Trip Report! N. Georgia Run June 22-23!

[jasonb]

Ok.. First let me start by saying that this was my first time doing any real rock crawl/big v ditch type stuff that requires spotters. All my experience with this stuff before was light. I grew up on a farm were "muddin" was the thing to do.
For pics please go here Trail Pics
Jason_25 and I met Saturday morning with a couple of Jeepers from a local club. One of them had done the trail so he was going to lead us. On Saturday we did Rich Mtn which consisted of a lot of v-ditches and numerous large rock obstacles, sharp drops, and a few little mud bogs that smelled like they were filled with dead animals. The trail was dry all day so we had a blast. Jason_25 started the trip off by almost becoming a member of the Roll Over Posse. He was about a feather's touch away from rolling over and crushing his passenger side but he managed to get himself out of the bind without a scratch. He managed to have both drivers side wheels off the ground right before he corrected himself. Despite this we proved that the Explorer is a VERY capable vehicle easily overcoming everything the Jeeps did. I was truly amazed at the ability of my not far from stock vehicle. We were often in positions were we could reach out and touch the ground and many where part of the side bank was millimeters from being inside the trucks. All in all, this day was great. After the trip we aired up, ate some bar-b-q and headed to Amicalola to camp for the night. It rained all night so Sunday got interesting.

Sunday morning we met back up with one of the Jeepers from Saturday that went home along with another Jeeper that was not there Saturday. He was determined that the Explorers would not make the trip, but he was a great spotter so I can't be too critical. We also met up with Chase here (diablo5969) and his father. Unfortunately for him the rain that night helped us all decide that they would ride with us rather than taking is beautiful X down the trail. That turnded out to be the right choice because we ended up gonig down a trail was in my mind extremely difficult for anyone that wasn't really lifted and at least 33s. This trail consisted of ditches that would swallow the ones from the day before and rock obstacles that were much harder. Large diffy crushers lined the trail and big long mud bogs were often. When we started downt the trail with the overgrown erosion projects I was really expecting to finish the day with carnage. We started in the second parking area by showing some flex and goofing on a big dirt mound. Jason_25 managed to get into some great photo op shots all weekend. He is a master of getting that back tire to dangle in the air and stuff the others. At this spot we also watched a couple of dirt bikers bust their @ss trying to go up the hill that we were playing on.
They guy in the yellow Jeep tried to make us not take the Xs down the trail but we did and showed them off wonderfully. He did a great job spotting and got us through some really touch stuff. Once again, Jason_25 managed to dangle a tire about 3' in the air and almost became a roll over member again. I was behind him so I was lucky enough to not experience all the super scares that he did. In the end we made it down without anything more than trail striping and some rocker scratches.
The next trail was great and was like driving through a rock quarry. The guy in the yellow Jeep ended up screwing something up underneath but did the trail still. This trail had lots of mud bogs and river crossings. This is the trail that caused some damage even though the other seemed much more difficult. At about 1/8th mile from the end of the day, Jason_25 caught his back light guard on a root and broke it. Nothing major and I was very happy that was all we suffered. I have a big cut in one of my tires also but otherwise we are good. A lot of pinstriping and rocker panel abuse to add characted to the vehicles.
Chase and his Dad seemed to have a great time out. I think they enjoyed watching us take all of the abuse. I am pretty sure that we will see them on the trail again soon! It was great to meet these guys and hopefully we will go wheeling again soon! Chase, maybe you'll have that 5.5" Superlift kit that your Dad was talking about getting you on soon. We definately showed him that these vehicles can take one hell of a beating and still not get hurt.
Great ride guys!

I'm guessing that Jason_25 and Chase will add their thoughts to this also. The bug has bitten me hard this time!

 

[donkey boy]

Good report. I'm happy you had fun. Sorry I did not manage to come My loss I guess

 

[taxx]

Off the subject...

I see you have some AT pics on there. Have you hiked it all?

 

[jasonb]

dave.. no i haven't hiked it all. i wish i could get time off to do that. my wife doesn't like the idea of me being away for 5 mos either. i plan on it when i retire though. we've done about 300 miles of it so far.
have you done it?

michael.. yeah it was pretty fun. much more difficult than i was expecting which was great!

 

[taxx]

Originally posted by jasonb
dave.. no i haven't hiked it all. i wish i could get time off to do that. my wife doesn't like the idea of me being away for 5 mos either. i plan on it when i retire though. we've done about 300 miles of it so far.
have you done it?

michael.. yeah it was pretty fun. much more difficult than i was expecting which was great!

No I am in the same boat as you. When i am retired I plan on doing it all at once. My wife likes to camp once or twice and will do some hiking, but she isn't into that hardcore. We just started last year at the south end! I have done the 8 mile (BS) aproach trail and about the first 40 miles of the trail. At this pace I will be done in 15 - 20 years! I'll probably get out there sometime in the fall and do another segment, just depends on my schedule and who else can go.

 

[jasonb]

cool.. let me know when you go maybe i'll join you. the 8 mile approach is pretty darn tough. georgia has some of the harder sections on the whole trail right there with maine. fun stuff..

chase.. any comments on the ride. what did you think? gonna work on getting some mods to the truck now? btw.. i was kidding. your dad didn't say he was getting you a lift but he was really impressed at how well the vehicles did without getting hurt. if nothing else.. i'm guessing you two will be joining us again at least.

 

[taxx]

cool.. let me know when you go maybe i'll join you. the 8 mile approach is pretty darn tough. georgia has some of the harder sections on the whole trail right there with maine. fun stuff..

