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On December 12th, Fontana Nissan in Fontana, CA had a Meet complete with Tommy’s Burgers and a raffle. Everyone was encouraged to bring their car truck or SUV. The parking lot was flooded with small fast cars with a few build Nissan trucks mixed in.
After grabbing a burger, I checked out the trucks and snapped a few pictures despite the inclimate weather.
The 2010 registration is officially open!!
If you have any questions check out the goneMOAB Website or Post up on the goneMOAB Forums .
The 2nd Annual West Coast Meet was held in Arizona this year. Everyone settled in at camp in Table Mesa then wheeled for the day up the back road to Crown King. It was a full day getting the whole group through there before returning to camp. After a broken front diff and many bangs, scrapes and bruises; a few returned home the following day. The rest of the group headed on to another day on the trail, but this time in Sedona, AZ.
All the review, pictures and Video and be viewed here: http://ruggedrocksoffroad.com/forum/index.php?topic=1013.0
as well as in the Rugged Rocks Gallery: http://ruggedrocksoffroad.com/gallery/main.php
The Dates for the 2010 King of the Hammers race in Johnson Valley, CA have been released as February 8th – 12th, 2010. The Last Chance Qualifier will be a two day event from the 9th – 10th, and holding the UTV race and Contignecy on the 11th. The main King of the Hammers event will be held on the 12th. This is an amazing event that you won’t want to miss! Come check out the race on Means Dry Lake in Johnson Valley and feel free to come by camp to meet other 4×4 enthusiasts from Rugged Rocks. The last 2 years I have volunteered on the course working check points, road crossings and the finish line. I will need 4 other trucks to volunteer with me on the course but don’t feel obligated to help out, we’re all out there just to have fun. As details on the event and where we’ll be camping develop they will be posted here: Rugged Rocks Camp @ King of the Hammers 2010 . I hope to see you out there.
-Steven Lutz
DVD – King of the Hammers 2009: The Second Crusade
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June 03, 2009
The National Park Service has announced free weekends available at all parks across the country.
The dates include:
For additional information visit NPS.GOV or click here http://www.nps.gov/findapark/feefreeparks.htm
What is Overlanding?
Written by Scott Brady
Originally posted at http://www.expeditionportal.com/editorials/36-trip-reports/95-what-is-overlanding.html
Overlanding
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started, and know the place for the first time.
Through the unknown, remembered gate, when the last of earth left to discover is that which was the beginning.
T.S. Elliot
N68, Driving to Aklavik in the NWT of Canada on the frozen Peel River.
By Scott Brady, with contributions from Douglas Hackney, Jonathan Hanson, Graham Jackson and Sinuhe Xavier. Additional contributions scheduled.
This article is a community-wide effort to best describe and define the terms and activities of “Expedition”, “Overland” and “Backcountry Adventures”. There will be several contributors as the definitions take shape. For now, these are our thoughts. The intent of this article and these definitions are not to judge if someone is actually achieving our definition of overland travel or vehicle-dependent expeditions, only to serve as a guide for more accurate use of the terms in use. (more…)
Welcome to the latest adventure by the 22nd Expeditionary Group. This trip was planned do the fact that one of our members is with a child (well his wife is). That being said, he wanted to get out of town for a few days since it is getting close to the due date.
The plan for this trip was to stay close, so we settled on the Lytle Creek area of the San Bernardino Mountains. Lytle Creek Canyon was settle by Mormons in the mid 1800’s due to the abundance of water flowing from the canyon. This area has been known as a recreational playground since the 1870’s, and play we did. (more…)
Johnson Valley, CA is the keeper of the biggest & baddest hardcore rock trails in the country and on February 26th & 27th, King of the Hammers – The Ultimate Desert Race, came back for round two. 130 rock buggies came in from all over the world to give their best shot at not only completing the 90 mile course, but to do it against all odds and do it the fastest. (more…)
February 2, 2009
Calico, CA – The 22nd Expeditionary Group headed out to Calico this past weekend to welcome Oz and Jesse into the club. As usual, the event was organized through Rugged Rocks Off Road & Communications and advertised through several forums. We also welcomed John from North Carolina for his first outing with us and who had no reserve tackling the trails with his stock ’95 Pathfinder on muds. (more…)
With the snow we’ve been getting in the mountains lately, a lot of four-wheelers are itching to fire up their vehicles and go plowing through the white stuff. Whether over Cajon Pass, through Big Bear area, or just to Grandma’s house, driving off road in snow is a lot of fun. Winter driving offers its own set of challenges; the following tips will help ensure your trip is a pleasant one.
