Slickrock  Southern Style
with Drew Huber
Photo's by
Wesley Howard & Joey Floyd

Our cross country convoy included Mike Dugan and his 88.5 Samurai, Joey Floyd driving his 95 Jeep Cherokee and Drew Huber a.k.a. Team Zuki. Leaving Birmingham, AL on Friday afternoon and driving straight through, we arrived at Slickrock Campground about 6:30 Saturday evening. As we made our way to our campsites we saw Zuks everywhere! We had finally made it to Zuk Central and headquarters for the 1999 Un-Official Zukfari. I had never seen so many Zuks in one place. It was very hard to get to sleep that night with the anticipation of what was to come.

Poison Spider Mesa / Golden Spike Trails

Sunday morning we decided to venture out on our own to go exploring. Equipped with local maps and our trusted GPS we decided to make a run up Poison Spider Mesa. While the three of us were airing down at the trailhead, a group of about 10 to 12 assorted rigs including several Samurais showed up. The group was led by the H.O.G.G.S. of Utah/Nevada. They asked if we wanted to tag along on Poison Spider Mesa and connect with the Golden Spike trail. They didn’t have to ask a second time. I highly recommend going with someone that knows Golden Spike as the trail can be hard to follow at times.

We didn’t have to go too far into the trail before we found some great obstacles and before we knew it we were at "The Wedgie". This obstacle can be taken a couple of ways, one of which will give you some good wheels up action. After we all made it through we headed on to find the Golden Spike trail. There are several great obstacles on the Spike such as Zuki Hill, Launching Pad and of course The Golden Crack. By the time we made it to Double Whammy it was getting dark. Several rigs played here but only one made the climb, a full-size pickup. From Double Whammy there are still several spots to get through and after dark it got real interesting. It was after 10:00 P.M. when we got back to camp. What a first day, the trail and the scenery was beyond words and pictures don’t do it justice. I would like to thank all the great folks in the H.O.G.G.S. that welcomed us into the fold, what a great 4 X 4 club.

Potato Salad Hill / Dump Bump

Monday morning was spent in search of some new CJ main leafs, as I seemed to have completely destroyed mine somewhere on Golden Spike. A special thanks to the staff at Moab Offroad for the used CJ packs they had out back. After rebuilding the rear springs, we headed out to Potato Salad Hill. We arrived just a few minutes late to catch a rollover but almost got to see a Jeep go over after his rear driveshaft grenaded. From there we headed over to play at Dump Bump. I made a couple of attempts but didn’t want to wrap the new springs so I backed down. Dump Bump is a lot steeper than it looks but Joey did manage to climb it in his Cherokee. This is a great area to play around; there are other hills that can be climbed as well as a fin named "Cubs Back". It’s kind of a mini version of Lion’s Back that will give you an idea of what to expect if you go up Lions Back.