Go Anywhere Challenge 2004 - Halifax, Nova Scotia

Let me spare you the anxiety - even straight out of the box, the Go Anywhere Challenge is the premier, all brand off road event in Eastern Canada.

Hosted in and around the Metro Halifax (Nova Scotia) area on August 20th, 21st and 22nd, the inaugural event played host to 38 vehicles and 59 registrants. Four trails of various difficulties were offered.

While we're on the topic of trails, how do you like yours? Tire sized rocks? Slick, black swamp mud? Tight, technical sections through trees? Deep water crossings? OK, we had ALL of that and more. Trails ratings ranged from honest 5's to legit 9+'s.

Dave Montgomery and Andre Simmons of www.Xtension4x4.ca are the duo behind this rather unique and challenging event. The original vision was an event that would challenge vehicle and driver - encourage you to push your limits and see where the edges really were.

After hearing some of the trail scouting stories during June and July, I knew this was an event not to miss. With Andre manning the shop to repair pooched gear, it fell to Dave and his wife Jen to entertain and organize our mixed bunch. T-shirts, lunches and lots of bottled water were handled out each morning. To everyone's credit the early mornings still saw 90% of the participants up-and-at-'em after a night of camping in the woods. This was truly a hardy bunch.

Now, while chatting with folks in the parking lot was nice, let's get to the real meat of this event - the trail rides. We'll tackle them in order, with just enough detail to ensure you get the full flavor of this event …

Day 1 - Pockwock

Funny name, eh? Just a short drive off the main road, this sleepy little area is home to 3 things: nice subdivisions, intense, inky darkness after sundown and one mother of a trail.

Before we go further, it should be noted that everyone who attended this event was an experienced off-roader. Levels of experience varied, as did level of vehicle prep, but these folks were honest about their, and their truck's, abilities. Each understood that being unprepared or overwhelmed could ruin the day for others, so they all realistically took stock of themselves before assaulting the challenges.

Let's introduce some of the day's players:

· Dave Carrigan made a cameo in his 31" equipped 1990 YJ before damage sidelined him near the trail head
· Craig Bennett impressed with his '89 Cherokee with it's 33" Swampers, and coil conversion in the rear (swapped in from a Grand, no less)
· Brent Litchey ran his 1990 YJ w/35's and a 4 cyl, pushed on with a Powertrax in the rear
· Mike Wetzel ran his '00 TJ sporting 4.11's, 33" MT/R's, 5" of lift, a Powertrax No-slip rear end and True Track equipped front axle
· Jeff LaBrash (aka LoveRash) made due with his '00 TJ featuring a 7" RockKrawler long-arm suspension system, 3.73's, a full case Detroit in the rear, 33" BFG Muds…and a little charm…LOL
· Guy MacDonald showed up with his '84 Toyota Xtra Cab pumped up with a 4.3 litre Chevy and 4 spd auto, a 4" body lift and 35" Remingtons
· Bill Rhodes was squarely in the Toyota camp, too - but with a BIG difference. His '82 Toyota Pick up was built to play - check this list out: 37" SSR's, 8" Alan Springs, Marlin Crawler T-case, 5.29 geared axles, Detroits F/R, Hysteer crossover steering gear, a Webber equipped 22R…and to ensure this pick up can play with no fear, a Warn 8K hung from the front end, while 18" of the bed was bobbed from the back end! This rig literally did it all, all day, with no drama.

So, how challenging was this particular trail? Well, it has the aforementioned mud and rocks and before the last rig in line managed to get off the ROAD, one of the front-runners was hung up with damage.

Dave Carrigan managed to rip the t-case skid from the frame of his YJ. What was the solution? Naturally Craig Bennett, and ace wrench and fabricator, was on hand in minutes. And fortunately for Dave, Craig was loaded for bear. His Cherokee was sporting a 1000W power inverter to run the grinder, drill, etc. On top of that, Craig toted along his welding gear. Within minutes the trail looked like a shop - sparks flying, grinders whining and Craig cursing…LOL

After about 45 minutes Dave was fit enough to get turned around and head back to APJ Automotive into Andre's caring hands. Back at the shop the real fixing took place and Dave C. was back in the action for Day 2.

