I wanted to do a "review" on the BigDogs IceBreaker event that I attended this past weekend. I want to start by saying that, overall, I had a good experience. I wrote this for anybody who is new to offroading. I hope that you can learn from this experience. I feel like a harvest a wealth of info from these forums so I try to give back whenever I have an opportunity.
Lets start with the UGLY - On the itinerary, there was a night run set up for Friday night. The itinerary said 8PM. My buddy and I heard 8:30 from our camping neighbor so we all rode over there where we found a thinning crowd of pist off people who were all told 8PM. We waited another 15-20 minutes before said pist off crowd decided to run their own night ride. Needless to say, I was not impressed at the organization of the event so far.
I decided to give the administration the benefit of the doubt so we arrived on time to the roundup the next morning. They started the official "meeting" at 10 after nine o'clock which was forgivable IMHO. From there it went down hill.
NOTE: This was my very first offroad experience. I fooled around in my new to me Gen III 4Runner a few times, but offroading was very new to me so my antics were G rated. I was really hoping to learn alot from the people there who hold multiple events each year. I have a bone stock Gen III SR5 4Runner so I elected to run with the conservative group (level 1-3 trails).
The morning went well. After lunch . . . things got interesting to say the least. Our "guides" did not do much guiding at all. Not only did they get us lost at least twice (arguably 4 times), but once we found ourselves on really rough, damage inducing trails they were sitting on their hands while I was helping to direct people through the squirrely portions.
NOTE: I don't expect people to hold my hand and pamper me, but I am brand new to the offroading world. I was doing the best that I could to help other drivers but I have literally zero experience. The guide was literally standing next to me watching me help this guy through a ridiculous section of the trail. He wasn't standing there in a supportive, QA role. He was just standing there watching.
The BAD - Organization takes another hit. I was talking to an FJ guy who had been to BigDogs events a few times. He was lifted, armored, and winched. I asked him why he was in the "beginner" group. He said he likes this group better because he has more "control" over the group and he can get the guide to go to tougher stuff. At the time, I thought that was a reasonable logic. Later, after I was slamming my stock protected private parts on huge rocks I was pretty pissed off. Go run with the 4 group if you want level 4 trails!!! I have to drive my vehicle 75 miles home and go to work on Monday, pal. Thanks alot.
We were told we would get back to camp around 3-4. After we got lost a few times and found a few spots where 90% of the group had to be winched through it got to be 6 o clock and we were still navigating back to camp. At this point. I was very upset. Plans change, scheisse happens. I get it. But organization takes another hit.
The GOOD - Looking back, I had a good experience. Not great. Not awesome. Good. I met some really cool guys who taught me alot about offroading. I met a really cool landcruiser guy who invited to join his overlanding group. I was incredibly pleased with my 4Runners performance and saw what it was truly capable of. I made a few Jeeps look like matchbox cars. The Land Cruiser guy made the Rubicon guys looks stupid (he had a 3 inch lift on 33s). I also met a few other Jeep guys who will be joining me at Overland East in October. Not the best first time experience but I learned alot.
Now, I need to get some armor so I don't have the same gut wrenching experience the next time I get out.
