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TeocaliMG

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We took our bone stock manual badlands bronco through the Poison Spider-Golden Spike-Gold Bar Rim trails!

Some Background: My wife and I took a trip out to Moab to visit her sister while she is working in Utah. This was a very loosely planned trip with only some details planned ahead of time. For example we knew we wanted to go mountain biking, and that we wanted to try at least one of the off-road trails there, as well as explore the backcountry and do some hiking. We left Michigan after work on Wednesday (11/10/21) and were in Moab Friday afternoon. We kicked things off with an awesome bike ride on the Porcupine Rim Trail. This is one of the few double black diamonds I have been on where it really felt earned. Most of the trail was reasonable but some sections felt like pro lines.

Saturday we decided to try a dedicated off-road trail. I have some off-road experience in Michigan, between a few trips to Bundy hill and Holly Oaks and a lot of time spent in the UP, but nothing quite like Moab and certainly not much of anything with our Bronco yet. Before our trip I had started looking up the trail rating system which lays out the requirements and recommendations for each trail quite nicely and decided that I would be happy with level 5 or 6 trails. I figured a 7 might be possible (not recommended without 35's or lockers) but wanted to play it safe. Well, I changed my mind and that morning I decided I wanted to try Poison Spider (7) which feeds out to Golden Spike (7) and eventually Gold Bar Rim (6). There are even some optional level 8 trails within that trail system but I decided to count my blessings.

The Bronco Killed it! My primary concern was body damage or a potential rollover, neither of which happened. I had a tow strap and camping gear for 4 so I wasn’t too concerned about getting "stuck" as there would be plenty of built rigs on the trail to help out if needed. I am happy to report that no assistance was necessary. Since we started a bit late in the morning, 10am, we ended up camping out on the trail. This may be frowned upon but its BLM land and the trails took much longer than I anticipated, and sunset was only 5:30.

I often went out of my way to take the more challenging and fun line so long as it was still roughly a "level 7". There are many optional lines on this trail that are level 8 or higher for more advanced rigs to fool around on. I was very fortunate to have my sister in law, her boyfriend and my wife to spot me on the trail. It would have been much more challenging and risky to go it alone.

There was lots of undercarriage contact on this trail but nothing truly cringeworthy in my opinion. Skid plates are meant to be used after all! As you can see we popped our license plate holder loose, but nothing i'm too concerned about. I did some obstacles without lockers, but the hardest ones required at least one, if not both. I generally used both if I needed them at all. 35's would have helped but the 33's were fine and I loved having every bit of flex and wheel travel available from the standard Badlands. I also aired down to 20 PSI. This made a huge difference, I would almost say that it is completely necessary, at least for smaller tires.

In this post are a number of photos from our ride. I also crudely spliced together a bunch of MP4 files from our phones and uploaded them to YouTube. I am not a video editor so apologies for the low quality, though to be fair we were there first and foremost to have a good time, not to film a documentary or an advertisement.

As you can see in the video, we didn't film every single obstacle, and a couple times the video cuts before the obstacle was completed. In the case where I was high centered. I just locked the differentials and Jed hopped on the bumper and that's all she needed to pull herself free.


Ford Bronco Bone Stock Badlands does Poison Spider and Golden Spike, Moab UT (Level 7 Trails) 1638220153405


This was the first real obstacle on the trail (actually to the right of the frame out of view), right after the first couple switchbacks. I was very nervous and almost turned back. However, getting through this gave me the confidence to push forward to much harder obstacles that made this one seem rather tame.

Ford Bronco Bone Stock Badlands does Poison Spider and Golden Spike, Moab UT (Level 7 Trails) 1638220275322
Ford Bronco Bone Stock Badlands does Poison Spider and Golden Spike, Moab UT (Level 7 Trails) 1638220336256


The middle and upper sections of the "waterfall" obstacles

Ford Bronco Bone Stock Badlands does Poison Spider and Golden Spike, Moab UT (Level 7 Trails) 1638220372084

The "wedgy", this is actually pretty easy, but high risk of body damage if you get careless.

