It was a hot, humid summer day; the kind of day when most people choose to enjoy their air conditioning or a swimming pool. But not this group. Instead, we sought to endure the heat and enjoy the pleasures of off-road driving. And so, on Saturday the unlikely grouping of 3 Explorers, a Mountaineer, 2 Jeeps, a Chevy K-5 Blazer, and a Humvee met in the parking lot of Command Enterprises, a moderate sized machine shop in central New Jersey.

Our original plan was to travel to the Pine Barrens Forest in New Jersey on the first day, followed by some serious muddy hill climbing at Pendell, Pennsylvania on Sunday. However this was not to be, due to the absence of our Pine Barrens guide. It was quickly decided to travel to Pendell on Saturday and do the Barrens on Sunday instead. The plan worked well, as everyone enjoyed wheeling that weekend.

Pendell

Before crossing the water, we stopped to regroup and show off a bit, as J91 does here:

Tank led the way across the water in his Humvee, making it look like a dance through a puddle.  The Humvee is an amazing vehicle.  16” of ground clearance, a nearly unbreakable chassis, and a knarly sounding diesel engine (with propane injection when needed) are just some of the factors that made watching this vehicle a thrill.

Once on the other side of the water, the fun really began.  Immediately after leaving the stream, a fairly steep, rutted hill presented itself, which required the right combination of momentum and a good line. This posed a bit of difficulty to a couple of drivers including the youngest wheeler, Metjeep's daughter. It should be noted that she had just gotten her learner’s permit a couple of weeks before this run, so she was truly a newby. Nevertheless, she gained some excellent experience including how to hook up a tow strap. Shown assisting her is her brother.

EMStaxi's AWD Mountaineer got the honors of pulling the 91 Explorer up the hill.  The AWD Mountaineer did much better than was expected off road.  While lacking a low range, the V-8’s healthy torque had no trouble producing enough power to move the Mountaineer.  It was the lack of ground clearance that proved to be the weak point for this vehicle though.  Nevertheless, EMStaxi powered it through numerous areas that many would prefer to avoid.

One area that wasn’t passable in the Mountaineer was a huge mudhole nestled under the trees in an otherwise flat part of the trail. After watching the Humvee power through this deep pit, EMStaxi took a shot at it.  It proved too deep for the unlifted vehicle and proceeded to consume the front half of the Mountaineer into its sticky web of goop.

Two different vehicles attempted to pull EMS out.  First, an unmodified Jeep with street tires made an attempt but could not get adequate traction. Then I took a shot at it since I had never had the experience of pulling someone out of a mudhole. This also gave me a chance to soil my previously unused strap.

After 3 or 4 unsuccessful tries, I finally gave an adequate tug and got the Mountaineer moving again. My strap will never be the same.

After successfully extracting EMS, we turned to watch Tank showing off the attributes of the Humvee.  As I said before, it is an amazing vehicle. What it lacks in articulation, it more than makes up in stability and ground clearance. Lifting a wheel is neither unusual nor troublesome for the Humvee. With its torson differentials, a quick, light application of the brakes made it act as though it had lockers front and rear.

Tank’s next trick was to attempt the hardest hill in the area, what I’d call “mud hill”.  At the base of the hill is a deep pit of mud, after which a steep 25 foot climb is encountered. Even with the excellent tires, it took a few attempts to get up the hill. Part of the problem with this hill was that you needed some momentum to get up, but the mud pit at the bottom prevented one from gaining enough speed.  Lots of throttle and mud-slinging wheel spin were necessary to finally make it.

EMS made a noble attempt at the same hill after Tank made it to the top.  Again, several attempts were made trying to find the exact mixture of speed and traction.  Unfortunately, the mud proved too deep to allow sufficient momentum for the Mountaineer. So, although he made it through the mud at the bottom, the best the Mountaineer could do was get about halfway up the hill.  This is also where it sustained some cosmetic front end damage.  The huge mud hole had nearly swallowed his front air dam.

After seeing what the mud hole did to EMS’s ride, and not wanting to damage mine, Metjeep and I decided to take an easier route to the top where the mud wasn’t so deep.  Although it wasn’t deep, the mud was as slick as elephant droppings. I made the first attempt.  My first approach was too slow, and I had to back down and try again with some speed.  So much speed, in fact, that Metjeep claims that I had a front wheel in the air as I passed over a large rut on the way up the hill.

