Welcome to the Official SoCal BS/ Shenanigans, Tundras and What’s Happening Thread

So i did get to go explore some muddy hills yesterday after all. Went from Banning up to Idlewild almost but then it got too wet. Well this is what happens when you take a 2wd Chevy on a slippery and muddy trail. You have a 4x4 Tundra pull you out. Me and my Jeep buddy came upon these two guys who both had 2wd trucks. One was stuck in a ditch and the other truck came to help his friend but got stuck himself. Forgot to get a video of it but my buddy snapped a shot of it. This was just at the beginning truck trail part which was surprisingly very slippery yesterday.

 

Looks familiar ... is this where you can do some bang bang action?

 

Cool you got out to play in the rain yesterday, Daniel! Do you mind sharing what routes? I'm putting together a SoCal Shenanigans run in that Idyllwild area; wanna know what you know.

 

Hey all. Just checking in after helping Deadman Offroad all weekend at Overland Expo West in windy (and snowy) Flagstaff, AZ. Pretty amazing weekend -- a must for everyone here to attend at some point.

I met a lot of really great folks and saw some awesome products. The overland community has so many cool people and SoCal was well represented by vendors and attendees (sadly the Taco-to-Tundra ratio was like 7:1).

Since I was working in a booth, I didn't have a ton of time to walk around. Fortunately, Deadman is getting much-deserved recognition so many of the big names in overlanding stopped by our booth for a chat. Some of the highlights included meeting YouTubers:

• Ronny Dahl (and his mates Torbes and Amalia) from 4 Wheeling Australia
• Kevin and Sarah from Lifestyle Overland
• Marco from Overland X
• Brad from Trail Recon
• Justin from Patriot Trailers
• Fred from Dirt Everyday (Motor Trend Channel)

I got some solid product advice from the @TOTAL CHAOS booth, thank you. I also ran into one of @eccracer104 's colleagues at Auto Anything who hooked us up with a discount. One of the many highlights was meeting the guys at Off The Grid Apparel whose products I really liked -- turns out they're located only a few off-ramps away from me in Escondido (support local business!). Thanks to Tepui Tents, Fox Shocks, and Trager Grills for the after-parties!


Add'l photos coming soon.



(Was that Icon who was driving Xpedition Overland's new Jeep pickup back to SoCal for some...upgrades??)

 

You must have met Jeff! Super cool guy, drives a Land Cruiser.

 

A few photos I took at OXW:

 

Last bunch:

 

Yes sir before you hit the National Forest Service land you go through BLM land. Tons of spots to go bang bang out that way. Sad to see all the damn trash though.

 

Hey Sam was it your first time going to OXW? It is a must do event? It looks like it but also seems to be growing so dang big. It is on the books for next year for sure but just so close after T2S i could not afford it this year.

 

I forgot record my track sunny but let me see if i can draw someething up.

 

Thank you! I don't know if you do regular old maps-? Just knowing which roads you took that were passable, will help. Like, this morning, Sam found a posting that Bee Canyon (5S07) is closed for a year following recent rain damage.

 

Yes Bee Canyon is closed due to a wash out, sam is right on that. That was the trail i was going to do Sunday since it is a trail that takes out right up to Idlewild but i ended up on the Banning side. Definitely a lot of small trails on that side that lead to no where. Let me try to get a list of these trails we did Sunday for you this week but i do have a busy week at work so it might take a little.

 

How hard is the Anza trail that leads to those big metal sculptures(I think that’s what they are called?)

 

Most of the metal sculptures are on flat dirt

 

So my mall crawler shouldn’t have a problem then? Lol

 

Correct.
When are you thinking of going? I'll ride with ya if I'm free.

 

It might be the first week of June if it’s not tooo hot. But probably will be like a Wednesday or Thursday since I have that week off.

 

OK I work Mon-Fri so that work for me

 

When you absolutely must carry every conceivable piece of gear for outdoor activities...

seriously that is so ridiculous im not sure where to begin.

 

when you accidentally photoshop your jeep and make it too long

 

Just needs a couple of kayaks on top of the RTT.

 

dont say things like that or they just might....

i swear the "overland" crowd has gone a little too far with that kinda crap

 

I’m off that first week of June so lemme know Tony!

 

Who needs skill, knowledge and experience when you can just buy all the accessories?

 

Don't be silly, you're no overlander!

 

Yup, you could park your truck just about anywhere in the valley just past the Visitors' Center, stand on your tailgate with binoculars, and scan across the valley to see all of 'em, then just drive as you like. Most are close to pavement. But if you go out that way (especially if you have a buddy with another truck go with) you could venture to Sandstone Canyon (no pinstripes) and that would be off-road.

Absolutely!

Whats funny is, I'm not exactly sure what "overlander" actually means. If it means leaving the path to thrash through bushes, that's never my intention (I'm pretty much a hippy ), but if I'm going too fast to make a neat turn in the tracks...


well... maybe a few bushes.

 

My interpretation of it is:
Someone who is "in" for the fad.
Buys for the look, no idea how to use a majority of the crap strapped to their vehicle, sticks to grated fireroads, takes 300 pictures of their vehicle on their 10 miles journey.

Essentially an "overlander" is a "poser", just there for the glitz and the glam. Also the person you'll find off trail for a better pic for the gram.

Some of our socal crew may have the overlander look (ex: all the gadgets and doo-dads) but we're all here for a good time, explore the outdoors, challenge ourselves and learn. Oh and enjoy good company and even better beers!

And never forget TREAD LIGHTLY leave no trace!

 

Same here: guilty.

 

Truth: brought to you by @eccracer104

Gotta admit, what little I know about recovery was learned first-hand. Nothing tops real-world experience.