Offroading with a trailer

WilliamA

I've been putzing with this particular thread for far too long and though it's not close to finished, I need to post it for my own sake. I might be adding more as I think of things....

Subtitle:
I took the road less traveled and now I'm completely lost...

I've been mulling over this post for some time now as I don't feel there is a lot of interest by percent of the audience, but have decided that, philosophically at least, there might be some useful information generated in the discussion. Who knows....

For my money, separating the travels from the traveller are more the work of poets than forum posters. I work to write informative technical posts but my heart yearns for an outlet to open the window of my minds eye for a picture of why I do that thing, not just how I do that thing. sigh... In any case, the case can be made that folks occasionally drag their treasures off of the beaten path in search of the stuff of Cervantes and Camu. It's not all about the glamping and socialization. At least, not for me it isn't.

First order of business is to define the size of the box. Offroading for many brings up the mental picture of dragging our stuff through swamps, deserts and snowdrifts that would stop the Donner party. For my intents, when I say offroading, I mean exactly that. Any time and any distance from the tarmac suffices to refer. If I'm sneaking through a pasture or logging road working down a bit closer to the river, that's offroading. I got over the need to rip my vehicle and contents to shreds in bogs and woods during my Army days. I've no need to cross a creek just so I can say that I did. But my adventures often take me onto some sketchy terrain. While Wisconsin is pretty much devoid of offroad courses in the vein of miles across the desert sort of stuff, there are plenty of logging trails, state and national forest roads and unimproved dirt roads that need some exploration. These off the path spots also offer, in some cases anyway, a good overnight boondock opportunity. State and National forest land offers lots of instant campsites and if one follows the guidelines of those organizations, a satisfying adventure not too far from more domestic digs. This is the sort of thing I spend my time with and, while I do love the grand circuits to the southwest etc, the lions' share of my adventures happen within a day or so from my current "base".

Offroad navigation for me is about using the same tools I'd use to go from town to town. 90% of my plans come off of a state or local map of town and county roads. For my initial plans, I like to pull up google maps or google earth and just pore over the particular stream or river I'd like to fish or camp, then zoom in and start looking for those little used logging roads or town roads. It's surprising (and a bit depressing to tell the truth) how little actual wilderness there is left once you start looking closely at satellite photos. Town roads zig-zag all over the place, cabins and getaways are ubiquitous and atv trails are everywhere. Wisconsin has a healthy history of deforestation and with that, came railroads laid as temporary highways for transporting logs out of the forests. Many of those are still apparent on the satellite photos, as are the myriad of "fire roads" put in by the associated government agencies. It's actually difficult to find a spot that doesn't have some sort of access within a mile or two of anything. To be sure, you can get seriously, dangerously lost around here, but you have to work at it. Another great source of info of course is the internet. I follow breadcrumbs to find all sorts of historic and interesting things. Towns that used to be, logging camps, old settlements and geological features are everywhere. Occasionally, an article comes up in the news that piques my interest and subsequent research not only finds that location, but also points to many other interesting things nearby that location. It's more often than not, more difficult to find something interesting to explore and discover that there's only one thing there. I'm still looking for the location of a sunken packet boat on the Chippewa River, but in the process of looking, have found not one but two abandoned frontier town sites. Often, NOT finding what you went to look for is just as rewarding.
Tool #2 in the offroaders toolbox...A 1:25,000 scale map. Like all paper maps, upgrading often is the right thing to do.

Tool #3 is my (now seriously out of date) Garmin GPS. Purchased on a lark from my son who won it on a raffle, it's still a good tool. Even when it doesn't show roads, it will give a good idea of proximity to roads or other features to keep me oriented. It's getting old enough to be more easily confused, so I guess we make a perfect couple. The GPS is on the dash, the trailer camera monitor is overhead.

Tribulations:

"Check for clearance, Clarence..."
Overhead Obstacles:
As the youtube generation, we tend to think in terms of more mundane hazards in our travels; Sleepy truck drivers, road-rage, zombies (most often they are the ones who just made your sandwich at the drivethrough) etc. Once you set foot (wheel?) offroad, it becomes glaringly obvious that some attention needs be paid to all of the dimensions, not just the slab-dimension. It's a given that more adventurous offroading implies acceptance of scratches, dents, muddy equipment and the like. Getting my Jeep under a tree limb is only the first half of the clearance issue. Not swiping my roofrack or lights or antennas off is the second part. One tends to get good at judging such things very quickly. Nevertheless, accepting that scratches and dents will occur is part of the process.

4 Wheel Drive:

My dad used to say that the only difference between 2 wheel drive and 4 wheel drive was how far you needed to walk in the dark to get some help.

