A Newby's Trip out West, running the Rubicon, Moab and Colorado!

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Fionayeti

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When I was a kid in high school, my first car was a beat up '76 CJ-5 . I loved to off-road and always had dreams of hitting the open trails out west! Unfortunately, college and a career got in the way and I had little time for anything living in the big city. So now at age 50, near retiring, and a 2011 JK Rubicon in my garage, it was time to go exploring!

But first things first. While a very capable Jeep, my Ruby wasn't ideal in stock form for the trails I wanted to do. Sure it could handle The San Juan trails (at least the ones I was going on), but I had the famous Rubicon trail in CA on my mind too, and a friend who lives in Tahoe ready to take me! So I spent a year getting ready, calling up manufacturers and off-road shops asking them what it would take to get my Jeep trail ready. I have to tell you, I had great conversations with some of the nicest people! No egos, no selling me on their products...just good folk sharing with me the things I'd need to know to make a good, honest decision in building my Jeep. I'm not sure I'm authorized to share the company names on this forum, but I'm going to, perhaps it might help fellow Jeepers. I'm not endorsing them, I'm just saying, these company's and shops did a great job with customer service and went out of there way to help me. I also learned a lot from many intelligent people on this forum helping me with the things that work and the things that don't. I appreciated all their information because I hate things that don't work and I'm proud to say there's nothing on my Jeep that doesn't do a perfect job living up to its manufacturer's promises. So here's the list: EVO Manufacturing, JKS, Poison Spider (There tech guy spent two hours on the phone with me!), Fox, G2 Axles, Northridge 4x4, Yukon Gear, Adam's Driveshafts, Synergy, Volant, Morris 4x4 Center, MBRP Exhaust, Dynatrac, Kolpin Gun Racks, Optima batteries, American Racing rims, Mastercraft Tires, and Mile Marker Winches (I actually did not get the winch installed in time for this trip, but luckily, my buddy had a winch on his).

So with 99% of the parts installed and functioning perfectly, my wife and I packed up and hit the road, leaving our farm in Indiana. We ran The San Juan Mountains in Colorado first, doing all the popular trails, Imogene, The Alpine Loop, Black Bear pass and a few of the connecting trails. While not too challenging, the trails provided amazing scenery that I only have viewed from an airplane (I'll admit as a newby, I took the easier lines when available, except "The Wall" on Poughkeepsie Gulch). I've read that Black Bear pass is dangerous with the narrow shelf road and switchbacks. But I suppose I'm not afraid of heights and with some slow, focused driving, it wasn't bad at all. We enjoyed Colorado immensely and met such wonderful people. The older, often retired couples, were the most fun and chatty. We met one such couple on Imogene driving an old restored Willys complete with trailer. Well, after a few bourbons at The Last Dollar Saloon in Telluride, they were even more chatty. I sat and listened and learned a lot about the area mines and the history of the mountains. Then there were some not so nice folk. My wife made a comment, "Why are the Jeeps with the bigger tires the ones that seem to be driven by the jerks?" True, we came across a guy with 40's, trying to manhandle the trail and passing the rest of us shooting up dust and crap all over. At the top of the trail, he got out of his JK and stood 5 feet tall. Yup. Napoleon complex. There were a lot of those guys it seemed. And it always seemed to be the one's sporting Dana 60's running' '40's. Not trying to be mean here, just a newby's observation. To each his own.

We headed off to Moab which I knew quite well from riding most of the trails on my mountain bike when I was younger. I'll tell you it's much more fun in a Jeep! Again, the people were great and very respectful. My buddy and I came across one Jeeper with a blown radiator hose so we stopped and helped him with his repair. Luckily, I had radiator fluid and a hose so in no time he was off and running. One Jeeper that tagged along with me and my buddy made fun of me for carrying 5 gallon spare gas cans, claiming that I'll never need all that gas out here. But five miles down the trail, we came upon an ATV, it had run out of gas. I looked at that guy as I started to fill the ATV guy's tank, "This is why I carry extra gas. It's not always for me". My Jeep handled the Moab trails very well, and I was learning better driving techniques from my buddy and many others. I still took the easier lines but every now and then, I'd try something harder. I have no ego. For me it's about fun, not competition.

