SRN

Why wait? There's group of us heading down to the San Rafeal Swell this weekend if your interested.

No one, huh?

I did some investigating out at the junkyard this weekend and determined that swapping the internal bracketry probably wasn't worth the hassle. So I think I'm going to go with moving the spare outboard a bit and putting the carrier inboard.

Such as RME?

I'm from Salt Lake, but I get out and explore the state ad nauseum. I've been involved in 4-wheeling in Utah since 1990, and still feel like I haven't seen but a fraction of what there is to offer. I head out with all sorts of folks, from Rovers to Cruisers and everything in between. But it's nice to hit the trails with people in the same vehicle as you as well. So who all is in the Great State of Utah?

Welcome! What part of our fair state do you hail from?

When you did your's, how did you install the lower, inner bracket?

I'm not too concerned with the outer bracketry as I've got access to a CNC machine and the genius who runs it could easily fab up some reverse brackets for me. Its the inner mount points that I'm concerned with. The upper one seems easy enough to get to with all the interior paneling off, but the lower one looks like a pain. How bad was it? I was planning on reconfiguring how the latch release works so that I could have the tire more outboard. I'll have to come up with something different regardless of what I end up doing because the latch will be in the way however. The Expedition One stuff is interesting, but I don't like them nearly as much as the Scepter MFC's. Thanks for the recomendation, though.

I just went out and looked (rain let up) and no, there are no reinforced points already there, but they look like the could be installed from right to left. Just be a bit interesting doing the lower one. I'll head out to one of the junk yards this weekend and see what it takes to strip it out. It'll give me an idea of how hard it would be to put one in. My other thought was similar to that Terrrano carrier, but move the wheel to the drivers side and put the Scepter cans closer to the hinge. I'd rather have the tire hanging out there on the end and the ~100lbs of weight between the three cans and mount on the inside. We'll see what I come up with.

I'm looking to modify my swing away spare tire rack to fit a couple Scepter cans and I was thinking, are there hard points on the drivers side like there are on the passenger side? If there are, I could theoretically have two smaller racks on the back, thus reducing the amount of weight placed on the one. Kinda like what you see on some FJ-40 Cruisers. If anyone knows, that'd be great!

I'm no expert, nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. BUT from my experiences here in Utah I would not inform my insurance policy about any modifications as if you ever filed a claim, they could easily say it was due to the modifications. This would allow them to give you a much lower amount on any claim. That said, if you don't inform them, they could also say that you never told them about the modifications and therefore give you nothing. Again, no expert, but these are things that I've heard about happening here. it's kinda lose, lose. Maybe someone with more knowledge will pipe up though.

After the Round station we made our way up the twisty Overland Canyon road, through Gold Hill to pavement at the Idapah Road. Since we where still making great time a few of us decided to head to the Wendover Airfield Museum. Its a nice little museum with lots of artifacts to look over from the bases history training bomber crews, particularly the 509th Composite Group that dropped the atomic bombs. The best part is climbing to the top of the old observation tower. The trip to the airfield also whet everyone appetite for Expedition Utah's May Summit, which will be a full tour of the base. The trip out along the Pony Express Trail is always an entertaining one, and this time was no exception! A great group of people came out and shared a lot of knowledge about the trail and surrounding areas. The next Quarterly Trail Ride will be announced over on Expedition Utah shortly. Hope to see everyone on that one! ____________________________ What is Expedition Utah? Expedition Utah is a website and forum dedicated to vehicle assisted exploration of Utah's beautiful and varied backcountry. We strive to provide an online repository of information to help people plan their next adventures and a forum to let them discuss it with others who share their passion. Our Quarterly Trail Rides are designed to move that experience off the computer and into the real world by highlighting Utah's thousands and thousands of miles of scenic backroads.

