(driving rock music) - [Trent McGee] Drivers! Phoenix! (cheers and applause) This is going to be one of
our longer legs for gas, so if you have gas cans,
they should be full. As far as what we're going
to do, we're going to hop on a two-lane highway, wheels
up, rolling at 7:45. - [Man On Radio] Trail tail is on 19. - [Trent] Copy that. It's bright and early on day two of Ultimate Adventure, and we're leaving the
interstates behind for good. We're going to escape the heat
by heading to higher ground in the old mining town of Crown King. Of course, we're not going to be taking the fastest or the easiest route. There's less than 100
miles to cover today, but it's going to be almost all dirt with a few obstacles along the way. - [Man On Radio] Check out the nice ass across the road there. - [Sam Gillis] It's
106, it's nine o'clock. So I'm hoping it's going to cool off some. All right, I'm going to get me a chain so I can hang it around my neck. - [Trent] When you take
a bunch of rock crawlers overlanding, especially 20 of them, you know there's going
to be a lot of dust. The back way to Crown King
involves a steady climb out of the Valley of the
Sun, and around 1100 feet to an elevation of over 5700 feet. Of course, there are a few
fun challenges along the way. - [Lonnie McCurry Jr.]
Yeah, back there we was coming up out of that
wash, we heard a big psshh and we figured out what it was. It's that the ARB line on the front again. But we got a good crew working on it, I think we're going to
get it taken care of in about five minutes. - (offscreen) Whose idea... - [Man on Radio] About
halfway up that area next to the mine is a big bull, and I'm talking he's got
a lot of testosterone running through his system. - [Trent] Here we are on
the way to Crown King. So we left the hotel
this morning about 7:30, we've been on the road for
about two and half hours. Normally it's a road day
for Ultimate Adventure, but we're on the dirt and
that's the whole plan. That's actually the
plan for the whole week. We started down in the desert, in the saguaros and
stuff at Lake Pleasant, and now we're making our
way up to Crown King. It's a really scenic, pretty trail, we're in the Bradshaw Mountains. There are some cool
little side obstacles here and everybody's having
a good time, I think. It's already noticeably cooler, I think we're at 3800 feet now and we're going to keep climbing. So that's also a good thing. Ultimate Adventure requires everyone to be self-sufficient throughout the week, so each participant must carry all of their own food, camping gear, tools, pare parts, and so on. Absolutely no trailers are allowed. Now this is the first day
that everyone is wheeling fully loaded, but it's
not going to be the last. You wouldn't be watching
this video if we didn't have our full camera crew along,
and transporting a crew plus all of their equipment is
a huge logistical challenge. This year, Sportsmobile stepped in with a fully equipped 4x4 van to haul all the gear, and UA
alum Ken Smith volunteered to be the wheel man, as
well as gofer for the week. Having a four-wheel drive van support rig for UA is critical. So yeah, just like that,
we're in the pine trees. Remember, guys, Arizona is
nothing but deserts and cactus. - [Randall Speir] All right,
so here we are on the trail. Got a little problem
with the steering box. So the problem seems to be inside the box, but I think we can repair it. - [Man In Gray T-Shirt] Let's
open it up and get her fixed. - Well, we just secured
our campsite for Day 2. We're heading down the mountain,
we're going into Crown King get some fudge, a little general store, and maybe some cool drinks, and then
head on back up, make dinner. Tomorrow's day three. - [Trent] Crown King is named
after the nearby goldmine, where an estimated two
million dollars in gold was extracted over the years. Founded in the 1880s, 15 goldmines
dot the area around town, which is situated high in
the Bradshaw Mountains. The mines have been
closed since the 1950s, but the saloon remains the
center of town and a popular attraction for off-roaders,
hikers, and other travelers seeking an escape from the Phoenix heat. The saloon serves amazing
burgers, while the general store offers some of the best
homemade fudge you can buy. Meanwhile, back at camp,
Randall Speir and John Mobily, from Dana/Spicer, are busy
fixing the steering box on their JK, with the help
of Reader Nick LeBlanc, and Warren's Chris Durham. - Had a problem wit the JK, the actual spanner, that helps
pre-labels on the input shaft had worked itself loose, so
took the box completely apart so I can tighten this spanner up. The input had 1/2 an
inch of in-play in it, so we had the steering issues. So in order to fix it, we just got to tighten this spanner up. - [Trent] While the steering
box repairs continued on the Dana/Spicer JK, I had
