Trip up the Articulation Ramp at Hi Desert Roundup 2010...

Call me crazy, call me insane, or just call me an avid four wheeler. I don't know what it is about this thing that draws me to put my truck in granny low and try to crawl up the Articulation Ramp. I rack up the same score each time I try, but I just can't keep my truck off this thing.

Photo: A member of the High Desert 4 Wheelers guides me as to the correct approach to the ramp. You must place your left front wheel on the edge of the ramp in order to achieve the maximum articulation.

Basically, the ramp is a steel treadway, mounted on a trailer, that soars to the sky at about a 45-degree angle. The object is to place your left tire on the base of the ramp, and upon the attendant's signal, slowly crawl up the ramp while in 4WD low. As your front tire climbs the ramp, the front axle and rear axle articulate in opposite directions, as your suspension begins to flex. The right front tire compresses into the fender well, while the rear tires are fully planted on the ground. When the driver's side rear tire begins to see some daylight, the attendant signals you to stop, and gets out a yardstick to measure how far you've traveled up the ramp. The measurement is calculated by the distance the left front tire has traveled up the ramp from the start point, and then it is divided into the truck's wheel base, and then multiplied by 1000 to get a 3-digit number. Like other things in life, the higher you travel, the better score you receive. No, you're not awarded a trophy at the Sunday Night Awards Presentation, but your ego is stoked and you have concrete proof of how well your suspension flexes.

Photo: I begin to climb the ramp, under the watchful eye of the 4 Wheeler.

Photo: I've climbed just about as far as I can climb, as I get my photo taken by a bystander. My friend Robert Kipperman took these photos.

The Articulation Ramp seems to return every year to Hi-Desert Roundup every year, and this year, as in years gone by, it was hosted by High Desert 4 Wheelers. Sure, I climbed the ramp back in 2005, but this year I wanted to impress both Robert and Matthew, and Robert volunteered his services to take photos with my camera, so how could I refuse?

Photo: The volunteer is instructing me in regards to the correct placement of my left front wheel, as I make small corrections as I travel up the ramp. Photo gives a good look at my mangled rocker panels, a souvenir of a close encounter with death in the Inyo Mountains a few years ago.

Photo: I lean out of the cab and watch the 4 Wheeler jump up and down on my left rear wheel, which as left the dirt and is slightly in the air, ending my trip up the ramp.

When it was my turn to climb the ramp, I placed my left front tire at the base of the ramp, and upon the signal, started to crawl up the ramp in granny-low. I got up to what seemed like a mile high, and my wheel started to smoke on the ramp; I was given the signal to back down and give it another try. So I backed down to the ground, and climbed until the truck could climb no further. At this point, they told me to stop so they could measure my progress.

Photo: Talk about off camber! Check out the hole my tires dug in the dirt, despite the fact that I was aired down to 20 pounds, as you can see from my left front tire, as it grips the ramp. I achieved a score of 73, which isn't too bad for a truck with mostly stock suspension.

Call it "Caught on Camera," as my friend Robert kept my camera going during my trip up the ramp, and he managed to capture many files of me giving the ramp the ol' college try. Matthew was my co-pilot, and since this was his first trip up the ramp riding shotgun, he was impressed. By the time all was said and done, I had made it up the ramp farther than I thought I could, and earned a score of 73, which is not too shabby for a full-sized truck with stock suspension. To top it off, I got a little card from the High Desert 4 Wheelers detailing my score, to give me bragging rights around the campfire.