Hey Connecticut, our everything hurts

Skierichy and Checkers,

Awesome day yesterday. I'm so happy you guys could make it. Totally agree with you Checkers, without Skierichy spotting we could not have made it through those rocks.

Can't wait to get together again, hopefully we can get more people to come as well.

 

Great shots, Thanks for getting them. A good day with great people !

 

Morning Connecticut

 

Glad to have @Skierrichy back and to see that he continues to pass his knowledge off to others. I learned a ton from him myself.

Vacation is over. Back to the grind. Happy Monday/Tuesday...

 

Morning everyone.

Happy Tuesday...

Oldest starts 1st grade today, under the hybrid model here in Brookfield.

 

Good luck little Nuno

 

Thanks a lot Richy! Should be an interesting experience, to say the least. Hopefully it'll go back to normal ASAP. As of right now, the Brookfield schools are planning on going back to school full time by mid November. Hoping it stays that way.

 

Hey everyone! So here's a little write up of the adventures that Ranger357, Skierrichy, and I had on Labor Day. I have some saved Snaps but can't figure out how to turn them into GIFs yet

The plan was to have a fairly tame drive through some dirt roads, and maybe a few off shoots if we could find them. We met up around noon, and I stupidly left my (uninstalled) skid plates in my bed, so Ranger357 was nice enough to let me leave them at his place. With a little discussion, we set off. Ranger357 in the front with a radio because he knew the area, myself and my girlfriend in the middle with no radio, and Skierrichy in the rear with the other radio, keeping an eye on us.

We pull onto a dirt road, and so far it's pretty tame. Any vehicle could do this, but I'm hoping we find something a little more exciting. We slow down for a few entrances, usually to realize they're too narrow, don't go anywhere, or are blocked. At one point we have to reverse a ways or turn around, because the trail hit a dead end.

We eventually see something that looks promising, so we pull over to check it out. They check it out on a trailmap/GPS and it seems to link up with a road a little furtger down, but should be a fun ride. There are 2 ways to get onto the trail, climbing over some rocks, or going down a fairly steep little decline with some loose dirt. Ranger357 goes first, and Skierrichy spots him on the steeper part with no problem. I try the rocks with Skierrichy also spotting, and make it over. Skierrichy then goes over the rocks, hitting a few extra, and make it all look insanely easy. Below is a shitty screenshot of him showing us up



We go down a bit further, it's a pretty simple trail so far, a rock here and there, a tree to dodge occasionally, etc. At one point we stop to cut some dead branches out of the way, and 3 people go past us. Two dirt bikes and... A scooter. Like a full on moped. The 2 dirtbikes have helmets, boots, etc and the dude on the moped has some ski goggles on. Weird, but ok.

Eventually we come across a downed tree, but are able to drive around it. I believe that's when I snapped this picture, when checking out the tree and if we can get by

Now it's starting to get tricky. Ranger says there's a rocky situation ahead. As I'm getting out, Skierrichy is already ahead of me taking a look. I hear him say something like "Well I wasn't expecting anything like that". The pictures do not do it justice, it was not horribly steep, but much rockier than it seems. The first two are looking down the trail, the third is looking up form the bottom




It was here that Skierrichy's advice about picking my lines really hit home


Coming from street vehicles, I am used to straddling obstacles and trying to avoid hitting them with my tires so I stay at full traction, although those are usually small like a gravel, a small rock, maybe some oil, etc. Skierrichy helped me understand my lines and how my rear diff needs to be kept in sort of a valley between objects, and that I want my tires to go over obstacles.

Anyways, Ranger357 goes first with Skierrichy spotting. He goes a great job, and makes it down without incident, except for hitting his rear mudflap. Why they made them out of hard plastic, I do not understand. He gets goes through the small water crossing at the bottom, parks, and comes back to meet us. Here is screenshot of him getting a little flex!



Now it's my turn. They both spot for me and it's exhilarating, yet terrifying. I can just imagine breaking something and disabling my vehicle, where a tow truck is not going to be able to get to me. However thanks to my fellow wheelers, I make it out unscathed. I cross the water, and get out to watch Skierrichy go down.

Once again he makes it looks easy. His rig certainly helps but he can spot lines really well, and he's behind us ready to go before you know it.

