~ Johnson Valley trails? ~

**RikRotorhead** · 10-26-2008, 12:08 AM

Two of my sisters have "off road vehicles", one sister (top award winning mechanic for Union 76 three years in a row) has a Forerunner, lifted, tires, etc... and the other sister has a bone stock '07 TJ, driven by her retired school teacher husband. He's adventurous tho'.
They both have off road experience, but mostly really moderate stuff.
I know my YJ can handle the difficult terrain, but I have to stick to something the TJ can handle at stock height.
We are planning on going camping at Johnson Valley over Thanksgiving weekend.
Are there any trails there that won't bore me to tears, but will be mild enough for the stock height TJ?

ROKAHLC · 10-27-2008, 04:50 PM

Johnson Valley is going to be pretty tough for a stock TJ. The tamest trail is aftershock, but honestly I wouldn't run a stock tj through it. Lockers, lift and tires are a must. If you decide to go, bring spare parts!

**RikRotorhead** · 10-27-2008, 08:45 PM

Thanks for the feedback.

So if we did that trail with the TJ, I'll be winching him a lot?
I want to spend the day wheeling, not tugging.
Maybe we should do Anza Borrego or something a little more tame.

**lj_wil** · 10-27-2008, 10:19 PM

Didn't realize they made a TJ in '07

**cvd** · 10-28-2008, 09:06 AM

Given you live in Murrieta, you should check out Anza Borrego. It's a little over an hour away from you. Lots of easy to moderate trails. Get a copy of the Charles Wells book on So. Calif trails.

**Jerry Bransford** · 10-28-2008, 09:39 AM

Yep JV is awesome but it's no place for a stock Jeep or one that hasn't been given some pretty major mods at least including a locker and suspension lift plus armor. Better to go out to some place tamer like Borrego Springs, Anza Borrego, etc. where you can find trails to match nearly any level of Jeep build including stock.

**RikRotorhead** · 10-28-2008, 10:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lj_wil

Didn't realize they made a TJ in '07

Typo, sorry.

**RikRotorhead** · 10-28-2008, 10:30 AM

I'm installing my front locker this weekend, and I don't have my rock sliders installed yet.
Look's like we'll be changing our plans. I wouldn't want my brother-in-law to spill his bottle of Geritol. LOL
Thank you all for the heads up.
Also gunna' have to get that book too.

f3arn0FJ · 11-06-2008, 02:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ROKAHLC

Johnson Valley is going to be pretty tough for a stock TJ. The tamest trail is aftershock, but honestly I wouldn't run a stock tj through it. Lockers, lift and tires are a must. If you decide to go, bring spare parts!

Anyideas on how much trouble I would have being on:

1990 XJ 4.0 auto
4 in lift front/rear
stock gears
31 goodyear mtr's
rockslidders
no lockers

I've been told better not to go....but I hate riding passanger

**Joe Dillard** · 11-06-2008, 03:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by f3arn0FJ

Anyideas on how much trouble I would have being on:

1990 XJ 4.0 auto
4 in lift front/rear
stock gears
31 goodyear mtr's
rockslidders
no lockers

I've been told better not to go....but I hate riding passanger

Unless you got real lucky - you'll be in for a long day, and highly likely that it would be a very expensive one.

There's a few places on Aftershock where there are no easy lines. Those are the places that'd have me concerned the most for you. Not to say you can't - just passing along a word of caution.

Perhaps a day/week of riding shotgun would be prudent. Then start with the trail you think would be most achieveable for you.

I'll be out there with a group from the Saturday before Thanksgiving (Nov 21st) thru the 30th of Nov.

We'll probably be running most of the popular trails, but we may not do Jack Hammer depending on how things go during the "warm-up" trails.

I've done Jack once - that was enough for me for a while.

f3arn0FJ · 11-10-2008, 08:40 PM

Alrighty, so I'm happy I didn't take my jeep. That woulda turn out....well not so good. We did the Gold trail durning the day which was A LOT of fun. My brother fried his red top about 3/4's of the way up. So after we jumped it we went back to town to get a replacement. By this time it was around 5:30 pm and getting dark so we did what any jeeper would do. We flipped a coin, heads we do john bull and tails we go drinking. Well it landed heads so we did john bull in the dark and to top it off we came up the bull which to my understanding is the harder way. This trail is INSANE at night time and SSSOOOOOOOO much FUN! I can't wait till I get locked and 33's!