No s***, there I was. (All good stories should start this way.)
OK. So I am relatively new to all of this.
Me and my family were taking a blue rated trail in the Tillamook forest in our mostly stock LX470. The only real mod I have done to the vehicle is give it some 275/70/r18 KO2s. I had some recover straps and shackles and a shovel in the back, but no winch or MaxTrax or anything.
It was a fairly easy trail on the west side of the forest. It really started out as a nice drive. We kept climbing and climbing and the views just kept getting better. The problem is that the farther we went up, the more narrow the trail became. And pretty quickly the trail turned into a narrow shelf road with a steep wall to my left and a very steep drop to my right.
But no biggie, right? This isn't a technical trail and it is all dirt and gravel.
So we get to a point where the shelf to our right is a steep drop off of about 400 feet. All of a sudden, the vehicle starts to slip back from the loose dirt. OK. Clam down. ATRAC will engage. Keep it in 4-Lo and put it in 2nd gear and it will climb out. Worse, it starts to slide to the right and both right wheels drop off the the trail and are just on the loose scree. The passenger side is bottomed out. The vehicle is leaning like it wants to fall off the ledge.
At this point, my wife and kids freak out. I have them crawl over each other and exit the vehicle to the left. I'm now thinking, "what have I gotten myself into here?" There are no other vehicles around. We did this trail because we were told it was a relatively easy one. Surely, my vehicle will climb out of this.
So I get out and lower the tire pressure some more to around 18 psi. It was very hard to get the two passenger side tires because of how steep and loose the dirt was. Get back in the car and try to slowly move forward. Nope. It slid a couple more inches off the trail.
So now I am freaking out. I have to get out of this, but there is nobody to help. Sure wish I had a winch. If I screw up here, me and the LX are going for a tumble.
I have the wife and kids walk ahead some and tell them I'll catch up.
I decide to put it in reverse and let gravity help pull me back on the trail. And amazingly, it worked. All 4 wheels are back on the trail.
Now what? Trail is way too narrow to turn around. Probably too dangerous to do the whole thing in reverse. Gotta go forward.
Check and recheck to male sure the CDL is on. Hug the wall to the left as close as I can with the mirrors tucked. Give it a go. I had to keep the wheel turned pretty hard to the left to keep it going straight. But I made it past this one part. Some minor scraping, but made it.
Should be smooth sailing from here on out. Nope. Just ahead is a part of the trail with a bunch of dead trees that take up half the left side and an opposte area of loose dirt that has washed out on the right. I get out. Scope it out. Only about 4' wide clearance on the trail. I'll either have to drive up on the logs that are close to vertical or try driving with the passenger wheels over the ledge in the scree. I'd rather a scratch or dent than a tumble.
I choose the logs. Slowly drive up to them and the weight of the vehicle drags them down some and lessens the angle. The logs dig in the dirt and become a stable platform. The LX easily crawls over the logs and I clear the last obstacle. Totally thought there was at least a 20% chance of tumbling off the shelf.
I catch up with the wife and kids. Wife tells me she walked ahead because she did want her or the kids to see me wreck and die.
She tells me she doesn't want to go off-road again.
So... what did I learn?
1) Don't do unfamiliar trails by yourself as their recommendations may not take into account recent changes to the trail, fallen trees, and wash outs.
2) Go with a buddy vehicle for mutual support. Recovery straps do nothing if you are by yourself. A winch sure would have been nice for piece of mind. And if my vehicle did tumble there would have been no way to get EMS out there or tell anybody.
3) Set your tire pressures low way early. I had lowered them some, but might not have been in my initial jam if I had aired down to 18psi at the beginning.
4) In hindsight, it was the most exciting thing I have done at the slowest speed ever. Gonna get some more toys and do it again.
Still lots to learn.
Any of you have any stupid stories?
OK. So I am relatively new to all of this.
Me and my family were taking a blue rated trail in the Tillamook forest in our mostly stock LX470. The only real mod I have done to the vehicle is give it some 275/70/r18 KO2s. I had some recover straps and shackles and a shovel in the back, but no winch or MaxTrax or anything.
It was a fairly easy trail on the west side of the forest. It really started out as a nice drive. We kept climbing and climbing and the views just kept getting better. The problem is that the farther we went up, the more narrow the trail became. And pretty quickly the trail turned into a narrow shelf road with a steep wall to my left and a very steep drop to my right.
But no biggie, right? This isn't a technical trail and it is all dirt and gravel.
So we get to a point where the shelf to our right is a steep drop off of about 400 feet. All of a sudden, the vehicle starts to slip back from the loose dirt. OK. Clam down. ATRAC will engage. Keep it in 4-Lo and put it in 2nd gear and it will climb out. Worse, it starts to slide to the right and both right wheels drop off the the trail and are just on the loose scree. The passenger side is bottomed out. The vehicle is leaning like it wants to fall off the ledge.
At this point, my wife and kids freak out. I have them crawl over each other and exit the vehicle to the left. I'm now thinking, "what have I gotten myself into here?" There are no other vehicles around. We did this trail because we were told it was a relatively easy one. Surely, my vehicle will climb out of this.
So I get out and lower the tire pressure some more to around 18 psi. It was very hard to get the two passenger side tires because of how steep and loose the dirt was. Get back in the car and try to slowly move forward. Nope. It slid a couple more inches off the trail.
So now I am freaking out. I have to get out of this, but there is nobody to help. Sure wish I had a winch. If I screw up here, me and the LX are going for a tumble.
I have the wife and kids walk ahead some and tell them I'll catch up.
I decide to put it in reverse and let gravity help pull me back on the trail. And amazingly, it worked. All 4 wheels are back on the trail.
Now what? Trail is way too narrow to turn around. Probably too dangerous to do the whole thing in reverse. Gotta go forward.
Check and recheck to male sure the CDL is on. Hug the wall to the left as close as I can with the mirrors tucked. Give it a go. I had to keep the wheel turned pretty hard to the left to keep it going straight. But I made it past this one part. Some minor scraping, but made it.
Should be smooth sailing from here on out. Nope. Just ahead is a part of the trail with a bunch of dead trees that take up half the left side and an opposte area of loose dirt that has washed out on the right. I get out. Scope it out. Only about 4' wide clearance on the trail. I'll either have to drive up on the logs that are close to vertical or try driving with the passenger wheels over the ledge in the scree. I'd rather a scratch or dent than a tumble.
I choose the logs. Slowly drive up to them and the weight of the vehicle drags them down some and lessens the angle. The logs dig in the dirt and become a stable platform. The LX easily crawls over the logs and I clear the last obstacle. Totally thought there was at least a 20% chance of tumbling off the shelf.
I catch up with the wife and kids. Wife tells me she walked ahead because she did want her or the kids to see me wreck and die.
She tells me she doesn't want to go off-road again.
So... what did I learn?
1) Don't do unfamiliar trails by yourself as their recommendations may not take into account recent changes to the trail, fallen trees, and wash outs.
2) Go with a buddy vehicle for mutual support. Recovery straps do nothing if you are by yourself. A winch sure would have been nice for piece of mind. And if my vehicle did tumble there would have been no way to get EMS out there or tell anybody.
3) Set your tire pressures low way early. I had lowered them some, but might not have been in my initial jam if I had aired down to 18psi at the beginning.
4) In hindsight, it was the most exciting thing I have done at the slowest speed ever. Gonna get some more toys and do it again.
Still lots to learn.
Any of you have any stupid stories?
