2021-02-13, 02:31 PM
Oh you def need to check out the Eye! It may be hard to see on your approach. You swing left around the formation in a deeper part of the canyon, and then very quickly do a 180 degree turn. There's room to pull out on the back side there and you get good views of the Eye with sky being seen through it.
Based on my last two trips up there, I might take a rental sedan up, certainly I would have when a bit younger.
I'm with you on sand being scary. Losing traction and slowing into what's going to be a serious stuck, or fishtailing around in it. But as with Kauri I came much closer to being stuck driving (rental sedan, that's me!) up the Racetrack Valley road. There had been a good amount of gravel deposited from a rain event. The road has a high center and usually I deal with that by riding with one set of wheels on the center, but I could not keep it up with the loose gravel. I wanted to bail but there's a bunch of that road where there's no room to turn around, especially when you've already got traction issues. I just had to tough it out, knowing (correctly it turned out) that with gravity on my side I'd get out OK.
I think high centering is really a difficult position, but I've not had the experience (yet).
Based on my last two trips up there, I might take a rental sedan up, certainly I would have when a bit younger.
I'm with you on sand being scary. Losing traction and slowing into what's going to be a serious stuck, or fishtailing around in it. But as with Kauri I came much closer to being stuck driving (rental sedan, that's me!) up the Racetrack Valley road. There had been a good amount of gravel deposited from a rain event. The road has a high center and usually I deal with that by riding with one set of wheels on the center, but I could not keep it up with the loose gravel. I wanted to bail but there's a bunch of that road where there's no room to turn around, especially when you've already got traction issues. I just had to tough it out, knowing (correctly it turned out) that with gravity on my side I'd get out OK.
I think high centering is really a difficult position, but I've not had the experience (yet).