The weather was awesome! Clear skies and 73 degrees outside. I went over my checklist to make sure I had all the equipment I needed for today, mostly recovery stuff, since I would be out on my own. I got my CB antenna on the Jeep and got the radio all set up, then off I went headed for Patterson. The drive was only about one hour- not too bad.
I tried to mainly stay on the green trails 1) since it was my first time 4-wheeling 2) I was unfamiliar with this park 3) I had no idea of the limits of this vehicle and 4) I was wheeling alone and I wasn't looking for trouble.
Upon entering the park, the park aid handed me a map, but it was very general (it was the same shitty map that I printed out from home). The trails were somewhat marked with lots of trails shooting off in different directions (unmarked). I stuck mostly to the big fireroad, but sometimes I would deviate just to try something a little more daring. I found some steep loose ascents, sometimes rutted and off-camber. I found some rutted steep descents, a lot of fireroad. Only once did I have to back up, because the trail resulted in something that looked too scary to try today.
The Jeep performed very well! I had the tires aired down to about 20 psi- they had good traction and I only slipped in one area. I really needed this day to go through the motions of using my equipment, from using the tire deflater to knowing when to hit the downhill descent button. Heading down the steeps, the Bear would modulate the brakes and keep the speed in check. It was interesting driving over loose rocks- the front tires would sometimes need to be turned with over-exaggeration in order to make the cut. I was able to drive some surprisingly steep rocky and rutted terrain, just slowly putting along. The suspension was able to articulate and negotiate everything that I threw at it today.
