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pics and videos from Rocks and Valleys 6-25

4K views 28 replies 21 participants last post by  ppkaprince98 
#1 ·
Kevin and I went up and explored Rocks and Valleys for the first time today. Neat little park. Little bit of everything there - lots of tight trails, some rocks, lots of water, lots of mud. Pretty good day overall, but not without some trouble.

Started out on some woods trails. We were trying to follow last year's Ultimate Adventure route, and this little hole took me by surprise.





We continued on to crawl some rocks.





Pinion guard doing its job very well.



After turning around to do the trail backwards, I got stuck / wedged / hung up worse than I ever have before. Front axle was wedged, rear axle was wedged, and skidplate was hung up all at once. A group of Jeeps came through and lent a hand, and after almost an hour with stacking rocks, pulling with winch, using bottle jacks, I was finally freed. Can't thank those guys enough. No pics, sorry.

Back in the woods for climbing a seriously steep hill.



More climbing on the big hills. This one in 4x4.



Tried it in 2WD a few times, didn't make it.

 
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#2 ·
Followed the Python trail for a while. Had to get a little creative get around some corners without body damage.







Something missing here? Darn it, 7100s aren't cheap!



Then for some unknown reason, I thought I would drive through "a little bit" of mud. Naturally, it was deep enough to make my 42s disappear once I got into it. Then I couldn't back out, so I gave it a few runs with a little speed, trying to not throw too much mud into my interior. That was a massive fail. I destroyed my interior, and still didn't make it out.



Aftermath





 
#3 ·
Went to find some water to rinse the mud off the axles end up almost flopped over in this little pond. It went from flat to leaning in about .1 second. The truck was literally sliding in on its own and I couldn't even tough the gas without it going in more. Luckily there was a guy with a truck right behind us and he pulled us out. This could have been really bad!







That was enough fun for me. I think we spent 6 hours there. The park was dead. I think there were 4 other vehicles there besides the rangers. Made it through with no dents, and no carnage except the lower shock mount bolt. What I mess I have to clean up. Tearing out my interior to dry out the carpet and clean the seats tomorrow. I HATE MUD! What the hell was I thinking?



 
#18 ·
Went to find some water to rinse the mud off the axles end up almost flopped over in this little pond. It went from flat to leaning in about .1 second. The truck was literally sliding in on its own and I couldn't even tough the gas without it going in more. Luckily there was a guy with a truck right behind us and he pulled us out. This could have been really bad!



I almost flopped my Jeep in that exact same spot. Looks like you guys had fun. Can't wait to get out there this year!
 
#10 ·
Hard to remember now which ones we did and didn't do. Where there are 3 big climbs, I tried the one in the center with the two trees you have to jog around, and couldn't slip past the first tree on the left without getting into the body. I think that was Hump Trail (?). Big Ugly (that starts just to the left of those big climbs) we were told by the rangers to stay out if I didn't want dents, so I avoided it. Other than that, I think we did everything there.
 
#11 ·
Glad you had a good time. I avoid the mud whenever possible. The trail to the left is Big Ugly and there is no reason you should not have run it. You can bypass the very first off camber part. The rest is just challenging creative driving. You can always back out and take the easy way.:teehee: Further on down the same main trail you will find the Hump trail on the right. Again, just run it.

It looks like you didn't run winch hill, the rocks in the playground or any of the steep hills in the back valley. I find I can only do about 1/2 of the park in one day. (We're usually waiting for Tab:sonicjay:)
 
#12 ·
I did winch hill, without a winch. Didn't get out and take any pics. There's definitely some big rocks, but most of the darn things kept moving around on me.

I'll probably do more if I go back. I was going on the advice of the rangers. Having somebody else with me that has ran the trails before would have helped a lot.
 
#23 ·
A couple pics from Saturday night's work. You can't see the mud all over the back window, extended cab windows, ceiling, and roll bar. Never thought I would see the day I need to take a pressure washer to the interior of my truck. The carpet is thoroughly cleaned now, and all the insulation on the back side is removed so they can dry separately. Haven't go to cleaning my poor seats yet. Yes, I know, I should just leave the carpet out, but this thing is loud and hot enough as it is, I don't want to make it any worse.





 
#26 ·
Did they sell the Sonoma with rubber floor from the factory in an XL or work truck package? I would get rubber floors for the whole thing...
 
#29 ·
Great pics of your day at R&V. LOL at the mud, it always gets you worse then you plan. :sonicjay: Good job cleaning, most people would just leave it, I can appreciate the extra time and work going into keeping your rig looking good even after a hard day of wheeling.
 
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