Interesting Desert Vehicle spotting

"HammerheadFistpunch" (hammerheadfistpunch) 09/28/2020 at 12:35 • Filed to: Desert cars

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Some insights on desert vehicles. This trailhead was 8 miles down a fairly good dirt road, something you wouldn’t want a car on, but nothing you need 4wd for. SO much slow driving. I took the road at 30 mph, which isn’t blazing, but moving along and I passed so many SUV’s and crossovers doing 5. 5! That’s going to be a long road. I would venture to say we were by far the most outfitted vehicle, having traction boards, a radio and AT tires, which tells me this is a hikers trail and off-roaders aren’t stopping here. Makes sense, all the off-roading is further down this road.

This rav4 has a damage multiplier brush guard for some reason.

This is a CX-5 with the tires I’m ordering for the GX (and already have been running on the cruiser). They look great on a CX5.

There was a car show in town this weekend for homecoming. It was a trump flag no mask extravaganza, so we mostly steered clear, but we stopped by the car show and shine for a few minutes (with masks on). I’m not really keen on this era of cars and I don’t really love this kind of car show (oooh, a polished supercharger. How...um...useful.) but pretty cars are pretty cars and I liked this rat rod. At least they drove there. We followed these guys for 100 miles.

This helicopter landed right in front of us on the trail, bringing back some dehydrated hikers. I can’t imagine how often they have this flight...its probably regularly scheduled these days.

Water...you should drink it in the hot desert. I feel like movies should have had this drilled into us by now.

Jayvincent > HammerheadFistpunch 09/28/2020 at 13:00

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I’m a fan of Falken Wildpeaks for mixed use driving, nice choice!

E90M3 > HammerheadFistpunch 09/28/2020 at 13:02

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Bet this has done more offroading than 95% of Jeeps. 

HammerheadFistpunch > Jayvincent 09/28/2020 at 13:06

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yeah, I’ve had them on the cruiser for a few years and they’ve worn well and do well in most situations.

benjrblant > HammerheadFistpunch 09/28/2020 at 13:06

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that poor rav. why?

HammerheadFistpunch > E90M3 09/28/2020 at 13:06

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not in this area.

E90M3 > HammerheadFistpunch 09/28/2020 at 13:08

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I meant nationally. 

HammerheadFistpunch > benjrblant 09/28/2020 at 13:09

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sometimes I think people who watch TV and movies get the impression that the people who build “off-road” or “tough” cars for show are actually what a person should want on their vehicle so them emulate. I honestly can’t picture a reason to install a brush guard.

Want brush protection? put a film on the front. Want to keep brush out of your grill? Don’t put a threser  on the front, bush a mesh cover.  The metal of the brush guard 100% wont help you protect against anything more substantial than a person leaning on it.  

HammerheadFistpunch > E90M3 09/28/2020 at 13:10

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eh.  Jeep has stats that show their brand owners off-road rate is something like 60%...but its self reported.  I would guess wranglers generally are in the neighborhood of 60/40 on/off

BaconSandwich is tasty. > HammerheadFistpunch 09/28/2020 at 13:13

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I kind of understand the brush guard thing on the Rav4. For most people, it’s not about actually improving the performance of the vehicle, it’s about feeling like you’ve improved the performance. E.g.: higher seating positions in SUVs, regardless of whether they actually have any sort of AWD or 4WD system. People want to feel better. People want vehicles that feel more capable (even if the increase in capability isn’t there).

E90M3 > HammerheadFistpunch 09/28/2020 at 13:15

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I don’t believe that. 

HammerheadFistpunch > BaconSandwich is tasty. 09/28/2020 at 13:18

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I get that, but its still stupid.  All these do (speaking from experience) is turn a broken headlight into a broken headlight, a bend fender and hood, plus a throwaway brush guard.

HammerheadFistpunch > E90M3 09/28/2020 at 13:18

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just remember for every street driven wrangler in the east there is likely one out west getting beat up.

and 100 more > HammerheadFistpunch 09/28/2020 at 13:20

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As someone who grew up on a dirt road, please slow down. 5mph is excessively slow, yes, but going 30 just tears it up and makes it washboard and miserable to drive on, especially for people that HAVE to use that road.

And now the transformation is complete; I am officially my father now. Ugh.

WasGTIthenGTOthenNOVAnowbacktoGTI > HammerheadFistpunch 09/28/2020 at 13:22

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I’d guess 90% of Wranglers have been off roading less than 5 times in their life.

E90M3 > HammerheadFistpunch 09/28/2020 at 13:24

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I meant people who buy them brand new, but if it’s encompassing all the wranglers I’m more inclined to believe that number. 

BaconSandwich is tasty. > HammerheadFistpunch 09/28/2020 at 13:25

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I hear you.  I have a coworker with a Kia SUV, with a brush guard.  I have to laugh, because the brush guard looks all mean, but then underneath the tubing narrows down to just two little pinched joints with a single bolt on each.  In any sort of significant impact, that thing would fold right over.

Thomas Donohue > HammerheadFistpunch 09/28/2020 at 13:33

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That should be towed by this! (Oppo thread connector! )

newnamesameme > HammerheadFistpunch 09/28/2020 at 13:34

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Im pretty conservative when driving but even i do far more than 5mph on a road that has a CX-5 and a Rav4  at the trailhead. And a big yikes having to be airlifted! Dehydration is a killer and ppl are dumb and dont respect the desert.  

