This is my first "off road trip" w/my new FJ TT.
Shawnee Land is an old gated community out west on route 50, and it sits up on the eastern exposure of the Great North Mountain (Part of the Appalachian range) right by Gore. I have heard of this place being a DC area hippie destination back in the 70's.
The trip was mostly a scenic coutry drive with a short but reasonably intense off road stretch thrown in. The drive up the side of the mountain commanded some pretty cool views so close to home.
The main off road event was through the electrical line service trail that connected from the top of the Shawnie Land property to the other side of the mountain, eventually coming out to Gore.
I was alone and found the trail to be a little more challenging than I expected so I was glad there was some company in the form of a fellow ATV'er and a trio of hikers none of whom were equipped with a winch but nevertheless provided some comfort as spectators.
Some rocky spots........
Looking back over the whole stretch.......
Some miscellaneous off roading at the west end.....
Some nice views again at the west end of the service trail....
All in all it was definitely worth it, but I regret not having been more prepared for what I expected to be a very easy trail but turned out to be a tad more challenging.
Next time I will take a hand winch and straps at least!!
As a disclaimer I need to mention this; I found out from the hiking trio that what I did was technically trespassing (It's private property leased to the electrical company) but the trail is very popular with local ATV'ers and other non street legal offroad vehicles, many who come up from a private off road park nearby in Gore, compared to which my factory FJ is very tame. With all honesty I do not feel like I added any injury to the environment or disturbed any people, as the hikers had agreed. Did I feel any guilt at the end of the day? No.
End of the trail.....
Shawnee Land is an old gated community out west on route 50, and it sits up on the eastern exposure of the Great North Mountain (Part of the Appalachian range) right by Gore. I have heard of this place being a DC area hippie destination back in the 70's.
The trip was mostly a scenic coutry drive with a short but reasonably intense off road stretch thrown in. The drive up the side of the mountain commanded some pretty cool views so close to home.
The main off road event was through the electrical line service trail that connected from the top of the Shawnie Land property to the other side of the mountain, eventually coming out to Gore.
I was alone and found the trail to be a little more challenging than I expected so I was glad there was some company in the form of a fellow ATV'er and a trio of hikers none of whom were equipped with a winch but nevertheless provided some comfort as spectators.
Some rocky spots........
Looking back over the whole stretch.......
Some miscellaneous off roading at the west end.....
Some nice views again at the west end of the service trail....
All in all it was definitely worth it, but I regret not having been more prepared for what I expected to be a very easy trail but turned out to be a tad more challenging.
Next time I will take a hand winch and straps at least!!
As a disclaimer I need to mention this; I found out from the hiking trio that what I did was technically trespassing (It's private property leased to the electrical company) but the trail is very popular with local ATV'ers and other non street legal offroad vehicles, many who come up from a private off road park nearby in Gore, compared to which my factory FJ is very tame. With all honesty I do not feel like I added any injury to the environment or disturbed any people, as the hikers had agreed. Did I feel any guilt at the end of the day? No.
End of the trail.....
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Did you touch bottom on any of the rocks?
