Jeepinaaron
Adventurer
It had been since the winter of 2014 since my last real four wheeling or off-road trip. Life and moving from a build 2005 Jeep LJ to a 2003 Jeep Grand Cherokee had necessitated a break from four wheeling. Over the last several months I have been prioritizing my modifications and trying to build the WJ so that is serves the duty of daily driver and weekend warrior. In February or March my dad and I began to plan a weekend trip to Uwharrie National Forrest, which is the closest "real" four wheeling to us. The weather report began coming together the week before the trip and things didn't look good, rain. Combining rain and the red dirt from eastern NC is a recipe for a slick muddy mess, one that we dreaded almost enough to cancel the trip. Knowing that the next time we could go would probably be in August we decided to brave the elements and go anyways. It was a good decision, as it was a great trip.
The night before we were going to leave I found myself walking into Walmart to grab some last minute food and a rear wiper blade for my WJ when the thought hit me that I needed to invite my friend Jeff. A quick text message to him which included "sorry I know its last minute...." was quickly answered with "....h### yea lets ride".
On the drive to meet my dad it started raining, about 3 hours before it was supposed to. When we arrived at Uwharrie the trails were already a muddy slick mess. I was however surprised by the amount of people and rigs there even with the weather. I saw a sight that I have never seen before, 3-4 rigs with RTT's on them. Most of the people who've seen camping on the trails in the past would fall in your typical redneck category. (not saying there is anything wrong with that) It was nice to see a few people here with the "overland mentality".
The drive in on the access road.
The first trail we hit was one of the easy green trails. There is nothing really to note on this trail except I learned really quick that I was glad to have purchased the T-case skid plate because it didn't take long before serious contact. We then turned and hit "Dickie Bell". In years past this trail really wasn't anything, there was one mild obstacle and if it was dry that obstacle didn't really even slow you down. The difficulty of the trail has seriously increased in my opinion, and with the combination of rain things were interesting. Our first encounter with "interesting" happened when we came across a trail traffic jam. I talked with a guy in a nice WJ and a stock JKU Rubicon. The WJ said he just finished winching another vehicle that had slid off the trail. In front of us was a nice left side sloping area with a hump to negotiate which has a tree to the left. If it was dry one wouldn't even notice this but with it so slick this was an apparent issue. The WJ scooted through with no issue but then the troubles started. The JKU kept pushing to the tree, and attempt after attempt for him made his situation worse until he slid off into the same location as the other stuck vehicle. Even with lockers he was stuck. I noticed that his tires seemed to suck and inquired about his PSI, at which time I learned he hadn't aired down at all. Whoops, rookie mistake for sure. The problem was, even with advice he wouldn't air down his tires. After I pulled him out he was determined his day was over and he was leaving. Against the will of his friend they turned around and left. Even with a 40K vehicle with gadgets and goodies you can't replace experience and skill/knowledge. I also think this should be a learning point for people looking to introduce people into the sport. It should be in a positive environment, with good instruction, and not on a trail in bad conditions where the only thing someone will think about is damaging their vehicle.
After the JKU was moved out of position we moved through. Here is Jeff's Tacoma with open diffs scooting through the slick spot.
Next we encountered an obstacle called "Little Daniel". I chose the line on the right which appeared to be the easiest. This obstacle was a hill climb with a few rock crawling segments thrown in. I did fine until I over flexed my front driver's side to the point where I dropped my driver's side spring out. We were able to put it back in and I moved along. Here we are accessing the spring issue and looking at the line.
Got the line I wanted and moved up to the next rough spot.
Then things were interesting again. My passenger side over flexed and popped out the spring on that side too. The Jeep settled into a nice hole when this happened with a rock behind the rear diff. A nice JKU came down the trail in the opposite direction and winched me out. The rest of the hill climb, while fun, went as planned.
My dad brought his LJ Rubicon up next and it happened so fast I didn't get any pictures. Jeff came next in his Taco, and while we had to work the line a little bit the truck did fantastic.
We found a nice spot for lunch. I messed around with the front springs again, we had to get the driver's front seated back properly on the isolator. A Hi-Lift on my rock rails worked perfect. We also noticed a short distance later I was getting a clunk that I could feel in my floor. It turned out to be a loose nut on the track bar.
Following Dickie Bell we hit Rocky Mountain Loop, which part of it is closed due to the discovery of a burial site. This is unfortunate as the closure blocks the more difficult portion of the trail. Access is becoming an issue at Uwharrie and gives and takes will be a part of the process from here on I imagine. This trail did have one fun feature called "Guard Rail Hill" which was a steep rocky hill climb, covered with slick mud, with a section at the top which can be technical.
As we finished up this loop we came across a beached Tacoma, being winched out by another Tacoma. I wondered how in the world this happened until I saw the occupants of the stuck Tacoma walking around with alcohol (featured in the picture). I'm not sure if these two trucks were together or not but we attempted to lend assistance and advice.
