Does anyone know of any fun day wheeling near Truckee?

[Chamba]

Hi guys. We're in Truckee, Ca for 2.5 weeks and I rented a wrangler. I'd like to find a few day trails near by. I was hoping George or someone with local knowledge might know of a few.

Looking at Boca Hill or Hell Hole. Thoughts? Anything better?

Do I need to buy some kind of permit to wheel in California (it would seem very California that I would).

Thank you all in anticipation.

 

[sdsupilot]

On my bucket list near by are the Rubicon and Fordyce. As far as I know no one has ran the whole Rubicon yet this year on tires due to snow. Fordyce is probably a no go as well due to the water crossings. Very jealous you get to wheel out there. The Donner Pass area has some interesting history. Crazy to think of running through that area with a horse and buggy.

Found this link that has some good information about OHV groups and trails in the area.

OHV Routes around Donner Summit

OHV trails around Donner Summit. All the best routes, including Prosser Hills, Eagle Lakes, Fordyce, Chalk Bluff, China Wall. Trail maps.

www.arounddonnersummit.com

 

[Chamba]

I've done the Rubicon in my FJ40 20 years ago, but I'm not taking a stock wrangler on it sadly. Thank you for that link.

 

[gpassida]

Hi guys. We're in Truckee, Ca for 2.5 weeks and I rented a wrangler. I'd like to find a few day trails near by. I was hoping George or someone with local knowledge might know of a few.

Looking at Boca Hill or Hell Hole. Thoughts? Anything better?

Do I need to buy some kind of permit to wheel in California (it would seem very California that I would).

Thank you all in anticipation.

I'm on the road to Sisters, Oregon with the family for a vacation right now. So I don't have access to all my normal info.

You can do the Noonchester Mine Trail. It's easy but very scenic with a lookout at the top. You start it just before the staging area for the East side of the Rubicon trail - near Homewood. It's short but nice.

You can also run the Rubicon trail from that staging area to Observation point. That should be open now.

And no, you don't need any permit to wheel in CA! You need a campfire permit if you will use a stove or have a campfire. You can get that online pretty easy. Watch a short video, answer a few questions and its yours.

It's about an hour North from Truckee but you can do the Gold Lake 4x4 trail.

Have fun and post pics!

George

 

[Belizeit]

I'm on the road to Sisters, Oregon with the family for a vacation right now. So I don't have access to all my normal info.

You can do the Noonchester Mine Trail. It's easy but very scenic with a lookout at the top. You start it just before the staging area for the East side of the Rubicon trail - near Homewood. It's short but nice.

You can also run the Rubicon trail from that staging area to Observation point. That should be open now.

And no, you don't need any permit to wheel in CA! You need a campfire permit if you will use a stove or have a campfire. You can get that online pretty easy. Watch a short video, answer a few questions and its yours.

It's about an hour North from Truckee but you can do the Gold Lake 4x4 trail.

Have fun and post pics!

George

If you like great fresh jerky or pepperoni, there is a small store that’s well known there in town in Sisters. They also make really good sandwiches. Can’t remember the name, but Sisters is very small.

 

[Chamba]

I have to say that despite myself I really enjoyed the 4xe wrangler. It's the first automatic I've ever taken 4 wheeling and I have to say that that part of it really bored me to tears and takes out a whole element of challenge and fun from four wheeling. But the wrangler itself was incredibly capable and a lot of fun to use with the electric drive train.

I would never buy one of these simply because I can't get the electric with a manual. But I think I need to get a rubicon with the manual. Four wheeling with an automatic is nice and all but I just don't find it as pleasurable. Having grown up driving manuals off road I really find the automatic a bit boring. I like the challenge that the clutch provides on the rocks but more importantly, I feel like I have more control with a clutch. Granted the automatic means all you have to do is pick your line and give it throttle but I like the combination of clutch and torque; I feel like I'm more engaged with the machine and don't have to guess what the drive train is doing.

We only went out for about six hours today but we're going to do some wheeling every day so I will try many different levels of challenge. The rocks were a bit challenging for it given it just doesn't have the clearance; but it managed all the rocks with a bit of a smell of burning transmission fluid for incense.

I suppose my biggest lesson I can impart from this car is that one should never ever ever buy a rental......

 

[Chamba]

A few more

 

[Belizeit]

Even if you were electric, would there be much if any difference between a auto and a standard ? I’m talking wheeling in the rocks. With an electric motor there would be no stalling of a fossil fuel engine, whether auto or standard. So is there much difference ?

 

[Chamba]

I agree. Truly, other than the niftieness of cruising through the woods in silence, I like my combustion engines......

