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Once I had my truck lined up, and ready to go, I nervously told Moose, "I can't see shit". He told me where my tires were, but you really can't see anything of any usefulness to your driving. It just looks like you are just about to jump off a building. I went over the edge, and pretty soon I felt my rear end start to slide over to the passenger side, due to the very loose earth and rocks. As soon as I felt that, I let go of the brake and just let 'er fly to the bottom. It's not a long drop, but exhilarating still the same.

I manoeuvred the few yards top the base of the accent into the Monkey Trench, and looking at it I felt confident that I could make the climb. First gear, ramp up the gas slowly but surely to near full throttle, and…just dig some big holes in the soft dirt and go nowhere. Sheesh! Well I tried, and when I tried to get myself repositioned I ended up resting my arse on a tree and not being able to get out of it.

John came down the bank and pulled up next to me. He made some cheeky comment about my lack of driving skills, and then got his winch ready to yank me up the bank (with a tree saver and a snatch block). At first I figured all I needed was some repositioning, but once John had winched me part way up the bank, I could feel how soft the dirt was and decided to just have him pull me all the way to the top.

John was up next for the climb to the trench. As with the first bank, this isn't a very long section, just about 30-40ft from the bottom at the most, but it is soft and steep. John took a while trying to get into a decent position to attack the hill. Dual ARB air lockers helped with getting moved around in the gulch, but didn't help one bit on the climb. I was surprised to see him not make the hill. Out came the winch cable again, and John winched up and into the trench. So far this hill is looking winch mandatory, at least until someone beats it. I have a feeling that a lighter truck with decent power (such as a CJ5) with locked front and rear diffs could make it. I'll be welding my front diff soon so we'll have to see.

While John was finishing off his winch pull, we heard what could only be described as 2000lb lawn mower with wedding day soup cans on the back come crashing down the first bank. Moose has arrived! Once John was up and out of the way Moose gave it a couple tries, but before pushing it a little too much decided to pull his cable out and take the slow road to China.

With all three of us in the trench, Connie (official camera person for the day, along with Dan and his wicked nice new digi-cam) and I jumped in the Jeep and started up the Monkey Trench. Obstacles like this always seem worse and longer when doing them on foot. I ran into a couple places where I had to spin the tires more than I would like, and I had some repositioning to do here and there.

This hill climb is a good mix of loose rock, bedrock, and dirt. It's not terribly long, maybe about 100 yards or so, but certainly challenging for lesser vehicles. I think Moose and I were pretty much pushing the limits with relatively stock trucks. Moose has a small lift, 28" tires, rear-end locked, and 4:1 t-case. My CJ5 has a 1" lift (not really with the sagging springs), 31" tires, and a welded rear. Although our trucks are not heavily modified, we have a slight advantage with the short wheelbases, and I wouldn't recommend this trail to novice drivers.

It appeared that John didn't have much of a problem with the trench, but I was concentrating on my own driving most of the way. I was also a little worried about his hardtop, but I keep forgetting he has a real hardtop. His steel hardtop wasn't much of a concern in the tight spots, whereas a fibreglass or fabric top would break or tear against trees. The exit to the trench has a little guardian that can take a chunk out of your top if you're not paying attention. This little beauty leans your truck over 30-40 degrees towards a tree. You have to climb the off camber bank on the passenger side to avoid the tree, but at the same time that you are climbing to avoid it, the bank leans you into it. Like I said, I was a little worried about John's top, but he wasn't, he just rubbed his way past the tree.

With John and I past the worst part (or best depending on how you look at it), we went down to see how Moose was making out. He did a hell of a job getting his little Sami up the trench, and only needed a little strategic rock placing and a few pushes here and there to get 'er up. The rest of the trail as previously mentioned is not particularly difficult, but is tight and keeps you on your toes.

Carnage Report:

On the exit to the mainline, not more than 30ft from the road I lost my front driveshaft. I think the U-joint caps in the pinion yoke must have popped out somewhere else down the trail because they were nowhere near where the shaft had come out. That was very strange indeed. I guess the straps on the yoke were loose. Time to do a little maintenance on the CJ

John bent a steering rod on a stump that stood about 1.5' tall in the middle of the trail.

Moose…pretty sure he came out unscathed this time around.

I really like this trail. It is short, but saweet, and it has lots of potential to get harder. Both sides of the hill, the hard arse entrance and the easy way are sure to get harder the more people drive on it, and the more Mother Nature does her thing too.

Thanks to everyone who came out to break the bottle with us on Moose's Hideout! I know we got a little name happy on such a short trail, but we're just so excited about having something new for a change.

Play "Spot the Moose"...look closely and click on the Moose!

Trip Report Written by jo-jo
Photos Provided by Connie, Dan, John, and Moose