Now, the rest of the Pockwock trail, since we'd only covered about 100 yards to this point, lay before us like a glistening black dragon - lumpy and slick, just daring us to try. Rocks jutted out at the worst possible spots and an overnight rain conspired with the mud to limit traction everywhere. Even though rocks dinged off armor as we made our way through the goop, everyone was game to move forward.

A short, trouble free transit section gave way to a low-ground area that LOOKED easy enough. That big '82 Toy would prove invaluable, crawling it's way over the almost impassible mud bog we'd found ourselves in. Bill calmly "floated" across the scene on his 8 psi of air and took up post as THE WINCH. Truck after truck tried valiantly to conquer the mud - and every one was defeated. Even the by-pass saw its share of trucks in need of rescue.

To this point we'd been on the trail for about 3 hours. Maybe ¾ of a kilometer had been covered, but the goal for this event wasn't distance, but challenge. To that end, everyone agreed it was succeeding.

After the mud, we picked our way through some more, you guessed it, mud and rocks. I should stress this was no simple transit section. These rocks were tire sized and solid granite.

A little finesse saw us getting ready for the next real challenge - some rock crawling. Just a small section, but as Beth Smith in her 2002 TJ found out, not without it's exciting bits. Beth managed to do a wheel stand, in the woods, by finding the one 33" deep hole on the rock face. Off-camber, with here driver's side rear tire in the hole and nothing but air under her front passenger's tire, Beth calmly rolled down her window and requested a winch and a cigarette…

As some of our group made it's way over the rocks, we realized we were missing Guy and Craig. Turns out Guy's 4.3 Chevy chewed up a motor mount. A few minutes of scrounging and Craig came back with a short section of chain, which he welded, solid and slid in place of the busted motor mount! Cured the problem and worked great all weekend.

Approaching the 6-hour mark, we decided to beat it for base camp prior to sundown catching us. This, it proved, was a wise move.

Within 10 minutes of starting back out, the rear axle in Guy's '84 Toy was making obnoxious noises. A quick check shocked us as we learned that somehow the rear locker was fragged…and within mere feet, it took the ring gear with it. So, Guy was down to FWD only…in the mud…between the big rocks…

We quickly devised a leapfrog plan with three Jeeps to spell the winching workload. Things ran smoothly for about an hour (we moved 200 feet), at which point Guy's front diff grenaded. At least we were clear - his truck want to be towed out…LOL

We managed some of the most impressive recovery work I've ever witnessed over the next 2 hours. Twilight found our group all firmly planted on the asphalt again, surveying our rigs for unknown damage. 99% were intact. Heck, Guy even had enough friction in some parts to limp his Toy home for the night. The rest of us high-fived and beat it for a meal at base camp and some rest.

Day 2 - Ellershouse

Saturday promised to be a fine day for off-roading. Wispy clouds skipping across the sky offered just enough shade to keep the sun at bay. More great lunches were handed out and I snagged a ride in an open TJ for the day.

Our group of roughly 12 rigs headed out about 10:00 AM intent on enjoying a moderate trail - just enough challenge to keep your attention, but with a low chance of damage, even for a stock Jeep.

Dave Carrigan was back and along with his overnight fix, he'd snagged his just-delivered winch. Now he was excited, and reminded the trail leaders to call on him if anyone needed a winch. Jeff LaBrash was there for comic value, Frank and Beth made it with their skywalking TJ and a slew of others who'd never run this trail before decided it was what they wanted for the day.

We rolled down the highway, got our bearings and had a quick driver's meeting at the trailhead. After a quick snafu by yours truly, we were back on the actual trail in minutes.

