For five years now, Skyjacker has been putting on an organized trail ride at the Easter Jeep Safari in Moab, Utah. It started with the company’s 30th anniversary, and it’s something the company has done ever since for EJS.

This year, Skyjacker turned 35, and to keep in tune with its annual tradition the company put together a new trail ride for customers, business associates and friends on the Poison Spider Trail (see video here). Skyjacker was nice enough to find space for us in one of their vehicles, and we spent the better part of Monday exploring the trail with Red Rock 4-Wheelers guiding the way.

There were 14 vehicles on the ride, which was perfect because the group wasn’t so big that we’d have to wait forever on the trail. The loop trail consisted of quite a bit of Navaho Sandstone slickrock, some small stretches of bare rock, a handful of rock ledges and a few sandy patches and hills. There were some more difficult ledges that provided our crew with a bit of challenge (see video here), but overall the ride had a perfect blend of challenge and more leisurely sections.

Along for the ride today were: Lewis and Marliss Barth of Rockhard 4x4; Dennis Jones from Moab Jeeper Magazine: Mark Turner and Don McMillian from Daystar; Phil Norrold and Heather Eslinger; Robbie Pierce of Mastercraft and friend Maurein Genaci; Scott Doughty, Cody Hancock and Allen Ball of Mountain Off-Road Enterprises (M.O.R.E.); Brian Morris; Tony Eyman, K.L. and Heather O Hanlon from Red Rock 4-Wheelers; Chris Corbett of Lightforce, Fred Denning and our very own Guy Bias and Amy Bartz. Skyjacker was represented by Dillard DeLaSalle, Robert Richardson, Lee and Chad McGuire, Mike Greaves, Lonnie McCurry Jr. and Phillip Roy.  

While the Jeeping is great, one of the biggest draws in Moab is scenery. With the snow-covered La Sal mountains and Moab Rim in the distance at parts of the ride, there was plenty to take in when we weren’t challenging the natural terrain. We even made a stop for lunch at “Little Arch” to take in all Moab has to offer.

Despite a few early breaks on the trail, most everyone made it through the ride unscathed … until the end. Our vehicle was involved in a small fender-bender (above left) toward the end of the ride with Allen Ball’s rock-crawler (above right). The end result was nothing more than a few nicks on both vehicles (and a small wound our driver DeLeSalle received), but it did get everyone’s adrenaline pumping.

All in all, the weather was great and the Jeeping was even better – what more could you ask for in Moab?