A few years back, a couple of avid 4-wheeler's, Steve (Tankota)
and Pam Brown, decided that the first class trails at the Los Coyotes Indian
Reservation deserved an equally first class, organized run. Thus, Tankota's
Coyote Crawl was born.
The
Brown's, with a very special group of friends, have improved on the event
over the years to place the "Crawl" right at the top of the Rockaholics
must-do list.
In order to keep the size of the
Coyote Crawl manageable, the number of rigs allowed on each of Saturday's
runs is limited to fifteen, including the trail leader. To keep the procession
of crawlers on the move (and limit the need for winch action), the hardest
section of trail, from Bagby's Rock to The Pirates of the Caribbean, is
run downhill. Even though this is considered, by many, to be the easy way
to run this canyon, there were plenty of wide-eyed pilots on Toboggan Hill
(Root Hill) and the off-camber drop-offs that are the norm for this area.
Along the remainder of the run, participants get to take a crack
at most of Los Coyotes "name" obstacles (we like to call 'em photo-op's.)
The Jeep Squeeze, Bronco Hill, For Pete's Sake and the infamous "El" Hill
always deliver plenty of thrills, and this year was no exception.
Two "official" runs were offered on Sunday, One medium run to
the Mine, and one difficult run heading straight for the "name" obstacles,
with the addition of Ball Bearing Hill.
We also heard rumors of a Peterson's photo-run with their newest
staffer, John Cappa (seems as if Tankota has hit the big-time!)
Our hats are off to the Brown's and all the rest of the crew,
that made the Coyote Crawl 4 exceptional. We can't wait for CC5!
