How close to usual offroad spot(s) do you live?

[hinmo24t]

Hey everyone, have been looking at tool kits to keep in the 4r/rendering that down for weight/effectiveness, which brought me to the question: how close do you live to where you usually wheel/overland?

for me, i live in MA which is prob one of the worst cards to draw for wheeling or overlanding, but for me there is a silver lining lol...my house happens to be 10 mins from where there is one of maybe 2 or 3 legal full-truck offroading in the state, freetown state forest. theres a history of it being haunted/murders/sketchballs etc in there, which adds to the thrill of it (kind of like surfing with great white sharks, which i do in early mornings and near darkness in sometimes 15-20' of water (13' washed up on my local break one weekend we paddled out a few years ago)). there are about 4 main trails/roads in freetown and two of those are difficult if its been wet out. theres many illegal trails in that forest too which i plan to explore at some point but havent yet. i know of another illegal spot ive been going to for years and have my story (and $$) ready for the day we get caught. i grew up riding quads/dirt bikes with my dad and we had resources but this state is a major pain for wheeling and riding. was thinking about how a RTT might be cool for this state, because having my tent on my truck might add a few loopholes to where i could camp, such as the beaches i surf, etc. that are also close to my house.

how close are you to where you can wheel or offroad for hours, legally?

 

[Goldish]

Super close to the Pismo dunes, which means I can offroad and dodge Great Whites in the same session. Summer weekends and holidays in the sand are crazy busy. Safer with the sharks for sure.

 

[Inv4drZm]

Closest is 87 miles, 1.5 hr drive.

Need to find something closer.

 

[The_Perrycox]

I'm about 35 miles from Joshua Tree National Park, 65 miles from Ocotillo Wells, and ~75 miles from Anza Borrego. I am quite fond of living in the desert, aside from July-September heat.

 

[hinmo24t]

Closest is 87 miles, 1.5 hr drive.

Need to find something closer.

Damn huh?? I know you get out there though and looks quality. I havent travelled for camping or wheeling yet but plan to drive mt washington rd and camp this summer/fall.

 

[hinmo24t]

Super close to the Pismo dunes, which means I can offroad and dodge Great Whites in the same session. Summer weekends and holidays in the sand are crazy busy. Safer with the sharks for sure.

Nice! I somewhat knew it was sharky and it seems like a pretty wild place to surf...ppl surf a pier there right? I'm in MA but very close to and surf RI

 

[hinmo24t]

I'm about 35 miles from Joshua Tree National Park, 65 miles from Ocotillo Wells, and ~75 miles from Anza Borrego. I am quite fond of living in the desert, aside from July-September heat.

Sweet deal. Id be all over that and camping and backpacking scene out west as well as surfing. Ive come to enjoy the 4 seasons here a lot though and have a lot of that too; not so much desert. I have to ensure to get home in blizzards after surfing 3 hrs in sub zero temps in fact for years now. Our summer heat is very humid.

 

[Goldish]

Nice! I somewhat knew it was sharky and it seems like a pretty wild place to surf...ppl surf a pier there right? I'm in MA but very close to and surf RI

It's sharky but not too bad. Surf is decent. Nothing world class but we have our days... and it's fairly consistent. 4runner is good for driving down to the "poles", which are the mile markers on the part of the beach you can drive on and how you access the dunes. You must get some really cold winter temps on the East Coast.

 

[hinmo24t]

It's sharky but not too bad. Surf is decent. Nothing world class but we have our days... and it's fairly consistent. 4runner is good for driving down to the "poles", which are the mile markers on the part of the beach you can drive on and how you access the dunes. You must get some really cold winter temps on the East Coast.

sweet, there are some beach driving options on cape cod but its a PIA to get there from my house, super sharky now, and i have a few other options. sounds like your setup is fun for getting out there. i wish we had your continental shelf, because we only get good enough waves perhaps once every two weeks, when storms send ground swell its days of epicness, head + high and we surf over rock reef. ive surfed 15+ years and 10ish years, year around. not kidding, sub 32*water temps w the moving salt water, icicles on hood and beard, its no joke but we score surreal empty lineups and stay somewhat warma few hrs in the winter.

 

[Bluesky 07]

We in north Georgia are very fortunate in this regard. I'm 50 miles north of Atlanta and a terrific off-road park is 45 minutes west of the house. All kinds of forested trails are within reasonable driving range (1-3 hours). There is one place I've driven that I really wish was closer; the Condamine River Gorge near Brisbane, Australia. At 9,100+ miles, I don't get there nearly as often as I'd like. ;-) If I ever win the lottery, I will be shipping my 4R down under and driving every beach and track (as they say there) I can find.

 

[hinmo24t]

We in north Georgia are very fortunate in this regard. I'm 50 miles north of Atlanta and a terrific off-road park is 45 minutes west of the house. All kinds of forested trails are within reasonable driving range (1-3 hours). There is one place I've driven that I really wish was closer; the Condamine River Gorge near Brisbane, Australia. At 9,100+ miles, I don't get there nearly as often as I'd like. ;-) If I ever win the lottery, I will be shipping my 4R down under and driving every beach and track (as they say there) I can find.

hope you have a good snorkel for the last spot! ive seen some of your shots and the place looks like fun, and 45 mins isnt unreasonable imo.

so far i must admit, the responses have given me some perspective. the 10 mins and 40 mins for a few good spots for me are helping outweigh the usual envy on this site of the western offroad/land scene.

