Advocate II
things that i learned from you guys is know your limits/your rig's limits and listened you you spotter and you get out of any situation safely.
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What Trail Condition Do You Fear The Most?
- Thread starter 4xFar Adventures
- Start date
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Advocate II
Mud. It smells no matter where you are, gets flipping everywhere, and no matter how much you pressure wash you undercarriage you will find mud lumps and flakes hitting your face a year later.
The combination of mud and off camber is what scares me the most. Had one of those moments a year ago at an ORV park. There was a slick, muddy washout that had rocks and ledges and I had just gotten my front two tires down the first ledge when I lost all control. Because of my approach I was pointing about 45° to the right of where I was supposed to be going straight slowly sliding down the washout. At that point it was a matter of controlling my steering and brakes to maintain what little control I had. Ended up being the slowest and scariest slip and slide of my life but came out all good. Probably would have been a lot less dramatic experience if I wasn't running BFG KOs
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The combination of mud and off camber is what scares me the most. Had one of those moments a year ago at an ORV park. There was a slick, muddy washout that had rocks and ledges and I had just gotten my front two tires down the first ledge when I lost all control. Because of my approach I was pointing about 45° to the right of where I was supposed to be going straight slowly sliding down the washout. At that point it was a matter of controlling my steering and brakes to maintain what little control I had. Ended up being the slowest and scariest slip and slide of my life but came out all good. Probably would have been a lot less dramatic experience if I wasn't running BFG KOs
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theoutbackdream
Rank V
Influencer II
Night
Rolling into camp at dark. My last trip to Bishop(first time being there), I got there at around 10pm. It was pitch black. I got lost. Back tracked a little
Mud, downhill/uphill/flat
Mud in flat, if it's deep, your rig may get stuck and without someone else there, you won't be able to get out with ease. Obviously don't go alone.. Any ascent/descent on mud becomes terrifying, especially on a 1 lane dirt path. You could easily slide off the side of the mountain........
Rolling into camp at dark. My last trip to Bishop(first time being there), I got there at around 10pm. It was pitch black. I got lost. Back tracked a little
Mud, downhill/uphill/flat
Mud in flat, if it's deep, your rig may get stuck and without someone else there, you won't be able to get out with ease. Obviously don't go alone.. Any ascent/descent on mud becomes terrifying, especially on a 1 lane dirt path. You could easily slide off the side of the mountain........
Influencer I
Snowy hills/ledges.
I can tow a trailer down a 40% grade in a snowstorm without breaking a sweat, but the minute I get into the white stuff off the highway, I tend to get myself into trouble. And when you're stuck in snow, it obscures your vision of what's beneath and around you. So you're basically blind to the terrain, along with being cold and trying to stay dry while recovering. Stress is high, and that makes the possibility of rolling down a hill/over a ledge that much more pressing.
I consider myself highly capable in virtually every other condition, but I've been stuck in snow four times in the last year. I do not enjoy seeing it along my routes anymore.
I can tow a trailer down a 40% grade in a snowstorm without breaking a sweat, but the minute I get into the white stuff off the highway, I tend to get myself into trouble. And when you're stuck in snow, it obscures your vision of what's beneath and around you. So you're basically blind to the terrain, along with being cold and trying to stay dry while recovering. Stress is high, and that makes the possibility of rolling down a hill/over a ledge that much more pressing.
I consider myself highly capable in virtually every other condition, but I've been stuck in snow four times in the last year. I do not enjoy seeing it along my routes anymore.
Enthusiast II
I have Respect for any trail with a Black Diamond Tag on it. Expect some damage. We did a Trek of 5 Black Diamond Trails back to back. Everyone bent or broke something. But we all made it back.
Beware of the Black Diamonds.
Beware of the Black Diamonds.
I've used snow chains for deep mud.
The one I not to keen on is water crossings
Traveler III
For me it is a toss up between mud and some seriously off camber stuff. I would hate to get stuck in a mud pit and not have enough recovery gear to pull myself out. The off cambered stuff makes me nervous but I can usually find a way to get up or down in a mostly straight line.
BensonSTW
Rank III
Enthusiast III
White outs on narrow switchback ledge roads. I was watching a deer herd away from my truck one hunting season when it started snowing. Before I could get to my truck it was coming down hard. Ground was covered by the time I got there and got the truck pointed downhill. I was trying to beat the storm off the mountain, roads were rocky and not slick, when the clouds settled in. When I stopped I couldn't tell the diffence from clouds and snowfall to to the ground covered in snow. I sat in the middle of that road hoping nobody was coming up or down for several hours waiting for the storm to pass.
Pathfinder I
Gonna have to update this to include deep, watery mud pits after an incident this past weekend where I temporarily disabled my vehicle by shorting something (CANBUS? CEM? Fuel pressure sensor) and completely lost all power. Wasn't very deep at all, and I was mildly surprised to say the least. I'm gonna have to pull the Celly code and see where the fault lies before determining the best course of "future-proofing" action.
