So, here's some pictures of my most recent off-roading.
You might think it was a bad experience getting stuck, but I'd been trying to find out just how much my jeep could handle for almost 2 years now. (And had not been able to until now.)
To begin with, allow me to introduce you to my jeep; a '97 Grand Cherokee (ZJ) Orvis Edition (which means it has all the options, including a V8)
Here's my first major obstacle; a relatively steep hill (for Florida) covered in extremely soft sand.
It wasn't a problem for my jeep:
Later, (or perhaps my memory is faulty and this was earlier) I turn around to head for another hill:
The next hill was, though not as steep, more challenging, and took two attempts:
Then I decided that I was done warming up and ready for the real challenge. It doesn't look bad, but this is usually underwater and it has a very soft, slippery texture. I wasn't worried about getting stuck; I had been through the same spot dozens of times (when there was more water).
I had almost gotten all the way through before my miscalculation caught up with me: this mud was actually worse when it was more dry than usual; it was still wet just a couple inches under the surface.
After struggling with it for a while, it became obvious that I had finally managed to get my truck thoroughly stuck. This mud was so nasty that I had trouble walking in it. I almost lost a shoe when my foot got stuck in it.
It has a happy ending after all, though. It required a heavy truck with a winch, but I did get pulled out. Now I have the valuable knowledge of just what my truck can handle.
You might think it was a bad experience getting stuck, but I'd been trying to find out just how much my jeep could handle for almost 2 years now. (And had not been able to until now.)
To begin with, allow me to introduce you to my jeep; a '97 Grand Cherokee (ZJ) Orvis Edition (which means it has all the options, including a V8)
Here's my first major obstacle; a relatively steep hill (for Florida) covered in extremely soft sand.
It wasn't a problem for my jeep:
Later, (or perhaps my memory is faulty and this was earlier) I turn around to head for another hill:
The next hill was, though not as steep, more challenging, and took two attempts:
Then I decided that I was done warming up and ready for the real challenge. It doesn't look bad, but this is usually underwater and it has a very soft, slippery texture. I wasn't worried about getting stuck; I had been through the same spot dozens of times (when there was more water).
I had almost gotten all the way through before my miscalculation caught up with me: this mud was actually worse when it was more dry than usual; it was still wet just a couple inches under the surface.
After struggling with it for a while, it became obvious that I had finally managed to get my truck thoroughly stuck. This mud was so nasty that I had trouble walking in it. I almost lost a shoe when my foot got stuck in it.
It has a happy ending after all, though. It required a heavy truck with a winch, but I did get pulled out. Now I have the valuable knowledge of just what my truck can handle.
