SubaCool
Forum Member
This is not a trail i'd recommend for inexperienced drivers and if you don't expect damage. I've got the idea through www.traildamage.com after planning a trip with a fellow out-of-state OBW owner from www.subaruoutback.org forum that was in Estes for the weekend and wanted to try something more challenging than the Old Fall River road in RMNP. Well, I think we all got more than we bargained for, but we did it without any major damage and it was definately worth it. Btw, way harder than West Magnolia :ebiggrin:
Our small group consisted of me and my family in our 07 OBW, Eric and his boy in their 02 OBW, and my buddy Dave and his son in their 96 4runner. When we were airing down at the trailhead, we were parked next to some people that were getting their dirt bikes ready. This lady that looked like a real estate agent that was with the group (and wasn't riding) was surprised to see us getting ready, and has asked me if we were planning on going on the trail in our cars. When I told her yes, she was in shock (imagine eyes out of sockets) and all she could get out of her was "Really? There are some BIG rocks out there, I wouldn't even attempt it in my 4runner!". I started laughing and replied "I know, but there's always the way back if we can't clear them, right?" I think she got offended by that :ebiggrin:
Few yards into the trail we came to a big hill with the big rocks, and we did get a little worried (especially knowing that Eric didn't want to do anything hard, being 2000 miles from home)). But after Eric has said that he didn't think that looked too hard, we continued on. It was steep and bumpy, but we managed. At the top we got passed by a "tour bus" which was an old military 6x6 monster filled with tourists (we saw him 2 more times getting the thumbs up from the tourists).
The trail was full of rocks, deep ruts, sharp crests, and steep hills. It was definatelly a challenge and took us about 6 hrs to do the ~6 mile loop. There were only three really tough sections where we wished we hadn't tried it, but we did without major damage. The one we had the most trouble with was a steep downhill section with loose gravel and rocks and two waist deep holes (2 wheels rock, literally
). I got a scrape on the plastic under the driver's door (the mud flaps are intacked) and a severed trailer wire that was hanging under the hitch (my bad, but it was too long anyways), and a couple of hits into the skidplates (they don't even show, well worth the purchase!). I'm always more cautious in my wife's presence, but Eric scraped lot more (he drove more aggressively too) and he didn't seem to mind (everytime he scraped plastic he yelled "I don't need that anyways!"). My friend Dave was very impressed with the Subies (and so were we), he had some tough times going up some of the obstacles we'd cleared before him.
We've had a great time out there, was nice to meet and wheel with Eric, and it was a great all day adventure. Nice to see what our cars can do. I have tested my new Geolandars and my skidplates, and am very satisfied with my investment. I ran the tires at about 26psi all around and they seemed to hook and roll through everything with ease. I've also removed the rear swaybar which helped on some of the 2 wheel sections and it still allowed me to carve the twisties to and from Estes withouth much sway.
Our small group consisted of me and my family in our 07 OBW, Eric and his boy in their 02 OBW, and my buddy Dave and his son in their 96 4runner. When we were airing down at the trailhead, we were parked next to some people that were getting their dirt bikes ready. This lady that looked like a real estate agent that was with the group (and wasn't riding) was surprised to see us getting ready, and has asked me if we were planning on going on the trail in our cars. When I told her yes, she was in shock (imagine eyes out of sockets) and all she could get out of her was "Really? There are some BIG rocks out there, I wouldn't even attempt it in my 4runner!". I started laughing and replied "I know, but there's always the way back if we can't clear them, right?" I think she got offended by that :ebiggrin:
Few yards into the trail we came to a big hill with the big rocks, and we did get a little worried (especially knowing that Eric didn't want to do anything hard, being 2000 miles from home)). But after Eric has said that he didn't think that looked too hard, we continued on. It was steep and bumpy, but we managed. At the top we got passed by a "tour bus" which was an old military 6x6 monster filled with tourists (we saw him 2 more times getting the thumbs up from the tourists).
The trail was full of rocks, deep ruts, sharp crests, and steep hills. It was definatelly a challenge and took us about 6 hrs to do the ~6 mile loop. There were only three really tough sections where we wished we hadn't tried it, but we did without major damage. The one we had the most trouble with was a steep downhill section with loose gravel and rocks and two waist deep holes (2 wheels rock, literally
). I got a scrape on the plastic under the driver's door (the mud flaps are intacked) and a severed trailer wire that was hanging under the hitch (my bad, but it was too long anyways), and a couple of hits into the skidplates (they don't even show, well worth the purchase!). I'm always more cautious in my wife's presence, but Eric scraped lot more (he drove more aggressively too) and he didn't seem to mind (everytime he scraped plastic he yelled "I don't need that anyways!"). My friend Dave was very impressed with the Subies (and so were we), he had some tough times going up some of the obstacles we'd cleared before him.We've had a great time out there, was nice to meet and wheel with Eric, and it was a great all day adventure. Nice to see what our cars can do. I have tested my new Geolandars and my skidplates, and am very satisfied with my investment. I ran the tires at about 26psi all around and they seemed to hook and roll through everything with ease. I've also removed the rear swaybar which helped on some of the 2 wheel sections and it still allowed me to carve the twisties to and from Estes withouth much sway.
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It does give a good idea of what lied ahead though
Looks like you folks were having a ton of fun.
But Noooo, somebody had to go on a motorcycle trip 