I was at the CO/UT border yesterday and the most tame vehicle i saw was a Chevy truck w/the Z71 package and (of course) a 4x4 Sprinter van. Every other vehicle i saw was some sort of decked out Jeep/Toyota/ZR2 something or other.

jminer > HammerheadFistpunch 09/28/2020 at 13:35

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That one on the rav4 is completely useless. I’ve had the big beefy frame mount ones on an old F150 before which are great at pushing through brush and small trees without breaking headlights and such.

I’m used to the midwest though where it’s wet and stuff grows fast and everywhere. There isn’t any benefit to running one out west though I’d think.

HammerheadFistpunch > and 100 more 09/28/2020 at 14:54

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This road is hard pack. No washboards. Also no reason to drive it except for recreation.

Also you can drive fast and not create washboards, it’s how and when you apply power or brakes

HammerheadFistpunch > E90M3 09/28/2020 at 14:57

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Likei said, it’s perspective. Id bet 90% of new  Wrangler buyers here go off road

HammerheadFistpunch > Thomas Donohue 09/28/2020 at 15:09

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Concure.  Make it happen!

HammerheadFistpunch > newnamesameme 09/28/2020 at 15:10

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over by fruita?  Yeah, the likelihood of built up off-roaders increases dramatically in that area.

HammerheadFistpunch > jminer 09/28/2020 at 15:10

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We had one on the burb that appeared pretty stout, but it didn’t do anything good for us, just make things worse.  Out here it just doesn’t make any sense.

HammerheadFistpunch > WasGTIthenGTOthenNOVAnowbacktoGTI 09/28/2020 at 15:15

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I think that’ s a common misconception. Not all Wranglers go off-road but many do and many do it alot. it’ s one of those things where a clean car on a street looks like a poser, but is probably actually someone who just likes a clean car.

I mean, our GX looks like every other blizzard white blond shuttle, but it’ s done some fun trails...we just keep it clean in between.

newnamesameme > HammerheadFistpunch 09/28/2020 at 15:29

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Yeah, i live in the Fruita area. I was at Rabbit Valley which is exit 2 on I-70 in CO. Lots of ATV/Dirt bikes there but i drove a few miles back to a trailhead and had a nice hike with views of the Colorado and pict ographs from the Natives with not another soul to be seen.

HammerheadFistpunch > newnamesameme 09/28/2020 at 15:31

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I like that area.  We bypassed it when we did the kokopelli trail but I’ve always wanted to go back.

E90M3 > HammerheadFistpunch 09/28/2020 at 15:41

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That’s fair.  

newnamesameme > HammerheadFistpunch 09/28/2020 at 15:57

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Dd you mountain bike that or is it drivable as well? I’m a pathetic cyclist so that’s out of my league on 2 wheels.

The 3 national conservation areas out here are real gems and seem to get minimal amounts of ppl. One of the main reasons for me moving here vs say Denver, really. 

Nothing > HammerheadFistpunch 09/28/2020 at 16:07

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I’ll probably try out the Falkens once the BFGs wear out. Not that I’ve had any issues with the BFGs on any of my vehicles. Less expensive and a C load instead of the E I’m currently running.

I saw an interesting vehicle this weekend I couldn’t get a picture of...a lifted Atlas on steelies.

HammerheadFistpunch > newnamesameme 09/28/2020 at 16:27

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we drove it, the 2 wheel and 4 wheel tracks aren’t the same but they overlap a lot.

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > HammerheadFistpunch 09/28/2020 at 16:42

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Nice brush guard

newnamesameme > HammerheadFistpunch 09/28/2020 at 17:12

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Cool, I had no idea. 

HammerheadFistpunch > newnamesameme 09/28/2020 at 17:22

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https://overland.kinja.com/kokopelli-a-step-over-the-line-1703953787

if you are interested.

newnamesameme > HammerheadFistpunch 09/28/2020 at 17:32

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cool, thank you. I will most definitely read it. 

DipodomysDeserti > HammerheadFistpunch 09/28/2020 at 17:36

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Is that the Wire Pass trailhead? I once saw an M4 on Rockhouse Rd which takes you up there from the AZ side.

A lot of people drastically underestimate how much water you should drink, mostly because they’re sitting around all day not actually doing anything physical.

HammerheadFistpunch > DipodomysDeserti 09/28/2020 at 17:37

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Indeed it was wire pass. Rockhouse road is the Utah name as well. We followed a few cars in...for a few minutes anyway. We thought about going into the cliffs area but with kids it was just too big a trip from Kanab.

As for water...I know this isn’t a scientifically sound assessment but I feel that growing up in the desert has trained my body (and my family) to need a little less water than people from lower, wetter areas. Then again, maybe Im just accustomed to drinking and don’t really think about it.  I took 3 liters on this hike but shared that with my 2 little girls.  For a 4 mile hike in the high 80's I feel like we did okay.

WasGTIthenGTOthenNOVAnowbacktoGTI > HammerheadFistpunch 09/28/2020 at 17:42

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Certainly could be.

I guess my anecdotal evidence says “90% of the people I know with Wranglers have never taken them off rood.”

I’m sure it’s different in the Southwest thanks to an abundance of off road land available to the public. It’s much harder to come by in MN. We have offroad parks, but most are for OHV, not trucks.