What Made You Fall in Love With Off-Roading?

[Southside_Ray]

When I was a young kid my dad had a surplus Korea era Jeep. Nothing additional really propelled my interest forward until I started watching primal outdoors on YouTube which led to watching other YouTubers, which then led to a trip to Yellowstone in 2020 with my Ford fusion. Quickly I realized this car was not going to do the things I wanted to do from the videos I was watching. Then came the Bronco announcement shortly after my trip and the rest is history!

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[TX-Dennis]

In high school friends and I used to run some local "jeep trails" in our compact cars or trucks. It was great fun, and I only got stuck once in my72 Chevy truck. A large bump taken at too high a speed resulted in my unsecured battery overturning and grounding out on the body. I thought I had destroyed my truck, but opening the hood and turning the battery upright again allowed it to start without issues. Thank God for the days of no electronics in vehicles.

Of course, I learned a valuable lesson. Never fail to secure your replacement battery down. If I remember correctly, the hold down on that one broke off when I removed the old battery, and I thought (as kids will do) ahh, I don't really need that part anyway.

Those trails were just down the street from our high school. There are homes, apartments, and a shopping center there now.

 

[mdainsd]

When I was a boy my Dad would take my brother and I on trips to Baja. This was the early 60's. He had a 2 wd Dodge pickup and he went everywhere with that darned thing. Then got into motorized transportation, motorcycles. But being too young to get drivers licenses we took to the great off road.

 

[Altitude]

For me, it was getting away from the crowds and enjoying amazing scenery. I love going to Colorado and with a family we usually ended up in Breckenridge, Estes Park or Winter Park where there is elbow to elbow people (especially after Covid) during the peak summer months. Off-roading gave us the opportunity to get away and have views that very few people get to experience. This is the Peak 10 trail outside of Breckenridge.

 

[EasternSierra]

PRELUDE

I started out with parents who loved road trips, camping, hiking, and exploring new places. Then my father got me into backpacking at age 14.

I was already a map enthusiast, but backpacking got me into USPS topographic maps. Those maps, other maps, and my burgeoning interests in natural geography, wild plants, public lands, and backpacking got me to learning about a whole lot of terrain in California (and later beyond) that I hadn't been to yet, and then wanting to explore it.

It became pretty obvious that in the long term I was going to be traveling on a lot of remote dirt roads, sometimes more like jeep trails. My father suggested a pickup with camper shell to make camping easier, and it might have been me who added the idea of 4WD.

HITTING THE TRAILS

I actually started with a compact sedan, taking it where I could on dirt roads, in one case even on the easy part of a jeep trail.

When I finally had a decent job at age 25, I ordered a 1983 Chevy S-10 4x4 with extended cab and a stick. Got a camper shell on back and I started exploring. This wasn't the best 4x4 around but it got me started. Later I switched to a 1996 Toyota T-100 4x4 extended cab, again with a stick. That was a big step up, with more room and a lot more ground clearance, but was still limited in major ways.

In any case, I could toss my gear in the truck, head out on Friday after work, reach some remote spot in the woods or the desert in a few hours, climb in back, go to sleep (no tent to set up), and wake up in the morning already out in nature on public lands. Then I'd have a day and a half to explore before needing to head home.

I was far more interested in seeing lots of new places I'd previously seen only on maps, than spending all day fighting a few miles of tough trail. OTOH, some access routes were tough or at least had tough spots. A 4x4 usually got me through those, though I did turn around sometimes when my rig might have gotten stuck. I was always alone (I know...) so I had to exercise some discretion. I also used my trucks to access remote areas for hiking.

Both vehicles took me all over, on highway road trips, Forest Service roads, and remote desert trails, in California and eight other western states. I put 270,000 miles combined on them and got loads of smiles in return.

WHY A BRONCO?