Ford Bronco Bone Stock Badlands does Poison Spider and Golden Spike, Moab UT (Level 7 Trails) 1638220464680

I just thought this was a really cool looking part of the trail.

Ford Bronco Bone Stock Badlands does Poison Spider and Golden Spike, Moab UT (Level 7 Trails) 1638220508267

Love this shot at almost full droop.

Ford Bronco Bone Stock Badlands does Poison Spider and Golden Spike, Moab UT (Level 7 Trails) 1638220784945

As seen in the video, this is what I thought was the trickiest drop/ledge. Luckily I only had to go down.

Ford Bronco Bone Stock Badlands does Poison Spider and Golden Spike, Moab UT (Level 7 Trails) 1638220684881

Fresh coffee in the morning!

Ford Bronco Bone Stock Badlands does Poison Spider and Golden Spike, Moab UT (Level 7 Trails) 1638231660828

1mph obviously includes the overnight. But we certainly weren't moving crazy fast.

Heres the video!
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Last edited:

babraunagel

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[Admin, can you set one of the Bronco pics below as the thumbnail please?]

We took our bone stock manual badlands bronco through the Poison Spider-Golden Spike-Gold Bar Rim trails!

Some Background: My wife and I took a trip out to Moab to visit her sister while she is working in Utah. This was a very loosely planned trip with only some details planned ahead of time. For example we knew we wanted to go mountain biking, and that we wanted to try at least one of the off-road trails there, as well as explore the backcountry and do some hiking. We left Michigan after work on Wednesday (11/10/21) and were in Moab Friday afternoon. We kicked things off with an awesome bike ride on the Porcupine Rim Trail. This is one of the few double black diamonds I have been on where it really felt earned. Most of the trail was reasonable but some sections felt like pro lines.

Saturday we decided to try a dedicated off-road trail. I have some off-road experience in Michigan, between a few trips to Bundy hill and Holly Oaks and a lot of time spent in the UP, but nothing quite like Moab and certainly not much of anything with our Bronco yet. Before our trip I had started looking up the trail rating system which lays out the requirements and recommendations for each trail quite nicely and decided that I would be happy with level 5 or 6 trails. I figured a 7 might be possible (not recommended without 35's or lockers) but wanted to play it safe. Well, I changed my mind and that morning I decided I wanted to try Poison Spider (7) which feeds out to Golden Spike (7) and eventually Gold Bar Rim (6). There are even some optional level 8 trails within that trail system but I decided to count my blessings.

The Bronco Killed it! My primary concern was body damage or a potential rollover, neither of which happened. I had a tow strap and camping gear for 4 so I wasn’t too concerned about getting "stuck" as there would be plenty of built rigs on the trail to help out if needed. I am happy to report that no assistance was necessary. Since we started a bit late in the morning, 10am, we ended up camping out on the trail. This may be frowned upon but its BLM land and the trails took much longer than I anticipated.

I often went out of my way to take the more challenging and fun line so long as it was still roughly a "level 7". There are many optional lines on this trail that are level 8 or higher for more advanced rigs to fool around on. I was very fortunate to have my sister in law, her boyfriend and my wife to spot me on the trail. It would have been much more challenging and risky to go it alone.

There was lots of undercarriage contact on this trail but nothing truly cringeworthy in my opinion. Skid plates are meant to be used after all! I did some obstacles without lockers, but the hardest ones required at least one, if not both. I generally used both if I needed them at all. 35's would have helped but the 33's were fine and I loved having every bit of flex and wheel travel available from the standard Badlands. I also aired down to 20 PSI. This made a huge difference, I would almost say that it is completely necessary, at least for smaller tires.

