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Dredwolf
10-19-2016, 07:26 PM
Been trying to find the few places left in the southeast to legally leave the pavement, and while there are trip reports in the various forums, often the exact locations are club secrets.

Apparently a new hobby of mine is gathering info from the forums and trying to locate the few places left with Google Earth, and check them out in the WJ. One of these was a place called the "Buzzard Roost" near the NC/Tenn line off I-40.

We managed to find it, and leave the pavement too.

So first a pretty...

http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/b605/dredwolf1/2003%20WJ/WP_20161016_0022_zpsdvpaqx8c.jpg

Funny to find sandstone at 3500' feet in the Appalachians...

http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/b605/dredwolf1/2003%20WJ/WP_20161016_0061_zpsmidv59bb.jpg

Least we had good cell reception....

http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/b605/dredwolf1/2003%20WJ/WP_20161016_0031_zpsi1wuf79d.jpg

Found a knotted rope leading down a foot path....

http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/b605/dredwolf1/2003%20WJ/WP_20161016_0101_zpsbcci1ebr.jpg

Are we allowed to have vertical drops like this in the southeast? :shocker:

http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/b605/dredwolf1/2003%20WJ/WP_20161016_0081_zps9kracskc.jpg

4.3LXJ
10-19-2016, 08:25 PM
That is quite a drop.

XJ Wheeler
10-20-2016, 06:48 AM
I wouldn't even be able to come ten feet to that edge! Looks beautiful there. I would have to go quite a ways to find something that nice!

Sent via messenger pigeon. I talk, he types.

bluedragon436
10-20-2016, 07:17 AM
That's an awesome find... Can't wait to get back down to SC/GA area and venture around... and even more so to find beautiful views like those...

Dredwolf
10-20-2016, 08:01 PM
That's an awesome find... Can't wait to get back down to SC/GA area and venture around... and even more so to find beautiful views like those...

There are a few places left, but you have to look a lot, and prepare to be disappointed if its gated just a few yards in. Our hobby gets blamed for so much, it makes me nuts when people throw trash on the ground or smash bottles on purpose, so I can understand not broadcasting where the few cool places are left. We try to pick up trash each time we go out.

A few irresponsible idiots can ruin anything.

Dredwolf
10-20-2016, 09:37 PM
Figured I would add some more "meanderings" to this thread, I meant to post these pics but life got in the way.

Back in September, in the Jocassee Gorges area, some of the forest roads are opened for a brief period starting on September 15th. The wife and I went to investigate the morning of the 16th. Many of these roads were trails we regularly ran with dirtbikes or Jeeps in the 80's.

One of our favorites is Horsepasture Road, that goes past Jumping Off Rock, and descends to the old boat ramp. Due to public demand, you can access Jumping Off Rock year-round, but the road is gated immediately past it.

So for most of the year, only the rangers see this...I can remember it back in 1978, I was riding a Honda XR75, and Dad had an ST90..

http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/b605/dredwolf1/2003%20WJ/20160916_124313_zpsxgxwqg9p.jpg

Gravel and not much traffic evidence yet...

http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/b605/dredwolf1/2003%20WJ/20160916_141122_zps5h30qiom.jpg

Old boat ramp...
http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/b605/dredwolf1/2003%20WJ/20160916_135248_zpsp83uwkmk.jpg

Another view...

http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/b605/dredwolf1/2003%20WJ/20160916_135255_zpsdten6mo6.jpg

No so long ago, you could drive to the old ramp, but about 4 years ago, they put up gates, so the last 50 yards is a walk.

http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/b605/dredwolf1/2003%20WJ/20160916_134545_zpswnkr41np.jpg

I had a rope here too, 25 years ago.....you can almost still hear the laughter...


http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/b605/dredwolf1/2003%20WJ/20160916_134553_zpse6enoi35.jpg

Steeper than it looks, had to use 4Lo...

http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/b605/dredwolf1/2003%20WJ/20160916_143653_zpsklhqukyc.jpg

One of the over-looks...

http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/b605/dredwolf1/2003%20WJ/20160916_124325_zpsxhwjxirf.jpg

If I can get skid plates for the WJ, that same day we found where a trail I last ran with my 1979 CJ-5 still partially exists, we ran part of it with the WJ, but I did not want to risk the rocks....

A large portion of the trail is restricted to hikers, but if you look at the pics on this page, you can almost image the CJ's, bobtail Broncos, and FJ40's on the trail years ago, and the great creek crossings....

https://sweetwilder.com/2015/04/04/gorges-state-park/

Funny how the hikers back then were glad to see us on the trail :D...we always had extra snacks and water to share, and a ice-cold Snickers is apparently ambrosia to a hiker.

Dredwolf
10-20-2016, 10:45 PM
Found a few pics that might be nostalgic to some, from the Jocassee Gorges region with the Auger Hole/Chesnut Mt. trail I mentioned above, when we still used quadrangles to figure out where the trails went, gas cans were metal, and Warn made the locking hubs of choice.

http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/b605/dredwolf1/OldPics/11-29-2005072831PM_zpsitoeckj6.jpg

And we made do with a lot less specialty gear....

Pics courtesy of Matt Dean, from the Upstate Cruisers club. The log and board "bridge" turned into two huge steel I-beams for years...that some dumb young men stacked rocks to get a couple of CJ's and two new YJ's across one November many years ago...one of the young men might have resembled me. :crazy: Now, the beams are doubled, and steel plates have been added...to handle the mass of the JK Unlimiteds with $20K of bolt-on accessories added to a $50K vehicle... :P

http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/b605/dredwolf1/OldPics/11-30-2005082853PM_zpslkq7avdj.jpg

http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/b605/dredwolf1/OldPics/11-29-2005072621PM_zpseg0vllfr.jpg

http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/b605/dredwolf1/OldPics/11-30-2005082311PM_zpslkhkfmvm.jpg