lockers relied on momentum and good driving to get by, as well as frequent strapping. Eventually, somebody with some brains suggested we turn around and head back before somebody really got stuck/busted. I remember backing the "hog" down about 1/8 of a mile in the dark, trying to stay in the 2-foot deep ruts so I wouldn't get stuck. Fun, but very tiring after the adrenaline buzz wore off.
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