Further up ahead we come across a downed tree and 2 hikers. They were nice, and warned us this isn't the only downed tree on the trail. We hop out once again to assess. We can go around it without too much problem, but there is a large rock right in the center of the path that we'll need to deal with. I snap this picture before walking down further, my girlfriend sunning herself through the trees. She's standing on my rock slider (I only have one on so far, burnt my drill bit out) but yes, she's also very tall. We're also kind of confused, we should have linked up with a road by now. We're looking everywhere for it and there's no forks we could have missed. It doesn't make sense

We walk down past the downed tree, only to find another one. This time there is no obvious way around it. We only have a small hand saw, and the tree that fell left 2 very large limbs, maybe close to a foot in diameter, directly across our path. At this point I feel pretty defeated, until Skierrichy darts off into the woods. beside the trail. He sees a path he thinks we can take! We'll need to stack some rocks to get back onto the trail without high centering, but he says it's possible. Ranger357 and I say we're up to try it. Before we can address that though, we go back to the trucks to make sure the dog is ok. We also realize that THIS is the road we'd been looking for. It's clearly overgrown and not driven on much, but this is the road we saw on the map. There's also either a bridge or a water crossing up ahead, and I'm excited hoping it's a water crossing

At this point we come across more hikers. A woman, he teenage son, and their dog. I was not part of most of the conversation but she says we can't go on. We told her we can get around the two downed trees and confirm this is whatever Road. She says yes, but it hasn't been a road in decades. And there's a walking bridge ahead that we can't get past. So we'll have to turn around. Part of me wanted to see if we could get around it, but if we got the trucks there, it would be way harder to get them back if we couldn't. As it is, it's not going to be easy to get back.

We get the trucks turned around. Ranger357 still leading us, me in the middle, and Skierrichy taking up the rear. Ranger did a great job getting back up the rocky hill with Richy spotting. A few bangs to the rear mudflaps but he gets up there with little problem.

Now, I have a manual Taco, so combine that with me being brand new to off roading, did not make a great combination. Rolling down some rocks, giving it a little gas here and there is one thing, but climbing back up without burning out my clutch, or slamming into something was a different ballgame.

Richy was incredibly patient with me, guiding me every step of the way. Never got frustrated with me or anything, and he and Ranger kept my spirits up as I fumbled my way up. I don't believe I hit anything beside my own mudflap, which sounded a lot more serious from the cab... Richy also taught me something I somehow never figured out. I've been driving a manual for 11 years and on the road, have always let go off the brake, and kind of 'caught' myself with a combination of the gas and the clutch. Rolling a few inches back on a hill is one thing, but precariously perched on rocks can mean disaster. He explained I should keep my foot on the brake, let the clutch out until it bites, and slowly take off from there so there are no sudden movements. I guess I was so set in my ways, it never occurred to me.

We make it out, pull over to take a breath, and decide it's beer time. As we're driving out, we somehow picked up a Wrangler behind us... There was a small mud puddle on the side of the dirt road that Ranger hits, then me, then Richy, and our new Jeep friend does too. It was cool to see a line of off road vehicles making a splash.

We make our way to a local pub, get some snacks and some Coronas, and I get to leave the day with new knowledge, and 2 new friends. 3 if you count the dog!

I am so grateful to @Ranger357 and @Skierrichy for letting me join them, being so patient and encouraging, and helping me out. I'm very excited to get to go out with them again, and meet more of you!

Below is a link to a Google Photos album of the Snaps we took. Nothing amazing, but pretty cool!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/37fRTvSWjxjnVtbi6

 

Chechers,...great accounting my friend

 

@Checkers10160 great write up.
It may look like I show off but my intent is always to push myself and my truck.
I just have too much fun when I wheel.
Trust me there are way better people at this than me and they can do it with any rig, so long as it's actually possible.

 

Late to the party but I'm at 205,000 as of this past weekend on my 2009. Used to put on about 17k per year but this year it's more like 12k due to the Rona.

 

Great write up btw on the weekend wheeling trip. Nice read.

 

As they say on talk radio, "long time listener first time caller"
I've been reading Tacoma World since I bought my Spruce Mica in 2014. After six years seemed like time to finally actually join.
I've enjoyed the discussions and got plenty of great advice over the years. Thanks guys!

 

Welcome aboard. Brookfield here.

Where abouts are you?

 

I'm in Vernon.
Stock truck other than Headwaters seatcovers, upgraded audio and a lot of sound deadening.

 

Your about 20 minutes from me.

 

I think I've seen your ride at the Dunkin at 74 and 32 intersection.

 

More than likely but that's not for me, it's for the wife!
I hate D&D
I make my own coffee, way better

 

Welcome to TW