Jeff,

We turned around at the first obstacle because of the number of vehicles we had and the amount of time it would have required for us to get everyone through the rest of the trail. Make no mistake about it, your friend's report IS accurate. The section after the first obstacle will make life uncomforatble for an IFS Xterra. It's not so much the hill after the first obstacle as it is the washed out, rocky, left hand turn half way up it.

We were able to get Chris through that turn but it took some time, a dash of good spotting, a pinch of good driving and nerves of steel for both spotter and driver. It was definetly not an obstacle I was willing to lead a group of eight Xterras over with the amount of traffic that was on that trail. We could have done it (since we did find the correct line for an IFS Xterra) but it would have been selfish to make built rigs wait for us as we spotted stockers through it.

If you try it be ready to have that left hand turn work every bit of articulation your Xterra has to offer (a locker would be very useful for this obstacle). As for the rest of the trail it was no issue at all as we lead everyone up to the first obstacle without issue. Even the hill after the left hand turn was not an issue.

PS - Jordan's SASed '05 walked right up the left hand turn without even breaking a sweat.