Rock Crawling - Please Help Me Understand the Appeal

[BroncoMike]

It's a skills test, with consequences. Your skills and your machine against the terrain.

A show and shine at Starbuck's is only so satisfying, anyone can sign a loan agreement and show up with something pretty for everyone to look at. If a bird craps on your hood, the feeling of defeat must be crushing.

Using a vehicle for its purpose, at extremes, is challenging. Most motorsport competition is prohibitively expensive or highly regulated today, crawling can be fairly inexpensive and sees little external regulation.

Unlikely that anyone here will convert you, though. If you don't get it, you probably never will. That's cool, there are plenty of things to do with your favorite truck that don't involve the risk of attenuating the cosmetics.

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[Bison]

It’s an accomplishment. To be the first new Bronco to do some of these hard trails will be like landing on the moon.

 

[NotaVegetarian]

Sort of like golf, it’s not for everyone

 

[John Bronco_ I am here]

.....I just don’t understand why someone would want to put their $50k ride in jeopardy from driving up big rocks......

Because we hate mud.









Post #16 says it pretty well.

 

[Lilj4425]

Rock crawl to get away from all of the soccer moms of the world.

 

[Erock]

Because we hate mud.

Lol. Most of what we have in the south is just mud.

 

[BAUS67]

Trails around here can go from a service road, like you saw in the Tennessee videos, to glacial rock gardens, to rock ledges, to mud bog !!!

In the video I posted below is what I would just call a trail but I guess I can see where some would say it is rock crawling, but to me it is just driving the trail in front of you to get from point A to point B.

As posted here before, a sense of accomplishment, seeing what looks impassable become passable. It gets the adrenalin flowing. Do I drive into something and try to bash my fender off the rocks of my 50K rig ?? NO, but I am not running for an Ultra4 championship either. If that were the case .... I just might. But if I get a scrape here in there trying out it's capabilities then, no big deal to me. It tells a story, like a scar. teaches one to learn from your experiences. Getting off topic here but just check out the vid it's about 20 min but will show what a "rocky" trail would look like around here.

 

[NotaVegetarian]

Because we hate mud.









Post #16 says it pretty well.

Awesome

 

[kodiakisland]

Why do you like to do whatever it is you like to do? Same reason.

 

[PSUTE]

Doubt I'll ever get into rock crawling, but it is no stretch for me to see why others love it. Done some extreme 4 wheeling. Man and machine vs a challenge provided by mother nature. My case, challenged to see if I could could keep my my 4 wheeler's air intake above water after going through the ice in a creek bed. Only difference between the challenges is terrain. The thrill of victory is nothing without the possibility of the agony of defeat....

 

[HotdogThud]

People rock crawl for the same reason that people track their zippy street cars.

because it's fucking FUN.

I've never been rock crawling, and yet, I can't wait to get myself stuck somewhere and have to science the shit out of it to get out.

 

[Hoofnmouth]

The same reason guys always wreck their shit pretty girls ,they sit on the cliff at the hardest part of the trail making you think yeah i got this

 

[Apples]

To dig into on why I rock crawl, I never intended to get into the hobby. I bought my Xterra to hit the less accessible 14er trailheads in Colorado. But the more you drive the truck on 2-3 rated dirt roads, the more you see offshoots that are more difficult. Curiosity drove me to turn off the easy path and I learned that the truck was more capable than I was. It helped that a few of those random trails ended in some beautiful vistas and there was an exhilaration when I made it over something I thought was impossible. I was also turned around more than once, probably more due to my own inexperience than the trucks capability.

As I explored more, I found the Xterra forum and the local Nissan 4x4 club. That exposed me to people who were far more versed in wheeling and gave me the confidence to push myself and the truck further. Before I knew it, I was climbing over obstacles that I would have never dreamed when I bought the truck. It's an adrenaline rush. I've never been one to do an obstacle for the sake of doing the obstacle. There are some you do to test your skill, but at my point in the hobby I've mostly proven that to myself. So now, I tend to pick trails that have a payoff at the end; good camping, good hiking, epic views.

 

[NotaVegetarian]

This is not meant to belittle anyone’s love of this type of off-roading, instead it is a genuine question. As someone who is new to off-roading I just don’t understand why someone would want to put their $50k ride in jeopardy from driving up big rocks. I can see the appeal of everything else, especially driving sand/beach but just want someone to tell me why you like it so much.

What do you like to do, golf, shooting sports, pistol, rifle skeet, sporting clays, fishing, salt, fresh, fly, bass, tuna, sail,fish, hunt small game, bird, big game deer, elk, moose, wild boar, turkey, auto racing, open wheel, nascar, Sports, football, basket, baseball, volleyball, tennis. As you see there’s lots of stuff out there, what do you like to do for fun. Do you like coffee or tea?, and so on

 

[PSUTE]

To dig into on why I rock crawl, I never intended to get into the hobby. I bought my Xterra to hit the less accessible 14er trailheads in Colorado. But the more you drive the truck on 2-3 rated dirt roads, the more you see offshoots that are more difficult. Curiosity drove me to turn off the easy path and I learned that the truck was more capable than I was. It helped that a few of those random trails ended in some beautiful vistas and there was an exhilaration when I made it over something I thought was impossible. I was also turned around more than once, probably more due to my own inexperience than the trucks capability.

As I explored more, I found the Xterra forum and the local Nissan 4x4 club. That exposed me to people who were far more versed in wheeling and gave me the confidence to push myself and the truck further. Before I knew it, I was climbing over obstacles that I would have never dreamed when I bought the truck. It's an adrenaline rush. I've never been one to do an obstacle for the sake of doing the obstacle. There are some you do to test your skill, but at my point in the hobby I've mostly proven that to myself. So now, I tend to pick trails that have a payoff at the end; good camping, good hiking, epic views.

XTerra is probably the most underrated SUV ever. I blame Nissan. A badass vehicle but not marketed as one...

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