CAMPING and 'Wheeling in the Boonies of Vermont!

[izackary]

The 21st and 22nd work best for me. Who knows maybe we can have another stag party.

I'll drink to that!

 

[izackary]

OK, honkies! It's time for y'all to tell me if you're in on this trip or what. We've got about 10 days left, so I'm gonna lay out a couple more details. Again, I highly suggest you get yourselves a copy of the DeLorme Atlas and Gazateer of VT. If you don't have one yet, they're at the Exxon station right off exit 16 of I-89 in NH (you'd see the station from the interstate), or at the (you guessed it) Walmart in W. Lebanon off Exit 20. I'm considering meeting there in true New England Explorer tradition. Basically you get off Exit 20 and go south on route 12A for a half mile to the end of all the stores. It'll be on your left. They also stock this map, btw. I highly suggest it as it shows our campsite, all the roads and trails, where the Appalachain trail is (and isn't to ever be trodden on by motored vehicles of any kind), it has topographical markings, as well as GPS coordinates. All for $20 or less. yee-haw. For anyone who doesn't have a CB, get a cheapie if you can; there's no guarantee GPRS radios will reach thru the hills like a CB with a tall antenna can. I can also confirm that use of the cabin is basically on the honors system. We clean up after ourselves and basically leave the place in as good or better condition that we find it. So far on our runs, that seems to be our attitude anyways. It's even more so the case in VT. We're proud of the beauty of our state, and we're proud to show it to the AT hikers who go thru. In fact, it's possible we may share it with a few, so a tent or 2 would be a wise thing to bring. *Looks randomly in Aaron's general direction.* Anyways if you guys get ahold of one of these maps in the nearer future, look for "The Lookout" in Bridgewater, VT. It's between Routes 4 and 12; that's where we camp. All the roads around there are where we wheel...and the dotted line is where we hike. Best of luck to you all.

At ease.

 

[Raminator157]

Is the wheeling legal?

 

[izackary]

yup. all class 4 roads. meaning they're legal to travel on, but they're not kept up by the town or anyone, really. it's basically "travel at your own risk." And risk we shall.

 

[rfuree11]

or we can sleep in our explorers lol
im in

 

[V8BoatBuilder]

I am definitley there! If we're meeting at the Walmart, what time should we plan on arriving?

Isaac's comment about leaving the place in better condition than we found it is very very true. Both times I went to NH I filled up the small trashbag I brought, and still couldn't get all the trash I saw. Just as you will need a sleeping bag, you will also need to bring at least one trashbag for trail and cabin cleanup. 4Wheelers are getting a bag name, and often we're already "skirting" the law. Let's make people see that it's good for us to be out there with our vehicles.

As I always post before a run, everyone should read Gerald's Trail Equipment list: http://www.explorer4x4.com/trail_equip.html

It is even more important to prepare since many of us will be travelling a lot further than Brookline, and we're spending the night. Not everyone has to bring everything for overlap, but we should spread out the load amoung trucks. As usual, I will be bringing many tools.

If something is acting up on your truck: FIX IT NOW. I just placed an order for ball joints and wheel bearings. I am not getting towed home.

 

[Trunkmonkey]

Howdy! I'd love to tag along and make this my first event. Will my bone stock 93 XLT with Wrangler RT/S tires have any problems keeping up? Although I'm new to wheeling, I've been racing since 1999 and have a fairly solid grasp of where to stick my tires.

What time on Saturday is everyone meeting up at Wal Mart, what CB channel will everyone be on, and where will people be meeting up in VT in case people miss the Wal Mart rendezvous? The wife and I have been talking about camping, but we don't have a tent yet. Since the cabin will be available (presuming it's not full of hikers), this sounds like a great way for us to get our feet wet!

Since the Explorer is the service truck for our rally team, I'll have a full compliment of support gear, tow straps, trauma kit, etc. with us. Unfortunately all my tools are metric because I race a Subaru Impreza.

BTW, if anyone from Essex Junction watched any of the SCCA Rallycrosses at the Essex Junction fairgrounds the past couple years I was the guy driving the blue and white PGT 762 Impreza rally car.

 

[rfuree11]

dont worry, most of the explorer parts are metric, too.

