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Desert dessert What to do after the truck driving
sail away Swap the dusty roar of the track for the crashing rapids of the Dolores River. The Gateway Resort’s Adventure Centre offers wet and wild rafting, kayaking and tubing. gatewaycanyons.com
DESERT TRUCKS Driving does not come more extreme than careering around the dusty Colorado canyons in a physics-defying truck Deserts can be relentlessly quiet, but not when you’re strapped into a 6.2-litre, V8-powered Pro-Baja truck, flying off sandy ramps at 140kph and catching air time in Colorado’s canyon country. Driven Experiences provides expert tuition at their Emerald Desert Training Facility in Mesa County, on how to handle their customised trucks around an off-road track. “Driving at high-speeds on the constantly changing dirt is a real challenge, as the longer you’re out there, the more holes start appearing,” says Travis Nailor, one satisfied and exhilarated customer. “It’s a battle to find the right line and hit the speed, but when you do, man, what a buzz. It’s a very addictive experience.” A range of driving packages is available, and you can even hire out the whole place, depending on your requirements and budget. Most people stay at the nearby Gateway Canyons Resort (rooms from US$450 per night) because, frankly, this is deep in the desert and there’s nothing else for miles. “Even experienced road racers can’t quite believe what these trucks can do,” says Andrew Hendricks, a Driven Experiences instructor. Prices range from “One described it to me as like US$600 for an driving a Transformer on the eight-lap ride for moon. But it’s like night and day. two passengers, to $2,600 for a full day. Most rookies are scared at first, More info at: driven but at the end of the day you have experiences.com to drag them out of the vehicle.” 84
Pimped-up ride: get your thrills on custom trucks in Colorado
Fly high Fancy a change of perspective? See the aweinspiring Colorado landscape from a helicopter or Cessna plane ride over gaping canyons and soaring mountainous terrain. gatewaycanyons.com
Advice from the inside flying lesson “When you approach a ramp, you think you don’t know what’s going to happen, but keep very calm, it’s going to be OK, just keep the gas on,” says off-road racing legend Chuck Dempsey. “You’ll hit the ramp and fly what feels like 40ft in the air. When you land you’ll feel like there’s nothing that you can’t do or jump, you feel indestructible in this crazy-ass beast of a machine.”
Drive Hard
“Our trucks place a real physical demand on the driver,” says Driven Experiences’s Andrew Hendricks. “If someone is serious about getting all they can out of driving here, I suggest they should work-out hard the week before coming, just to train their body to sweat.”
zip along They’re about 320km away down Highway 50, but the zip lines at Salida are worth the drive: the 695ft-long Leap of Faith line and the superfast Gun Barrel span a 200ft valley. captainzipline.com
the red bulletin
drivenexperiences.com(2), shutterstock
Off off-road