Corral Canyon – Sidewinder Sept. 2011
Sidewinder is a trail we do every year in September. It is one of my favorite trails and I enjoy leading it. It is a short trail of only a couple miles, but it has a variety of terrain and obstacles to delight all levels of experience. I run the trail in September because it is a good shake down trail for the times when we go to Moab in October. We had a large group with a variety of experience and setups. Some vehicles were close to stock with no traction devices. Everyone did well. We took our time and spotted when needed and stacked rocks when needed. 
We met at Buckman Springs rest area and proceeded to the trail at 8:30. We had several new participants and some close to stock vehicles. Upon entering the park, we aired down our tires and proceeded to the trailhead. We encountered few obstacles to slow us down until, Ivan lost his springs because of an overly stretched suspension. I was worried he would loose his springs constantly and therefore his marbles as we hit obstacles on the trail. But he attached them with Zip ties and they held for the entire trip. We proceeded through the obstacles with few of them stopping us and spotting when needed. 
On one of the shelf climbs, Kep fractured(doctor speak) something in his rear end. He subsequently finished the rest of the trip in front wheel drive and did very well. At one section of the route is a steep drop about 15 feet down and 60 degrees, or so it seems. We managed to get every one down with no issues. Some of the newer drivers got to experience the fear factor we sometimes get in Moab.
Finally, we got to the last rock garden. It has two route options, steep climb on right and rocky matrix to the left. We all took the left and with spotting and rock stacking, everyone did very well. Except Peter; who broke his left front axle CV. But what do you expect from 220,000 miles of use(abuse)?
All in all, for 12 vehicles and some with only sliders and very little to no lift, the group did very well and had a great day.
Sidewinder participants:
Bernie Veinbergs–White P38
Matt & Bryson Milligan–Blue D1
Frank Gorcsan–White D90
Ivan Morelos–Yellow RR Classic
Kep Wadiak (Tactical Rovers)–Gold D1
Eric Holmquist (Tactical Rovers) Black D1
Kevin Tagle–Silver RR Sport
Marco Ayala–Green RR Classic
Peter Matusov–White D1
Rick Petersen–White D1
Jerry Sanfilippo–Blue LR3
Joseph Aiello
