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I extended the Memorial Day weekend a couple days and went camping up by Slickrock near Utica Reservoir. I went up with fellow NCBer and long time friend "BadToTheBone" (Mark) and a couple of our friends whose rigs are currently down - they rode as passengers. We set up a base camp at the Utica Reservoir end of the trail, by the "last" obstacle before the bridge.
As this trip was both for fun and for testing my rig out, we spent the first couple of days hiking, shooting, and enjoying the high country wilderness. We also played around a bit on some small rock obstacles mainly to verify that all critical systems were operational and reliable. Finally on Sunday afternoon we decided to run the trail, backwards from Utica to Lake Alpine.
The trail overall went very easy for both of our rigs, neither of us had any problem on the rocks or water crossings (however Mark got water inside his rig up to the floorboards - I stayed nice and dry). The bulk of the trail went extremely smooth and easy thanks in part to our friend and long time FJ40 owner spotting us through the rough spots. No body damage was sustained, and no mechanical failures were experienced by either of us.
About 1/2 mile from Lake Alpine, as we were starting to run out of daylight, we encountered a considerable amount of snow on the trail (up to 4 feet) which took us completely by surprise, as nobody who we spoke to about the trail mentioned it. This is where the fun began.
First, Mark got stuck (and I mean STUCK) in a snow drift. We couldn't get him out backwards or forwards stacking rocks under his tires and digging him out. A nice guy in a jeep with a winch came by and offered his support after seeing our attempts at extraction by strap failed. He was able to winch him out, but in the shuffle I ended up leading. Not 5 minutes later I got into a hairy situation when I slid sideways while climbing an snow drift, leaning my Bronco onto a tree. Fortunately the cage hit the tree trunk and not anything else - however as you'll see in the pictures, the trunk was right in the middle of my door frame so I was stuck literally between my windshied frame and door pillar. At first I thought the only way out was body damage - but after we lowered the windshield frame and Mark spotted a possible way out by cranking hard and some careful manuvering, I got off the tree, then leaned my BC Broncos quarter panel guard against the same tree. That guard paid for itself that day and I sustained no damage to the sheet metal at all, and only minor scratches to the cage and quarter guard.
Once we got clear of that obstacle, it was smooth sailing aside from some VERY tippy sidehill obstacles. Slow and easy, I made it through unscathed. By that time the sun was down and it was COLD. Wearing shorts and a tee shirt, we hurried back to camp where a hot dinner and raging campfire were waiting.
This came out a bit longer than planned, but I am still on such a high from my first wheeling trip as a driver, that I just had to share it with everybody. The rig is running and wheeling great, and I am ready to hit some more trails!
And of course - here are the pictures for your viewing pleasure...
-Tony
As this trip was both for fun and for testing my rig out, we spent the first couple of days hiking, shooting, and enjoying the high country wilderness. We also played around a bit on some small rock obstacles mainly to verify that all critical systems were operational and reliable. Finally on Sunday afternoon we decided to run the trail, backwards from Utica to Lake Alpine.
The trail overall went very easy for both of our rigs, neither of us had any problem on the rocks or water crossings (however Mark got water inside his rig up to the floorboards - I stayed nice and dry). The bulk of the trail went extremely smooth and easy thanks in part to our friend and long time FJ40 owner spotting us through the rough spots. No body damage was sustained, and no mechanical failures were experienced by either of us.
About 1/2 mile from Lake Alpine, as we were starting to run out of daylight, we encountered a considerable amount of snow on the trail (up to 4 feet) which took us completely by surprise, as nobody who we spoke to about the trail mentioned it. This is where the fun began.
First, Mark got stuck (and I mean STUCK) in a snow drift. We couldn't get him out backwards or forwards stacking rocks under his tires and digging him out. A nice guy in a jeep with a winch came by and offered his support after seeing our attempts at extraction by strap failed. He was able to winch him out, but in the shuffle I ended up leading. Not 5 minutes later I got into a hairy situation when I slid sideways while climbing an snow drift, leaning my Bronco onto a tree. Fortunately the cage hit the tree trunk and not anything else - however as you'll see in the pictures, the trunk was right in the middle of my door frame so I was stuck literally between my windshied frame and door pillar. At first I thought the only way out was body damage - but after we lowered the windshield frame and Mark spotted a possible way out by cranking hard and some careful manuvering, I got off the tree, then leaned my BC Broncos quarter panel guard against the same tree. That guard paid for itself that day and I sustained no damage to the sheet metal at all, and only minor scratches to the cage and quarter guard.
Once we got clear of that obstacle, it was smooth sailing aside from some VERY tippy sidehill obstacles. Slow and easy, I made it through unscathed. By that time the sun was down and it was COLD. Wearing shorts and a tee shirt, we hurried back to camp where a hot dinner and raging campfire were waiting.
This came out a bit longer than planned, but I am still on such a high from my first wheeling trip as a driver, that I just had to share it with everybody. The rig is running and wheeling great, and I am ready to hit some more trails!
And of course - here are the pictures for your viewing pleasure...
-Tony
Attached Files
looks great OT 
. 
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