What is up with rock stacking?

[OllieChristopher]

I personally do not understand the appeal of recording all these "obstacles", I usually want people far away from me and to leave me alone.

I'm with you J!! Only reason I recorded that short clip was because I could see it might have got ugly. There were a line of Jeep Wranglers behind me going East to West that were more disgusted than I was.

We just came off a pretty rough ride where our other half of group bailed out to the bypass back to camp. Both myself and the young lady were pretty spent.

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[Frank R.]

I will preface this by saying that I do not wheel at all. But from an outsider's perspective, adding rocks at oportune places on trails seems to be no different than beefing up your rig to make it easier for you to get through there. Either way, it seems like cheating - the driver needs to be less skilled to achieve the same results.

 

[Frank R.]

And now that I've given it further thought, this whole thing just seems like sour grapes. Somebody else figured out a way to do the same thing that you do however it cost them nothing with regards to money or time and now you're bitter.

 

[entropy]

Stacking rocks has been used for more then 40 years and is a solid and well established methodology for off roading safely. You mentioned Big Bear, I have watch Big Bear trails torn to hell by the huge tires and overuse of the skinny pedal crowd in the last 20 years and have photos that show the deterioration of the trails.

Back then one did not need 37”-40” tires or 20” of flex to navigate black diamond trails. Today it has becoming almost necessary on many of the popular Big Bear trails like John Bull and Gold Mountain. Heck even stock JL/JLURs are having extremely hard times negotiating these trails. Not to mention the difficulties Sports and Willys are seeing. Are you saying all the non modified Jeep’s, Fords, Toyotas P/U and the like are not welcome because they have to stack rocks to avoid damage to their vehicles?

All rock stacker are doing is practicing sound safety and returning the trails to their original state before the advent of huge tires and unlimited flex came along. It is the overbuilt Jeep’s and 4x4s with their thoughtless owners that are the issue, not the guy with the stock Jeep or Toyota stacking rocks so they can enjoy the same trails that were accessible to them 20 years ago.

You make a really good point. Huge tires are making trails worst and also making us running 33s and such look like noobs.

By the way I did gold mountain on my Sport with rubi suspension and 33s before I installed my locker. Friend on willys on 32s did it too. Both 2 door jeeps. We did everything including new gate keeper. was a bit of a challenge but not that bad.

 

[FLUndertaker]

Everybody gets a trophy. This is no different.

 

[OllieChristopher]

Somebody else figured out a way to do the same thing that you do however it cost them nothing with regards to money or time and now you're bitter.

You'd be wrong. I'm all about keeping the trails unencumbered and clear for all of us to enjoy. Any monkey or idiot can use rocks. How about thinking about where we are going and access the situation before getting in so far over our heads that we act out without using our brain.

I will preface this by saying that I do not wheel at all. But from an outsider's perspective, adding rocks at oportune places on trails seems to be no different than beefing up your rig to make it easier for you to get through there.

Beefing up a rig with huge tires and an inexperienced driver is asking for disaster. Having to navigate around stuck Subaru's narrow trails is worse yet

In all the years of never owning a 4wd, I have never once had to use rocks to fill in ledges and ruts to get unstuck. Motorcycle ramps and using common sense have always worked fine. And now with the introduction of traction boards it makes getting through the rough spots pretty seamless.

You make a really good point. Huge tires are making trails worst and also making us running 33s and such look like noobs.

By the way I did gold mountain on my Sport with rubi suspension and 33s before I installed my locker. Friend on willys on 32s did it too. Both 2 door jeeps. We did everything including new gate keeper. was a bit of a challenge but not that bad.

Yes point well taken!! Most of the huge wheels and lifted rigs are what I see being repaired or stuck on the trail. Those old beat up small wheeled CJ's and solid axle Toyota trucks are the ones that seem to get through with little drama.

Gold Mountain only has 2 tough obstacles. The rest of it to the top is not all that bad at all. If you make a left at the top and continue down into Holcomb Valley, the huge rock formations are breathtaking. And the large wheeled and wide jeeps don't stand a chance to get through some of the narrow passages.

 

[Bullwinkle]

i know this is a bit of a taboo topic. I think a rock or two are fine. If you get like a wheel in the air and you are sooo close and need that little extra little traction there to get through. Those also get pushed out of the way once you get through, since theyre lose. Nothing wrong with stacking a rock or two to get yourself unstuck, avoids using the winch.

But there are people stacking dozens of rocks, making ramps with them. Thats another story. Cause they get all wedged and ruin the trail.

I agree these subarus have no business on these trails.

