I did the Slick Rock Trail with a friend this weekend near Bear Valley off of CA Highway 4. This is one of my favorite areas to visit. I haven't done this trail all the way through in about 20 years or so .... and I still haven't. I knew I would not take the van past two of the sections, but was impressed how well it did to get as far as I did. I sure surprised some of the hard core 4-wheelers we came across.

Van damage only included the dreaded U-Bolt / shock mount plate failure and one modified fender flare (and lots of pinstriping). I was also surprised at the small sections of rubber missing in places from the tread on my Toyo M/T's.

This was the most difficult 4-wheeling I've done with my van so far and its capabilities truly impressed me. The scenery was stunning as well, but the temperature was a little hot in the mid 90's.

Here's a few pictures.












I found this web site that gives an excellent description of the trail along with coordinates if anyone is interested in the trail.
http://www.4x4trailmaps.com/Maps/State/ ... _Rock.html

Phil

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Phil

- 2005 EB50 6.0PSD - SMB 4x4

Great photos Phil. We did this trail back around 1991 in a Four-Runner, our first real 4WD vehicle. No problems back in those days except, due to lack of experience, we couldn't get up the stepped section at the very south end of the trail and had to turn around and do the trail in reverse. One the way back and probably around the section shown in one of your photos while the slowly crawling over a large rock, we suddenly heard a LOUD bang! I immediately thought that I had blown a tire....but it turned out to be a mylar bag of chips in the back had exploded from the altitude!

We started down this trail a couple of years ago in our SMB but our passengers were not enjoying themselves and we turned around once we got to the Silver Creek Pools...

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Jack
'01 Ford EB50p Quigley 4WD

Lovely pictures!
Where is the area exactly? Sierra by the looks of it, but how do you find it?
Thanks,
Bill

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2008 RB 50 Pueblo gold, Diesel, 4X4, Aluminess
NO2B

YVRR - I did the whole trail a few times in the '90's in both an S-10 Blazer and full size Bronco. The Steps are not something I was prepared to try in the van. I ended up turning around at the long steep granite slope that ends with a more significant drop at the bottom. There was a bypass of sorts, but one off-camber narrow spot between some boulders. It wasn't worth the risk of body damage to the van. The Silver Creek Pools are a beautiful area.

Bill - Check out this link.
http://www.4x4trailmaps.com/Maps/State/ ... _Rock.html
It gives a pretty detailed description along with GPS tracks, maps and select coordinates.

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Phil

- 2005 EB50 6.0PSD - SMB 4x4

That's a great trip report! I need to take my Land Rover there for the entire trail. I've been to the area before and it is spectacular.

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'07 RB-50 - My Photo Site -- K1JGS --

pjpvi-

Thanks for the link.
That looks like a fun trail.

Bill

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2008 RB 50 Pueblo gold, Diesel, 4X4, Aluminess
NO2B

I know this is a different Slick Rock, but we were in Moab last week and camped up by Slick Rock. We noticed that the Lions Back rock climb was off limits. Darn, we were really wanting to go up that baby. We also camped up there on July 4th and the town of Moab does their fireworks display from near the campground. The locals all drove their 4x4s up on the rock hills to watch the display. Lots of tire squealing to get to the best viewing areas.

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2008 Ford E-350 Quigley 4x4 V10 - 164,000 miles
RB50, PH Top, Dual AGM Group 27 Deka, 2000 Tripplite Inv., No Propane or Water Systems
Van Weight 8,100 pounds, added one rear leaf spring, BFG AT KO LT265/70R17 E Tire press 50psi.

Wow!! Amazing pics. No way I could take our van on that trail with our generator hanging so low in the rear (just one of the tradeoffs we made with our build). Thanks for showing us the capabilities of what these things can really do.



Cheers,
---TWOLOST---

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Cheers,
---Bruce--- (epic-exposure.com/albums/adventure/)

I know it's not my SMB in the photos, but the scenery was spectacular and thought I would share.

I bought a beater Cherokee a few months ago (the "Cheep") to leave at a friends cabin in the mountains and use to go beat up when the urge hit. It's a 1987 with over 250K miles on it. Runs strong for its age and got 21mpg from the SF Bay area to Arnold!

This was it's maiden voyage (for me) 4 wheeling. It is the same trail that I originally posted to this thread that I did with the SMB in July. What a different experience doing the trail in the Cheep compared with the SMB. It was actually easier in the SMB, just more nerve racking knowing I was in a $100k vehicle. Nice that I could care less about body damage on the Cheep though.

Enjoy.













Phil

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Phil

- 2005 EB50 6.0PSD - SMB 4x4

Lion's Back is OoControl!

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96 RB E-350 460v8 4x4 Custom RestoMod
Warn12kWinch,FFloater,LSlip,Pwtrx Locker 4.10 305x70x16 ToyoMTs,Eagle Alloys,Stove,4CF Ppane Fridge, Air CompTank,Supersprings, Bilstein Shocks,Deavers,CastIron Diff Case, Bullet Proof ReBuilt Transmission, Tubulator DeRale Trans Pan Cover, SSExhaust, KyoceraSolar, Tripplite UPS, 8D AGM, TivoHD, 24in HDLED
95 FJ80 ARB/Kaymar/Emu
2005 AMG CL65 691hp 875tq