In this post are a number of photos from our ride. I also crudely spliced together a bunch of MP4 files from our phones and uploaded them to YouTube. I am not a video editor so apologies for the low quality, though to be fair we were there first and foremost to have a good time, not to film a documentary or an advertisement.

As you can see in the video, we didn't film every single obstacle, and a couple times the video cuts before the obstacle was completed. In the case where I was high centered. I just locked the differentials and Jed hopped on the bumper and that's all she needed to pull herself free.


Ford Bronco Bone Stock Badlands does Poison Spider and Golden Spike, Moab UT (Level 7 Trails) 1638231660828


This was the first real obstacle on the trail (actually to the right of the frame out of view), right after the first couple switchbacks. I was very nervous and almost turned back. However, getting through this gave me the confidence to push forward to much harder obstacles that made this one seem rather tame.

Ford Bronco Bone Stock Badlands does Poison Spider and Golden Spike, Moab UT (Level 7 Trails) 1638231660828
Ford Bronco Bone Stock Badlands does Poison Spider and Golden Spike, Moab UT (Level 7 Trails) 1638231660828


The middle and upper sections of the "waterfall" obstacles

Ford Bronco Bone Stock Badlands does Poison Spider and Golden Spike, Moab UT (Level 7 Trails) 1638231660828

The "wedgy", this is actually pretty easy, but high risk of body damage if you get careless.

Ford Bronco Bone Stock Badlands does Poison Spider and Golden Spike, Moab UT (Level 7 Trails) 1638231660828

I just thought this was a really cool looking part of the trail.

Ford Bronco Bone Stock Badlands does Poison Spider and Golden Spike, Moab UT (Level 7 Trails) 1638231660828

Love this shot at almost full droop.

Ford Bronco Bone Stock Badlands does Poison Spider and Golden Spike, Moab UT (Level 7 Trails) 1638231660828

As seen in the video, this is what I thought was the trickiest drop/ledge. Luckily I only had to go down.

Ford Bronco Bone Stock Badlands does Poison Spider and Golden Spike, Moab UT (Level 7 Trails) 1638231660828

Fresh coffee in the morning!

Heres the video!
Awesome video -- thanks for sharing!
 

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JakeC

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Great picture, video and write up. As someone who’s getting a non-squatched badlands this is encouraging.

Which engine/transmission if I can ask?
 

BigFootie

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Nice! Thanks for posting!
 

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Jdc

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Good to see the Bronco on challenging terrain! Awesome job
 

BAUS67

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[Admin, can you set one of the Bronco pics below as the thumbnail please?]

We took our bone stock manual badlands bronco through the Poison Spider-Golden Spike-Gold Bar Rim trails!

Some Background: My wife and I took a trip out to Moab to visit her sister while she is working in Utah. This was a very loosely planned trip with only some details planned ahead of time. For example we knew we wanted to go mountain biking, and that we wanted to try at least one of the off-road trails there, as well as explore the backcountry and do some hiking. We left Michigan after work on Wednesday (11/10/21) and were in Moab Friday afternoon. We kicked things off with an awesome bike ride on the Porcupine Rim Trail. This is one of the few double black diamonds I have been on where it really felt earned. Most of the trail was reasonable but some sections felt like pro lines.

Saturday we decided to try a dedicated off-road trail. I have some off-road experience in Michigan, between a few trips to Bundy hill and Holly Oaks and a lot of time spent in the UP, but nothing quite like Moab and certainly not much of anything with our Bronco yet. Before our trip I had started looking up the trail rating system which lays out the requirements and recommendations for each trail quite nicely and decided that I would be happy with level 5 or 6 trails. I figured a 7 might be possible (not recommended without 35's or lockers) but wanted to play it safe. Well, I changed my mind and that morning I decided I wanted to try Poison Spider (7) which feeds out to Golden Spike (7) and eventually Gold Bar Rim (6). There are even some optional level 8 trails within that trail system but I decided to count my blessings.

