Stockish T4R trip up Flagpole Knob with snow and mud.....

[manganos]

So a quick background. Last Friday I had yet another hand surgery and by Monday I was ready to get out of the house. I took my wife and son WEST so they could see Reddish Knob. We left early and slabbed it on 64 from the Richmond area. As we headed through Harrisonburg the temp dropped significantly. My pristine, wash, waxed and sealed T4R trail was about to get is virginity broken :whip:.

We made it up to Reddish Knob and the entire mountain top was fogged in with a stiff 45-50 mph wind. Nothing to see here so I decided to show my wife and son Switzler Lake and Skidmore Fork. That was it. Nothing more then a dirt road until I decided at the last minute to take FR 85. I'm an idiot. There was mud and snow on the trail and I'm on stock Duelers. It took me over three hours to get DOWN to RT 33. The two ledges were a ***** and I was lucky to survive with no damage to the rig. I've done Flagpole before in a D60 TJ with a long arm kit and 37" Iroks and my 2011 FJ with 3" lift but it was a little bit more challenging with the T4R on stock tires. The Bilstien lift did help a bit as I avoided smashing my skids. The good news is the wife said ok ok - get some sliders and real tires for this thing if you plan on doing this stupid stuff A few pics....

 

[manganos]

Sorry not to get the big ledges where I carried the back wheel 2' off the ground due to the lack of articulation.... I was too busy concentrating on trying to get it back in one piece

 

[gdvan01]

Sorry not to get the big ledges where I carried the back wheel 2' off the ground due to the lack of articulation.... I was too busy concentrating on trying to get it back in one piece

That was pretty slick....take the family out, pretend "holy crap, we might get stuck forever and ever..." and the boss says you need to get more kit for your rig.

Well played, Sir.

/me bows

 

[tackleberry1145]

LoL....we did the same thing when we first got our 08 FJ. Stock tires, no lift. No big deal going up dunkle hollow rd to flagpole knob. Going down Union Springs.. back towards rt 33 though....lololol.

We made it down fine, just stacked a few rocks on the one rock ledge (the one with the two trees on the West side of the road/trail). It felt dicey at times, mostly due to the tires.

Afterwards going thru there with the FJ once it was lifted with 'real' tires was no excitement at all. We went thru there with our 14 Trail last year with no issue at all.

eta: If you haven't hit any of the fire/state roads to the SW and NW of that area there are some nice ones that are not super challenging. Long Run can give some nice views. I'd advise staying off of German River Rd unless you end up with more aggressive tires. It was super muddy and slick on a recent trip up that way.

 

[DavidR1]

Looks like an awesome trip. I too went up Dunkle Hollow in my stock truck last year.

What route did you take up?

 

[Jayhawk5G]

That was pretty slick....take the family out, pretend "holy crap, we might get stuck forever and ever..." and the boss says you need to get more kit for your rig.

Well played, Sir.

/me bows

I don't think it would have played the same for me...

Something about putting my family's life at risk, and taking better care of my expensive vehicle... :rofl:

 

[manganos]

Looks like an awesome trip. I too went up Dunkle Hollow in my stock truck last year.

What route did you take up?

I came up from Skidmore Fork, forded the two streams and ended up making a left DOWN the stairs (where it intersects)... I think this is actually Union Springs Rd.