RubiAR
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So, as promised, this is my documented trip to Hot Springs this past Saturday.
We camped out Friday at the park campsite. It was just under $60 for a tent site. We stayed at T7, right on the creek. With an idea of how the sites are laid out, we'll pick another one next time as there was very little room to park. All of the other sites seemed a little better situated.
We sat up camp Friday at about 5 PM, got settled in and looked over the map and planned out our trails for the next morning. I caught a couple of the guys who had JTRs left over from the Jeep Jamboree participants and asked their opinions on what trails I could run with a stock setup. Basically as everyone else had said--stick with anything 3 and below if you don't have a lift, bigger tires or underbody protection.
We started early, got to the trailhead right at 9 AM. We picked up a bag of ice for snacks and drinks. We met a couple from Louisiana in a TRD 4 Runner at the registration building that asked to tag along and agreed two was better than one. We took some more difficult lines than they did throughout the day to see what the JT was capable of but we started and finished the day off together.
THE TRAILS:
We started on B1 (Bulletproof Loop), directly behind the registration building, and ended at Snake, then headed SW on Road 5 and then E on Road 2 to head back into camp. Below is a list in order of trails we took.
B1 (Bulletproof Loop) (1/2/2)
B4 (GC Challenge) (1/1/1)
B22 (Waterfall) (1/1/1)
Nothing really to note on the above 3 trails; a couple tight spots, but nothing you can't 3-point easily. This was a good warm-up and easy as expected.
C4 (Power Wagon Point) (3/3/3)
From the beginning of this trail on until the end of the day, we stayed locked front & rear with the sway bar disconnected.
We took our first damage on this one but it was unavoidable. The beginning of the trail goes into a narrow creek bed with a steep entry and steep exit with nowhere else to go. We accepted the risk and scuffed the rear left bed skid plate bumper and hitch. Shorter wheelbase would have been fine. I considered it rather ironically named as any Power Wagon would have had it worse. This trail is where I got familiar with the crawl function and how to adjust the speed in manual. Bottom line: I like it alot. It does make some interesting sounds that may scare off some from using. The guy I talked to from the Jamboree on Friday night had no clue what it was when I asked how he liked it.
C12 (The Zappasodi)
I don't remember much about this trail, so nothing to really worry about. Just take your time.
C13 Tail End (Pacos Tacos)
Headed NE on Road 5
F41 (Compass Canyon)
We ended up waiting on a large group at the exit of Snake at the beginning of F41 right after we turned off Road 5. There was a rock formation directly in front of my right tire that I had noticed as we were stopping and waiting for the group to pass; easily avoidable but forgot it was there once we got moving again. I dropped right off it, about 18 inches and caught the forward skid plate cross member and some minor dents on the exhaust. We carried over about a 150 pound rock and wedged it under the front tire, easily backing up and continuing around it.
F17 Tail End (Lashes Loop)
Headed SW on Road 1
Nothing to note here.
F12 (Lake Winder)
Got temporarily lost here, as there are more directions to go here than what are marked on the map; and as the name suggests, it's a little tight in some spots.
F17 Beginning (Lashes Loop)
F19 (Snake) First BoH
Snake has some more technical obstacles that if you didn't have any choice to go over, the trail would definitely be rated higher. If you have a Rubicon and a decent understanding of AoAs, there's nothing to really be afraid of here. I believe we reached pitches around 22 degrees. Nothing significantly hard, but we did slip in one area as it had rained Thursday and Friday, and our tread was pretty packed with mud at this point. Toward the end of the trail we had a solid rock embankment on a curve that the wife decided to get out, grab the dog and take pictures. As she did, we found our pup was getting motion-sickness and had thrown up in her seat basket. At that pointed, we decided that would be the last trail of the day for us.
From there we headed back to camp and got back about 3. We rested for the remainder of the afternoon and nursed our pup back to health. We will definitely be back very soon.
We camped out Friday at the park campsite. It was just under $60 for a tent site. We stayed at T7, right on the creek. With an idea of how the sites are laid out, we'll pick another one next time as there was very little room to park. All of the other sites seemed a little better situated.
We sat up camp Friday at about 5 PM, got settled in and looked over the map and planned out our trails for the next morning. I caught a couple of the guys who had JTRs left over from the Jeep Jamboree participants and asked their opinions on what trails I could run with a stock setup. Basically as everyone else had said--stick with anything 3 and below if you don't have a lift, bigger tires or underbody protection.
We started early, got to the trailhead right at 9 AM. We picked up a bag of ice for snacks and drinks. We met a couple from Louisiana in a TRD 4 Runner at the registration building that asked to tag along and agreed two was better than one. We took some more difficult lines than they did throughout the day to see what the JT was capable of but we started and finished the day off together.
THE TRAILS:
We started on B1 (Bulletproof Loop), directly behind the registration building, and ended at Snake, then headed SW on Road 5 and then E on Road 2 to head back into camp. Below is a list in order of trails we took.
B1 (Bulletproof Loop) (1/2/2)
B4 (GC Challenge) (1/1/1)
B22 (Waterfall) (1/1/1)
Nothing really to note on the above 3 trails; a couple tight spots, but nothing you can't 3-point easily. This was a good warm-up and easy as expected.
C4 (Power Wagon Point) (3/3/3)
From the beginning of this trail on until the end of the day, we stayed locked front & rear with the sway bar disconnected.
We took our first damage on this one but it was unavoidable. The beginning of the trail goes into a narrow creek bed with a steep entry and steep exit with nowhere else to go. We accepted the risk and scuffed the rear left bed skid plate bumper and hitch. Shorter wheelbase would have been fine. I considered it rather ironically named as any Power Wagon would have had it worse. This trail is where I got familiar with the crawl function and how to adjust the speed in manual. Bottom line: I like it alot. It does make some interesting sounds that may scare off some from using. The guy I talked to from the Jamboree on Friday night had no clue what it was when I asked how he liked it.
C12 (The Zappasodi)
I don't remember much about this trail, so nothing to really worry about. Just take your time.
C13 Tail End (Pacos Tacos)
Headed NE on Road 5
F41 (Compass Canyon)
We ended up waiting on a large group at the exit of Snake at the beginning of F41 right after we turned off Road 5. There was a rock formation directly in front of my right tire that I had noticed as we were stopping and waiting for the group to pass; easily avoidable but forgot it was there once we got moving again. I dropped right off it, about 18 inches and caught the forward skid plate cross member and some minor dents on the exhaust. We carried over about a 150 pound rock and wedged it under the front tire, easily backing up and continuing around it.
F17 Tail End (Lashes Loop)
Headed SW on Road 1
Nothing to note here.
F12 (Lake Winder)
Got temporarily lost here, as there are more directions to go here than what are marked on the map; and as the name suggests, it's a little tight in some spots.
F17 Beginning (Lashes Loop)
F19 (Snake) First BoH
Snake has some more technical obstacles that if you didn't have any choice to go over, the trail would definitely be rated higher. If you have a Rubicon and a decent understanding of AoAs, there's nothing to really be afraid of here. I believe we reached pitches around 22 degrees. Nothing significantly hard, but we did slip in one area as it had rained Thursday and Friday, and our tread was pretty packed with mud at this point. Toward the end of the trail we had a solid rock embankment on a curve that the wife decided to get out, grab the dog and take pictures. As she did, we found our pup was getting motion-sickness and had thrown up in her seat basket. At that pointed, we decided that would be the last trail of the day for us.
From there we headed back to camp and got back about 3. We rested for the remainder of the afternoon and nursed our pup back to health. We will definitely be back very soon.
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