June 22nd, 2013. It was a beautiful day to be offroad. Scott and I met at 9:00 AM and worked our way down Ranch Road at Southwest Missouri Off-Road Ranch (SMORR). This is one of the main roads/trails used to get around the off-road ranch. We were headed to the side of the ranch that boast a bit more elevation change than the rest.
We crawled down Snow Trail and Cold Mountain. Both trails are rated 3 and have a few technical spots. I found out that my Rubicon’s breaks won’t hold my Jeep on an downward incline while in 4-lo and 1st gear. I practiced feathering the clutch to reduce the torque the Jeep had to safely complete the obstacle. We did make it down unscathed, well mostly. My front passenger fender took a hard hit on a rock and broke two of the mounting clips. No worries, new clips are on order.
Scott’s Jeep handled the trails much better than mine. His Jeep TJ sits a little taller than my JK and his 35″ tires gave him an advantage here. We also drove down Flex N Stuff, Brixey and Pee Wee’s Crossing. A Tree on Pee Wee’s Crossing claimed one of Scott’s tail lights. He was wanting to upgrade to LEDs anyway.
A few Jeeps from Midwest Jeep Thing were at the Park. They were mainly from the St Louis area. We watched them tackle a trail (rated 4). They all had built rigs, I was a little bit jealous. Scott and I both left the Ranch without major damage to our Jeeps or egos.
