Middle Alamita North Canyon Rock Crawling - Return To Roy

A Little Sunday Drive (On A Monday Morning?)

By Mark Werkmeister

photographer: Mark Werkmeister, Joanne Spivack

The Rat Pack grinds its way up Middle Alamita North Canyon. The heat of the day and the difficulty of terrain took their toll on people and equipment.

Tons of clearance, huge soft tires, and really low gearing allowed the remaining vehicles to slowly extract themselves from the canyon the next morning. Fresh eyes and brains in the cool of the morning helped too.

Even though the Rat Pack quickly established the "correct" way to climb the obstacle, Gary Banks (with a little evil encouragement from Doug McBurnie) just had to try a "different" line.

A few months back, we described our experiences on the new RDY2ROK Off-Road trails on a private ranch near Roy, New Mexico. At the end of the second day of great rockcrawling, we had to skip "the hardest trail on the ranch" to get back to camp before nightfall. Returning to camp instead of continuing onto the trail called Middle Alamita North Canyon bothered us then, and the missed opportunity continued to gnaw at us in the following weeks. We had done a quick reconnaissance on foot, and it had looked very challenging. Would it really deliver an extreme challenge, or were we just tired and ready for the cold ones back at camp? We had to know. it is unlike the Rat Pack to leave new rocks untested.

Sure enough, a few weeks later, the call came. "Are you free in August? We are going back!" We were and we did! We weren't able to join the group until the second day of the scheduled three-day rock binge. Arriving late Saturday evening, we heard tales of heat. The mercury had breached 100 degrees F the day before ... a very unusual heat wave in northeast New Mexico. Clint from RDY2ROK Off-Road had taken the group out on Saturday but saved the return to Middle Alamita North Canyon for Sunday, so we could join in the fun.

We didn't get a very early start on Sunday. Although the heat was building every hour, we waited for late arrivals ... and waited ... and waited. Finally, our group of adrenaline junkies could stand it no more. We jumped into the rock rigs and ran Chainsaw Draw again. We had run it before and knew what to expect. Knowing how to squeeze through its constrictions this time made it a little faster, but it certainly didn't make Chainsaw any wider! With the vehicles (and us) well warmed up by the action and rising temps, we returned to camp and waited some more.

The indomitable Harold Off was the first in the group to attack the entrance obstacle to Middle Alamita North Canyon.

Walker Evans exhibits a deft touch as he lightly dances up the entrance obstacle to Middle Alamita North Canyon. Walker's 40-inch Goodyear MT/Rs were the only tires in the group under 42 inches.