The Bronco Killed it! My primary concern was body damage or a potential rollover, neither of which happened. I had a tow strap and camping gear for 4 so I wasn’t too concerned about getting "stuck" as there would be plenty of built rigs on the trail to help out if needed. I am happy to report that no assistance was necessary. Since we started a bit late in the morning, 10am, we ended up camping out on the trail. This may be frowned upon but its BLM land and the trails took much longer than I anticipated.

I often went out of my way to take the more challenging and fun line so long as it was still roughly a "level 7". There are many optional lines on this trail that are level 8 or higher for more advanced rigs to fool around on. I was very fortunate to have my sister in law, her boyfriend and my wife to spot me on the trail. It would have been much more challenging and risky to go it alone.

There was lots of undercarriage contact on this trail but nothing truly cringeworthy in my opinion. Skid plates are meant to be used after all! I did some obstacles without lockers, but the hardest ones required at least one, if not both. I generally used both if I needed them at all. 35's would have helped but the 33's were fine and I loved having every bit of flex and wheel travel available from the standard Badlands. I also aired down to 20 PSI. This made a huge difference, I would almost say that it is completely necessary, at least for smaller tires.

In this post are a number of photos from our ride. I also crudely spliced together a bunch of MP4 files from our phones and uploaded them to YouTube. I am not a video editor so apologies for the low quality, though to be fair we were there first and foremost to have a good time, not to film a documentary or an advertisement.

As you can see in the video, we didn't film every single obstacle, and a couple times the video cuts before the obstacle was completed. In the case where I was high centered. I just locked the differentials and Jed hopped on the bumper and that's all she needed to pull herself free.


1638220153405.png


This was the first real obstacle on the trail (actually to the right of the frame out of view), right after the first couple switchbacks. I was very nervous and almost turned back. However, getting through this gave me the confidence to push forward to much harder obstacles that made this one seem rather tame.

1638220275322.png
1638220336256.png


The middle and upper sections of the "waterfall" obstacles

1638220372084.png

The "wedgy", this is actually pretty easy, but high risk of body damage if you get careless.

1638220464680.png

I just thought this was a really cool looking part of the trail.

1638220508267.png

Love this shot at almost full droop.

1638220784945.png

As seen in the video, this is what I thought was the trickiest drop/ledge. Luckily I only had to go down.

1638220684881.png

Fresh coffee in the morning!

Heres the video!


Thanks for posting @TeocaliMG !!!! Glad to see you got your steed and are using it for it's intended purpose and not just taking the "easy" trails. 😁 I have not watched the video yet but will after I hit the post button.;)

Once I finally get my hands on my 2DR I will be doing the same. Looks like it was a blast.


🍻
 
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OP
TeocaliMG

TeocaliMG

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Great Video - no cheesy music. Great driving. Great write-up. Thank you.
Is that a 4 or a 6 engine?
2.3L with manual. used crawler gear on all the hardcore obstacles, some of the tamer ones I used 1 or 2. All in low range of course.
 

Pepper

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Great Job on the pics and video! This is a trip I plan to make! These are such capable machines! Thanks for sharing
 

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We took our bone stock manual badlands bronco through the Poison Spider-Golden Spike-Gold Bar Rim trails!

Some Background: My wife and I took a trip out to Moab to visit her sister while she is working in Utah. This was a very loosely planned trip with only some details planned ahead of time. For example we knew we wanted to go mountain biking, and that we wanted to try at least one of the off-road trails there, as well as explore the backcountry and do some hiking. We left Michigan after work on Wednesday (11/10/21) and were in Moab Friday afternoon. We kicked things off with an awesome bike ride on the Porcupine Rim Trail. This is one of the few double black diamonds I have been on where it really felt earned. Most of the trail was reasonable but some sections felt like pro lines.

