Raptor Expeditions - Carson 500 Club Run

Looks AMAZING

ruffstuff said:

Thank you for setting up a great trip! Well worth joining. A big Thank You to all who helped me with changing my flat tires.

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Thank you Ed! So glad to hear you had a great time. Looking forward to the next one!

slowjoe said:

Tires? Plural?...you must be Ed....?
This was a fantastic run. I'll let the guys get the shots and post trip up before too many details are given. Best run to date!

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Thank you sir!

ezavala02 said:

Speaking of tires Joe, how did your new 37s fare? Did you notice any rubbing with the stock fenders? I want new tires after hearing from Bill that he also got 2 flats on this trip on the stock BFs.

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Falkens are awesome! I have about 3,000 offroad miles and 13,000 highway and they are still in great shape. Not one flat either.

---------- Post added at 06:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:15 PM ----------

jackrook said:

Looks AMAZING

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Thanks...you'll have to join us sometime!

Had an amazing time guys...

Jeremiah (and guys that helped him prerun), you guys did a great job... the route was fantastic, the scenery was beautiful, and there were no snags whatsoever. Very nicely done!

On top of that, this was a GREAT group of drivers. Level-headed, and well within everybody's comfort zone. We definitely covered some serious ground in record time, a testament to every single participant involved.

This will definitely be an annual event! Looking forward to the 2015 Carson 500!

Updated with a couple ariel shots.

Thank you Matt. I also want to thank Tommy, Andrew, Manny, and Darren for helping with the prerun.

Bigg50 said:

Thank you Matt. I also want to thank Tommy, Andrew, Manny, and Darren for helping with the prerun.

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Thanks Jeremiah, Tommy, Andrew, Manny and Darren for all your work preparing for and leading this run. It was a blast. There were some fantastic trails with great scenery. I'm excited to see some more drone shots... Those overhead views look awesome.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Special thanks to Tommy, for letting us all crash at his amazing cabin in Tahoe. Very cool.

I had a blast on this trip! My co-pilot can't stop talking about it and said she is having raptor withdraws. haha! I have zero complaints with my first experience with Raptor Expeditions. And I must say that the required equipment for this run was spot on and for good reason. Not only does radio communication and GPS add to the fun and excitement, it would be nearly impossible to cover as much ground as we did with out it.

Thanks to everyone who helped put this together. I'm looking forward to more events with you guys.


Here are a few of my pictures:

Continued, Day 2

Our day began pretty early...everyone was up by 6:00am and was anxious to get the day started. A few of us made breakfast while the others packed up so they could head into Tonopah to get some breakfast. Everyone gathered at the Chevron near the edge of town at 7:30am for a quick drivers meeting. There wasn’t much to cover since everyone was doing a great job of driving within their and trucks abilities. We rolled out of Tonapah and hit the trail head about 8:00am.

IMG_0580 by Big5050, on Flickr

Screen Shot 2014-05-19 at 6.39.13 PM by Big5050, on Flickr

Matt was able to get an epic shot of Tommy (tbone) powersliding through the first turn with the “Mesquito”.

Screen Shot 2014-05-19 at 6.40.40 PM by Big5050, on Flickr

I drove about 15 miles in and set up to get some fly by shots of the group.