I fully agree but it does seem you could look at cutting back on your coffee intake!

 

[Bullwinkle]

I fully agree but it does seem you could look at cutting back on your coffee intake!

Just teasin brother...

 

[LooselyHeldPlans]

LOL… who made you the decider of what people should and shouldn’t do?
Might as well change the title if this post to “GET OFF MY LAWN!”.

 

[entropy]

You'd be wrong. I'm all about keeping the trails unencumbered and clear for all of us to enjoy. Any monkey or idiot can use rocks. How about thinking about where we are going and access the situation before getting in so far over our heads that we act out without using our brain.




Beefing up a rig with huge tires and an inexperienced driver is asking for disaster. Having to navigate around stuck Subaru's narrow trails is worse yet

In all the years of never owning a 4wd, I have never once had to use rocks to fill in ledges and ruts to get unstuck. Motorcycle ramps and using common sense have always worked fine. And now with the introduction of traction boards it makes getting through the rough spots pretty seamless.



Yes point well taken!! Most of the huge wheels and lifted rigs are what I see being repaired or stuck on the trail. Those old beat up small wheeled CJ's and solid axle Toyota trucks are the ones that seem to get through with little drama.

Gold Mountain only has 2 tough obstacles. The rest of it to the top is not all that bad at all. If you make a left at the top and continue down into Holcomb Valley, the huge rock formations are breathtaking. And the large wheeled and wide jeeps don't stand a chance to get through some of the narrow passages.

Yeah it was super nice trail. Beautiful. Yeah, second waterfall and the last climb that has a "bypass" on the right were the hard obstacles. The rest was pretty easy. I really wanna go back and hit john bull or/and holcomb creek. i keep hearing mixed things about both, most.people telling me john bull is easier. But some say john bull is way too hard and holcomb creek is more doable.

 

[Wbino]

There's was guy on a Wagon Train that might have had issues with your Jeep and it's 4wd.

 

[multicam]

LOL… who made you the decider of what people should and shouldn’t do?
Might as well change the title if this post to “GET OFF MY LAWN!”.

That’s not a solid argument against the OP... there are things that we can categorically say people shouldn’t do out on the trail. Should people litter? No. Well, that’s illegal... stacking rocks isn’t. Should people put their jeeps in 2WD, turn traction control off, and do donuts and burnouts all over the place, tearing up trails? No... why not? Because it’s a dick move.

Stacking rocks -and not removing them when you leave- is almost akin to going on a double black diamond ski slope and somehow leveling out all the moguls, grading it out to a gentle slope, turning it into a blue or green slope. Like dude we are specifically here to challenge ourselves on this slope, stop making it easier. Not a perfect analogy I know but it kinda illustrates the point.

 

[RubiSc0tt]

If you think it sucks now, just wait. It's only going to get worse with all of these Youtube "Overlanders". There's plenty of other places they can go with no real issues, and still "get out there"- but they want the views and the notoriety, so they can say "LOOK WHAT I DID WITH MY STOCK OUTBACK WAGON!"... Which will in turn encourage others to follow suit. Because they don't know any better, and have no background/ have not been educated in trail stewardship outside of MAYBE their background in hiking.

If you've been wheeling long enough, you've stacked rocks. It's safer than the "genius" with his 87 Square body GMC on 44's and no gearing going full send. But doing stuff like this is just idiocy.

We don't have the luxury of "Public" land here in the east. We maybe get a few spots that are forest roads between private properties, and with those- you stay on the fucking trail, or you don't go. Because making a "bypass" is illegal and half the time modifying the trail will catch the attention of the local DEP/ Town and they just love shutting those roads down.

 

[Avar928]

I think we can all agree that if you're going to stack rocks, you must unstack them after. This preserves the difficulty of the routes and is part of nature of trailing. Anyone who doesn't unstack "to make it easier for the next person" is making an excuse of fake altruism to be lazy.

If you're going to change a trail or a route temporarily, you should always put it back to what it was or close to it unless it poses an imminent or severe danger to the next person at which point we are also all obligated to report the danger.

This is similar to unticking in rock climbing (with shoes, crash pad, harness, etc...) where you gently brush away the chalk marks used to visually aid where your foot and hand holds are for a sequence. It's not going to be fully clean but at least you remove most of it so the next person can figure it out themselves and you don't deeply permanently mar the rock face.

I've stacked to avoid major trail damage out in a wash and moved those heavy @$%#%&ers back by myself. Remember....always lift with your legs. Or your back. Whichever you care less for...

 

[Wbino]

I don't off road but.... I know that if enough people use a trail historically it becomes a road.

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