I'm pickin up my CB tomorra
what time we meetin? am i gonna be waking up at like 3 in the morning just so i can get up from CT in time? not that i won't do it, but still, thats damn early

 

[izackary]

dont worry, most of the explorer parts are metric, too.

I'm pickin up my CB tomorra
what time we meetin? am i gonna be waking up at like 3 in the morning just so i can get up from CT in time? not that i won't do it, but still, thats damn early

Good question. We'll be there 2 days so we don't need to be there crazy-early. Let me know what's a good time for y'all to leave and we can figure that out from there.

Trunkmonkey:
I went over some of these when my truck was stock (still practically is ) with A/T tires. My bro made it over plenty in his stock-ish CJ7 with 31" RT/S tires thru some mucky terrain too. Keep in mind we don't have to go over all the trails. That's why i suggested CB's and maps so we can split up if we want. If you so desire, we can ride with other guys up the tougher trails. I know I got my stocker high-centered on a water bar once. They may provide some of the toughest obstacles...but with buddies following there should be zero real damage (other than maybe a wrinkled running board). I got the CJ unstuck by pushing him over the peak with his spare tire. If you give it enough gas, water bars should only be more fun!

 

[V8BoatBuilder]

I never thought I'd be on the "Big-Dawgs" run :smoke:

We'll plan out routes and whatnot when we get the gazeteers and survey the terrain.

Trunkmonkey - that's aweomse about all your gear. My truck has both SAE and Metric bolts in it, the SAEs are either in the block (since the 5.0 dates back to the 60s or stuff I've added.)

We used CB channel 26 last time, let's do it again.

The Walmart is:
285 Plainfield Road
West Lebanon, NH 03784
(603) 298-5014

Get directions and estimate travel times here:
http://www.walmart.com/storeLocator..._city=&sfsearch_zip=03784+&sfsearch_street_1=

Which says that it's 2 1/2 hours from where Rt 128 crosses the mass pike.

 

[izackary]

We used CB channel 26 last time, let's do it again.

Sure. I've also read, though, that wheelers often use ch. 4. It may be worth trying at some point. But if our conversations crossover with others, we can go back to 26

 

[Raminator157]

Sure. I've also read, though, that wheelers often use ch. 4. It may be worth trying at some point. But if our conversations crossover with others, we can go back to 26

So is anyone going camping from Northern VT? Or Northern NY? Cause we can ride down together. I will not be wheeling my X!

 

[hal_94]

Sounds like fun...

Sounds like a helluva lot of fun...

But I've got a 2WD (hey, don't blame me, blame my dad when he bought the thing--but honestly, there ain't a lot of hills in Houston where he lives, so he kinda had a point). I'd love to tag along on the weekend of the 21-22, if I could.

I'm supposed to be heading down to NYC between the 14-20, but should be back in time to head up to VT. I'm down in Providence (waiting for school to start), maybe I could hitch a ride with someone from Mass (since 4 wheeling is out of the question for me anyway).

Oh, and Isaac, I love your sig line.

 

[izackary]

head on up if you want. My address is 59 Crockett Street, Stoughton MA 02072 if you wanna put me into mapquest. you can park your truck here and ride up with me. I'm roughly 30-45 minutes from Providence.

 

[hal_94]

Sweet =)

Excellent...

My first REAL 4 wheelin' experience.

 

[izackary]

Excellent...

My first REAL 4 wheelin' experience.

Sort of.... I didn't say you're gonna drive my truck!!

 

[DeRocha]

Hey Isaac how are you shocks doing?

 

[Raminator157]

If I do not decied to Wheel my X, will somone let me give theres a try?

 

[izackary]

John: My shocks are doing fine so far, but I think I can feel that they're not in their optimum height range for damping and whatnot. I'm looking into the OME shocks that GJarret has. There's a dealer up towards Williston near Matt. Speaking of Matt....

If you drive my X, I get to drive the 4-wheeler!

 

[Raminator157]

I got some bad news. I can not make the camping trip. My mom told me this week that next weekend we are haveing a family reunion. I am so pissed. Now I lose out on geting my wires back from Ike and chillin with the boys again.

But on a good note, I got my new clear corner lamps in and installed them