As with all four-wheeling, remember the buddy system. That is, always go out with at least one other vehicle. It’s fairly easy to get stuck in snow, and (more…)
The 22nd Expeditionary Group headed out to Pinyon Mountain Area for a day of trail riding in Anza-Borrego. The trail heads east starting from Hwy S-2 and empties into Fish Creek from which numerous options for completing the trail are offered. This report focuses on Pinyon Mountain Road up until reaching Fish Creek.
Our map by Wilderness Press identifies two obstacles on the trail, however we encountered several more. The first few miles of the trail offer great scenery and is rather mild. Most 2wd high clearance vehicles should be able to make this run. Up until the first obstacle known as The Squeeze the trail is considered a two way trail. From this point forward every vehicle should have at least 33” tires, 4wd, armor, and a locker and winch is highly recommended. The Squeeze is exactly as the name implies. To get through this obstacle one must squeeze through the rock crevice. Our vehicles included Xterra’s, 4Runner’s, and an FJ Cruiser. Clearance on either side of the vehicle through The Squeeze is measured in millimeters. All vehicles made it through with only the FJ receiving a couple minor scrapes.
Just down the trail the path turns right and leads to the next obstacle. This obstacle while not on the map posed a little challenge for our vehicles in the icy conditions. In the dry months the average 4×4 should be able to climb these rocks. This is a fun little challenge that leads to a tight canyon that requires enough attention to the boulders lining the road to keep the drivers focus.
The next couple miles lead the trucks over the ridges and through the valleys of the area offering fantastic views of canyons and mountain peaks. The next obstacle is encountered on the way up to a peak and was the most difficult of the day again due to the icy conditions. It consists of a short but steep climb up a grade which half way though contains a three to four foot rock face on the passenger side of the vehicle that must be overcome. Lockers in these conditions are required, and as a backup a winch is highly recommended.
Again, the trail winds through valleys and over peaks up until the final obstacle know as The Dropoff. Just as the name implies this is a highly steep down slope which requires using the vehicles 4LO setting in first gear as well as a downhill assist if the vehicle is so equipped. The top of The Dropoff poses the most difficult section. Immediately the vehicle slides into a deep hole on the drivers side front tire lifting the rear passenger tire several feet off the ground and giving the driver a feeling of falling tail over head with enough imbalance to give those watching outside of the vehicle the same fear. Working the brakes and inching forward the truck gets all four back on the ground and inches itself down the grade through a series of sliding on loose gravel and pumping of the brakes.
While the maps show this trail as one way between The Squeeze and The Dropoff there are people who have run it backwards. The top of the Dropoff has a spike which presumable serves as a winch point for vehicles to pull themselves up the grade.
Overall, this is a challenging trail especially considering the icy conditions we encountered.
Nissan Off-road association of the Southeast (NOAS) had our Fall Run on September 26th – 28th at Uwharrie National Forest in Troy, NC. There was a large turn out for this event. Approximately 40 frontiers, Xterra’s, Hard Bodies and Titans showed up. Along with 50 or so members and spectators attended the event.
Members and Spectators started to arrive Thursday afternoon. After setting up camp and enjoying lunch they headed over to Dutch John Trail Head and ran Rocky Mountain Loop and Daniel. It was still dry on the trail and traction was good.
Frontier