Jeff mud surfing his way over to the recovery truck to see whats going on.
All in all it was a great trip. We didn't cover as much terrain as I wanted but the trails we chose were appropriate for our vehicle, skill, and weather conditions. I bet Daniel trail was intense, we never made it over to see. Now to deal with those pesky springs...
The night before we were going to leave I found myself walking into Walmart to grab some last minute food and a rear wiper blade for my WJ when the thought hit me that I needed to invite my friend Jeff. A quick text message to him which included "sorry I know its last minute...." was quickly answered with "....h### yea lets ride".
On the drive to meet my dad it started raining, about 3 hours before it was supposed to. When we arrived at Uwharrie the trails were already a muddy slick mess. I was however surprised by the amount of people and rigs there even with the weather. I saw a sight that I have never seen before, 3-4 rigs with RTT's on them. Most of the people who've seen camping on the trails in the past would fall in your typical redneck category. (not saying there is anything wrong with that) It was nice to see a few people here with the "overland mentality".
The drive in on the access road.
The first trail we hit was one of the easy green trails. There is nothing really to note on this trail except I learned really quick that I was glad to have purchased the T-case skid plate because it didn't take long before serious contact. We then turned and hit "Dickie Bell". In years past this trail really wasn't anything, there was one mild obstacle and if it was dry that obstacle didn't really even slow you down. The difficulty of the trail has seriously increased in my opinion, and with the combination of rain things were interesting. Our first encounter with "interesting" happened when we came across a trail traffic jam. I talked with a guy in a nice WJ and a stock JKU Rubicon. The WJ said he just finished winching another vehicle that had slid off the trail. In front of us was a nice left side sloping area with a hump to negotiate which has a tree to the left. If it was dry one wouldn't even notice this but with it so slick this was an apparent issue. The WJ scooted through with no issue but then the troubles started. The JKU kept pushing to the tree, and attempt after attempt for him made his situation worse until he slid off into the same location as the other stuck vehicle. Even with lockers he was stuck. I noticed that his tires seemed to suck and inquired about his PSI, at which time I learned he hadn't aired down at all. Whoops, rookie mistake for sure. The problem was, even with advice he wouldn't air down his tires. After I pulled him out he was determined his day was over and he was leaving. Against the will of his friend they turned around and left. Even with a 40K vehicle with gadgets and goodies you can't replace experience and skill/knowledge. I also think this should be a learning point for people looking to introduce people into the sport. It should be in a positive environment, with good instruction, and not on a trail in bad conditions where the only thing someone will think about is damaging their vehicle.
After the JKU was moved out of position we moved through. Here is Jeff's Tacoma with open diffs scooting through the slick spot.
Next we encountered an obstacle called "Little Daniel". I chose the line on the right which appeared to be the easiest. This obstacle was a hill climb with a few rock crawling segments thrown in. I did fine until I over flexed my front driver's side to the point where I dropped my driver's side spring out. We were able to put it back in and I moved along. Here we are accessing the spring issue and looking at the line.
Got the line I wanted and moved up to the next rough spot.
Then things were interesting again. My passenger side over flexed and popped out the spring on that side too. The Jeep settled into a nice hole when this happened with a rock behind the rear diff. A nice JKU came down the trail in the opposite direction and winched me out. The rest of the hill climb, while fun, went as planned.
My dad brought his LJ Rubicon up next and it happened so fast I didn't get any pictures. Jeff came next in his Taco, and while we had to work the line a little bit the truck did fantastic.
We found a nice spot for lunch. I messed around with the front springs again, we had to get the driver's front seated back properly on the isolator. A Hi-Lift on my rock rails worked perfect. We also noticed a short distance later I was getting a clunk that I could feel in my floor. It turned out to be a loose nut on the track bar.
Following Dickie Bell we hit Rocky Mountain Loop, which part of it is closed due to the discovery of a burial site. This is unfortunate as the closure blocks the more difficult portion of the trail. Access is becoming an issue at Uwharrie and gives and takes will be a part of the process from here on I imagine. This trail did have one fun feature called "Guard Rail Hill" which was a steep rocky hill climb, covered with slick mud, with a section at the top which can be technical.
As we finished up this loop we came across a beached Tacoma, being winched out by another Tacoma. I wondered how in the world this happened until I saw the occupants of the stuck Tacoma walking around with alcohol (featured in the picture). I'm not sure if these two trucks were together or not but we attempted to lend assistance and advice.
Jeff mud surfing his way over to the recovery truck to see whats going on.
All in all it was a great trip. We didn't cover as much terrain as I wanted but the trails we chose were appropriate for our vehicle, skill, and weather conditions. I bet Daniel trail was intense, we never made it over to see. Now to deal with those pesky springs...