 

[Belizeit]

Silence is golden. I love to paddle around out in the swamps in complete silence and getting really close to the wildlife and listening, also is interesting with all the sounds

 

[Chamba]

Mind you, at full charge it'll only wheel for about 10 miles on fully electric in flat dirt or snow......

 

[ag4ever]

Have you been charging it or using esave to charge?

I have a 4xe and personally love it. Great power. I have about 8,000 miles on it with about 2,200 of those being ICE miles.

99% of the time the electric power is plenty, and I can get about 25 miles on a charge. I have not taken it off road yet, but plan to use it hunting this fall.

IMHO, there is no real reason to get a 4xe unless you plan to charge it as often as possible. If I did not want the 4xe, I would have gotten the 392, then the next choice would be a 3.6/manual.

And, last report I saw was 40% of wranglers sold for MY 2023 were 4xe. That does not look good for the future of manuals nor pure ICE wranglers.

 

[Belizeit]

ICE ?

 

[spankrjs]

ICE ?

Internal
Combustion
Engine

 

[Chamba]

I did charge it last night. The charge level dropped like a prom dress in 4wd, on the hills it dropped even faster. Within 5-ish miles (or probably less), it told me it was too low to use electric and that I needed to switch back to petrol. I will say that in the really steep climbs it was a bit underpowered on just petrol. Without 4WD low there's no way it could pull itself up more than 20° slope or so.

I think I need to buy a Rubi manual now while I still can.

Overall, really like the Wrangler. I like it a lot. Adding the third pedal will make it nearly irresistible to me.

Toyota now has the electric with the faux manual. I suspect that will really help expand electric cars in places like Australia and Europe where manuals still rule.

 

[ag4ever]

If you get a new 6 speed wrangler, look to put an aftermarket clutch in it, the factory ones are not good and some are catching fire.

 

[Chamba]

That's not good, but honestly does sound like a new Jeep thing. Maybe I'll need to go for another Tacoma manual instead.

I'm really just looking to get one semi-last new manual which I can pass on to my son in 3 years when he's driving..... but enjoy for myself until then. I'm just tired of my Silverado.

 

[sdsupilot]

Looks like you are having a great time. The 4XE is pretty nifty. Ample instant torque although honestly it can be a bit much with a Rubicon 4:1. You mentioned the ground clearance which IMO is the biggest drawback as the battery pack hangs low. I was a trail guide/lead at the Crossbar Ranch Jeep Jamboree. The VP of JJ followed in their vehicle (4XE Rubicon) on the first day. For the most part they were able to follow along without issue. One obstacle was quite a challenge and we needed to winch the 4XE over. It did get a bit of tree rash from the last attempt at the climb.

I would have a hard time selecting a power option. Crawling silently through the woods would be pretty neat.

 

[Chamba]

Spot on Mike. I used 4low far more often then I would have needed to on any other rig as it really needed that gearing to pull itself up things. With the bigger rubber on the Rubi it must really need that 4:1 low.

As for the clearance: similar to a Subaru, but the skid plates are fairly smooth so they slide well enough. Momentum is your friend in these on many obstacles.

 

[Chamba]

Have you been charging it or using esave to charge?

I have a 4xe and personally love it. Great power. I have about 8,000 miles on it with about 2,200 of those being ICE miles.

99% of the time the electric power is plenty, and I can get about 25 miles on a charge. I have not taken it off road yet, but plan to use it hunting this fall.

IMHO, there is no real reason to get a 4xe unless you plan to charge it as often as possible. If I did not want the 4xe, I would have gotten the 392, then the next choice would be a 3.6/manual.

And, last report I saw was 40% of wranglers sold for MY 2023 were 4xe. That does not look good for the future of manuals nor pure ICE wranglers.

I found I really don't like the way it drives with that regenerative braking, or esave. It's like driving a golf cart, where one almost never uses the brake. But if you let the battery get completely flat, which it does without that esave it really is fairly gutless.

So I've been using that esave just to keep enough charge in the battery that it can use that lower torque off the lights. I also found that using it on steep downgrades gets some recharge and acts like engine braking; but the problem is it doesn't work in 4low. So in order to get a bit of charge in the battery to take advantage of minimal amount of that low end battery torque you are very regularly shifting from 4 high to 4 low just to generate charge.

Overall, ironically, in order to take advantage of the electric system it is quite a bit more work than driving a manual.

Funnily enough, we are renting an airbnb here in Truckee. After two nights of charging the jeep through the night the property manager just called this morning because the electric was apparently skyrocketing and asked whether we were charging a tesla. Apparently there's something in our agreement that says we will not charge our car at the house. I love our modern surveillance society.

So I'm going pure petrol for the rest of the trip I guess. It truly is beautiful country or here.