Many Off-Road & Vandalism Pics

moby33 · 08-30-2006, 09:42 PM

So I decided about noon today I was bored sitting around the house & therefore what better way to kill a few hours but in the FJ & off-road. Since I had not been off-road yet with the new wheels/tires, I decided I needed to head back to Rowher OHV area to try out the new rubber.

The day was going pretty good until I ran across this poor guys Chevy. It's things like this that bum me out...why do people have to be so immature and get such a kick out of destroying windows & beating the crap out of this broken rig? Just dumb (probably a bunch of immature kids still out for the summer). Anyway, after that I would be lying if I didn't continue to hear that little voice in the back of my head saying, "OK FJ...please don't break down so I'll have to leave you to the wolves while I go get help." Of course, the FJ did just fine & I'm happy to report I was able to make it up two rather steep, loose gravel runs I was not able to do with the stock tread (no surprise there). As always, my digital camera does not do justice for the degree of inclines/declines...but for those of you that have been there or been off-roading in general, you should be able to understand how much fun these trails are just by these pics. Enjoy.

MoSun · 08-30-2006, 10:19 PM

Thanks for sharing such nice pics. Looks like the guy busted a tie rod. If you were any kind of self-respecting wolf you would have helped the guy out and pushed it over the edge with a lighted rag in the gas tank and finnished it off. Looks stolen anyway and I'm sure the owner dosen't want it back.

FJCruiserSpecialist · 08-30-2006, 10:21 PM

very nice!! thanks for the pics. are you coming out saturday?

moby33 · 08-30-2006, 10:31 PM

Quote:

FJCruiserSpecialist previously said:

very nice!! thanks for the pics. are you coming out saturday?

Sorry, as I said on the other thread, I just saw this outing tonight & didn't know about it. I already have plans for this Saturday so I'm going to have to take a rain check.

Have fun (watch out for the back side where that water is if you have not been out there). Toward the very end there is one very tight trail with huge ruts...I got high centered and almost didn't get the FJ through it. There are easier ways to get by (they have simple dirt roads if you don't want to crawl), but just a heads up if you decide to take the FJ through those lower tougher trails. With a few inch lift it would be no problem, but that one trail is pretty much the max for the stock FJ...I got through, but it wasn't pretty (no pics of it unfortunately because my hands were a little full). Good luck.

JLam · 08-31-2006, 12:07 AM

Oh man, I was up there today too. Can't believe I didn't bump into you!

Drop me a line next time you head up there. I live 5 minutes away.

bandi · 08-31-2006, 07:17 AM

Moby33, NICE Picts... Thanks...

But I have to Ask...!!! Why did you VANDALIZE
that Poor Guy's Chevy !!! Thats Just Not right !!!
(jkg)...

That just su(kers to see that... But thats a sad
fact anywhere I believe, Here in NJ, If you broke
and left your rig alone in the woods, it was done
for... I only broke once, 1am, A tie rod end that
I did not have the spare for, and I was lucky
enough my brother was around and was able to
grab the part from one of his rigs and bring it out
for the onsite repair...

Flycast · 08-31-2006, 07:41 AM

that truck was stolen judging by the broken tie rods and stereo missing. The joyriders or owner was out jumping a truck with a drop down bracket lift and ultimately broke it...then came the chaos.

Valkyrie · 08-31-2006, 08:17 AM

Great pics, sad about the guy's rig.

It reminds one that although we try and act civilized, we are still in a world of animals where there are hunters & prey.

moby33 · 08-31-2006, 03:14 PM

Quote:

Flycast previously said:

that truck was stolen judging by the broken tie rods and stereo missing. The joyriders or owner was out jumping a truck with a drop down bracket lift and ultimately broke it...then came the chaos.

The stolen rig theory is good, and it might very well be the case, but how can anyone say for sure that is what happened? You can't. It could have just as easily been a tie rod failure with the owner which caused him to leave the truck (where it was located would not have been a short walk to get back to a location where someone could help). In the mean time, some immature or dirt bag crook could have come along, broken the windows and ripped off anything they thought might be of some value (like the radio).

The bottom line is it's imagines like this that remind me that breakdown & vandalism is another reason it's probably not the smartest thing to do this kind of off-roading alone. Nobody goes out thinking, "Today is the day I'm going to have major breakdown problems", yet it can happen to anyone. Or worse, you could have a major accident and hurt yourself & might be out there for hours, if not days before someone comes along and finds you (hell, I use to scuba dive alone all the time in HS from the shore when my brother couldn't join me and looking back I know that was probably pretty dumb too). Yesterday, I wanted to kill a few hours by myself, but the next time I might think twice before doing it.

OceanView · 08-31-2006, 03:22 PM

Looks like fun.
I didn't know there was such trails so close to LA.