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Advocate II
Ruts in which you have to straddle. I had one that it was so dry last summer that the dirt was just super fine and the shoulder gave way at the passenger rear tire...When it did it threw the Jeep off enough that even disconnected it just ever so softly flopped over on it's passenger side. It took about 1hr of winching from different angles from the guys we were riding with to get it back over on it's tires. Very little damage occurred and nobody was hurt. We were lucky we had the right group of people with us with the gear and the knowledge to get it corrected. Once we corrected we went on with our ride and then to the house.
Only Damage
Only Damage
Member III
For me the "Trail Condition I Fear The Most" is inexperience. I've got it in spades. :D
IE:
Not being able to recognize a hazard for what it is.
Not having the knowledge to get out of a mess I created for myself.
And wet Bentonite Clay on a grade. May as well be grease. Recognized the conditions leading to this just in the nick of time on one trip and was barely able to get past the point before we got stuck.
Boort
IE:
Not being able to recognize a hazard for what it is.
Not having the knowledge to get out of a mess I created for myself.
And wet Bentonite Clay on a grade. May as well be grease. Recognized the conditions leading to this just in the nick of time on one trip and was barely able to get past the point before we got stuck.
Boort
Influencer II
Side slopes around washouts or ditches. Especially if the transition back to the road has a rut or something your downside tire has to cross. I guess teschnically that would be a side slope with an edge.
Influencer II
This was a fairly recent example and as far as I got before I decided to turn around. The pucker factor combined with not knowing how the truck would react to dropping in the rut.
Luckily I didn't have to go that direction as it was just playing in the hills.
Influencer III
Yea I'm an expert at getting stuck in deep wet snow.Wet heavy snow seems insurmountable for me.
View attachment 27675
Right after this picture I got pulled out (yea!!), and right across a huge manzanita bush just out of view to the right (boo!!). Now I've got a nice collection of Sierra Pinstripes on the right side.
OB 1466
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Off-Road Ranger I
Hmmm, "The trail condition I fear the most" is being surrounded by inexperienced cowboys out on the trail. Tail gating, driving too fast, impatience, paying zero attention to spotters, constantly challenging their vehicles ability and their lack of skillful driving technics, not understanding the term "finesse" or the term " leave no trace". The list goes on and on and what do you end up with? Broken rigs, traffic jams, impatience and all the other entrapments of the rat race that we, for very good reason, are all seeking to escape from. Here's a prime example. We had been in Horsehoof camp for 2 nights all to ourselves. We hiked, we explored Bobby's Hole, etc etc. Saturday our kids in their 4runner had to head home. As it was EJS week I knew we had to get them up and over Elephant Hill early in the morning before the Jeep caravans arrived at the trail head. We both pull trailers and when we got to the very last switchback before heading down the final stretch a group of jeeps were headed up. No problem. We jockeyed our rigs into the corner so the 5 jeeps could easily pass. What did they do? They stopped half way up the trail and decided after a long conference that they should "air down". Where did they air down? right there. It took them another 40 minutes to get aired down. By that time there were two vehicles backed up behind us, and three more groups of jeeps waiting at the trail head. Once they finally got going, we headed down. The next group of jeeps started up without even looking. Yea, uphill traffic has the right of way, but you are also supposed to look up and check to see whats coming down before you proceed. I kept rolling down and met the groups leader head on. Too bad, they had to back up. It was sad to see so many inexperienced drivers led by obviously inexperienced trail leaders from the local jeep club. They couldn't even back their rigs up without several mistakes and pull ups and this was the trail leader. All of this because of 5 jeeps, ill equipped, airing down on the trail. I'm hoping that at least one of those drivers sees my post here. I didn't get angry, nor impolite, I simply laughed it off at the time, waved and smiled.
Over the couple of months since though, one naturally ponders the question. What if there had been a real emergency? What if someones life was in the balance? The trail condition I fear the most? Inexperience, lack of courtesy, and lack of good common sense.
That's us on the ledge headed up, my kids are on the turn around getting turned aroound and a Nav-Tech rig is bringing up the rear. That group decided to air down where my wife is standing to get this image...
Over the couple of months since though, one naturally ponders the question. What if there had been a real emergency? What if someones life was in the balance? The trail condition I fear the most? Inexperience, lack of courtesy, and lack of good common sense.
That's us on the ledge headed up, my kids are on the turn around getting turned aroound and a Nav-Tech rig is bringing up the rear. That group decided to air down where my wife is standing to get this image...
Pathfinder I
Mud with rocks in it. You pick your line between trees, try to place your wheel on a rock, wheel slips off no matter how you try to position. Your choices many times becomes the tree on the left, the tree on the right or smash the underside of your truck over the rock in the middle.
Influencer I
Off-camber is definitely the scariest position to be in. But this is coming from a flatlander who doesn't spend much time in the mountains. Riding the edge of some of those trails could easily increase the pucker-factor in the driver's seat of my Rubi. :D
