Where Have You Off-Roaded Today? 3rd Gen

Sounds more like you have the opportunity to turn back before the need for recovery gear.

I don't have that option getting to job sites and that skating rinks lower elevation FSR would have been much better with chains.

I hate using mine and they are often a last resort but I have also worked too many jobs in that same area your are in, where getting in and out without chaining up won't happen.

I also carry an awful lot of recovery gear, including a winch and something many forget, a saw. Good V-bar chains are in the truck from late Sept to late April.

 

Exactly, you have to work in it daily, but I’m retired and out having fun. I can turn around. If I were working in it daily I would carry chains too. Chains, not those snow cables used by many today.

As for the skating rinks, guys out for fun need to slow down. Last trip I saw 3 other 4x4s on the FSR. No one on the trails with deeper snow except me, and I turn back when going forward is no longer an option. Not pushing it.

On the iced up FSR they were doing 50-60kmh. That speed on that ice and the corners, and over the side they go. With drop offs up to 300 foot. Live and learn.

Me, I am driving 15-20kmh on that FSR. Plus I test my stopping ability multiple times per day, braking hard on the straight sections. Same as I do in city snow driving.

At only 15 kmh it took me 3 full truck lengths to stop, the ABS chattering until stopped and starting to go sideways. At 50-60 kmh, good luck with that.

As for recovery gear, I have far more than most will ever carry. Several saws, chain saw, 2 shovels, tow ropes, 14,000 pound cable puller, 2 steel 5 foot long pry bars, 5 and 10 pound sledge hammers, framing hammers and nails, multiple ropes, fire starters, 3 axes, and everything else needed to survive if stuck several days alone. Including all the food and spare deep winter clothing. I have all that and more on every trip. Most stored full time in the truck, the rest packed in containers I chuck in the back seat.

Working many years as a carpenter on heavy duty construction and as a high seas commercial fisherman taught me how to be self dependent. A lot of hands on experience and a few near death situations while commercial fishing. Don’t want to repeat that while out for fun.

Yeah for me these days it is just for fun, but I am prepared to get out of jams.

 

Just build a house while you are there and either stay a while or sell it for profit.

 

Too funny! Yup, but yeah I have the tools with me to do that. Might be a little rough around the edges.

Hey, my dad starting at age 75…. built a house up at Canim Lake. He did all the work himself with no contractors.

Try to find someone at any age today that can do the entire job alone. Pretty rare, as tough as they come.

The two of us working together built a 40 foot commercial salmon troller, and another house that he lived in for many years.

Here is a self portrait, the closest I come to putting my photo here . Me on our piss pot first salmon troller, a puny wooden 36 footer that rolled side to side all day long. Keel out of water was common on this one.

I’m no Brad Pitt, but that is a ling cod head and not my smiling mug.

 

Just got back from Big Bend! Camping and off roading in the National and State Park.

 

Looks familiar. Can't wait to head back.

 

Inferno gang too! Nice looking Taco!

 

Took a simple trip up on 1N34 near Lytle Creek (SoCal) today. About 9 miles up and the views were great. Most of the way is relatively easy going, a few spots were slow-going with extra attention needed. Saw 3 other vehicles, talked to one nice group in a tricked-out 4runner. Was able to grab a crappy pic of the red tail before he flew off.

 

Welcome to TW!

 

Try catching a picture of a hummingbird (we have them here in PHX). Hyperactive little buggers!

 

They're all over SoCal too - They like to dive-bomb me in my backyard during spring. But I'm just using my phone, so little chance of capturing a pic of one.

 

Trees are more sparse in the park where I saw the 2 or 3 hummingbirds I have seen. There was a chance, I guess, if I used video setting instead of photo setting, then edit the 2 minutes for 3 decent stills.

I am tempted to pay $700 for an iPhone15 because I once caught a glimpse, at extreme distance, of a coyote "dancing/hopping" in some brush on a hill in the park and wished I had better than a 10 MP camera I like to hike light..

 

Tested the new suspension setup on a few forestry development roads near Colton & Estacada, OR. Stunning views and the land that was ravaged by fire a few years back is staggering. Seemingly endless charred trees - still standing or various states of clearing.

The TRD Fox shocks, upper control arms and 1/2" lift blocks - amazing compared to factory Bilstein's. Much less jarring over bumps.

 

Explored 3N14 (aka Coxey Rd) from Apple Valley up to Fawnskin (SoCal). The main road is pretty tame, except for a few spots where I had to watch out for high-centering. Kept in 4Low for a fair part of it, as my speed was naturally slow due to bumps and blind corners, but probably didn't ever need 4-wheel drive. There are tons of side roads that would be pretty spicy, and so we skipped most of them. Overall not much of a destination trail, but we enjoyed ourselves. Great day to be out.

 

Stopped next to a lava flow which came from Las Tres Vírgenes volcano in the background.

 

Looks like a good time! Welcome to TW!

 

Airing up after a quick muddy run thought Peters Mill Run in the GWNF.

 

Did some trailing out in Anza Borrego with the homies yesterday.

 

Highland & Big Bear. It was raining hard in highland. After 1-2hrs there, thick fog show up pretty fast. Worried that we might not be able to see the trail if we stay any longer, we pack up and leave before it gets worse. While there, we saw a lot of trash left behind. The last time we were there it was not this bad. This is very sad!

We then explore big bear a bit. At one point it was raining, then hail, then snow falling.