Charouleau Gap - FITS IV

[phxtoad]

The Gap's at the malls were all too busy this last weekend, so instead the Arizona LOSTKJ's club held their fourth annual Fun in the Sun Run near Tucson.

The stockers ran Rice Peak, and the rest of us ran Charouleau Gap. The Gap is clearly one of the best trails in the state - hands down. I really look forward to running this trail again!

Catalina State Park

Vaca!

These purple puffs were everywhere

Near the 'car wash' section

Ernie getting his toes wet

Mike trying the step. Just not gonna happen on 31's with a KJ's limited flex...

Ernie trying the other line with the same result.

Me taking the granite ramp bypass.

Scott and Pablo across the stream

The old facilities at the Campground. If you gotta go, watch for rattler's and splinters!

 

[phxtoad]

Me about to teach me skid plate a lesson...

Ocotillo's blooming left and right.

Heading back down the Catalina/Oro Valley side

Horrible scenery

The group shot

Scott coming down the chute.

Pablo at the edge.

Ernie with a little Jeep wave.

 

[DarinM]

That is a nice run. I remember the first time I came down the "chute." It's deceptively steep.
The weekend that I moved to Tucson I was out driving around with my mom & dad and we saw the sign for Charouleau Gap. We headed over there in my ZR2 Blazer and went a ways up the trail but then I chickened out. I hadn't done any real wheeling before and didn't know much about it.
I miss the place.
Thanks for sharing the pics.

 

[Signcutter21]

Great pics Toad. I for sure had a blast leading the trail (even if we took a couple "scenic loops" to get there. I can't say I was impressed by everybody's driving. I knew we could all do it. :wings::wings: Let me know when you wanna go again. We'll hit it the other way. Going up the chute will be a real challenge.

later,
mike

Oh you guys missed a good Roger Clyne concert, abet a bit short. Was over by 7:15. Only an hour and a half or so. Katelynn is ready to hit Rocky Point in June now.

 

[tibaal89]

Nice! The Gap is always a good time... cool to see the Liberty's attempt the step. I've only ever been out there with FJ Cruiser people, and we can juuuust barely get over that (it isn't pretty at all). And bravo coming down the chute, I've never witnessed that in person since it got a bit deeper at the bottom there maybe a year ago. Definitely vastly easier going up that one than down like you guys did...

Thanks for sharing! :drool:

 

[Rockcrawler]

It has been a few years since I've been up there, but I must say that it is also one of my favorite trails in AZ. Thanks for sharing the pictures. How is the "car wash" has it opened up at all? I was so disappointed last time I was up there by how much it had filled in with silt after the fire. I have a picture from 5 or 6 years ago of the Scrambler going through with water about up to the headlights... the last time I went through I think the water might have been up to the midline of the axles.

 

[calamaridog]

I did the chute when I had a Land Cruiser. I'd love to try it with my Liberty next time I'm in Tuscon. Very cool pics!

 

[jeepmedic46]

Cool Pics:wings:, Thank you for sharing:smiley_drive:

 

[tibaal89]

There is a huge portion of the part where you're driving through the wash that is completely destroyed and filled in with dirt and small rocks... its not very good-looking. But, there are still a couple stretches where you get to dip into the water that was very cool (I'm not sure which of these is dubbed the 'car wash').

There is an extremely difficult up-stream portion of the wash right before the typical start of is that more extreme rigs often take... one time we watched a guy do that, but miss the small region of really dark water (i.e. really DEEP!) that must be avoided and gave himself a pretty bad day... gulped a bunch of water and put a hole in the block of his LS1.