Reading the Trail

Reading the Trail

By Jerry Smith

Call it “reading the trail”, “picking the line”, or “navigating an obstacle”, it all comes down to “seeing” the correct path through, over, or around an obstacle or series of obstacles.

As a “student of the trail” for about 52-years, I have a pretty fair mental diary of having driven and watched others drive quite a few trails primarily in Montana, Idaho, Utah, and Colorado with a few short forays into other states and we could throw in Western Australia and Alberta, Canada for good measure.

My favorite trails have most or all of the elements that make Jeeping such a passion for me.  First, I like a trail to have “character”.  What is “character”?  I think of it as having some good scenery, a reason for existing or destination(s), and a certain amount of challenge that will keep my interest piqued.

I like a trail with some history as well.  The history can be from the old-times or something current, just something that singles out the trail as being special.  Old mines, mining equipment, buildings, remnants of buildings, logging sites, or even stock ponds.  I like something that distinguishes this trail from many or most others.

Sometimes it can be one or more obstacles along the trail.  Occasions like someone flopped, got stuck, or broke something on a certain obstacle can make it unique.  We don’t get tied up in minutiae, but create a reason to remember certain qualities or events that relate to “that” trail.

There are a few people I know who I can converse with about certain rocks, corners, overlooks, or other distinguishing things of a trail.  Yes, that is getting well into the “weeds”, but some of us are that tuned in to a trail that make silly little things become important.  I’m not asking you to get THAT tuned in, but there are times on a trail when “getting tuned in” is very important.

When you come to any given obstacle in a trail, your “assessment antenna” should come up immediately.  You must decide whether going left or right, over or around, and at what speed to go over this obstacle all in one microsecond.  There will be some obstacles that a longer assessment will be required, and that is fine.  Take the time you need.  There are times I still get out and walk around to look at the whole obstacle.

Some obstacles are not there to be “conquered”.  There are times when the better choice is to turn around.  There is no shame in knowing your limits and not pushing them.  Breaking down or becoming inextricably stuck is something for the amateurs.  ANYONE can do that!  The smart Jeeper will KNOW that either his/her abilities are exceeded or their vehicle is not ready to overcome the challenge.

I was watching a YouTube video of someone snow wheeling the other day.  This Jeep had no winch and there was no mention of tire chains or even a shovel.  This gourd-head was driving in tire-diameter depth snow on a narrow forest road with no apparent thought to all the “what-ifs”.  Eventually, they did get stuck and spent hours trying to get unstuck and turned around.  This is a big-time rookie mistake.

There is almost always some “learning curve” to Jeeping.  Most of us learn by making those kinds of mistakes.  One of the first rules of safe Jeeping tells you “NOT TO GO ALONE”.  This one rule, if followed, can make many of those mistakes “no big deal”.  Especially if you are not particularly resourceful, adhering to this rule could save your life.

So, what do you need to know or learn to be able to “read the trail”??  That subject could require a thick book to cover most of the possibilities, but we’ll try to keep it simple.

From years of personal experience and watching others closely, there ARE some little things you can do to learn the basics.  You may take these ideas seriously or not, but one way or another you will implement them if you go out wheeling any moderate or difficult trails.

The first is to learn how your tires (all-four) track.  What is tire tracking?  Good question.

Simply put, tire tracking is knowing where the tracks of each tire would be left in damp soil (going straight and in turns of differing radiuses).  You want to be able to KNOW where each tire is leaving tracks, the inside and outside of each tire, at any given moment.  How do you learn this??

There are many ways to learn this, but setting up a short course of non-lethal small obstacles that you can practice this on is probably the quickest.  You want to be able to either just “touch” the obstacle with the inside and outside sidewall of each tire or miss it by no more than 2 inches.  You must do this without sticking your head out the side window.  The best situation would be on a fairly hard road surface with enough dust on it to leave tire tracks on.  You’ll want to be able to make turns so that learning the tracking of your rear axle tires is accomplished.

When you can consistently come within that 2” measurement of the objects you are practicing on with all four tires, you won’t believe the confidence you will have gained and your driving abilities will improve dramatically.  I have been doing this for over 45-years and practice on every rock in the road that looks like it will not cut my sidewalls.  I’ve had only one flat tire in 52+years of Jeeping so don’t tell me it won’t work.

KNOWING where your tires are will take a lot of the trepidation of driving narrow shelf roads.  It won’t help your passengers much, but YOUR comfort level will be much better.  Just remember that the edges of a shelf road may be weak or soft, so use them sparingly.

The next assignment is not much different from the first except you go from lateral to vertical measurements.  Find some rocks that are a little short, right at, and one or two inches over your lowest ground clearance… normally the differential on front and rear axles.

You want to have someone randomly set them out on a straight stretch of road and you must learn to judge whether you can pass over them or not.  This will require you to learn something you probably haven’t paid attention to… where are your differentials located on your rig??  Are they in the center, left or right, or do they move??  (Just kidding)

Once you can consistently drive over these rocks without bumping or jumping, you’ll have a better feel for how to negotiate any protruding obstacles.

There, you have two assignments.  Now go out and get in some practice.  Having a second person along for spotting and raking out the old tracks is a great idea.  Don’t become too dependent on a spotter though.  That is NOT the object of learning this.

And don’t forget another of the Jeeping rules.  When you come to a fork in the road… take it!!  Adventure is only a short (or long) drive away.