I've been in Moab Utah for the last two weeks and although Jeep week is over I am just getting settled in and rented a Jeep for 24 hours from a local outfit Barlow Adventures. This was my first opportunity to get off the paved paths. I'm not the biggest fan of heights so I skipped the Shaffer Trail. My wife, brother in law and spouse tackled that while I played with dog at our rental. They had a great 2-ish hours and I met up with them afterward near Dead Horse Point. We then did some more trails further away from the canyon walls. Lots of fun (one of them you cross a small creek multiple times). I feel bad because our 2021 Rubicon Wrangler with modest 2" lift and 35" tires was awesome and so much fun.
It made me think of how 99% of Wrangler owners never use them off road, a place they were so clearly meant to be. I mean on road it was better than I expected, even with the large tires aired down to 28. So imagine taking the plunge on a Wrangler, with admittedly some concessions to on road mannerisms, and not taking it off road. Either by choice, or because the local geography isn't conducive to off road driving.
Yesterday we rented Can-AM Maverick X3 RC UTVs and took on Finns and Things and Hells Revenge which are in a local state park. I'll post on that in a couple days but suffice it to say, WOW, those things are super capable. We did what I would have thought were impossible accents and terrain with relative ease. Even crazier, those same lightly modified (sometimes even stock tires) Jeeps were crawling up and down those same trails. The amount capability in Jeeps and similar off-road capable vehicles and not using it is like having a supercar and always keeping it under 50.
I guess those who use them in snowy climates get some use of that capability but even a foot of snow pales in comparison to the vast expanse available to those who really get to use it out in the wild.!! (/assets/uploads/files/1650640742679-img_20220422_091408-resized.jpg) image url)
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