Last weekend Expedition Utah launched our Quarterly Trail Ride series with a trip out along the historic Pony Express Trail in central Utah. The day started cold at dark as everyone met at the turn off to Faust near the Five Mile Pass OHV Recreation area. After introductions and a quick drivers meeting we took off, first on the pavement through Rush Valley and finally hitting dirt near the old Faust Station. The Pony Express Trail over the years has been developed into a pretty well maintained country road. Regularly graded to allow access to the remote communities of Callao and Gold Hill, rarely do you have to put it in 4WD. It allows for some high speed travel, but it can get very washboardy in spots. The vast desert distances and straightness of the trail in some spots is quite striking. Our first stop after setting out was at the Simpson Springs station. This used to be a home station along the route due to the availability of fresh water nearby. There where two types of stations along the Pony Express route, Home and Transfer. Home stations are where riders stayed. They where generally large enough to house a few riders, had stables and a small staff. Transfer stations where generally small and just used for riders to swap horses. Usually only one person was at these stations to tend the horses. Stations of all kinds where generally positioned about eight miles apart. All of the former station sites along the trail are marked with the stone obelisks you see in the picture. These where erected by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the early 1940's. The CCC also constructed the replica station seen at Simpson Springs. After Simpson Springs we blasted down the trail towards our next stop, Fish Springs. Fish Springs is a National Wildlife Refuge, and for good reason. Out here in the vast desert wasteland the spring fed ponds provide a watering hole for migrating birds. In the winter, its still a pretty desolate area, but if you make it out here in the spring or summer it is very green and lush. Its not hard to figure out why they established a station here. Looking out over the ponds. Great day for contrails. After Fish Springs our next stop were the ruins of the Boyd Station. This is one of the few stations in the western part of Utah where there are significant ruins to look at. Here we also discovered that Ryan in his 2000 Trooper had a bad tire. With some teamwork we got it swapped with his spare and he was back on his way. Since we were making such good time, after Boyd we detoured off the Pony Express towards the old Callao CCC camp. There isn't much left there but some depressions in the ground where building foundations used to be, but its a great spot to let the kids run around and make lunch. From the CCC camp we reconnected with the Pony Express again and made for Overland Canyon and the Round Ruin at its base. The Round station is aptly named and was built with defense at its core. The original station that was at Overland Canyon was a simple dugout that was attacked and burned by Indians, killing all that where there. So it was rebuilt round with gun ports all around.

Weather is looking good, hope to see you all out there!

What: Expedition Utah would like to invite you to join us for our first Quarterly Trail Ride! For our first outing we will be traveling the historic Pony Express Trail from Five Mile Pass to Wendover. We will be stopping at various historical markers along the way, going through Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge, Calleo and Gold Hill. When: January 14th at 8:00am. This is an all day affair covering 130+ miles, so be sure to bring food for lunch and plenty of water and extra fuel if you think you'll need it. Where: Meet at the crossroads of UT 73 and Faust Road near Five Mile Pass. [Map] Look for the Nissan Pathfinder with an Expedition Utah banner attached to it. We will be monitoring CB channel 21. Who: Anyone and everyone. Whether you're a seasoned traveler or someone just getting into exploring Utah's backcountry and varied historical sites we encourage you to come out. There is no group size limit for this event, but please RSVP so we know who to expect. Required Equipment: 4-Wheel Drive vehicle. While this is a well maintained route, if it gets wet, it can become muddy and rutted. Suggested Equipment: CB Radio. We'll be covering a great deal of distance and it is very convenient to be able to communicate with everyone while moving. Tools, tow strap, spare parts, fluids. While we hope things like these are not needed, always a good idea to have just in case. ____________________________ What is Expedition Utah? Expedition Utah is a website and forum dedicated to vehicle assisted exploration of Utah's beautiful and varied backcountry. We strive to provide an online repository of information to help people plan their next adventures and a forum to let them discuss it with others who share their passion. Our Quarterly Trail Rides are designed to move that experience off the computer and into the real world by highlighting Utah's thousands and thousands of miles of scenic backroads.