The T-100 got really old and eventually developed a nagging electrical problem. My aging body found it no longer liked clambering over the tailgate into the pickup bed. I began thinking again of getting an SUV, an idea I'd been toying with on and off for 40 years.

My wife suggested a newer and more reliable* vehicle, which I had to admit was a good idea. We already had a new van as our daily driver (she nixed the Bronco for that role). I wanted not just a new 4x4 but one last stick shift before my driving days ended.

To my great surprise, the only 4x4 stick shifts out there anymore were the two Jeeps, the Tacoma, and the Bronco. I was tempted by the Ineos Grenadier, but the price, the automatic, the sparse dealer network, and poor parts availability at the time turned me off. The jeeps were out for reliability reasons, though I was tempted by the Gladiator. The 3g Tacoma was out for ergonomic reasons. The 4g Tacoma was in the running, despite being a truck, but the Bronco was already my real love.

Test drives answered the question. The Tacoma was OK, though with a much more cramped cab (front seat area) than my T-100 despite its slightly larger exterior size (!!!). It didn't seem like something I'd eventually love.

Meanwhile, the Bronco was love at first drive! I also knew that if I didn't get a Bronco, I'd forevermore wish that I had every time I saw one or thought of one.

So here I am.

*obviously the reason I chose a 6g Bronco in the end.

 

[DaPierogiKid]

Petersen Off-Road Magazines....

 

[RR25HB]

Petersen Off-Road Magazines....

Mówienie po polsku nie jest łatwe....ale jedzenie pierogów już tak!

 

[slfsvt]

Crawling around the Mojave desert, in my neighbor's 1968 Bronco, back in the mid-70's.
That got me "hooked".
Since, I have owned five 4X4 vehicles, two of which have been or currently are Broncos.

 

[Easy-v]

I have to admit for me it was the Offrodeo. I'd never off roaded prior to that. Bought the Bronco, and went to Offrodeo, and that's all it took.

 

[Bronco Naughty Pines]

 

[Medicin3man]

I grew up in El Paso, TX where we had some great dune deserts. My dad had his 4x4 and sand rail as far back as I can remember. Learned to drive the sand rail by the time I was around 12 and started motocross around same time. Broke my neck in a Supercross so had to put the motocrossing aside, but still had my CJ7 that could crawl over anything. Fast forward 25 or so years, I now live in Florida and have yet to go on any trails. Trails and mudding are alot different than sand dunes!

 

[userdude]

I grew up in El Paso, TX where we had some great dune deserts. My dad had his 4x4 and sand rail as far back as I can remember. Learned to drive the sand rail by the time I was around 12 and started motocross around same time. Broke my neck in a Supercross so had to put the motocrossing aside, but still had my CJ7 that could crawl over anything. Fast forward 25 or so years, I now live in Florida and have yet to go on any trails. Trails and mudding are alot different than sand dunes!

So you're saying you couldn't outrun the beach cops in that souped up Bronco?? lol

 

[DaPierogiKid]

Mówienie po polsku nie jest łatwe....ale jedzenie pierogów już tak!

Yes...eating pierogi is waaaay easier...lol

 

[HalfmuleFarmer]

1) Moving to Utah, and 2) getting sick of people. Being out there, in the grand sublime spaces, where few other people are even going to try to get to? Nothing beats that.

 

[T800]

In high school I had a friend with an 80's Toyota truck. I went off roading with him a few times. Mostly just some fire roads and hills. I thought it was fun to be able to explore those areas. Bring some food and eat out in the middle of nowhere. Unfortunately, he totaled his Toyota offroad by rolling on top of another truck (I wasn't with him at the time). He didn't get another truck, so that was my last offroad trip for about 20 years.

My first 4WD was a 2012 Jeep JKU. After going on some local 'beginner' trails, I was hooked. The Bronco is my 3rd 4WD, haven't taken it offroad yet. I've had it about 4 weeks. My 2006 Jeep LJ is my trail rig. I end up going wheeling about once or twice per month.

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