jjonesx86
Well-Known Member
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- #1
A few weeks ago I purchased my second Jeep but first Wrangler. The first Jeep was an 89 Jeep Grand Wagoneer that while beautiful, wasn't much good stock crawling around on rocks. The Rubicon on the other hand feels very much at home on and off the road, even with this newbie behind the wheel. There is something special about getting to experience a made-for-purpose vehicle doing what it was designed to do. For me that has always been done on a race track but I've traded that in for something my whole family can enjoy. My goal for this first outing was to find some easy 4x4 trails in the Tahuya State Forrest, Belfair WA. and have some safe newbie appropriate fun with my toy boys. I mostly accomplished that goal
Since this was a family trip, I'll start out with me and my co-pilots on the ferry from West Seattle Southworth:
After getting lost multiple times (don't use alltrails to get to this park, it doesn't know where the 4x4 park is) we finally found our way to the 4x4 entrance. I was expecting a nice leisurely start and we would skip the really exciting stuff...this was my first time. Then I was greeted by this:
Maybe to you this looks totally reasonable but it looked like they closed the trail to me! I was ready to pack it up until my son said "Dad, you've got this". Lockers on, sway bar disconnected (no idea if I needed either) and then we decided to go for it. There were other people there if things got ugly and this was right at the start so I took a chance.
The celebration photo after was really so I could start breathing again:
Things opened up after that and there were a number of different trails to go explore, all from a big central hub:
This was steeper than it looks in the photo but I followed a side by side up it and it was easier than I expected. The Jeep was doing so much of the work and making up for my lack of experience:
My youngest was pretty happy that we made it up and he wanted to get out and take a closer look:
What goes up, must eventually come down:
It doesn't look very scary on the video but damn this one had me puckering up:
Stopping to check these out half way down due to the tight/blind corner (and my total lack of skill):
Stopping for a much needed break and to enjoy this Jeep in natural habitat:
Oh hell no, not with my stock setup. Maybe someone with more experience could find a safe way up but we looked left and turned right:
It turned out that right turn had a really tight hill with some sharp banked turns and even sharper tree stumps ready to punish any slide mistake:
Uphill -
These folks were nice enough to show me the "easy" way out because after a full day, I just didn't have the stomach to tempt fate again at the rock garden:
Nice and dirty but the white hides dirt and dust so well!
I will be back to this playground...maybe with a lift and bigger tires ready to take on that huge rock wall! And recovery gear. And a winch. And friends to help.
Since this was a family trip, I'll start out with me and my co-pilots on the ferry from West Seattle Southworth:
After getting lost multiple times (don't use alltrails to get to this park, it doesn't know where the 4x4 park is) we finally found our way to the 4x4 entrance. I was expecting a nice leisurely start and we would skip the really exciting stuff...this was my first time. Then I was greeted by this:
Maybe to you this looks totally reasonable but it looked like they closed the trail to me! I was ready to pack it up until my son said "Dad, you've got this". Lockers on, sway bar disconnected (no idea if I needed either) and then we decided to go for it. There were other people there if things got ugly and this was right at the start so I took a chance.
The celebration photo after was really so I could start breathing again:
Things opened up after that and there were a number of different trails to go explore, all from a big central hub:
This was steeper than it looks in the photo but I followed a side by side up it and it was easier than I expected. The Jeep was doing so much of the work and making up for my lack of experience:
My youngest was pretty happy that we made it up and he wanted to get out and take a closer look:
What goes up, must eventually come down:
It doesn't look very scary on the video but damn this one had me puckering up:
Stopping to check these out half way down due to the tight/blind corner (and my total lack of skill):
Stopping for a much needed break and to enjoy this Jeep in natural habitat:
Oh hell no, not with my stock setup. Maybe someone with more experience could find a safe way up but we looked left and turned right:
It turned out that right turn had a really tight hill with some sharp banked turns and even sharper tree stumps ready to punish any slide mistake:
Uphill -
These folks were nice enough to show me the "easy" way out because after a full day, I just didn't have the stomach to tempt fate again at the rock garden:
Nice and dirty but the white hides dirt and dust so well!
I will be back to this playground...maybe with a lift and bigger tires ready to take on that huge rock wall! And recovery gear. And a winch. And friends to help.
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