Looks like that was a good, fun, rocky, muddy trip!!!
Awesome job climbing the rocks.:ebiggrin:
Thanks carljwnc! The Forester wanted to show those Jeep guys that it can play too, hahaha.
Middleagesubie, my Forester has the VDC system, which is open diffs with wheel braking. I off road with the VDC off which disables the throttle cut of VDC but still allows the wheel braking.
The main challenges I faced was the fear of bottoming out. That influenced the lines that I chose to take causing me to get stuck on the first section of the muddy trails and having to back up. I took a different line and got through that section with ease.
The car did very well on the steep short climbs. As long as I was steady on the throttle it would climb up all of the hills on the trail.
My fear of bashing in the oil pan because I do not have a metal skid plate also influenced a lot of my lines on the trail. If I had a bit more ground clearance and some under armour I would probably drive directly into those deep ruts.
With my tires (Cooper Discoverer AT3) I could drive over the mud or water holes without fear of getting stuck.
The climb out of the level 3 trail was a combination of wet dirt and rocks. It had rained the day before and everything was slick. I did not damage anything fortunately, the reason I stopped during the climb was because my rocker panel was resting on a boulder. I had my friend put a rock between the boulder and my right rear tire so that I could climb over it but the wet dirt decided to kick me sideways to the left.
My coworker went down that trail a couple of weeks before and was confident that the Forester could make it through. When he went down there everything was still dry. An ATV driver mentioned that its was a lot harder with the wet dirt and rocks.
My skid plate fear was at a level 9 (out of 10) down in that trail, but the Fozzie got me out of there safe. My Forester has earned his spot in the garage.