Metjeep took the second shot at the hill once I had turned around and gone back down.  It was either his experience or his learning from my efforts that allowed him to climb the hill on the first try. He kept plenty of momentum to make it over the rut and up the rest of the way without incident.

After Metjeep and I finished playing on the hill, J91 decided to give it a try. Decent articulation and driver skill made short order of the climb to the point that it almost looked boring for his lifted rig.

Before crossing the river back to the other side, Metjeep's daughter who had found yet another way to the top of the hill decided to come back down the same route that Metjeep and I had climbed.  Knowing that she had little experience (and I suspect with some influence from Mom who was also in the car), she prepared the vehicle by attaching the tow strap to the front of the vehicle and tying it off to the roof rack.

And, of course while Metjeep and I were looking for Kodak moments at our trail, we heard the unmistakable roar of V-8 power.  When we turned to look, Eagle had already made it to the top of mud hill.  Unfortunately, one Kodak moment had passed us by. 

Once Metjeep's daughter had successfully descended the hill, we crossed back to the other side of the stream.  It was there that we took a variety of challenging trails complete with deep ruts of mud.  One of the trails had us making a hard left turn followed immediately by a deep muddy rut. Too fast and you wouldn’t make the turn; too slow and you would be stuck in the rut.  Everyone that tried it made it across. Higher challenges awaited those who dared.  Eagle was one such person.

After about an hour of trail riding on the “home” side of the water, hunger became the general consensus.  It was at this point that we decided to break for lunch with the exception of EMStaxi and his friends from work who had to get back to their home town.  It was quite a sight when 6 muddy vehicles pulled up in the parking lot at the local mall.  Heads turned.

Lunch was enjoyable.  We deliberately found a restaurant that was dimly lit so that we would not stand out as the muddiest group in the mall.  The trendy restaurant not only served very good food, but also provided some entertainment.  The theme was a jungle setting with trees, waterfalls, and various jungle animals including apes and snakes scattered about the place.  Periodically, certain special effects would occur. The apes would begin chanting, a lightning storm would fill the psuedo-sky, or different animals would make their peculiar sounds. The young ones in the group especially enjoyed the colorful ambiance.  All in all, it was an enjoyable lunch.

After lunch, Metjeep and myself decided to go back to Pendell for a couple more hours of wheeling pleasure. Our travels took us mainly down some unexplored narrow trails, where I earned some mild trail pin striping. Numerous small mud pits presented themselves as obstacles, but with adequate momentum, none were impassible.  The most notable event of the after-lunch journey was when I suddenly found myself blazing a non-existent trail. The problem came when I realized that it wasn’t the trail I had planned on taking.  When attempting to back out, I scuffed my right rear fender flair on a small tree.  No major damage, but more free pinstriping that later needed to be rubbed out.

Pine Barrens

When I arrived at the meeting spot on US Route 206 near the ranger station, Metjeep and his son were waiting for me.  Eagle was scheduled to accompany us in his K-5 Blazer, but he had encountered serious engine trouble and could not make the trip.  My plans were for a half day of wheeling, followed by lunch then the 8 hour trek home. After a short wait for Eagle, Metjeep and I set out for the trails.

Although the area was experiencing a dry season, there were plenty of sticky mud holes along the trail. Each required the appropriate amount of momentum and wheel-spin, while taking care not to approach with too much speed. The mud presented a great resistance to forward progress; more so than the ordinary mud encountered at Pendell. This was due to its thick consistency along with the high water table. As I learned a bit later, if you dug a hole in the sandy muck, it would quickly fill with water, creating a very slippery goop that resisted all attempts at traction.

After encountering several small mud holes, we approached one rather large marshy pit. Metjeep, who was leading, stopped to discuss it. He admitted that he had always taken the bypass on this obstacle in the past, but felt that since it had been dry of late, he thought he would try it.  I waited behind, as he plunged into the 50 foot long bog.  He was about ½ way through when his forward momentum stopped.  After a brief attempt at moving in either direction, he decided that he would only dig his Jeep in further if he tried to move, so he instead asked me to take the bypass and back up in front of the bog to pull him out as we had planned.

