doonze
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- May 16, 2009
- Messages
- 506
- Reaction score
- 3
- City, State
- Fayetteville, Ar
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- '93 X Sport
People can say what they want. At least MY 93, TTB, 4x4, M5, OWNS!!!!
***Warning: Novel length post to follow. Reading may cause eye strain****
So it's last Sunday, and me and the family are trying to find a new way to the river. The place we always go is always so crowded, so I hit Google maps and turn on the satellite view, and start looking for roads that meet the river somewhere different. Well I find one, load it all into the GPS and set out for a nice day at the river.
Well, we get to the place where the trail I could see on Google maps started, it was on National Forest Land, but the trail looked "maintained" so off we go. Well, this was kinda what it looked like.....
These pics don't really show how steep even this part was.... I don't know if it was the wide angle lenses, or just something about photos, but add about 10-15 degrees slope to these pics to even get an idea.
This was like 2 of the 20 or so Ravines on this trail, it was also the part where the wife was still taking pics....and still talking to me.
Well, this was the EASY part, it just got harder and harder as we went. Then I realized I knew where we were, I had been here long ago with a Jeep friend of mine. It's a trail called the Power Line trail, and considered quite hard. But by that time I was about 1/2 way in and I knew there was another way out at the end so I just kept going. The wife and kids wouldn't even ride in the truck with me, way to steep up and down and they were too freaked out. There's a couple parts for this trail where your pretty much standing on your pedals going down, and laying down in your seat going up.
But the X tackled each and every ravine like a champ, only had to take a couple of tries to get up 1 climb, all others were a snap. Then we get to the river and swam (wife is not happy, they had to climb all 20 of those ravines because they were too sissy too ride) then we get ready to go. There's this little wash out right there where the trial ends, I had no problem getting across it coming in, but going out..... well, lets just say we didn't make it. Bumper got caught up on the edge, and was keeping my rear from getting purchase. The front couldn't quite pull it out themselves at the uphill angle I was at, so....stuck. Not the X's fault though, I don't think ANY 4x4 could have pulled itself out, and I would have been ok if I had just about 2" more flex....or no rear bumper. Oh well.
So, we hike it out (we were only about a 1/4 mile hike from an area we knew ACROSS the river). The next day I call my Jeep friend, and say "Hey, you remember that Power line trial you took me on?" And he's like "Yeah?" And I'm like "Well, you remember that area right by the river?" And he's like "unhuh." Then I'm like "Well, my trucks stuck there..." then he was like "..... (pin drop) What??? In your Explorer???? How the hell did you even get IN there?!?!?!?!"
So, lucky for me, this has been my best friend for like 25 years, he no longer has his Jeep, but he has all his off road stuff. So we meet up and hike in a come-a-long, 100' of tow strap, and a shovel in case we have to dig it out. Turns out it takes about 5 mins and 1" of movement with the come-a-long and I pop myself right on out as pretty as you please. If my friend has been with me to begin with we could have PUSHED it out, geez! I was stuck by a toe nail so to say!
Well, we get everything packed into the X, and then it decides to not only rain but POUR!!! We attempt the first ravine and make it up after a little work going up the slick-as-snot-from-rain grass covered far slope, but our true objective was an access "path", about a mile long, that leads back to the road from this area. Our attempts to leave however were stopped by downed trees from a terrible ice storm we had here last winter.
We go back to the ravine to consider our options, and wait for the rain to stop. We figure there's no way to get out the way I came in, there are rivers running down the trail ruts, and as we have found already that the grass is far too slick on these steep slopes from the rain. We did try and tackled 1 more ravine, but there were 18 or so more to go, much worse then those two. We also tried another trail off that ravine, but it was also tree blocked. So we hiked back to the car in the rain, about 1 mile away at this point.
We decide to try again next morning, this time with a different plan. My friend knows where the access "path" on the first ravine we had climbed lets out back on a side road. It's about a mile, and we know there is no way to get this rig out as wet as it's going to be the next morning. So we are going to walk the "path" back from the road to the trial with a chainsaw, see what all we are going to have to cut through, then return with the truck, cutting as needed.
