A pair of ultra cool Chevy S-10s joined in on the trail ride fun.

Written by Albert V
Photography by Wes Rempel & Brad Flayman

After attending so many events over the past eight years of this magazine, we finally decided to add an event of our own. Why so long, you ask? Well, we have helped with many events and our extremely busy summer season leaves us little time for event planning. Things didn't change this year, but we just managed to stuff it in anyhow!

The idea was to incorporate what we felt were the best parts of many of the events we go to into a single weekend. First thing was to make sure every brand could come - heck we love them all anyway! We also wanted to make sure that we had trails and events for every level of vehicle. This meant trail rides for those who enjoy a good wheel out in the woods, to a flat-out, "tough truck" style competition.

Day two of the competition portion of the Apex weekend consisted of timed rock drags through a 250-foot natural rock course. Don Henry in his 454-powered Chevy with 49" Michelin tires and Unimog diffs posted the fastest time of 1.01.

We also wanted to keep the price in check so everyone could afford to come – this was accomplished by the Gear Centre Group jumping on board full throttle with cash and man power to keep the price to a measly $50.00 per head.

To keep things simple for the first year we staged trail rides only on Friday. We had three trails covering beginners to winch required. Our trail guides Chris, Milan and Albert took to the hills and mountain tops with 26 trucks of all makes and models.

For the hard-core crowd, we put on a two-day tough trail competition. Rob Bryce and Albert schemed for weeks (well months, really) to come up with something really different that would weed out the weak and leave the tough victorious.

With a $1000 prize on the line we had several tough trucks ready to take up the challenge. The rules for the event were pretty simple, go in here, come out there, and go as fast as you can! We also did not let the competitors see the course before they ran it – we figured they would all back out when they saw the tank trap and we didn't want any wussies.

Brad Flayman takes a dip in his stroker-powered Comanche. From in the cab this hole felt really deep, but most holes along the trail were hard bottomed.

The first day started with a hill climb with an extra tight turn around at the top of the hill. With everyone's feet wet, the group proceeded to the obstacle course, which was really a trail filled with water holes, mud and slick rock. From there it was back down the hill into the undrivable tank trap. With logs, stumps and waist-deep mud, it put everyone to task with only two vehicles, Cory Hansen/Tim Dezman and Curt & Dave Warner finishing under the one-hour time limit. Dan Brama in his Cherokee on 33's took eight long hours before he hit solid road again while Don Henry had a failure with his air-powered lockers but managed to drag himself free. Our other competitors also timed out in the deep mud.

We wanted to design one of the days to be spectator friendly. This was the reason for only running one day of trail rides, with an option for unscheduled runs on Sunday.

Day one of the competition was a three-section course ending in our version of a tank trap. Our idea of a tank trap is something that would literally stop a tank. Not a single truck made it through without winching multiple times and only two made it under the 1-hour time limit. Good sportsmanship ruled supreme during this part of the weekend. Robin and Teresa, owners of the White Knight (not so white above) were late getting to the event so the other competitors agreed to let them run the tank trap after all the other events took place. How bad was it? Yeah, that is waist-deep mud below. Drivers needed to have a dedicated spotter to climb into the goo. It took Dan eight hours to extract his Cherokee after he timed out.

For Saturday we took the competitors to our favorite pile of rocks. It is a patch of boulders left by a retreating glacier a sold mass of rocks 200 feet wide and 300 feet long. We set up two side-by-side drag strips that would take the trucks through the biggest of the rocks. Again it was a "in here, out there and the fastest time would win" deal, with the only obstacles being a few gates the drivers had to clear (besides car sized rocks).

Not only did the competitors enjoy the runs but also the spectators had a great show of how big trucks work best. That night after the pig roast we awarded "big toy freak" Cory Hansen with the first place trophy and cash while the Warner brothers placed second, and the White Knight not far back in third.

For his valiant efforts and the fact his Cherokee still moved under its own power we awarded Dan with a winch rope for last place. We want to thank everyone for making the event a success and with your encouragement we will plan one for next year too!

Cory and Tim laid down the law during the trail challenge, beating everyone by no less than a 30-minute advantage over all the events. His "Toyota" is powered by a 383 and turns his 42" Iroks with mog axles. His time of 14 minutes could not be beaten in the tank trap, which was the event that defined the competition. During the tank trap Cory said to Tim, "I can't see through the mud on the window", and Tim replied, "you don't want to see - just go!"

Somebody forgot to tell Dan that the rocks were not only bigger than his 33-inch tires but his entire Jeep. Three tie rods, mirrors, a cooked winch, a back window - remember that eight hours we mentioned in the tank trap? We tried to talk him out of competing but he wouldn't have it... We came up with a prize for him at the awards ceremony because his persistence provided so much entertainment, he had to get something!

There were trails from extreme to pure paradise. The view from the top of Green Mountain towards Apex Mountain is breathtaking. We also had a trail for every level of driver and vehicle with the best view from the top of Apex Mountain itself, which reaches 7200 feet.

When it comes to pure effort it had to go to our second place finishers Dave and Curt. They kicked some royal ass in their YJ on 37" MT/Rs. Cory Hansen and Tim Dezman (our eventual winners) were celebrating their 7-minute run on day one on the obstacle course, figuring no one could beat it. These two boys came out of the end of the trail airborne, and shaved 2 1/2 minutes off their time – the game was then on!

The large camping area gave everyone lots of room to spread out – from 40-foot fifth wheels to camping old school in a Willys – we had them all!

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