A few days in Death Valley with Cal Four Wheel Drive last week

[Ron Black D]

Had a blast with the Cal4WD guys and the Bronco did just fine. This was the 2nd annual Death Valley Experience with more planned in the future. Had to take a little ribbing from the Jeep boys of course but all in fun and everybody connected with CalFWD was very nice. The Bronco did all the "Difficult" (really nothing too crazy) runs with the lifted big tire Jeeps no problem and by the 3rd day guys were coming up to the Bronco and looking at it and asking me questions. A few even told me they didn't expect it to make it over a few sections but darn if it didn't go everywhere I pointed just like I knew what I was doing. Turn the dial to Rock Crawl and try not to drive into anything too big. If you are familiar with the Eecho Canyon/Funeral Mountain trail there is a dry waterfall that is somewhat technical and steep. I did drag a little where the rear control arm mounts hang down but just some scratches really. My Black Diamond is not lifted, has 33 inch tires on it and when it was parked next to the Jeeps on that run it looked like it was lowered!

Also this was my first experience using GMRS radios and I have to say they worked and sounded great. I have been a HAM for about 30 years and I see no advantage or few advantages for HAM over GMRS on runs like this. Maybe you could hit a repeater in an emergency that you wouldn't be able to reach GMRS. We used them a lot and I have to say they work just as well as any 2 Meeter rig would. The CalFWD run leaders all had SAT phones they rented for the week in case of emergency.

If there is any interest, I would be happy to lead a group of us around the Valley in the Fall for a few days. Thanks for reading guys!

Ron