I thought it would be a good idea to put up here a great experience I had over in Las Vegas. Apart from all the usual things to do in Vegas - I encourage fellow travellers of the Jeep community to check out Las Vegas Rock Crawlers -
http://www.lasvegasrockcrawlers.com.
Tim and Quinann run a great tour company where they lead Jeep tours to different trails all around Vegas (I think there is about five different types, all different difficulties and length). Usually they try and keep it to a lead vehicle plus one or two extra vehicles - so it is a great experience and you are not sitting around waiting for people to work their way through the trails.
They have a heap of TJ and JK jeeps - the two doors are all on 35s and the four door is on 37s! We had a 4.5" lift with a 1" body lift, some big gearing and front and rear lockers (you will need them).
And being Vegas it barely ever rains so the weather is pretty perfect (although I hear it is pretty hot in the desert in summer!!!)
We went on the longest of their tours - the Logandale Trail. I do not regret this one bit. It goes for between 6 and 7 hours.
Pick up is a dream - they collect you from your hotel for a pre-brief and then we all drove out to the Logandale Trail - about one hour away. After airing down and disconnecting the front sway bar, we were ready to hit the trails.
This trail is amazing. What makes it unique to us is that it is so different to the terrain we have here in Australia (well at least SEQ anyway). It was like Mars. Big rocky canyons and what I would call gullies which challenge the thinking that a Jeep could go there. There is even a big sand patch in the middle! Apparently this area was all under water at some stage or the other!
As for the wheeling...
Tim is great and spots you through all the hard obstacles. And I will be honest, you definitely need him when crawling up / over / along / on the side / almost upside down of this landscape.
Straight from the time you hit the dirt you are into obstacles. My wife could barely believe the terrain we travelled and how we got through some obstacles (hard to see when your eyes are closed I guess!).
His patience with all driving abilities is great - particularly when you think about the potential damage to vehicle when driving through this terrain.
All up I would definitely do this again, great value for money seeing you are driving your own Jeep for several hours, they provide lunch and pick up and drop off.
Anyway, if you are travelling over there, at least check them out:
http://www.lasvegasrockcrawlers.com/. It pays to try and book something in as although this is a small family business it is growing very quickly.
Enough of me - how about some pics (taken by Quinann):
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If there is a call for more photos I will put some more up.
Big thanks to Tim and Quinann.
One trip to Vegas we are not going to forget anytime soon!