Off-Road Expo and Five Mile Pass
April 21, 2007

Off-Road Expo and Five Mile Pass - April 21, 2007
Report by Steve Edumnds

The April trip started out by meeting up at the South Towne Expo Center for the second annual Off-Road Expo. The group met up at the U4WDA booth after touring the vendor booths and checking out some of the awesome vehicles that were on display. When I arrived, the U4WDA Booth was bustling with activity as there was a crowd of visitors learning about the organization and getting involved in their raffle for a new Warn Winch. Many of the vendors were offering some awesome discounts on just about anything that you wanted to wheel with.

At about noon, the group started out to caravan to Five Mile pass. At the trail-head, we stopped to air-down and exchanged greetings to some of the new faces that came along on this trip. Stratton (Gravesdigger) filled in for Steve (Scoutabout) by extolling the virtues of Tread Lightly and being good stewards of the trails that we enjoy and want to keep open. WJeeper passed out trash bags for the group so that everyone could pick up trash and litter from the trail and surrounding area. We headed up the trail behind Stratton – who helped spot those new to the trail through some of the obstacles.

Everyone made it through the trail with out any major damage, although one of the rigs decided to head back early on. They had a brand new stock FJCruiser and wanted to get his skids installed first. WJeeper came close to destroying his radiator, since his front bumper is under construction – but backed off the rock before any damage occurred. Schaueep90 had punched a hole in the bumper on their Tacoma, and that was the extent of the damage.

Once at the end of the trail, the group checked out the mine shafts around the Sunshine Mine before heading back down to the trailhead where we said our good-by’s before heading for home (or the gas station in Cedar Fort for air) It was another great trip of the UOOC group… good weather, good wheeling and a great time!

View the full photo album for the April get-together here.