First time at Uwharrie

93ls1rx7

New Member
Joined
May 18, 2011
Location
Fayetteville
Well today I made my first trip to Uwharrie with the wife, kid and the dog and had a blast.

We are in a 2008 JK Rubicon with a 3 1/2" lift, track bars and some 35x12.5 tires.

We started out the day playing around on the easy stuff (this is my first time doing anything serious on anything bigger than a dirt bike).

We went up and down the wolf den and Falls Dam. After about an hour on those trails, we hit the parking area at the beginning of Dickey Bell. Asked the wife what she thought about trying a moderate trail, she said yeah why not.

Well the first couple hundred yards I thought to myself, well this isnt that much tougher, it is just a tighter trail and some more rocks to manuever around. We crossed the narrow Bridge and continued on thinking still this is pretty "easy" for a moderate trail.

We crossed 6584 and waved to a group of folks camping on the east side of 6584 and continued up the hill to the little ! I saw on your guys trail map. Well we got to "Little Daniel Hill Climb" and I see a decent incline with some smaller (maybe 6" or so rocks). I saw the bypass to the right but I said nah the left doesnt look to bad......more incorrect words couldnt have been thought. (From the bottom the "bypass" actually looked worse)

HOLY :poop:. We made it up the first "set" of rocks/incline. It definately wasnt an "easy" trail any more. I looked over at the wife and asked her what she thought again and she said "whatever you think". We I am not gonna lie, I thought :wtf: are you thinking, trying to go up that trail.

All I have to say is this. I have never in my life been so intimidated in a vehicle and I have ridin motorcycles over 170mph and drag raced low 9 sec cars. I literally felt like there were times that there was NO way we were making it up, but at the same time, I had no choice, backing down was a worse thought. Well eventually we made it up.....not sure when I will try that one again without someone to show me the "right line". After that adventure my 4 year old was ready for a break and frankly so was I. We headed over to the lake for a little bit then headed home.

I have a whole new respect for you hardcore offroad guys if that is a "yellow" trail. I have watched videos of "Daniel" but if "little Daniel" is a "easy" version of Daniel, the videos do no justice.......

All in all a great first time at Uwharrie and nothing broke!

On funny side note, when we got to the lake I was sitting there thinking about the day of wheelin and realized, I never disconnected the sway bar, forgot to lock the axles on "little daniel" and never lower the tire pressure below the 28 psi that we drove their with......I need a beer! :beer:
 
Oh we will definately be out again, we all had a blast. One question for you experienced guys...is Dickey Bell (specifically the hill climb) "harder" right now than in the past?

I ask because I have watched some videos of it on youtube and there are 1000000 times more 6-8 inch rocks all over the place than in the old videos I have seen.
 
hehe, sounds fun :lol: :beer:
Dickey Bell has always been pushing the difficulty limit there for URE. I don't pay attention to the ratings though, all the trails are easy :flipoff2:
Daniel is definitely harder than Dickey Bell.
You shoudlnt be worried about 6-8" rocks, just put your wheel on them so you dont bang your diffs on them. Airing down helps a ton, you need to do that. Disco the sway bar too, isnt that jsut a push button operation in the JK, and the locker for that matter. Lockers ON would've helped the most. I hope you had it in low range!
 
LOW nope had it in 4 hi >.> looks liek I failed to do all the stuff I should have

Live and learn. I made it up the hard way apparently....such a noob
 
Hey man don't feel bad. That's the only way to learn how to off road is to get out and do it.
 
Hey if you made it up it in 4 High that is just more a testament to you and your vehicle. Next time aired down, in 4 low, and with lockers it will seem like a easy/moderate obstacle. Dickey Bell can be a misleading trail, because 95% of it is easy/mild and then that one area isn't. I enjoy all of the "Little Daniel Hill Climb" except the Suzuki sized hole up near the top on the left. Let me re-phrase that, having an IFS vehicle makes me enjoy all of it except that one spot.

Now its time to take on Daniel from Rocky Mnt Loop and see what you think of it. :beer:
 
Are you talking about where it splits in two? Well I remember the first time I went I tried dickey bell and ended up not making it up the ledge if you go to the left (open-open). Didn't try it today but I rode the kodak rock side of rocky mt loop and sawmill and with the welded rear it was so much better. Now I just need more gear and a front locker to really make it crawl like I want her to.
 
Thaks for the support guys. It definately was a blast!

I dont think I am quite ready for Daniel yet....my rig probably could do it with a good driver but probably not with me at the wheel.

Yes I am talking about where it spilts. I went to the left and it was a learning experience.

The funny thing was because I didnt have a winch or any other vehicles riding with me, I planned to just take it easy and not go any where were the jeep would be pushed at all.

On other fun thing was the big mud hole (there was a Dodge pickup truck with its drivers front wheel off sitting outside of it). We watched a group of guys try it a couple times and they were able to get out the far side. They backed out and said "lets see if that Rubi can do it..." Yea I chickened out, maybe next time!
 
Stay out of the mud hole unless you know how deep it is. You can hydrolock your engine in there on the right day. (talking about the big one in the parking lot area).
 
Hitchhiker said:
Stay out of the mud hole unless you know how deep it is. You can hydrolock your engine in there on the right day. (talking about the big one in the parking lot area).
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Yeah I went through it sunday and it got pretty deep, only had about 3 inches of my 35's above mud. A little rain and that would be a nasty hole.
 
I ran the left side on Friday it wasn't to bad my first line didn't work at the ledge I just adjusted and hit it again. I haven't been on that one since the beginning of last season I forgot how fun it was. I was able to guide some other commanders up the right side that didn't have 4LO so its all about the lines you choose. I took them all down it Saturday which drew a lot of attention :Rockon: Took them to the top of Daniel to from Rocky Mnt Loop the guys without 4LO just had to take easier lines they made it no problem though :driver:
 
Dude, if you have front and rear lockers, you can crawl evrything at Uwharrie as long as its dry. The biggest thing is adjusting to how the jeep feels in off camber and steep situations. The jku has a 116 inch wheel base and is 4 inches wider than the tj. It is a very stable platform and you can do things that right now you would say no way. Definitely hook up with some more experienced people and whatch what they do. In all honesty, Its probably good that you wheeled around open front and rear. Everybody should start out that way. Next time though, make sure you are in 4 low. In an automatic, they will overheat the tranny pretty quick in 4h.
 
dickie bell is a little harder now than it was in the past...mainly cause the one "hard" section is more dug out than before. that being said, uwharrie is a fun place with moderatly difficult trails. kodak and daniel offer places that have difficult lines but a good driver can make it up all the trails on 33's, no lockers and a flexy suspension (that's the set up i had on my tj before and went up every trail, just choose your line appropriately). the only time dickie bell got really hard was when my lift blocks spit out the rear end and my rear axle flipped over. not a fun day. you dont have to worry about that in your jk. next time, air down your tires to about 12 psi, use low range, disconnect your sway bars. you'll be amazed at how much easier everything is. you'll simply crawl over most of it. even without lockers. if you want to have more fun challenge yourself not to use your lockers to make it over obstacles. it'll make you a better driver and help you with line selection. after you make it over an obstacle without the lockers, go back over it with the lockers on.
 
DRaider90 said:
Hey if you made it up it in 4 High that is just more a testament to you and your vehicle. Next time aired down, in 4 low, and with lockers it will seem like a easy/moderate obstacle.
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What he said.
I assume you have an automatic. You'd have been wearing your clutch out in 4Hi. In the auto, your torque converter must have been majorly heating up.
Glad you had fun though.
 
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