That would be cool!

 

[yob_yeknom]

Got some nice pics there. Crazy stuff.

 

[jasonb]

wow i just powerwashed the underside of my truck and did the outside too. i only thought there was minor pinstriping. this has to be the worst pinstriping that i have ever had. i guess it was the trip down to the insane trail sunday morning where bushes and limbs were constantly screeching the sides of the trucks. i see my rocker plastic crap got used a LOT more than i thought also. it looks as if most of it will buff out though. that's good at least.

jason.. is yours that bad too or did i just attract all the dang bushes?

 

[Jason_25]

Whew! I'm back. That trip was TOO much fun.

I'd like to start out by giving credit where credit is due.

Jason's explorer is bone stock with the exception of BFG's and having his swaybars disconnected and he went everywhere I went and managed to take less damage. Great driving skill and patience can go a long way.

Those dag-on Jeep TJ's can do almost anything! Our trail leader's Jeep never touched the ground once! You guys are some great wheelers and I hope to wheel with you again.

Jason is right, those pics do the "Newbicon" no justice. That trail was downright nasty. No room for 4 door models here

My truck ended up with a few more bruises than I would have liked to have gotten. I broke my front left shock and scraped the left rear quarter panel and flare really good. That ain't stopping me though, just means I gotta go bigger

All in all, it was a great trip and I hope to go there again some day.

My Pictures
My Pictures
(First Pic is me at Tellico, Trail 4, rest are from Rich Mtn. and Amicalola)

 

[jasonb]

i can't get the link to work.

sorry about the shock! i found another problem too. i pull to the left bad when i hit the brakes hard now. haven't checked it out yet though. it didn't start until about 10 miles from home and SEEMS to be getting better. i'll look tomorrow i guess.

glad you made the drive back ok. we will definately have to wheel again sometime. maybe next time one of us at least will be able to drop a tire in a hole like those blasted TJs did! i agree that their spotting helped us a lot or at least kept our vehicles from getting damaged too bad..

 

[Jason_25]

Can anyone else see my link?

Jason, it seems like you just have a case of warped brake rotors. It happens when we're using the brakes downhill like we did and then they hit cold water. They probably just need to be turned.

Hey maybe sometime you can come up and run Uwharrie with me. It's a blast and I'm sure I can get some other explorers to come too.

 

[taxx]

I cannot see your link

 

[jasonb]

update on your pics jason? its telling me that the server can't be found.
oh and the pull to the left has completely gone away. now my leaf springs are squeeking though.... one thing goes away so something else can pop up i guess.

 

[diablo5969]

Sorry it took me so long to get on here, I'm out of town and sometimes it's hard to find a good Internet connection on the road.

Anyway, for our (my dad and I) first ever real off-roading trip, I must say that we agree that it was a blast. It was a lot more fun (and a lot more difficult) than we were expecting!

First event of the morning, it was great finally getting to meet you guys. It was fun to finally meet some people from the board, and you were guys were great all Sunday.

I'm kind of disappointed that I didn't get to bring my own Ex down the trails, ()but at least at this point I can recognize that that probably wouldn't have been the best of all ideas. It was really fun driving along with you guys, and we both learned a lot about fourwheeling from you guys.

Now must go out the thank yous. To both Jasons, we must say thanks for letting us ride with you. Again, the day just wouldn't have been the same without that factor. (BTW, Jason_25, sorry about that mirror. I assume it's not giving you any trouble?)

Also, thanks to this weekend, I might be able to convince my dad into letting me do a little budget boost. Don't know how successful I'll be, but it's worth a shot asking

BTW, jasonb, my dad said you were supposed to give him a business card but never got the chance, so he was wondering if you could just send me your contact info. Thanks

Well, Sunday was a fantastic day all the way around. I can't wait to meet up with you guys on the trail again!

 

[Scott B.]

Sorry I missed out on this ride - been so busy I haven't even checked the board for several weeks. Rich Mountain is the ride we take students on during our UFWDA Backcountry Awareness classes. It's a good trail.

BTW, the mudholes at the top of the mountain always smell like that. I assume it is due to decaying vegetation. When you get home, just wash your truck in the yard - the grass will appreciate the nutrients!

 

[jasonb]

scott.. your with the bounty runners right? i seem to remember talking with you before about riding along with you guys. maybe i'm wrong.. just curious.

chase.. yeah i forgot the business card.. i'll PM my info..
good luck with the budget boost. we will find a trail that is a little easier next time like maybe the other parts that we did on sunday. those were pretty mild at least. i'll try to put another run together later this month or in august.

 

[Scott B.]

JasonB,

Yes, I was with the Bounty Runners. I haven't run with them this year, though.

Have you checked out Beasly Knob ORV area, just east of Blairsville? A nice area - parking fee of $3.00 a day. The trails are medium to hard, depending on how deep the ruts are.

 

[diablo5969]

Originally posted by jasonb
chase.. yeah i forgot the business card.. i'll PM my info..good luck with the budget boost. we will find a trail that is a little easier next time like maybe the other parts that we did on sunday. those were pretty mild at least. i'll try to put another run together later this month or in august.

Actually, my dad has allowed me to get 31" tires, but he hasn't (yet ) allowed any kind of lift or "boost". Slowly but surely. I'll get him there eventually.

And just in case you were going to try to put a run together during the summer, I'm going to be going out of town on July 20th and I won't be back until August 16th. And I'm busy every weekend leading up to that and the first couple weekends that I'm back