some repairs of my own to do with a bent suspension link. The improvised repair
involved a log and some use of sponsored products in a
most unrecommended manner. But it got the job done. - [Man] Bet that's the last
time I'll ever get that... - [Trent] Those that weren't
making repairs had the rare opportunity to set up
camp among the pine trees, and even cook dinner...all
in the daylight! Most took the opportunity to
rehash the day's events around LED campfires, since the area
was under fire restrictions and real fires weren't allowed. For some, repairs continued
well into the night. (country guitar music) (offscreens) Drivers meeting! Let's go! - [Man In Blue T-Shirt] Day
three of the Ultimate Adventure! (cheers, light clapping) Today's going to be another
long one in terms of beimg behind the wheel, so be
sure you top off your tanks with your spare fuel this
morning, before we head out. Don't wait till you run out on the trail. And for more on the trail, here's Trent. (whoops and hollers) - Crown King is one of my
most favorite trails in all of Arizona, so I'm glad that you guys... ...have all my friends come with me on it. So, it's pretty rad. Looks like everyone's
pretty well packed up. We've got one quick repair
going, but I'm thinking we're going to roll right at eight. - As usual on Ultimate Adventure,
our first camping night, we had a repair last night. The steering box on Dana's
Jeep, the second shaft had come loose, so had to take
the box apart completely, tighten the spanner up, to
tighten the input shaft up, and put the box back together. Got them fixed last night,
and then this morning, Mark's Jeep, the lower control
arm eccentrics had broke loose, and one axle was moving
back and 3/4 of an inch, so I welded the tabs and the
eccentrics on both sides. So now both of them are
ready to go, we're ready to hit the road again. So welcome to UA. - [Trent] All of the cronies and staff for Ultimate Adventure are
equipped with Magellan TRX7s that are preloaded with the
planned route for each day. This is handy in the event
of breakdowns or people needing to catch up.
- Woo! Diesel brigade rolls out!
- Which happens all the time. - For everyone else, what was up ahead was a complete surprise. Now, the Magellan unit saved
a lot of confusion and time. Simply follow the tracks,
and you'll eventually find the rest of the group. - [Mark Turner] I didn't
have enough sunscreen, so JR was nice enough to
break his transmission cooler so I could put this on my skin
so I wouldn't get sunburned out in Arizona. Anyway, cooler broke, no big
deal, Dillard's down there, he's going to loop it back together. We were able to save a lot
of the tranny fluid that came out of it in water
bottles, so we're ready to go. - [Sam Gillis] Well, we
got the lines back off. The cooler blowed apart
(background chatter) in the middle so we just
took and looped the lines back together, and run
it back to transmission. Hopefully it'll stay
cool enough running this, but we'll give it a whirl here. - This thing's going to
run cooler now, JR; watch. - [Trent] We're heading deeper
into the Bradshaw Mountains, towards the DeSoto Mine Trail,
which will loop us around Crown King, and eventually back down to the lower elevations near Mayer. It will be another long,
hot, dusty, and very fun day. That's if everything goes perfectly. But with over a hundred
miles of dirt to cover today, breakdowns are inevitable. - [Driver] Ah, yeah! Ahhh, thanks for back of the chowder head. Ooh! - [Travis] The DeSoto Mine
Trail is over ten miles long and crosses several ridges. Which means there's a lot of steep
climbs and descents. The terrain is rocky and
very loose, and there's a lot of tight turns that can
be tricky for some of the longer-wheelbase rigs. There's quite a few rocky shelves thrown in for good measure. DeSoto Mine is not hardcore
by any means, but it demands a driver's constant
attention, as one wrong move can mean sliding down the
hillside a very long way. The constant climbing and descending also isn't helping fuel economy. None of these rigs have seen a gas stop since yesterday morning. - [Cooper] This fun video
prob'ly won't do it justice, but that was a steep climb
with a big ledge at the top. Lots of fun today on this road, trail day. - [Trent] While longer wheelbases
need to make multi-point turns in some of the
switchbacks, the extra length was welcom on the rocky ledges. Team Wayney Jack shows us how it's done. Dan Struuvi's Bronco
falls right in between short and long wheelbase. The solution that worked? Going far right, away from
the worst of the ledge. (engine revs) Wheelbase is one thing, but
weight is also a factor. Dave's Rugged Radio's Amigo is definitely on the lighter end of the
spectrum in this group. It's all a matter of perspective; what didn't seem like
