1998 Zuk Run at Tellico OHV--North Carolina

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From Guardrail we headed up to the section that is actually the Helicopter Pad. Man had it changed too. A large section of rock had broke loose from the ledge at the top closing the left and easiest route off. There is also a large rock sticking out of the bank on your left side that almost guarantees body damage on the way up. Again Ben's Bronco was the only one to climb Helicopter but he paid the price with some body damage to the left front fender. The rest of us took the bypass to the top and enjoyed the view and took time out to pose for some pictures. Now if you have ever been up Helicopter Pad you know that there is only three ways down. Either you can turn around and go down the way you came, you can drive down School Bus, not an option for a sane person, or continue down the backside of trail 11. No one wanted anything to do with School Bus or to turn around and go back down Guardrail so we headed down the backside of 11.

The first 100 yards is the only hard part on the backside of Helicopter. You have to weave your way around rocks the size of  Zuks while loosing a lot of altitude. This section was hard for the Bronco and Hal's long wheelbased Toyota but they made it through without mishap. This is where a Zuk shines, the tight turns between the boulders were no problem. Everybody made it down with very little damage, mostly rock rash on the nerf bars where you had to pivot off of a large rock while making a turn to the left. Chris Robbins made it down with the least amount of trouble and no rock rash at all! In fact everybody was amazed at how well he did. It just goes to show that it's not always the rig but more the driver.