SlickRicksWilly
Well-Known Member
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- #1
On Saturday we decided to hit up Northwest OHV park.
The Rigs and Mods:
-SlickRicks MY24 Willys
—33" Factory Falkin MT
—Ace engineering rock slides
-Slickswifes "LakeRat" MY18 Sport S
—33" Milestar Patagonia XT
—Ace engineering rock slides
—Fishbone Offroad fenders
—Rubicon springs and shocks
-Friends MY06 TJ Sahara
—30" KO2
—Amazon Rock Slides
—Amazon some sort of under body armor
The adventure:
First and foremost: the map on the website does not match the map they give you at the gate. The trail difficulty is different as well as some of the trail numbers. I say this because I printed 11x17 maps from the website to use and based our first route off the online map.
The first trail, we went all the way to the end of the access road to take the E101 which on my map was level 3 and on the updated map a level 4. We are not overly experienced with only a couple of trips under our belts. And for my Willys and my friends TJ this was our first trip out and both still have temp paper license plates. With that being said it all went pretty smoothly in the first section. The TJ with the lower ground clearance used its armor a bit but there was nothing it couldn't handle. About halfway through the minos loop, on the straight section along the southside fence, the TJ started overheating so we pulled off to let it cool. She had the AC on and it just couldn't keep up. Let it sit for a few minutes then it wouldn't start. A little case of vapor lock it would appear. After a little more of a break it fired up, turned off the AC and didn't have any problems the rest of the day. We met up with the D-76 rocky bluff loop and took the long way around.
After a quick break we hit the A-3 pioneer run, just an easy little side quest and I suggest this short off shoot to any first timers just to get a feel for trail riding.
After that we went and did the A-1 and A-4 and a couple other a trails to get to the city overlook. We attempted the A-2a or A-2e depending on which map you are looking at but we didn't have the clearance or skill to make it up that.
After lunch at the city overlook we went to the B's and C's trails just taking whichever paths we thought we could staying away from the 4 and 5 rates trails adventuring around. I couldn't tell you what trails we did or did not do from this point we were just exploring which was a lot of fun.
The recovery:
The TJ was trying to go around a particulary gross looking mud hole. Right towards the end they slide into it. Nothing major just stuck in the mud spinning. Hooked up a rope and pulled it right out.
The carnage:
LakeRat scrapped up a wheel, and the drivers inner fender broke. Finally made use of a 9mm wrench as a wedge.
The TJ just scrapped up it's underbody armor
The Willys might have a scrap or 2 on the bottom but essentially came out unscathed. Even the few branches that I used the body of the Jeep to push through didn't leave any pin striping.
Overall experience:
Had a blast and recommend anyone who wants to try off roading to go. There are many different levels of trails and most can be done with an almost stock TJ on little baby 30" tires. There are groups and clubs if you are scared to go alone. There were a lot of people there but it didn't seem over crowded, never spent an annoying amount time waiting for anyone. The few times someone is stopped, either getting pulled out of a too deep mud hole, fixing a stuck Rubicon sway bar disconnect or letting a TJ cool down, you get to talk to offroad people about their rigs and the trails. Loads of fun.
The Rigs and Mods:
-SlickRicks MY24 Willys
—33" Factory Falkin MT
—Ace engineering rock slides
-Slickswifes "LakeRat" MY18 Sport S
—33" Milestar Patagonia XT
—Ace engineering rock slides
—Fishbone Offroad fenders
—Rubicon springs and shocks
-Friends MY06 TJ Sahara
—30" KO2
—Amazon Rock Slides
—Amazon some sort of under body armor
The adventure:
First and foremost: the map on the website does not match the map they give you at the gate. The trail difficulty is different as well as some of the trail numbers. I say this because I printed 11x17 maps from the website to use and based our first route off the online map.
The first trail, we went all the way to the end of the access road to take the E101 which on my map was level 3 and on the updated map a level 4. We are not overly experienced with only a couple of trips under our belts. And for my Willys and my friends TJ this was our first trip out and both still have temp paper license plates. With that being said it all went pretty smoothly in the first section. The TJ with the lower ground clearance used its armor a bit but there was nothing it couldn't handle. About halfway through the minos loop, on the straight section along the southside fence, the TJ started overheating so we pulled off to let it cool. She had the AC on and it just couldn't keep up. Let it sit for a few minutes then it wouldn't start. A little case of vapor lock it would appear. After a little more of a break it fired up, turned off the AC and didn't have any problems the rest of the day. We met up with the D-76 rocky bluff loop and took the long way around.
After a quick break we hit the A-3 pioneer run, just an easy little side quest and I suggest this short off shoot to any first timers just to get a feel for trail riding.
After that we went and did the A-1 and A-4 and a couple other a trails to get to the city overlook. We attempted the A-2a or A-2e depending on which map you are looking at but we didn't have the clearance or skill to make it up that.
After lunch at the city overlook we went to the B's and C's trails just taking whichever paths we thought we could staying away from the 4 and 5 rates trails adventuring around. I couldn't tell you what trails we did or did not do from this point we were just exploring which was a lot of fun.
The recovery:
The TJ was trying to go around a particulary gross looking mud hole. Right towards the end they slide into it. Nothing major just stuck in the mud spinning. Hooked up a rope and pulled it right out.
The carnage:
LakeRat scrapped up a wheel, and the drivers inner fender broke. Finally made use of a 9mm wrench as a wedge.
The TJ just scrapped up it's underbody armor
The Willys might have a scrap or 2 on the bottom but essentially came out unscathed. Even the few branches that I used the body of the Jeep to push through didn't leave any pin striping.
Overall experience:
Had a blast and recommend anyone who wants to try off roading to go. There are many different levels of trails and most can be done with an almost stock TJ on little baby 30" tires. There are groups and clubs if you are scared to go alone. There were a lot of people there but it didn't seem over crowded, never spent an annoying amount time waiting for anyone. The few times someone is stopped, either getting pulled out of a too deep mud hole, fixing a stuck Rubicon sway bar disconnect or letting a TJ cool down, you get to talk to offroad people about their rigs and the trails. Loads of fun.
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