Another great day outdoors! Tires range report

[Wambli Ska]

Spending a lot of time with granddaughter I started to feel like CPJ was going to start calling my Jeep a mall crawler... So had to go get some dust on it again.

Had the wife and dog with me, both big fans of the outdoors life in the desert and always eager for trail time. We followed some trails we’re familiar with for a while and then went totally off road on to a dry creek bed and followed it to where the boulders were bigger than I care to play with. I'm feeling a lot more comfortable tackling more challenging terrain with the new tires.

The new Falken Wildpeak A/T4W are excellent tires!!! They grab on to anything like an octopus and go through sand like it's not even there. They have GREAT road traction and a nice quiet road/highway ride too, and so far after a few months and many miles of sharp rock trails, ZERO cuts to the threads! The darn things still look like new, just really dusty. The 2" leveling kit I installed in the front makes a big difference in the approach to steep banks and smaller rocks and makes the jeep look better without the factory rake. Zero rubs on the 285x34" tires. I highly recommend this setup and tires.

Anyway my wife was giggling like a little girl through the whole ride and she proved to be a darn good spotter too! Dog was in her element especially when we go fr short hikes and she's off leash. She's the perfect hiking dog. Walks about 15-20 feet ahead, stays on the trails and stops to make sure we are still with her, and if I say "Too far" she'll turn around and come right back to us.

Definitely NOT the mall!

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The mellow part of the creek bed

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Vegas Strip way out there!

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The side of Red Rock not that many get to see. No gate and lines of cars to get in through the back door!

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Everyone happy!

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[Japhy]

So did you finally run the latest 1911?

[Chiro1989]

And all this leads to hunting?

[Wambli Ska]

So did you finally run the latest 1911?

Nope, taking the doggie for a ride and shooting guns don’t mix.

[Wambli Ska]

And all this leads to hunting?

It will…. Right now it’s leading to finding land to potentially buy by BLM land.

[rberg]

Looks a bit like the country side I grew up in minus Las Vegas in the back ground.
Always nice to get out and explore.

[Wambli Ska]

Looks a bit like the country side I grew up in minus Las Vegas in the back ground.
Always nice to get out and explore.

Yes it is. It’s always funny to feel like you’re in the middle of nowhere and then come around a canyon and see the city in the distance. Not used to that hard demarcation where you have developments until you go past a traffic light and then NOTHING!!!!! One of my favorite places to shoot on BLM land is literally right off Las Vegas Blvd which in the city it’s the strip but south of 215 civilization disappears quickly and it turns into a 2 lane service road to Interstate 15. It’s weird… but fun.

[CPJ 2.0]

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[CPJ 2.0]

To be fair, this is Jerry Miculek leveling Jeeping.


But, it’s extremely fun. And expensive. Because you go out EXPECTING to break stuff. It’s not the build cost, it’s constant repair bills. And it’s NOT something you do in a new Jeep with a few aftermarket parts.

Of course you also aren’t going to drive a rig like this down the highway. Unless you have a death wish.

[CPJ 2.0]

I rode with this dude ONCE on the way back to the parking lot of the off road park after my buddies jeep took a dump. This guy is insane. We were as close to vertical (going up and down) as we could possibly be without flipping over. And I’m not certain we were not PAST vertical on the trip down a sheer drop. He just throttled out of it.

[Wambli Ska]

Yep that does look like fun. But my intent is getting away from the crowds in comfort for the wife, dog and I. We have a lot of beautiful and interesting places in the Western side of the country but the majority are inaccessible by car. The place we were at has two ways of getting in. The main gate with blacktop roads and parking lots at the trail heads which requires a pass (which I have for all national parks) and reservations to just get in on weekends, and then there are the "back" roads that are not maintained that are somewhat accessible to folks with 4WD but have many areas sketchy enough to send the guys in Explorers and RaV-4s into a swift U turn. That's my wheel house.

My Jeep while only slightly modified is well capable enough to get us past those sketchy places and on to the 90% of the park where there are no other humans so I can hang with the wife and dog, set up a small campfire and decide if I want to go home tonight or just stay the night under the starts in complete solitude. My goals are simple... I don't have the time or money to play with those dudes that want mud in the cab and broken axels, and it's not like I actually like a lot of folks to begin with so I have zero interest in some muddy safari with a bunch of other folks. But hey, to each their own, like I said looks like fun but a waaaaaaay different set of interests/goals.

[CPJ 2.0]

I had a YJ, wish I still did. My buddy was trying to enable me to build it up.
Noooooope. Then it becomes an expensive one trick pony.
I’m more your speed. Although, it’s fun riding around in someone ELSES bash em up Jeep.

[Wambli Ska]

I had a YJ, wish I still did. My buddy was trying to enable me to build it up.
Noooooope. Then it becomes an expensive one trick pony.
I’m more your speed. Although, it’s fun riding around in someone ELSES bash em up Jeep.

Oh hell yes! It's always more fun to enjoy someone else's spending fun money

[bullsi1911]

Everyone happy!
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The look on the dog’s face is “watch the road, old man!”

I do miss my old TJ. But the ‘Yota does what I need it to.

Looks like hall had a great time!

[Wambli Ska]

Yeah that exactly what doggie is thinking! She’s smart enough to think she should be driving

[Japhy]

To be fair, this is Jerry Miculek leveling Jeeping.


But, it’s extremely fun. And expensive. Because you go out EXPECTING to break stuff. It’s not the build cost, it’s constant repair bills. And it’s NOT something you do in a new Jeep with a few aftermarket parts.

Of course you also aren’t going to drive a rig like this down the highway. Unless you have a death wish.

With large enough tires and wheels and a vertically rotating seat rolling an off road vehicle doesnt really matter

[CPJ 2.0]

A short, painful to listen to video. Undercarriage? We don’t need that where we’re going. That’s at the off road park near me. Been a a whooooole bunch of years since I’ve been there. Wish I still had my old pics.

https://youtu.be/hVOLUNhoKuk?si=BD8ot6AAom5xSdtf

[Zee]

My feet work well enough. And cost less.

[Waipapa13]

My feet work well enough. And cost less.

Shanks' pony, by necessity rather than inclination.

[Wambli Ska]

My feet work well enough. And cost less.

I do a fair amount of hiking too and love it, but tough to carry wife, dog and camping gear 15 miles through the desert and into the mountains on my shoulders for a quick overnight fun trip.

A decent off road vehicle is the right tool for some tasks.

[Wambli Ska]

A short, painful to listen to video. Undercarriage? We don’t need that where we’re going. That’s at the off road park near me. Been a a whooooole bunch of years since I’ve been there. Wish I still had my old pics.

https://youtu.be/hVOLUNhoKuk?si=BD8ot6AAom5xSdtf

Damn! That was painful to watch… though it looks like fun