a big deal in one view, now looks entirely different in another. Thankfully, the tranny
cooler on the Skyjacker rig seems to be holding... at least for the moment. And the unique Voodoo Rope
CJ10 didn't need to test out what they sell on this one. Four-door Jks can make things
look easy; especially when they're equipped with Dana 60s and an LS3. (engine rumbles) Just leaving a little gas
for Keith; he's running low, so rather than truck it on back
to him, just going to leave it here and he can get it. We're a little bit over halfway through the Desoto Mine Trail, and
this is yet another gate that we've gone through,
and it's always important to leave gates as you found them. So in this case it was closed, So once the group gets through,
we will close it once again. From here on out, it's going
to get a little bit tougher for the gang, but just challenging,
not get-stuck type stuff. But definitely need to pay attention on some of these hills. We're going to keep kind
of headed off that way. I believe we're two ridges
from the end of the trail. (engine sounds) Notice that I never said
Desoto Mine was a short trail. First gas stop as a group. - [Kyle Cunliffe] Yep. We Haven't
Seen pavement in two days. - [Keith Bailey] I planned on
bringing seven extra gallons. I used every one of those,
and four more from my buddies, so, barely made it. - [Wayne Lambert] Good times,
we did a pretty long run, all off-pavement today, lot
of nice scenery, real varied. We were in the trees, and now
we're back down in the cactus, so we got to see a lot of
the Arizona countryside. It's been awesome. - [Trent] After the much-needed
gas stop, and crossing under an interstate that maybe
some people would be hoping we would be getting on,
it was back to the dirt and some more overlanding. (engines rumble) All righty, we are on
the Great Western Trail. I believe it is the trail that
runs from the Mexican border all the way up the Western
portion of the United States to Canada. Despite the long hours on the
trail, the group was making excellent progress, and
breakdowns were minimal. Periodic pit stops kept
(background chatter) the group together, and these
were often used to check things over on the rails. (engine sounds) After passing through some
areas that could've been mistaken for an African
savanna, we passed through the remote ranching town of
McNellis and made our way to Copper Canyon. - [Fred Williams] I've been
havin' fun in my little diesel, My CJ with the diesel Cummins two eight, so far on the trip I think I've only used 10 gallons of fuel. Rock
crawling and everything. The little two-eight really
was good on the fuel, and it also doesn't run hot. Rad! Runs about 176, 180 degrees - [Trent] Copper Canyon is
a tiny little two-track that meanders its way into Camp Verde. It's cool to be picking
our way down the canyon in low range, while just
a few hundred yards away, 18 wheelers are chugging up and down the Camp Verde grade on I-17. Our way is definitely better. - Today's been a really
long dusty road day, but it's been pretty awesome. We've bounced down a
lot of cool dirt roads, all over Northern Arizona. Trent McGee and Vern
Simons both live here and they kind of mapped out this
trip, and it's been awesome. Hardly any asphalt, which is the best. Asphalt's a total waste of tax dollars, far as I'm concerned. - [Trent] All right, we are
at the tail end of day three of the Ultimate Adventure. We've been hard at it all
day, going overlanding in our rock crawlers. - [Vern Simons] It's like
the vast majority of the day, over 100 miles, was a totally
rad day, nothing really challenging, but dirt,
dirt, dirt, dirt dirt. Tires aired down, goin' fast
in the dirt, goin' around corners, blast...wonderful day. Everybody's dirty, but everybody's happy. - [David Chappelle] That was
awesome, like the Longest dirt-road day we've ever done I think, on Ultimate Adventure. We've done dirt roads,
but this trumps 'em all. - [Dan Strubbe] So we
just got off the mountain, we've been on dirt for
probably 60, 70 miles today, So a lot of dirt. Beautiful
country; it's cool to see a lot of elevation change,
had big trees in the morning, cactus in the afternoon. The group did good
overall, pretty minimal, considering the hard road, the hard miles, in the trucks today. I think we're all excited to
be headin' back to the hotel and get a shower. - Three more to go, and
then we're at the hotel. - [Christian Hazel] So wrap
on the Ultimate Adventure 2017. We were just over 100
miles in dirt, over 24 hours since we last saw pavement. We're going to air up the
tires and go see civilzation for the first time in a while. (driving rock music - [Trent] Day three wasn't
a bad trail day as far as road days go, but there's a
whole lot more off-road action coming. And it turns out, day four
will more than make up for the lack of problems on day three.