The Ellershouse trail offers something for everyone- literally. Highlands, lowlands, standing water crossings, logs, rocks, mud, hill climbs, off cambers - you name it, you'll encounter it. It's a great place to learn the ins-and-outs of your rig. I was keyed up because we had an Isuzu Trooper in our group this day, equipped with a factory locker. I wanted to see what this little, boxy, blast-from-the-past could do on it's A/T tires. Turns out quite a bit. Well driven and well protected, this rig managed everything just fine all day - and he was stock.

The usual spots cropped up along our way to liven things up - the washout near the culvert was a hoot as always. Getting through this takes a combo of flex, traction, gas and finesse. Pick the wrong line and you bounce back down, landing within inches of a huge steel culvert. Make that mistake too many times and it'll bite you.

Shortly past this spot we stopped for lunch in a quarry, where a couple of the more adventurous guys got some air on the hills. Nothing too dramatic (literally an inch or so under one front tire, but enough to make the kids riding along emerge from the Jeeps with very wide eyes.

After lunch we mounted up and headed out on a fun transit section, which encourages you to use 4-HI, and enjoy some rally style roads until you catch up with the next turn off.

…which promptly drops you into a descending, twisting-through-the-trees sluice. Rocks everywhere jostle you around while you try to pilot your truck around trees and embankments. Emerge at the bottom unfrazzled, tackle the standing water and mud…and note your jaw drop as you face the hill climb out. At about 300' long, it's not huge. And really, the last 200' are smooth and easy to tackle, leveling off nicely. But those first 100 feet will have you pegging the rev limiter if you grab the wrong gear. You'll need a second try if you get the line wrong…and remember, your tires are still wet and there's a slick skim of mud from others who went before you. Sound like fun? Throw in that this first section climbs at an angle of roughly 35 degrees and you'll get the picture. It's tough to WALK on this thing, never mind drive it easily.

After only a couple of tries each, everyone managed to top the hill with huge grins and a well-deserved cheer from the rest of us. From here on there remained only one obstacle to beat - the mud bog. Three established trails through this section offer you a choice of "Moderate", "Difficult" and "Are You Nuts?" Fortunately, after a discussion by the group and a couple of tales from past encounters, the hardest route was avoided. The bigger trucks had no problems, while the smaller or stock rigs had a fun, muddy challenge of balancing revs, wheelspin and steering input to slither through to the other side. No one needed rescuing, so in the end, it was just a fun little mud hole that day. Choose the hard line, though, and you're in axle snapping territory. Maybe next year there will be takers…

Day 2 - Lakeside

This was the "other" trail offered on Saturday. Let's just say this. Roughly a dozen rigs went out - well prepared, well driven, well-equipped rigs. At about the halfway mark, the trail won…they turned around and emerged defeated, but swearing to beat this trail next year. Let us not speak of Lakeside again until August of 2005.

Day 3 - Lucasville

With all the Go Anywhere Challenge had thrown at us so far, the final day was geared to be a mild trail ride ending up at a large quarry where we'd barbeque and swap stories.

The ride through the woods was enjoyable with a few choices to be made - stay on the trail and enjoy a placid trip forward, or turn off the main trail and grab an obstacle or two en route - mud and rocks awaited those who ventured off the beaten track. The highlight of the ride to the quarry had to be when Jeff "LoveRash" LaBrash hammed it up for the cameras and nailed a huge puddle at speed. The best pic I got is a wall of brown water shooting skyward and you can just see a dirty headlight in the middle of it all. Needless to say, with his top down, Jeff was cleaning for the next week or so…LOL

Several one-off, custom buggies made an appearance at the quarry and had fun scrabbling around, crawling up the sheer rock faces. Others took the chance to test their rigs mettle on the hard stuff and take pics of their trucks at weird angles you don't normally see on the trail.

Adam Smith tested his RockKrawler quipped Rubicon on the rocks and was pretty happy. Especially when Dave, the event co-organizer, couldn't follow him in his 35" Baja Claw equipped Cherokee. Dave will say he chose a different route to try, but we all know…