Our first Trail Hero! 2019
Here we go again! these are the words I whisper to myself as I am loading up the Jeep and getting ready to head out to hurricane, UT. After our last trip out west I just could not stay away. I have been following an annual event put on at Sand hallow in UT for some time now. I would watch this event and kept telling myself this is something I must go to. I kept thinking lord that drive is going to be horrible. I looked into flights thought maybe I would ride along with others so I didn't have to make the drive again, then I went from na ill drive to maybe next year.... Well after much peer pressure lmfao we jumped up started packing and headed out to the amazing Trail hero event.
Our drive was pretty interesting. we started off in new Orleans and made our way all the way to tucamari which is a 16 or so hour drive. here we rested up and got prepared to make the last haul of 12 hours which would land us at sand hallow state park late at night. Once arriving it would all be fun from there.
Here we are! our first day well night at sand hallow. arriving at 10 pm and the weather was lets say a lot more chilly then it is here in the great Louisiana state. but we brace the cold and we set up our tent and unload everything out of the jeep. Our trails would start as soon as day hit. we had not even been able to get to the store to get our snacks and etc so that means we have to wake up even earlier than normal. oh lord. me and early that doesn't ever work out. so once tent was up and we were all set we got some good sleep and prepped for an amazing day.
Day 1: we woke up freezing as temps hit in the low 40s at night and we were not prepared at all for this. but we get up head to the amazing showers offered at sand hallow and then head off to town for some fuel and snacks and you cant forget the coffee. once we reach back to camp we meet up with the wonderful Cathy Dumolt. She was such an amazing lady on our trip and made sure that I was well taken care of. We all head up to the water towers and start lining up for the JeepnGypsy ride. If you do not know Paula she is such an amazing soul. Everyone is getting aired down meeting with each other and getting ready for an epic day. Well in epic I can say I had no idea what I had in store for me. We start off with some easy climbs and etc and go through the west rim which contains some stair climbs and a few dips and we work our way over to the squeeze and lunch room for lunch. we have a wonderful lunch filled with some amazing people. including dennis with teraflex. Now this is where it starts to get interesting. We head over to the dreaded sand dunes. I am very uncomfortable with the sand as I have never been on this type of terrain. At first I surprise myself and I am flying through and my son is in the backseat yelling "wee" he is having the time of his life. We get to the end where we are overlooking the lake and all that is around us. heading back down was not my best. I wound up getting myself in a very stick situation and as we all hate to admit it. I had to get pulled out. but I learned a few lessons. never lose momentum and you will always have great people around to help you out. We arrive back at base camp and we decide its time to rest because this momma is super exhausted. We have another long amazing few days planned ahead.
Day 2: day 2 for us was more of a relaxing day and we went and explored the Zion National park. stay tuned for a blog and more info on that :) but we did have to pack up the tent today and get a hotel because I was feeling under the weather. Oh no! that put a damper on our trip but I kept going as long as i could. so we will skip ahead.
Day 3: It is here. the day we have waited for. We are doing the ladies run presented by lyft offroad and J8 fab. The ride was in honor of Jessie combs. The amazing inspiring women who lost her life landing the highest land speed record for women. On this ride the men had to dress up as ladies. That is right we had some in dresses some in tutus. they also had some pretty hair as well. We did the west rim which is sort of like what I did on our first day. we were not able to take many trails as on this one has we did have some locker issues which was preventing us from doing much. Now as fun as the ride was we ended his one very early as I was super sick and the jeep was having some mechanical issues. The ladies ride was full of some obstacles from hard to super easy with bypasses. you were able to test your skills in many ways and we had some amazing lady (man) spotters to guide us on the hard lines. at the end of the run we had some giveaways and recognitions. I would like to shout out faces of jeep. All the way from Canada and she rocked it. she got to drive Cathy's jeep and she tested her skill in many ways. good job girl you rocked it. so many ladies that had never been on this terrain from sand to rock or never been behind the wheel knocked it out of the park. Us ladies are more capable than we think. overall great day we had. after getting out of those horrible sand dunes that I do not get along with we headed back to pack up and head to AZ.
Now I did not get to do much out at sand hallow with how last minute the trip
was and the issues I had arise but I can say that The Trail Hero event is one that you do not want to miss. next year I will be more prepared and I will run more than this year. But being able to be apart and attend this event was something that will stick with me forever. honoring fallen hero's all the way to special needs runs. There were hill climbs, hill challenges a special needs run that for me is amazing since I have family with special needs. those kids will remember that day for the rest of their life. there I believe is also a veteran run as well. Trail hero has it all. It isn't as big as EJS but the town of hurricane is one that I will always remember. the views are to die for and the trails are just as great. I am already planning for next year. I will be better prepared. I will be warmer, I will prebook my camp spot and not wait last min, I will sign up for more trail rides and I will not arrive at 11pm at night. but overall this is an adventure that no matter what happens you will take something incredible home with you. See ya next Trail hero!
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