Plus you have to remember, my friend has informed me that even though people have kept stealing the signs, this area has been closed for more then 3 years and the forest service it going to have our oysters for lunch if they catch us out here with my truck, and that I might just want to let them keep it if they find it without me (or at least report it stolen!) If I had know they had closed this area I wouldn't have been out there, trust me, but there are no signs anywhere, all have been stolen or "removed" at this time. So needless to say, we needed this truck out NOW!!!
The rest is pretty easy, we hike the chainsaw in the next morning, figure several "limbs" that are across the path need to go, all dead. And one dead tree needs to go. So we get to the truck, go back one ravine, and start down the path. Ended up I figured out a way around the one full tree in our way, and we just had to cut through about 10 big dead branches along the way. No living trees were hurt in this rescue.
I did loose my breaks in the big puddle we had to cross right before the road, but that's my penitence for going where I wasn't supposed to in the first place. The steel line were rusted through, and I guess the force of the water over the axles did em in.
But, I will say this. My friend used to tell the local off road shops and clubs about how he did that trail in his stock Jeep, and they used to call him a liar. They would say there is no way a stock rig could get back there. The off road people I know have all been speechless about it when I've told them too. I keep getting comments like "You did that in an Explorer???!?!??!?! No way!!"
Just to show even our stock rigs can hang with the bad boys!!!! Just for color, when I did that trail years ago with my friend in his Jeep, many of the ravines had hulls of 4x4's that people had just pushed off the path, there were stripped scouts, jeeps, and trucks littered throughout. Many of them upside down. The off road recovery guys laughed at me when I called to see what it would be if I needed a tow. "We don't go out there, no one does." I guess the forest service got some bulldozers out there when they closed the forests to remove all that I've heard, and that's mostly why I didn't realize that was where I was. In my head I wasn't on that path because there weren't a bunch of wrecked rigs in the gullies.
Now, knowing I was indeed on THAT trial, I don't think I have the oysters to try it again....stock. (And since it's closed now, I guess even Mod'ed) But I DID do it, well the hard parts anyway. I got stuck in a stupid DITCH, but the hard parts I owned...!!
***Warning: Novel length post to follow. Reading may cause eye strain****
So it's last Sunday, and me and the family are trying to find a new way to the river. The place we always go is always so crowded, so I hit Google maps and turn on the satellite view, and start looking for roads that meet the river somewhere different. Well I find one, load it all into the GPS and set out for a nice day at the river.
Well, we get to the place where the trail I could see on Google maps started, it was on National Forest Land, but the trail looked "maintained" so off we go. Well, this was kinda what it looked like.....
These pics don't really show how steep even this part was.... I don't know if it was the wide angle lenses, or just something about photos, but add about 10-15 degrees slope to these pics to even get an idea.
This was like 2 of the 20 or so Ravines on this trail, it was also the part where the wife was still taking pics....and still talking to me.
Well, this was the EASY part, it just got harder and harder as we went. Then I realized I knew where we were, I had been here long ago with a Jeep friend of mine. It's a trail called the Power Line trail, and considered quite hard. But by that time I was about 1/2 way in and I knew there was another way out at the end so I just kept going. The wife and kids wouldn't even ride in the truck with me, way to steep up and down and they were too freaked out. There's a couple parts for this trail where your pretty much standing on your pedals going down, and laying down in your seat going up.
But the X tackled each and every ravine like a champ, only had to take a couple of tries to get up 1 climb, all others were a snap. Then we get to the river and swam (wife is not happy, they had to climb all 20 of those ravines because they were too sissy too ride) then we get ready to go. There's this little wash out right there where the trial ends, I had no problem getting across it coming in, but going out..... well, lets just say we didn't make it. Bumper got caught up on the edge, and was keeping my rear from getting purchase. The front couldn't quite pull it out themselves at the uphill angle I was at, so....stuck. Not the X's fault though, I don't think ANY 4x4 could have pulled itself out, and I would have been ok if I had just about 2" more flex....or no rear bumper. Oh well.