For my money, you only need three things for proper offroading: Ground-clearance, ground-clearance and ground-clearance. This isn't to say that one can't explore offroad with a chevy caprice and a 40 foot airstream, but it's less anxiety provoking if one has a bit more airspace between the earth and the axle. I've had a vehicle or two with the now ubiquitous "all wheel drive" and at least one of those offered off-road capabilities on par with serious offroad rigs. The primary difference for me is low range. Low range is a giant leap toward the creeping, slow pace that most offroading requires. If one has all wheel drive but not low range, the road less travelled tends to remain less travelled. Low range is not only nice, it's pretty much a requirement for me. Often, I shift into 4 wheel drive low not because I need the 4 wheel drive, but because it's the only way to select low range. I like the creeping forward motion that the low range offers.
As an aside, of the two truly off-road capable vehicles I've owned was the Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk (a more or less front wheel drive variant with the addition of a transfer case) and it was, ground clearance aside, an offroad beast. I only peddled it because it fought constantly with my trailer. I didn't like the constant shifting and hunting for the "right" gear that the transmission just couldn't get right. If I didn't pull a trailer, I'd still have that one.

Getting out of trouble as quickly as you get into it.
This easy, hardpack trail eventually terminated in a pile of boulders, requiring a few hundred feet of back-pedaling to get out.

By that, I mean backing out. One of the surest, quickest ways to get good at backing up your rig is to sneak off the pavement. I often will exit my Jeep and do a walk-up of somewhere before venturing forward. Occasionally, the trail takes a turn for the worse without warning and I find that the only way back is to back out. It might be a ways to a spot wide enough for a turn-around. It's always good to constantly monitor the terrain for turn-around spots.

This steep downhill cowpath/unimproved town road took a hard right and terminated in a dry wash that I didn't feel comfy crossing. I back up, around the corner and up the hill a quarter of a mile before I could turn around.

One of the best and easiest ways to practice backing up is to get a length (16" or so) of 2X6 board, place it in the driveway or vacant parking lot, then spend some time backing one side or the other of your trailer up onto it. Start by backing straight onto the board, then put it at an angle left and right from the trailer and practice. The first time you try it, you'll think that hitting that tiny target in the rearview mirror with the trailer tire is nearly impossible, but it will re-program your brain from trying to back up the whole trailer in lieu of concentrating on getting a line for that one wheel. the 3 dimensions being what they are, if you can master where that one wheel is in your mirror, the rest of the trailer will generally follow it without you paying any attention. Just point that one wheel. Since it's a common thing anyway to have to chock a wheel in the campground, it's a great way to get better at backing and also have a reason to do it. Also, practice backing up and jack-knifing the trailer until it's as tight as you can go without hitting anything hard between the trailer and tow vehicle. It's easy to over or underestimate how tight you can cramp the trailer and the only way to get comfortable is to practice. Modern society has such an aversion to time-investment that we now provide "pull-through" only sites in RV parks so folks don't have to learn the basic (and in my mind, mandatory) skill of backing up your rig. Backing up is a skill acquired through practice. You don't need to attend truck-driving school to learn it. An empty parking lot with a couple of boards will do just fine. Practice....There simply is no substitute. It's not as difficult as many make it out to be and surprisingly easy to get pretty good at with a little practice. Oh yeah....I've been backing up trailers (farm equipment) since I was about 10 and am pretty good at it, but I don't feel as if my pride will suffer if I just get out and look when things get tight. You don't get points removed for that, but you do lose points for backing into things like picnic tables, rocks, logs, faberge eggs etc..... When it doubt, get out and have a look.....

Once you've gotten used to this as a backyard, it's difficult to get it out of your system....

For me, the lure of offroading is had by the big adventure/small package days of getting into beautiful spots that don't require an epic journey cross-country. To be sure, I love those, but my own reality is that the lions' share of my adventures happen a few hours at a time. It's all too easy to head on the grand adventure and end up passing by the local jewels that are an hour or less (for those of us lucky enough to be country dwellers) from our current home base. It takes a bit of planning and if done well, requires a bit of practice, but the end truly justifies the means....
Let's see....Where did I put that map.....

WilliamA

LuckyJ

That is again very good William. This is pretty much why I went back to backcountry travel from about 18 years of off roading ( talking here of hard core 4x4). Actually went back to what I wanted to do before getting into hard core off road, witch was adeventure travel. That inclued everething where the jeep can go, from 4 lanes divided highways, to single lane unimproved dirt and logging roads that must lead somewhere.

But for now, the suspension of the T@G (even outback) is in my mine, not adequate to do so but at a snail pace. I do not want to do it at pre-runner speed, but just a the speed of a trotting fox.

And I have always been a fan of the T-case, cause like you, 4 low is sometime, just to go slow and be able to drive in a more precise way, w/o slipping the clucth. That is right, I drive stick, but it also help any auto trans not to overheat, but you alsready know that.