This was where things got real interesting.  I proceeded around the bypass and positioned myself to back up to the front of the bog so that I could reach Metjeep with my strap.  As I backed up, I had to drive through a smaller mud pit to get to dry ground in front of Metjeep's bog.  It looked so innocent. Unfortunately, I had insufficient momentum to get through the harmless-looking pit and my backward momentum stopped.  Now, having driven in plenty of deep snow, I did not see this as a problem, and decided to rock the Explorer out. Unfortunately, no matter how deep snow gets, there’s almost always solid ground underneath the white fluffy stuff. However, with this terrain, there is no solid ground underneath.  Only more gooey, sandy muck. So, my efforts to rock out of the bog only succeeded in burying the Explorer deeper with each change of direction. The next thing I knew, I was buried up to my skid plates with the tires freewheeling in the cement-like mud. To further the situation, the holes that I had dug with my tires quickly filled with water, making things even more slippery. I was hopelessly stuck as was Metjeep.

Getting unstuck requires a great deal of patience and persistence, and I am thankful that Metjeep exhibited both qualities. The thoughts in my mind were finishing out my life living off nuts, berries, and pine needles, hopelessly stranded in the forest.  But, Metjeep came more prepared than I and had a great deal of recovery equipment available. Being more experienced, he knew what to expect and had packed accordingly.

Upon my getting buried in the muck, Metjeep quickly produced a 4000 pound hand winch and proceeded to hook it up between my front hitch and a nearby solid tree.  We cranked the winch as tight as it could be taken, then tried to move the Explorer forward. Imagine dragging an Explorer through the mud without the assistance of its wheels, which were no longer touching Terre Firma. 

Three attempts yielded only about 3 inches of forward progress, so we decided to try a different approach. We took the winch and connected it between Metjeep’s Jeep and my Explorer with the idea that whichever vehicle came out first would be used to extract the other one.  The Explorer, despite being left in neutral, did not budge, but the Jeep did.  Metjeep had had the foresight to not dig himself in once he had lost forward momentum in the pit, so he wasn’t quite as buried as I was.

It took some time to extract the Jeep, cranking the winch tight, then pulling forward a few inches, but each move took the Jeep closer to firm ground. Metjeep’s son stayed behind the wheel of the Jeep while he and I took turns cranking the winch. It took about 7 cycles of winching and driving, along with a couple of different combinations of 20 and 30 foot straps to extract the Jeep, but we got it out. 

Once the Jeep was out, Metjeep bypassed my bog and pulled the Jeep out in front of the Explorer so that he could strap me out.  Several tugs on the Explorer produced absolutely no forward progress, so we had to again resort to Metjeep’s immense collection of recovery resources. It was time for the high lift jack. 

Our plan was to jack up the Explorer and place some wood pieces under the rear tires to gain traction. Unfortunately, since the back of the Explorer was laying on the ground, there was no place to put the jack where it could reach under the rear hitch. So, out came our shovels (one of the few tools I did bring). We quickly dug a hole behind the rear bumper of the Explorer so that there was a place to put the jack.  Once dug, we jacked up the back of the Explorer, enjoying the giant sucking sound of the tires pulling out of the mud.  Piles of broken tree limbs and other wood debris were placed under each rear tire to lift it up off the ground.

Once we had a sufficient amount of wood under the rear tires, we let the jack down and removed it from the rear of the vehicle.  It was show time. With Metjeep pulling from the front and the Explorer utilizing its new-found traction, we pulled it out. Looking at the impression that the Explorer made in the mud, Metjeep commented that “It looked like a perfect sand casting mold for the differential pumpkin.”. 

The remainder of the trail was relatively uneventful, with numerous small bogs that were crossed with sufficient momentum as well as the traversing of an errant log or two that had found their way across the trail. We finished the trail in a hungry state, so it was decided that we would break for lunch.

Pick-a-Lillies is a small Restaurant/Bar located about 3 miles north of the Ranger station on US Route 206. Although it is not extremely fancy, it was clean, friendly, and dark enough inside that other patrons could not see what a muddy mess we were. They also served their famous Piney Burgers.  Metjeep, his son, and I enjoyed our meal, as well as our discussion of the weekend’s events including “the big stuck”. 

After lunch, I started on my 500 mile journey back home, taking with me the fond memories of a great weekend of fun in the mud.  It was an enjoyable time, spent with good friends enjoying good wheeling and some good food. I got good and dirty, I finally soiled my tow strap, and I had the opportunity to see how some of our east coast friends enjoyed the off-road experience. Overall, it was a great trip.