So, we hike it out (we were only about a 1/4 mile hike from an area we knew ACROSS the river). The next day I call my Jeep friend, and say "Hey, you remember that Power line trial you took me on?" And he's like "Yeah?" And I'm like "Well, you remember that area right by the river?" And he's like "unhuh." Then I'm like "Well, my trucks stuck there..." then he was like "..... (pin drop) What??? In your Explorer???? How the hell did you even get IN there?!?!?!?!"
So, lucky for me, this has been my best friend for like 25 years, he no longer has his Jeep, but he has all his off road stuff. So we meet up and hike in a come-a-long, 100' of tow strap, and a shovel in case we have to dig it out. Turns out it takes about 5 mins and 1" of movement with the come-a-long and I pop myself right on out as pretty as you please. If my friend has been with me to begin with we could have PUSHED it out, geez! I was stuck by a toe nail so to say!
Well, we get everything packed into the X, and then it decides to not only rain but POUR!!! We attempt the first ravine and make it up after a little work going up the slick-as-snot-from-rain grass covered far slope, but our true objective was an access "path", about a mile long, that leads back to the road from this area. Our attempts to leave however were stopped by downed trees from a terrible ice storm we had here last winter.
We go back to the ravine to consider our options, and wait for the rain to stop. We figure there's no way to get out the way I came in, there are rivers running down the trail ruts, and as we have found already that the grass is far too slick on these steep slopes from the rain. We did try and tackled 1 more ravine, but there were 18 or so more to go, much worse then those two. We also tried another trail off that ravine, but it was also tree blocked. So we hiked back to the car in the rain, about 1 mile away at this point.
We decide to try again next morning, this time with a different plan. My friend knows where the access "path" on the first ravine we had climbed lets out back on a side road. It's about a mile, and we know there is no way to get this rig out as wet as it's going to be the next morning. So we are going to walk the "path" back from the road to the trial with a chainsaw, see what all we are going to have to cut through, then return with the truck, cutting as needed.
Plus you have to remember, my friend has informed me that even though people have kept stealing the signs, this area has been closed for more then 3 years and the forest service it going to have our oysters for lunch if they catch us out here with my truck, and that I might just want to let them keep it if they find it without me (or at least report it stolen!) If I had know they had closed this area I wouldn't have been out there, trust me, but there are no signs anywhere, all have been stolen or "removed" at this time. So needless to say, we needed this truck out NOW!!!
The rest is pretty easy, we hike the chainsaw in the next morning, figure several "limbs" that are across the path need to go, all dead. And one dead tree needs to go. So we get to the truck, go back one ravine, and start down the path. Ended up I figured out a way around the one full tree in our way, and we just had to cut through about 10 big dead branches along the way. No living trees were hurt in this rescue.
I did loose my breaks in the big puddle we had to cross right before the road, but that's my penitence for going where I wasn't supposed to in the first place. The steel line were rusted through, and I guess the force of the water over the axles did em in.
But, I will say this. My friend used to tell the local off road shops and clubs about how he did that trail in his stock Jeep, and they used to call him a liar. They would say there is no way a stock rig could get back there. The off road people I know have all been speechless about it when I've told them too. I keep getting comments like "You did that in an Explorer???!?!??!?! No way!!"
Just to show even our stock rigs can hang with the bad boys!!!! Just for color, when I did that trail years ago with my friend in his Jeep, many of the ravines had hulls of 4x4's that people had just pushed off the path, there were stripped scouts, jeeps, and trucks littered throughout. Many of them upside down. The off road recovery guys laughed at me when I called to see what it would be if I needed a tow. "We don't go out there, no one does." I guess the forest service got some bulldozers out there when they closed the forests to remove all that I've heard, and that's mostly why I didn't realize that was where I was. In my head I wasn't on that path because there weren't a bunch of wrecked rigs in the gullies.
Now, knowing I was indeed on THAT trial, I don't think I have the oysters to try it again....stock. (And since it's closed now, I guess even Mod'ed) But I DID do it, well the hard parts anyway. I got stuck in a stupid DITCH, but the hard parts I owned...!!
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