Finally did some real wheeling today. We spent a day at the Girl Scout Camp in the Jemez yesterday and then today went from 126 north, past Steve and Wendy's land, then east on 315, and then north some more down Coyote Creek and into Coyote. I even got to pull a tree out of the road. It wasn't a huge tree but it counts.
I know, but it was still fun to pull it out of the way.
And I was a little concerned about some of the branches sticking up possibly jamming into the undercarriage. Don't forget I still have the running boards on too. They're only 11" off the ground.
Oh yeah. Real cushy. Spending ~4 hours on mild to moderately rough forest roads and then another 2 1/2 hours on highway was a piece of cake. The worst time was with the 40+ mph crosswind at the top of La Bajada. Despite the weight of the truck, it still got pushed around quite a bit.
It's a very comfortable traveling vehicle and does very well on all types of surfaces. Even Danise survived pretty well with her neck problems. She didn't have to take any Vicodin when we got home.
11" of ground clearance isn't anything to brag about but it was plenty for everything we encountered. I didn't drag or scrape anywhere and the 60 probably would have in a few places we went.
Don't rub it in. The amount of the Jemez mountains that is fir/spruce is pretty small. It doesn't take long to get through it. Nothing compared to the 'real' mountains of CO.
After crawling around the Jemez Mountains for over 25 years, driving, camping, hiking, working as an archaeologist and especially mountain biking I can say that they do indeed have a unique charm and magic. Especially on the fringes where the volcanic mesas are - cut by deep canyons and filled with prehistoric sites.
