Flagpole Knob via Union Springs 09/03/22

[NoSoGood]

@Rburns1776 I’m not entirely sure. I came in off route 33 and made one big loop all the way around. I left out of the backside of the big camp ground at the top and came to a part where there was a big rock in the middle of the trail, rock was probably a good 2-2.5’ tall. There’s a smaller rock on the right hand side that I tried to get in and my front passenger side tire slipped to the left back on the ground and my stabilizer was the lowest part landing directly on the rock. You’ll see my huge scratch mark when you go back out there. I’ll look at my maps and try to give you a better location.

I’d enjoy going out there with you guys, I had a fun time.

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[bd100]

Was just there in early December. I went up the Union Springs side and at the top I came across this big rock ledge step down. I stacked rocks and studied and came to the conclusion that my stock height jeep with 32s would just high-center somewhere or other, and I was alone and 800 miles from home, daylight was limited, and I had no idea if worse was ahead and I'd have to come back and do the same step in the up direction, so I turned around at that point. But the rest was nice. Used the Garmin Inreach to let my family know where I was in case something happened, and also when I got out, which was nice because there was no cell for most of the trail. I have some aluminum engine / transmission and transfer case skids which lose 1" clearance and touched ground a few times. Also have some recovery stuff but didn't want to risk damage and lots of work just to do a step.

 

[Rburns1776]

Was just there in early December. I went up the Union Springs side and at the top I came across this big rock ledge step down. I stacked rocks and studied and came to the conclusion that my stock height jeep with 32s would just high-center somewhere or other, and I was alone and 800 miles from home, daylight was limited, and I had no idea if worse was ahead and I'd have to come back and do the same step in the up direction, so I turned around at that point. But the rest was nice. Used the Garmin Inreach to let my family know where I was in case something happened, and also when I got out, which was nice because there was no cell for most of the trail. I have some aluminum engine / transmission and transfer case skids which lose 1" clearance and touched ground a few times. Also have some recovery stuff but didn't want to risk damage and lots of work just to do a step.

Thats awesome, i've been back up there a couple times since this trip myself. Personally I like it better closer to Winter as the views arent blocked as much. Always best to err on the side of caution, I use a SPOT messenger myself to stay in touch with the wife. How do you like the Garmin? curious as to which step you turned around at, was it the one in this pic? I usually take this line down it to stop my bumper from smacking on the passenger side

 

[bd100]

Yes that exact spot. My truck would have hung up on a rock slider either way I came down. Did that second vehicle in this picture go down that ledge?

Looking at some videos it appears that there were other harder spots further on, and I didn't want to get in a situation where I was trapped between two obstacles. I have a monster hand winch, but it's slow, and I hope to keep this vehicle long enough that my kid learns to drive stick with it. So the armor and such is just in case, not so I can try everything possible.

I have the Inreach Mini 2 so I can send a message w/o a smart phone. It is slow to enter a message, but doable. The buttons are very stiff which makes me wonder how anyone could actually hit the SOS if they are injured and weak. It can receive replies but they had better be pretty short or else they will be broken into a lot of short pieces, each of which costs one message. But they are cheap unless you are sending many per month. I used it several times to send updates to family, and it's also nice to have in rural places where cell services doesn't exist. Many places in W VA have cell only in town, for example.

And the paved mountain roads are crazy fun as long as nothing goes wrong. I wore down the shoulders of my tires a bit, but I figure I'll not be back for a long time so I enjoyed the sports car driving while I could. Held off another car for a while!

 

[Rburns1776]

Yes that exact spot. My truck would have hung up on a rock slider either way I came down. Did that second vehicle in this picture go down that ledge?

Looking at some videos it appears that there were other harder spots further on, and I didn't want to get in a situation where I was trapped between two obstacles. I have a monster hand winch, but it's slow, and I hope to keep this vehicle long enough that my kid learns to drive stick with it. So the armor and such is just in case, not so I can try everything possible.

I have the Inreach Mini 2 so I can send a message w/o a smart phone. It is slow to enter a message, but doable. The buttons are very stiff which makes me wonder how anyone could actually hit the SOS if they are injured and weak. It can receive replies but they had better be pretty short or else they will be broken into a lot of short pieces, each of which costs one message. But they are cheap unless you are sending many per month. I used it several times to send updates to family, and it's also nice to have in rural places where cell services doesn't exist. Many places in W VA have cell only in town, for example.

And the paved mountain roads are crazy fun as long as nothing goes wrong. I wore down the shoulders of my tires a bit, but I figure I'll not be back for a long time so I enjoyed the sports car driving while I could. Held off another car for a while!

The truck behind me made it down and back up later with no issues, its a stock Rubicon just for reference. There are a handful of obstacles past this with similar difficulty, but nothing too crazy. Union Springs I consider a stock friendly trail but in your situation being by yourself and running out of daylight i'd say you definitely made the right call, always better to be conservative imho

 

[3VOLVE]

Heading up on 31 December for an annual end of year ride with some of club members. Of course it will be weather dependent, but we have experienced so many various and challenging conditions on the most beautiful days to easy snow days. Looking forward to see what happens this year.

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