IMG_0586 by Big5050, on Flickr

IMG_0590 by Big5050, on Flickr

IMG_0593 by Big5050, on Flickr

IMG_0594 by Big5050, on Flickr

IMG_0595 by Big5050, on Flickr

IMG_0596 by Big5050, on Flickr

IMG_0600 by Big5050, on Flickr

IMG_0602 by Big5050, on Flickr

IMG_0603 by Big5050, on Flickr

IMG_0605 by Big5050, on Flickr

IMG_0606 by Big5050, on Flickr

IMG_0608 by Big5050, on Flickr

IMG_4560 by Big5050, on Flickr

IMG_4598 by Big5050, on Flickr

IMG_4609 by Big5050, on Flickr

IMG_4629 by Big5050, on Flickr

IMG_4649 by Big5050, on Flickr

IMG_4663 by Big5050, on Flickr

IMG_4684 by Big5050, on Flickr

This section of trail turned out to be a LOT of fun as it contained an epic jump. During the prerun I did not mark it as a caution since Tommy and I had been taking it easy after Andrew broke his spindle. At slower speed it was not much at all. However, everyone was now booking it. When I hit the jump it launched the truck perfectly level and what was probably a second of air time seemed like forever. When I landed, Tony (co-pilot) and I looked at each other with huge grins on our faces and yelled “whooooooaaaa!!!”. Best jump to date in the Raptor and it was a great landing. It was interesting to tell the difference between the Icons and the stockers as I’d hit a similar jump before with the stock shocks. The truck sat so much softer on landing and had virtually no rebound...very controlled. With the stock shocks the truck actually caught air again on the rebound.

We made pretty quick work of this trail and hit the next. It began climbing into a really cool looking canyon and then opened up to a beautiful vista.

IMG_0613 by Big5050, on Flickr

IMG_0614 by Big5050, on Flickr

We then made our way out of the hills and hit a fun sandy stretch of trail...bumpy but soft at the same time. This quickly turned into series of rolling hills which were a blast hitting at speed. The sensation of the truck falling after the crest was pretty neat. I believe Andrew may have taken one to fast since he launched from the crest of one hill to the bottom of another lol. Good thing he’d just swapped from the snow plow ADD bumper to a bumper that trimmed the frame horns and offered a steep approach angle. Otherwise, there would have been an impact and his airbags would have deployed.

After this section, the group began climbing back into the mountains as we headed towards Hawthorne. Ed suffered a massive flat here. Unfortunately, he would have one more. Again, this is why 2 spares are a must for these runs!

securedownload by Big5050, on Flickr

While I was waiting for Ed I was able to grab a pic of the Hawthorne Valley. You can see a bunch of buildings and bunkers lined up in perfect rows. This is a military facility which holds all the wartime munitions for the west coast. So if we were to go to war with North Korea this would be a busy place.

IMG_0615 by Big5050, on Flickr

Once we reached the valley floor we turned due north along Walker Lake. This section was a lot of fun since it was a sandy wash. From there we made our way to a dry creek bed which was fun as it had a lot of twists and turns. Here’s a shot of little creek crossing

IMG_4708 by Big5050, on Flickr

We eventually made our way into Yerington where we topped of our tanks and had lunch at the Mcdonalds. From there we headed west and stopped at Ludwig Ghost Town.

IMG_0623 by Big5050, on Flickr

IMG_0624 by Big5050, on Flickr

IMG_4709 by Big5050, on Flickr

IMG_4711 by Big5050, on Flickr

IMG_4710 by Big5050, on Flickr

From Ludwig we began heading northwest towards Carson. Shortly after Connor suffered a minor flat lol

photo 5 by Big5050, on Flickr

photo 4 by Big5050, on Flickr

We then made our way back over the mountains into Carson City where we had started our journey the day before. All said and done we had covered nearly 550 miles in 2 days. Everyone involved did an amazing job working together. The philosophy behind the club requirements shined throughout the trip as we had 2 members with two flats and the radio & GPS allowed us to make great time.

And that’s all!

*If you’re interested in becoming a member and joining a future runs check out raptorexpeditions.com

-Bigg50

Raptor Expedition Team Member RSV-6

SVTCALI said:

I had a blast on this trip! My co-pilot can't stop talking about it and said she is having raptor withdraws. haha! I have zero complaints with my first experience with Raptor Expeditions. And I must say that the required equipment for this run was spot on and for good reason. Not only does radio communication and GPS add to the fun and excitement, it would be nearly impossible to cover as much ground as we did with out it.

Thanks to everyone who helped put this together. I'm looking forward to more events with you guys.

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Glad you guys had a great time! I didn't realize you had gotten a flat as well. At least you didn't join the double flat group See you on the next one!