Saturday we decided to try a dedicated off-road trail. I have some off-road experience in Michigan, between a few trips to Bundy hill and Holly Oaks and a lot of time spent in the UP, but nothing quite like Moab and certainly not much of anything with our Bronco yet. Before our trip I had started looking up the trail rating system which lays out the requirements and recommendations for each trail quite nicely and decided that I would be happy with level 5 or 6 trails. I figured a 7 might be possible (not recommended without 35's or lockers) but wanted to play it safe. Well, I changed my mind and that morning I decided I wanted to try Poison Spider (7) which feeds out to Golden Spike (7) and eventually Gold Bar Rim (6). There are even some optional level 8 trails within that trail system but I decided to count my blessings.

The Bronco Killed it! My primary concern was body damage or a potential rollover, neither of which happened. I had a tow strap and camping gear for 4 so I wasn’t too concerned about getting "stuck" as there would be plenty of built rigs on the trail to help out if needed. I am happy to report that no assistance was necessary. Since we started a bit late in the morning, 10am, we ended up camping out on the trail. This may be frowned upon but its BLM land and the trails took much longer than I anticipated.

I often went out of my way to take the more challenging and fun line so long as it was still roughly a "level 7". There are many optional lines on this trail that are level 8 or higher for more advanced rigs to fool around on. I was very fortunate to have my sister in law, her boyfriend and my wife to spot me on the trail. It would have been much more challenging and risky to go it alone.

There was lots of undercarriage contact on this trail but nothing truly cringeworthy in my opinion. Skid plates are meant to be used after all! I did some obstacles without lockers, but the hardest ones required at least one, if not both. I generally used both if I needed them at all. 35's would have helped but the 33's were fine and I loved having every bit of flex and wheel travel available from the standard Badlands. I also aired down to 20 PSI. This made a huge difference, I would almost say that it is completely necessary, at least for smaller tires.

In this post are a number of photos from our ride. I also crudely spliced together a bunch of MP4 files from our phones and uploaded them to YouTube. I am not a video editor so apologies for the low quality, though to be fair we were there first and foremost to have a good time, not to film a documentary or an advertisement.

As you can see in the video, we didn't film every single obstacle, and a couple times the video cuts before the obstacle was completed. In the case where I was high centered. I just locked the differentials and Jed hopped on the bumper and that's all she needed to pull herself free.


Ford Bronco Bone Stock Badlands does Poison Spider and Golden Spike, Moab UT (Level 7 Trails) 1638227868252


This was the first real obstacle on the trail (actually to the right of the frame out of view), right after the first couple switchbacks. I was very nervous and almost turned back. However, getting through this gave me the confidence to push forward to much harder obstacles that made this one seem rather tame.

Ford Bronco Bone Stock Badlands does Poison Spider and Golden Spike, Moab UT (Level 7 Trails) 1638227868252
Ford Bronco Bone Stock Badlands does Poison Spider and Golden Spike, Moab UT (Level 7 Trails) 1638227868252


The middle and upper sections of the "waterfall" obstacles

Ford Bronco Bone Stock Badlands does Poison Spider and Golden Spike, Moab UT (Level 7 Trails) 1638227868252

The "wedgy", this is actually pretty easy, but high risk of body damage if you get careless.

Ford Bronco Bone Stock Badlands does Poison Spider and Golden Spike, Moab UT (Level 7 Trails) 1638227868252

I just thought this was a really cool looking part of the trail.

Ford Bronco Bone Stock Badlands does Poison Spider and Golden Spike, Moab UT (Level 7 Trails) 1638227868252

Love this shot at almost full droop.

Ford Bronco Bone Stock Badlands does Poison Spider and Golden Spike, Moab UT (Level 7 Trails) 1638227868252

As seen in the video, this is what I thought was the trickiest drop/ledge. Luckily I only had to go down.

Ford Bronco Bone Stock Badlands does Poison Spider and Golden Spike, Moab UT (Level 7 Trails) 1638227868252

Fresh coffee in the morning!

Heres the video!
Nicely done. Really good pace.
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