 

[Bluesky 07]

hope you have a good snorkel for the last spot! ive seen some of your shots and the place looks like fun, and 45 mins isnt unreasonable imo.

so far i must admit, the responses have given me some perspective. the 10 mins and 40 mins for a few good spots for me are helping outweigh the usual envy on this site of the western offroad/land scene.

I'm right there with you about the trails out west. I love what we have here but my bucket list includes getting the 4R dusty out there in Death Valley, Monument Valley, Moab, et al.

Drove the Continental Divide out of Breckenridge in a rented Jeep and that was awesome. Someday I'm just going to pack up, aim the truck toward the setting sun and go.

 

[hinmo24t]

I'm right there with you about the trails out west. I love what we have here but my bucket list includes getting the 4R dusty out there in Death Valley, Monument Valley, Moab, et al.

Drove the Continental Divide out of Breckenridge in a rented Jeep and that was awesome. Someday I'm just going to pack up, aim the truck toward the setting sun and go.

i hear you, id like to do that too but 2 years into 30yr mortgage hurts it a bit haha. i need to start taking week long trips out west out of my 3 weeks a year off

 

[Sam2393]

About 14 mins for me in Tucson AZ to redington road with lots of trails there. About an hour from backside of Mt Lemmon and about an hr and a half to Florence AZ for box canyon etc etc...

 

[snivilous]

We live in South Western Utah and moved here specifically for offroading/outdoor fun. There's a (dedicated) offroad area about 5 miles from my shop, there used to even be a WE Rock competition there. Then 30 minutes away there's hundreds of miles of trails. About 45 minutes away is Sand Hollow where Trail Hero is hosted and has everything from dunes to crazy buggy trails. Kind of any distance you want to travel there's some kind of offroad area.

With that said I still carry tools/fluids any time we go offroad, whether that's the 4Runner or the dirt bike or the buggy. It's a lot easier to be able to fix the most common issues and limp home instead of having a friend come get us, drive us home, grab the trailer and go back and grab whatever broke down. When I go further away to wheel I generally don't do anything hard unless I have the tow rig/trailer there, other people with me, good service and not far from help, etc. So pretty situational, but always carry enough gear to fix 99% of issues and limp back regardless.

 

[hinmo24t]

About 14 mins for me in Tucson AZ to redington road with lots of trails there. About an hour from backside of Mt Lemmon and about an hr and a half to Florence AZ for box canyon etc etc...

cool....pretty sure my boss was telling me about skiing on mt lemmon. pretty wild since its south in AZ if i remember right, maybe south west somewhat, near tucson? i only went out west from MA once, air bnb tempe, sedona, grand canyon, flagstaff, scottsdale. what an eye opener, loved driving thru coconino (sp?) avoiding herds of elk in a microcar doing 80, etc.

 

[hinmo24t]

We live in South Western Utah and moved here specifically for offroading/outdoor fun. There's a (dedicated) offroad area about 5 miles from my shop, there used to even be a WE Rock competition there. Then 30 minutes away there's hundreds of miles of trails. About 45 minutes away is Sand Hollow where Trail Hero is hosted and has everything from dunes to crazy buggy trails. Kind of any distance you want to travel there's some kind of offroad area.

With that said I still carry tools/fluids any time we go offroad, whether that's the 4Runner or the dirt bike or the buggy. It's a lot easier to be able to fix the most common issues and limp home instead of having a friend come get us, drive us home, grab the trailer and go back and grab whatever broke down. When I go further away to wheel I generally don't do anything hard unless I have the tow rig/trailer there, other people with me, good service and not far from help, etc. So pretty situational, but always carry enough gear to fix 99% of issues and limp back regardless.

good points and sounds awesome for you out there. considering i wheel close to home, somehow, in this overcrowded blue state, i am pretty well prepared even though winchless i have decent quality lift and tires, spare carrier with full size spare, large farm jack mounted in hatch, tools, straps/tree savers in case i need to winch w farm jack, recovery boards, and i usually go out with friends...

 

[Sam2393]

cool....pretty sure my boss was telling me about skiing on mt lemmon. pretty wild since its south in AZ if i remember right, maybe south west somewhat, near tucson? i only went out west from MA once, air bnb tempe, sedona, grand canyon, flagstaff, scottsdale. what an eye opener, loved driving thru coconino (sp?) avoiding herds of elk in a microcar doing 80, etc.

Yeah southern AZ. Mt Lemmon sits right above Tucson. It's beautiful at night coming down the Catalina Highway and seeing the city lights.

 

[drewj]

About 14 mins for me in Tucson AZ to redington road with lots of trails there. About an hour from backside of Mt Lemmon and about an hr and a half to Florence AZ for box canyon etc etc...

I miss living in Phoenix and hunting out by Florence/Globe. Just drive out into the desert and camp for a week and hunt quail all day. Plenty of fun wheeling, too.

Now I'm in NJ and the only legal places within a day's drive are private (read: expensive) off road parks.

 

[2uyrunner]

I’m in Virginia and we have trails everywhere. There are about 5 different access points within 30 minutes of me.