Usually, wheel spinning that lasts longer than a few seconds can mean two things. One, driver error: you may be going too fast or picking a bad line; or two, inferior equipment: you may need heavier-duty equipment than you currently possess in order to effectively traverse the particular terrain you are attempting. Either way, the results are obvious: flying rocks and dirt, trail rutting, or even an equipment failure. Let your common sense dictate your course of action instead of your ego. Try another line, a bypass, or turn around. Stop spinning your wheels. Yes, the pun was fully intended!
Okay, time to touch on a very touchy subject: Rock Stacking. All of us stack a few rocks from time to time in order to get through a particularly nasty spot. But, if you have to do this repeatedly, you are on the wrong trail for your equipment. Not only are you disturbing the environment by taking rocks from one place and moving them to another, but also you are ruining the fun of the guy who comes up the trail in his more-modified-than-yours 4x4. There seems to be a general attitude among homo sapiens: everyone with rigs less modified than yours is a wimp, and everyone with a rig more modified than yours is a lunatic. Give everyone respect for where they are in the four-wheeling world. Besides, if everyone had similarly-built Jeeps, then trails like the Rubicon, Poison Spider, and Broken Arrow would require stoplights to deal with all of the traffic.
I have always espoused the Leave No Trace ethic: “Take only pictures, leave only footprints.” Catchy phrase, but it isn’t quite enough. With the increase in outdoor recreation, we have some catching up to do. I know I said I wasn’t going to get preachy, but this might cross the line. Read about the Tread Lightly principles. Not only should you not take anything from the environment, or leave anything that was not part of the environment, but leave the area better than you found it whenever possible. That means pick up trash, disassemble rock stacking, and clean up vehicle fluid spills, even if they are not yours! Your efforts don’t count if you leave the trash bag by the Forest Service sign, either. Carry it out with you, and dispose of it properly. If we want to continue to have trails for four-wheeling, we must take responsibility for them.
End of sermon.
To conclude, remember, as your mother would say, just because someone else does not exhibit good manners, should not preclude you from doing so. Set the example. Referring back to one of my weekend experiences above, the kid who viciously dusted us had parked by the side of the road a few miles beyond where he had sped around us, and was out of the truck with the doors open. My first devil-on-my-shoulder impulse was to speed up and dust him back, but I chose to exhibit good trail manners, and slowed down to ease by him with as little dust as possible, and even gave him the one-finger off of the steering wheel Jeep wave--the index finger, not the middle finger. Did he get it? Will he be more polite next time? I don’t know, but I do know that the newbies in my Jeep learned something about off-road manners that day. Unfortunately, most of their lessons came by examples of what not to do.
As I mentioned before, I am certainly no perfect example of trail etiquette, but please, remember my message here is intended to get the entire off-road community on the same team.
More than ever, I mean my usual sign off: “HAPPY trails!”
