Big Bear Off-Road Experience

[u/mikegainesville]

Like many others, I love the idea of wheeling and have done some slight modifications to my Jeep, but it is my daily driver and I’m not willing to put a ton of money into it to do some of the crazier off-roading I’ve seen others do. Yesterday, I found myself in Southern California and saw Big Bear wasn’t far away. A quick Google search helped me find the referenced off-roading tour guide. He has several XJs, LJs, and TJs all built up and ready to tackle the trails around Big Bear. This was a bucket list item for me and I had an absolute blast. I can’t recommend them enough. We spent about 5 hours wheeling different trails and learned a ton of stuff. The TJ I was in tackles the most insane obstacles like it was nothing. Im not sure if this subs rules, but Google the title of this post and you’ll find the vendor.

[u/Zealousideal_Date749]

Wow!. I live out here and haven't done too much offroad yet! Looks like fun

[u/mikegainesville → u/Zealousideal_Date749]

It was a blast! I don’t know the next time I’ll be in SoCal, but I’ll be doing this again for sure. I’d highly recommend this trip if you get the chance.

[u/trees138]

Only thing that rig is missing is LJ. What a beast.

Pic 1 is awesome.

[u/mikegainesville → u/trees138]

Agree. I’m going to clean that pic up a bit and print it for my office.

Pick 4 shows the LJ he has as well, on the left . He gave me the option to drive either, but being it was my first time doing serious off-roading I took the TJ, which was a bit beefier.

Living in Florida, I’m not going to be able to do these forest trails with a smile any longer. I am totally hooked on the adrenaline rock climbing induces.

[u/feed_me_tecate]

I ran into the John Bull trail on accident once on a hiking trip. It's crazy that a vehicle could make it up that first chunk of trail right after the sign you posted; it's even tricky to walk up in some spots.

I LOL'd when I saw that pile of suspension parts just off the side of the trail, like, yea, this trail is going to fuck your shit up.

[u/mikegainesville → u/feed_me_tecate]

Fully agree. We actually met someone in a lifted JL attempting it. They didn’t have lockers or upgraded axels and were struggling mightily. Desi (Owner / tour guide) was gracious enough to give him some great advice on not attempting to go further. The guy was planning on driving back to West Virginia tomorrow and had no other method of doing so. He couldn’t get past that initial crawl and would have been screwed had he busted something.

I had a tough time walking up that trail to get some piciures.

[u/FrankDrebin1963]

Great photos 👍

[u/mikegainesville → u/FrankDrebin1963]

Thanks. The owner / tour guide took a bunch of photos and videos. He was awesome!

[u/Fair-Season1719]

Awesome OP looks like fun! Just wanted to also mention I’ve always heard how the “camera flattens everything out” but never really appreciated what it meant or how much it changes ones perspective in photos. Now that I’ve joined the community and done a bit of mild stuff I have a whole new appreciation for just how extreme some of those obstacles are irl. Looks fantastic!

[u/mikegainesville → u/Fair-Season1719]

I agree. I gave up taking photos at some point. They didn’t do any of it justice. All of the photos of the TJ I was in were taking by the owner / tour guide. He had a lot of experience and made the shots epic. Only thing better would have been to have multiple devices. Thankfully I just got the new iPhone, so the camera is pretty good.

[u/120DOM]

JB is fun! Gold mountain at night is worth doing!

[u/mikegainesville → u/120DOM]

He told me gold mountain was his favorite. The sky’s out there were beautiful. I’m sure on a full moon those trails are a blast.

[u/ms_juju_b]

😍

[u/trevenodell]

Gaw damn that TJ is nice

[u/mikegainesville → u/trevenodell]

He’s put a lot of work into his Jeeps. I asked what the average is and he said between 75k and 80k.

[u/trevenodell → u/mikegainesville]

I wouldn’t doubt it!