Stairway to Heaven
The toughest trailrun on the schedule was the Stairway to Heaven trail, and it was led by Homer Van Zandt, who actually helped build the trail several years ago. It was so named because of its steady climb up Pack Saddle Mountain. As you ascend the mountain, the views of the surrounding landscape become better and better, revealing mountain ranges almost 75 miles away. The trail is for extremely modified vehicles only, and that means a lot of ground clearance, tall tires, and lockers. The trail is only about a mile long, but it snakes through a small canyon following a dry creek bed, making it seem much longer. As you reach the top, you can see numerous shell fossils in the limestone left from when the mountaintop was an ancient seabed. The trail was a blast, and it challenged even the most hard-core rigs and drivers. It took us all day to traverse its 1-mile length. The most challenging aspect was the absolutely brutal dry waterfalls that are tall and steep and required winching from almost every vehicle to conquer. Stairway to Heaven is a must-do if you are a hard-core jeeper.
Creek Run
Still breathing hard from the Stairway to Heaven trail, we chose to do the 3-rated Creek Run on Saturday, which was led by Alan Dowdy. It's the direct opposite of Stairway to Heaven, because it takes place in mostly low, dry riverbeds, and you're at the mercy of Mother Nature and how she chose to move rocks during the last flash flood. This run was open to vehicles without lockers, and we had more than 15 vehicles ranging from Jeeps to an early Bronco in our entourage. There were places where the open-diff trucks had to get a tug over some rocks, but overall, this is a great trail for any mildly built 4x4. You'll test your driving skills and truck capabilities on sand and rocks, and there are a number of optional obstacles for the adventurous.
2002 Texas Superlift 4xAdventurePlans are already underway for the 2002 Texas Superlift 4xAdventure, which will return to the wide-open, challenging area around Terlingua, Texas, in March. For more information, contact: Sports-In-The-Rough, Dept. 4WDSU, P.O. Box 717, Ketchum, OR 74349, (800) 556-2801, www.sportsintherough.com.
Cover Shot
Leading the way on our cover this month is Homer Van Zandt in his '74 CJ-5. In addition to being an ardent four-wheeler, this retired army engineer is currently the president of the Southwest Four Wheel Drive Association and is a leader in the fight to prevent further closure of public lands. Van Zandt hangs his hat in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
Homer's CJ runs a stout drivetrain setup with an AMC 360, a TorqueFlite 999 tranny, and an Atlas II transfer case. Up front you'll find a Dana 44 that was scavenged from a '76 Cherokee Chief, while an International Scout donated another 44 for the rear. Both are equipped with ARB lockers and 5.89 gears. Homer tells us that the rear 44 is only temporary and will soon be replaced by a full-floating Dana 60.
If you're curious about the coil spring suspension, Homer designed it himself and built it in collaboration with Jim Huff at HyTech 4x4 in Las Cruces. The custom setup serves him well. In fact, Terlingua didn't throw anything at him that the CJ couldn't handle.
Should he need to pull himself or anyone else out of a tight spot, Homer runs a Warn 16,000-pound hydraulic winch. And to meet various needs on the trail, he has an air system comprised of a York compressor that's driven by a Warn winch motor.