Second-Generation Raptor Climbs Through Hell’s Gate in Moab
Raptor’s claws are sharp enough to keep it from becoming another statistic on one of Moab’s treacherous off-road trails.
The Ford F-150 Raptor was made to handle extreme conditions. It can zoom across 100-degree desert sands at sports car speeds. It’s able to jump over massive sand dunes and land without snapping its frame into two pieces or rocketing its shocks through its aluminum bodywork. So it’s no surprise that the owner of a second-generation Raptor took one through a tough stretch of land in Moab, Utah, the natural habitat of highly modified Jeep Wranglers.
The folks at the YouTube channel To The Floor! captured footage of the owner of a white Ford Raptor crawling through a challenging rock formation known as “Hell’s Gate.” According to Off-Road.com, “Hell’s Gate is a section of Hell’s Revenge (wow, sounds like fun), a high-pucker slickrock jaunt through Grand County (Moab), revered by crawlers and trail dogs for its variable terrain, unending opportunities for death, and countless playground offshoots.” It sounds terrifying, but then again, so does a mechanized carnivorous dinosaur.
These days, the abilities of many vehicles far exceed the skills and/or comfort levels of the people that drive them. But Moab demands the most out of both man and machine. Luckily, the driver of this Raptor has strong enough nerves to keep their rig shiny-side-up. Following their spotter’s directions, they keep straight at the beginning and go over a deep V in the rock formation. A more extreme angle in the land requires all four of the Raptor’s tires to scrape the sides for grip.
At one point, the rear passenger-side wheel fully compresses up into its wheel well as the front end tries to pull the entire truck forward. Then it’s time for a bumpy upward left turn to the end of the challenge. Even after the crowd erupts in cheers of victory, Hell’s Gate continues to mush and drop the Raptor’s suspension. The Blue Oval beast goes on unscathed.
It almost looks too easy for the Raptor. We can’t say we’re surprised, though. In fact, we can relate. A few years ago, we took a SuperCab Raptor out to an off-highway vehicle park and went wheeling with several Jeep Wrangler owners. There was one point in the trail where we were going to have to descend into a shallow pit, then immediately climb uphill. One of our spotters told us there was going to be a “pucker” moment since we were in a full-size truck. That moment never came. The land only grazed the skid plate protecting the Raptor’s belly. We kept going as if nothing happened…because nothing did happen. The Raptor performed so well that that potentially nerve-racking section of the trail was anticlimactic. That rough Texas terrain was nothing for the Raptor. And, as this video shows, neither was going into Hell.
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