Great Western Trail (Bulldog Canyon Section)

April 1997

(Trip Report by Alex Gilmour)

The Arizona Classic Bronco Club had a great turnout for the April run. The plan was to run FR 10, part of the Great Western Trail. We all met at the intersection of Idaho Road and US 60 at a rather nice 9:30am.

This made me comment to Todd Z that it was kind of nice to be able to sleep in on the day of a run. Those in attendance included: Doug Schulz with nephew Ken Luiten, Todd Zuercher, The Gilmour Clan, Mike McCarthy and kids with guest Jim McCarthy(Mike's dad), Patrick Miller and nephew Nate Regan, Dec Thackston and Marj Turley, guests Matt King with Roy Swope, Charles and Robin Metz with guest Ryan Lusher, Winston and Margaret Brown, Mike and Carole Dillon and kids, Mike and April Brown and baby, Steve Harwood with guest Ray Reimann, Dean Hathaway, Jon Hanna and fiancee, and Todd DeFrane.

Todd Zuercher's new 5.0 EFI motor is a big hit

It was great to see some of the folks, like the Dillons, that I haven't seen since the Stampede and meet our illustrious newsletter editor, Todd DeFrane.

Mike Dillon

After a rather leisurely club meeting, the 50/50 raffle was held. Doug's nephew Ken did the drawing and when he pulled Doug's name out, it left us wondering if Doug had mentioned to Ken before the drawing something about walking home if he didn't win...

Todd Z. (tallest) on first run with new motor

We finally got on the road at 10:00am and Jon Hanna just caught us as we were leaving. We hit dirt and Todd had to remind everyone that it was his responsibility (and fine) if we had any rule violations. (Come to think of it, I don't know that that was a deterrent or not. Hmmm...Todd pays the fine...)

Right after getting into the bouncy stuff, I managed to win the Road Apple award for my misbehaving, perpetually stalling carburetor. (I wonder if Todd would notice if his new EFI unit went missing?) A quick stop to bump the idle up and we were off again. All of this prompted Patrick to call back on the CB offering to tow me home. I stated then, and I put it into print now for posterity, that I will NEVER, NEVER come home on the wrong end of Pat's tow strap.

Jon Hanna and Fiance

We continued on the trail for a while until we hit the only real obstacle of the day, a rutted hill. After watching Patrick take a couple of tries on the hill, we went ahead and aired down.

Todd DeFrane, followed by Patrick Miller

Matt struggled a little on the hill initially with his clean stocker, but after airing down and some expert coaching from Mike McCarthy, he zipped up the hill, making it look easy. Todd continued to lead the way with nary a hiccup from his new 5.0 EFI Mustang engine, but since it was his first time on this trail, we missed his usual running narrative, Cliff Claven style, of "stuff that you can't believe that anyone really knows."

After hitting the main intersection in the wash, we stopped for lunch. The first thing that Steve did was pull out the duster to dust off his rig. After seeing this gross breach of four-wheeling etiquette, I threatened to drive up and down the wash really fast to stir up more dust, but the kids whining for lunch stopped me. About ten minutes later, a whole slew of horseback riders pulled up and asked if we could go and rescue their pooch who had conked out from the heat. Well, the natural choice for this was Doug, since his rig has already served as a doggie ambulance (or Hearse. see: Stupid Doug Trick #21). After Doug reached Buddy (the non-human mascot of the club now) he somehow loaded this cow-dog into the back seat of his truck. I'm not sure how he did this, but judging from the size of the dog, he must have used his winch or high lift jack.

A few more miles of wheeling and we were back to pavement. Since it was still early, we decided to take a quick trip down to the river.

Doug Shulz examines local wildlife

Now, for those of you who have never been down by the river, it gives us a chance to see a whole different side of the gene pool. I don't think that I saw a single person riding an ATC who was wearing a helmet. Funny move of the day goes to the Chevy driver who, while giving the ultimate display of bozo fourwheeling, managed to tear the front bumper off his truck and then proceeded to run over it.

A bit of a scary moment occurred when Lindsey McCarthy cut her foot in the river, but Mike's Dad got her calmed down and Mike took her to the doctor. Hope she's doing OK, Mike.

Charles Metz and his Bronco (brown one)

One by one the trucks left as the day wore on. It was a short, but fun run.