Off-road warrior: PMO's Minjares goes rock climbing, Jeep-style

Jayci Minjares doesn’t just like getting away from it all. She likes getting over it, too.

You might know Minjares as project manager in UIT’s newly formed Project Management Office (PMO). That’s during the week. On weekends, she and husband Jareb Latter like to pack their three dogs into her 2013 Jeep Grand Cherokee Trailhawk, sometimes with a trailer of four-wheelers in tow. They go off rock-climbing, as only you can in a Jeep.

Latter introduced her to the Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV) scene in a Toyota Tacoma that “went anywhere.” Her Jeep, on the other hand, that’s her baby. She doesn’t want to do anything “too gnarly in it” ... not yet anyway.

“I have to pay if off first,” she said, adding, “I love the puddles, but that’s on the four-wheeler.”

Their favorite nearby OHV spot is Five Mile Pass, a popular high arid recreation area about 20 miles west of Lehi, on the old Pony Express Trail. Five Mile is notable for rocky trails that wind through patches of juniper and sage brush. Minjares describes it as a choose-your-own-adventure kind of place, welcome not only to vehicular rock-crawlers but hikers and mountain bikers, too. Twenty minutes in any direction, you feel like the last person on earth.

Their other go-to OHV playground area is Moab.

Moab conjures images of a placid nature lover’s paradise, but its red rocks also call to adrenaline junkies. It’s the site of a nine-day Jeep Safari starting Easter weekend that draws drivers and gawkers from all over the country yearning to experience the red desert from mesa top to canyon bottom. The Moab area is also home to OHV trail names like The Body Snatcher, Double Whammy, Hell’s Revenge and Poison Spider Mesa.

The Golden Spike, for example, is a dream trail of obstacles like the infamous Golden Crack, which is exactly as it sounds – a giant crack that must be crossed because there isn’t a bypass.

“The first time we went and the things we were doing … I was like, mm-mm, no, and I got out,” Minjares said.

To be sure, off-roading is exhilarating, but to call the sport an adrenaline rush is a bit of a misnomer – adrenaline, yes; rush, no. Navigating tricky obstacles is a methodical process. Minjares explains that before attempting any rock obstacle, one has to air the tires down to get a better grip then, go slow, and always have a spotter.

“Unless you have a vehicle you don’t care about and just go, you have to have a spotter, no exceptions,” she said. “A spotter shows you what lines to take to get over something [and] where to put the tires. Going over rocky obstacles may look easy, but one wrong move and you can tip or bash something. …

“I trust Jareb so much. If I'm driving and he’s spotting, we’re a really good team.”

Not all OHV trail names are as ominous as Hell’s Revenge - Potato Salad Hill Trail, for example, doesn’t sound intimidating but don’t be fooled: “Even extremely modified rock buggies can tip and roll,” Minjares said.

They attempted the Moab challenge in the Tacoma. Key word there: “attempted.”

“A lot of people will get up to the last shelf and not know which way to go. They would either go the wrong way and then bounce their front end and break their axles, or they’ll just roll back down. It’s crazy,” she said.

It’s tempting to think of environmentalism and off-roading at loggerheads, but Minjares said that hasn’t been her experience. In the same way responsible hikers abide by the “carry out what you carry in” mantra - Minjares feels that off-roading enthusiasts are also obliged to be stewards of the land.

“We appreciate people keeping the trails clean, because that’s a major reason that trails get closed,” she said.

With so much of Utah’s breathtaking scenery inaccessible by passenger cars and RVs, it’s easy to see why Minjares goes off the beaten path.

 

Node 4 Search