No Buggy Said It Was Easy

Where Sheetmetal Goes To Die

Harry Wagner

WHEN OUR FRIENDS FROM OREGON MADE a trip to Lake Tahoe recently, they asked for some recommendations on trails to wheel. They had been to the Rubicon and Fordyce but were looking for more challenging options. These guys all have tube buggies and wear helmets when they go rock crawling, to give you an idea of what they consider fun. We have wheeled with the Sketchy Oregon Boys before, and every trip we seem to end up with broken parts.

The group ended up talking to rock crawling competitor and buggy builder Jesse Haines about where to wheel near Reno. Haines built our lightweight Tracker, which we have wheeled all over the Hammers and every trail in Moab. “You don’t want to take the Tracker,” Haines told us matter-of-factly. While our egos were bruised, we just brought our camera instead of our rig. This was the right decision, as the trail left nearly everyone on their roof at least once. There are plenty of trails that you don’t need a buggy for, but this isn’t one of them.

1 Kaitlyn Tydeman’s 30th birthday was the motivation for the trip, although the Sketchy Oregon Boys don’t need too much of an excuse to go wheeling together. Here she is being spotted by her husband Graeme. While this is the stuff of nightmares for many couples, these two have won rock crawling competition and have the trust and communication necessary for sketchy climbs like this one.

2 The trail was tight and technical, with no bypasses around most of the obstacles. That meant a single file was the plan for much of the day. We felt sorry for the person who had to follow Dustin Emick in his buggy with 42-inch BFGoodrich Krawlers, portal axles, and rear steer.