trails for a noob at elbe?

What trails should I be trying @ elbe hills orv park? I haven't had my jeep on any trails yet, and other than just playing around a little in the "bowl" at the end of the road @ elbe, I haven't really been wheeling with it, but I plan on taking it on a trail or two before the new year.

I don't want to be the guy stuck 20 feet into the trail, and I'm not crazy about body damage, I know it happens, but I'd like to avoid it as much as possible.

My xj is on about 5" of lift, 31" tires, sway bar qd's, open on both ends, and no armor at all.

Are there any trails I will be able to have fun on without trashing my heep? I keep feeling like I have to do a bunch more stuff to it before its trail worthy, but I know I should get out and play with it to see how it does before I do much more.

My plans for future mods are (probably in this order-ish): some recovery points for the front (is there an easy cost effective way to do this? ), some rocker protection, a locker and possibly re-gear to 4.10(what happened to the hp d30 with the arb that was back up for sale in the nw classifieds anyways? ), then probably some bumpers.

Thanks in advance

Your plan of attack sounds good, and the order is reasonable also. Tow points are critical when you are going on the trail for obvious reasons!

Rear tow points are usually had with a tow hitch that does a safe job. It should be mounted with nutsert plates inside the frame rails on the back.

Front tow points need to accomplish a minimum of two things; first it should tie both front frame rails together in some form (like a structural front bumper would or just tie them together with a piece of steel), second it should mount useing the frame rail all the way and including the steering box mount on the drivers side (equivelant on the passengers side). As long as you accomplish both of these things you should be good to go. If you know someone who can weld it should be pretty inexpensive to accomplish this.

As far as Elbe, It is the ONLY ORV park that I have not been to in the area. However my understanding with the way your Jeep is set up you should be able to do just about everthing there except for the Busy Wild. Stay off of it and you should be alright.

Keep in mind it is winter and everything will be a little more difficult this time of year with less traction.

I would highly recommend going with someone else who has experience wheeling to help you out or spot you.

Michael

Looks like I get to find out for myself tomorrow how the jeep will do. My buddy is bringing his zj with 32's, locker and a winch to show me around. I'm hoping it will be fun.

have a good time and take pics! then post up a trail report. its what all the cool kids do.

Elbe park is like a dirt tunnel. most of the trails it seems are below ground. prepare for massive side damage.

I'm back and we had a great time. We ran sunrise trail then part of mainline trail, but we turned off of the trail onto another trail that ran around up a hill in a clearcut with lots of stumps to dodge. This ended up spitting us out on the upper 92 road. I never did see a sign for that part of the trail.

Both vehicles suffered some body damage on the same stump. It was a sharp right turn between a big stump and a smaller stump. We both got dents in the right rocker panel (his was worse than mine, as I picked a slightly different line after watching my buddy)

Here's where the damage happened, a sharp right around the big stump.


What I've learned from this trip ;
my jeep is much more capable than I gave it credit for,
its both frightening and exciting to see water come over the hood,
a locker or two would inspire a little more confidence, but aren't necessary for me yet,
some rocker guards and a couple of skid plates would take some worry out of wheeling,
you can tip your jeep enough to make washer fluid drain out of the low side washer nozzle,
it's nice to have someone spot for you sometimes (2 people in each rig would be nice)
I need some rubber floor mats,
and it seems the signs at the beginning of the trails aren't good for much except letting you know the name of the trail that you are on.

No parts got broken, body damage was very slight (mine is a dent just bigger than a golf ball), nobody got stuck, and it was a great time.

Glad to here your first trip to Elbe was good , I`ve lost my excitement for Elbe by following others that didn`t care about damage and knew all the " good " trails.

Do you wheel somewhere that there isn't the same risk for body damage? I was under the impression that elbe is pretty much how it is in this area.

i know that corner. that was the hardest corner that really challenged me. that was the first trail i ever ran. lower busy trail. right before it dumps ya on the 92 road by the bottomless puddle if ya turned left thats where the main busywild starts.

It took my friend a few runs at it just to get up the hill to the left of the puddle. He got up it, turned around and came back down, and we changed our mind about going up it. Lol