First Lessons Learned

[Pick Teej]

one of my first lessons learned was when approaching an obstacle that requires your vehicle to be next to/ in a ditch, its better to start with one side of your vehicle in said ditch, this is because the likely hood of ending up in the ditch accidentally is possible which could lead to damage or even potentially rolling over. the attached photo is my lesson learned. i started on the left taking the high side but as i continued the jeep slid sideways down into the ditch with some force. luckily we didnt have any issues but the person taking this photo told us "you might as well start there since your going to end up there anyways". hindsight, i would have liked to attempt to straddle it, but being in the ditch was the safest, most controlled way to approach this obstacle.

 

[Kyle & Kari Frink]

Never drive out onto hard snow(what you think might be snow) in late June, especially without enough momentum because you will just end up making your wheel spin turn the hard snow into an ice slick and you will get stuck lol. So some tips, always have enough momentum, throttle the gas to keep wheel spin down, and be observant of what kind of snow you are driving into, is it fresh powder? How deep is the snow? I could go on and on but mainly just have common sense and a little bit of knowledge from others who have the experience till you gain the experience yourself to ensure situations like we had don't happen to you. Also try your best to not wheel alone, bring another rig buddy!

 

[ohiowrangler]

Beware of standing water on red clay, it swallowed the right side tires(35's). It got ugly from there, Ron

 

[rooftentoverland]

Overlanding is every day. Its a mindset. Enjoy the journey.
So I would say there was not really a "first time" for us.

If there was one thing to mention, it would have been - for us - "no plan".
We just went, only a direction, no goal. Thats what we try to keep every time.

 

[Alaska.hermit]

Make sure your 4wheel drive is working before you get on the beach. I Buried my FJ40 up to the axles one trip because of a loose linkage. The fix wasn’t hard.....but the digging and ding to my pride sucked.