Lastly, we ventured to Tahoe and ran the Rubicon trail. I have to say, it wasn't all that bad and my Jeep crawled through it without a scratch. I will say I had a very good driver, my buddy Ken, on the trail in front of me. He'd run a section, then get out and help me navigate the correct lines, spotting my every wheel position. His coaching made it much easier. Without him, I would have had a harder time with it, no doubt.

That trail conquered, it was a long run back to Indiana. Looking back, I'm proud of how my Jeep performed. It did everything I wanted it to do and more. It was expensive to build, but then again, going with the right parts for the job make it one less thing I had to worry about on the trail. I'm very thankful to all the manufacture's and Jeep Shops that gave a lot of time to me, answering my ill-informed questions and sharing their experiences. Jeepers are special people, true Americans that love the country and what it stands for. Thanks for letting me be a part of it!
 

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Great story. Sounds like a blast. Question... spare in back? Winch in your future?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Thanks for sharing. I am running rubicon, Moab, and Ouray in a week and a half. Any advise?


2007 2WD (upgrades: Hemi, Atlas, 1 Tons, 40s, etc)
 
Great story. Sounds like a blast. Question... spare in back? Winch in your future?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Funny story about the spare and winch decisions. They were the hardest!

For the spare, it came down to two things, first since it was just me and my wife, we didn't need all that cargo space, so I decided since I run 35's it would fit nicely flat in the back cargo space. I have an Evo cargo carrier and that's mounted just over the spare. So for us, I don't lose cargo space and I can get my 75 lb spare flat and low right over the rear wheels lowering the center of gravity and putting weight where it's needed. But the real decision came down to my wife is not strong enough to lift a 75 lb tire off a rear carrier, nor can she lift a flat spare up. She's got a runners build with no upper body strength. She does drive the jeep sometimes by herself so if she flatted she'd be out of luck. But she did manage to lift it up to the cargo area and slide it forward and close the gate. As far as the winch, I read about every winch company and called them all which just confused me more. I talked to Jeepers and the only winch I never heard complaints about was Mile Marker. So after months of procrastination, I bought one but when it arrived I was away on biz and I just didn't get it installed in time.
 
Thanks for sharing. I am running rubicon, Moab, and Ouray in a week and a half. Any advise?


2007 2WD (upgrades: Hemi, Atlas, 1 Tons, 40s, etc)

Definitely stay in Ouray because it's easier to access all trails from there. We stayed in Telluride, while beautiful, we had to take Ophir pass everyday to access all the good trails. I'd make Black bear pass and imogene a one day loop. You can do the whole Alpine loop in a day even with stops. But leave real early. Also. Save the popular trails for weekdays when they are most likely to be empty. Run the offshoot trails on the weekends. Definitely do red mountain pass, while a very easy trail the mountain tundra and views are amazing. You are going at the right time. Crowds will be way down. We saw very little people in Moab. And just a few on the Rubicon. Have fun!
 
Awesome!! (I'm sure there are plenty of great guys on 40's though ) haha.. Cool story!

Ha! Funny thing is I was going to do my build and run dyntrac 60's and 40's but after a hard look at what I wanted the jeep to do I went with G2 44's and 35's. Now after the trip I'm thinking, damn, the Rubicon trail would have been much easier with 40's! So now I want 40's!!! My wife laughed so I think that's a green light to write that check!

Honestly we met great people, even guys running 40's. I learned alot from them as far as driving so I'm thankful
 
Sounds like you guys had a great trip! Now it's time to plan the next one!

Thanks! Yeah, we were thinking Alaska but then we heard from a friend about the north woods of Maine had all these old logging roads that connect old logging camps and fishing camps, trails that go on for hundreds and hundreds of miles up and around Baxter state park and the Allagash wilderness waterway. Not sure the stories are accurate but I'm checking them out. Also heard of amazing trails in British Columbia. Retirement can't come any quicker!
 
Awesome story! i only hope to be able to make an awesome trip out west in the future!

Signed,
a fellow hoosier:usa::usa:
 
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