Well, I have been silently pondering the events of the off-road 101 since I took part in it last Saturday, and have finally decided to chime in my 2 cents.
I have been very conflicted over the events of the day, and in the end, have still not really reached an overall conclusion about my possible foray into the world of off-road Jeeps.
Firstly, I would like to thank everyone for putting on this event. It is nice to see the initiative to put on a "free" event like this, and it's great for us noobs who just want to get out, meet a few folks, and introduce our virgin Jeeps to some dirt.
The day started off well, and everyone was very friendly and chatty. The gravel pit was hella fun, and it was great scaring both myself and the wife a bit on a few of the off camber sections, and blind drop-in hills. I loved the little mogul run, and got a few good picks of the Jeep flexed up a bit (felt more impressive then it looks though....LOL).
The beginning was great, and left me and the wife stoked for the trail run to follow. The run started well, and quickly got frightening with the depth of the puddles. I figured I'd give them a shot anyway, and quite surprised myself how easily the XJ waded through the water. Fear turned to fun, and it was game on as the trail continued. As the run progressed, the obstacles varied, but overall my stock XJ still did pretty good. I'm really quite surprised at how capable it is. I went in expecting to not be able to do much, and instead was pleasantly surprised by what I could clear.
Unfortunately as the day went on, the smiles and good luck did not progress.
Now I want to interject here briefly, that I completely understand that off-road is inherently dangerous, and that there is always a serious risk of damage to a vehicle. I knew that going into this, and I accepted that my XJ might make it out with a few more marks then it went in with. I figure if I goof up and the truck gets hurt, hey, that's the way it goes.
Now that being said, all of us noobs who don't wheel, were under the impression that we were being led on an "easy" beginners trail. At least that is the impression I got. Imagine my surprise when the trails got serious, and the damage started to add up. Rumous of being lost started to circulate, but the folks in front kept insisting they new exactly where we were.
Yes, I realize that a lot of what we came across from this point on was super fun for the guys with big lifts and 31"+ tires, but for a stocker rolling on 28's, it was just out of my league. Add in being left behind a number of times (so much for don't let the headlights out of your mirror), and suddenly I found myself having to negotiate some non-beginner obstacles with a stock Jeep, and no visual reference of how to get through. A number of recoveries started to build stress in me (and my wife who was questioning how we were supposed to make it through stuff....a valid question), and it seemed we just kept getting more and more lost.
The run was touted as supposed to being finished at 4pm, yet at 8pm, we had already turned around twice, had numerous scouting runs to determine our direction, and were just hanging out with the rain and horses. Despite being 4 hours late, everyone kept telling us that we were fine, and they knew where we were. Clearly this was BS.
I have been taking part in mountainous activities for MANY years. I hike, backpack, mountain bike, do some occasional quading, etc, and I very much understand how easy it is to get mixed up and lost on an unmarked trail network. That being said, I also realize that in such a case, you need to admit there is a problem in order to deal with it. Blindly marching on never works well, and it seemed that in this case, that was exactly what we were doing.
Now at the end of the day (and it quite literally was the end of the day), we all made it out, and no one was hurt. Ultimately that is what counts.
That being said, it sucks to go home to a long list of Jeep damage that occurred from being led in error, blindly down a non-stocker friendly trail. My 2000 xj was in very good shape overall, and it was something I loved about it. Looking at it now parked out front, I have two wrecked front fender panels, damaged fenders, damaged front bumper that sits low and pushed in on one side, broken bumper end caps, two broken fog lights, broken lower air dam, broken headlight bezels/front surround, and who knows what else. That doesn't even begin to cover the scrapes and minor dents.
Yes, for a lot of you, this damage is laughable, and only an afternoon and a few beer from being fixed again, but for a guy who is just getting into wheeling and wrenching, it's a hugely discouraging amount of damage, and a frightening amount of cash to have to shell out to have the truck fixed up.
My goal at the beginning of the day/run was to set aside a bit of coin, and pick up some upgrades to make the Jeep more capable off-road. Now that money (and more) will have to go into just getting the Jeep drivable in the condition it was in before, and quite frankly, that sucks.
The real pisser, is that throughout all of this crap-show of a day, I felt like a huge douchebag dragging people down, by getting stuck, and complaining about my stock truck. Brian was smiling like a kid the whole time, and doing his best to keep me smiling as well. I just wish I could have enjoyed the later half of the run more, but it was not catered to my XJ, and the damage/inability to drive it just sucked the fun out of the experience.
95% of the people that I met that day were great, and I appreciate the help of everyone who spotted me, showed me what my truck could do, saved me, towed me, winched me, and ultimately helped get me the hell off that trail and home. The other 5% of the people, combined with the way the day played out, how it was dealt with, and the damaged it ultimately caused to my truck, are the catalyst for my current questioning of this event, my interest in continuing with off-road, and ultimately in the CJA.
I really am torn..............
And that's my 2 cents worth........
Topic: CJA Off-Road 101 2011 (Read 51865 times)