[Xavier]

Adventure #1
August 8th, 2015

We planned out a trip to Sedona with a friend I met through G+

He likes to hit the trails with his Tahoe, but brought his Suburban for this trip.

We stopped at the visitor center for our day passes and realized it was Smokey the Bears birthday, they offered free cake and pics with Smokey.

From there, we drove West where a few trails exist; we ran; Outlaw, Dry Creek and Greasy Spoon.

The video below is from the first trail, Outlaw.
It's a drivelapse until the 5th minute where I let the video run on normal speed.

This trail could possibly be driven with a lifted Patriot with A/T's with some spotting imo.

My wife was soo excited, glad she finally felt the rush that got me into offroading.

This is what Sedona is all about, judge the beauty yourself through my trail vid.

Entering Sedona once again, never gets old.

Can you spot the Indians face looking upward?

Airing down

Near the end of the rough section.

Where we ended up having lunch (mid way through the Outlaw trail).

Kids having fun

This is an old panorama of the same spot I took when my brothers and I rented a Rubi

The panorama above is from a wide angle, this pic below is more to scale, Loy Butte is huge.

Near the end of the Outlaw trail

This is from the Dry Creek trail

Pink Jeeps near the beginning of the Greasy Spoon trail.

Cell phone pic I took while on the Greasy Spoon trail.
I regret not making frequent stops to take pics with my DSLR

It was pitch black by the time we ended our run.
By that time, the wheelin' wasn't fun anymore because of poor visibility, lesson learned.

_

 

[aroundincircles]

I'm so jealous...... I need to get around to fixing my XJ, so we can go out together!

 

[Xavier]

I'm so jealous...... I need to get around to fixing my XJ, so we can go out together!

Yes indeed AIC.

We'll be going back to Sedona for sure, just don't know when.

I have 4 different trips planned, each doing something new.
That's the beauty of Sedona, we've been there a dozen times and always do something new. Just imagine if we were hikers, there are soo many.

I'll write them down for you or can send you a .kmz file so you can check them out via Google Earth Pro.

This first trip was a bust, but we had fun, we simply didn't expect the rain which was following us basically.

You can see how hard it came down on us after the 58th minute.

Once we were done with the first trail, we went to run Dry Creek and same story, beautiful at first and then bamm.

Oh and come to find out that my passengers windshield wiper is missing a rivet, the entire wiper fell off LOL.
Got soaked as you can imagine when I got out to get it >.<

I think I have to replace the entire arm, I'll be looking into that soon.

 

[aroundincircles]

yeah, I'm trying to sell some stuff to get some work done on my XJ... its out of commission until I do.

 

[Earthworm51]

Beautiful Scenery !! Looks like You are onto new adventures with your Jeep Cherokee XJ. Happy Wife and Kids ? What do the kids think ? Congratulations on your new life adventures brought to you and yours by Jeep, it's a way of Life. Looking forward to see more of your trips and trails.

 

[Xavier]

Beautiful Scenery !! Looks like You are onto new adventures with your Jeep Cherokee XJ. Happy Wife and Kids ? What do the kids think ? Congratulations on your new life adventures brought to you and yours by Jeep, it's a way of Life. Looking forward to see more of your trips and trails.

Thanks Earthworm.

My wife was thrilled, the first rough section of this trail delivered the roller coaster type feel which got my wife holding on to what ever she could and laughing. She brought up our Patriot, saying we would of easily broken it in half (which was true). She finally understood why I wanted an offroading toy.

My kids don't talk yet, my daughter is 9months and my son Xavier is 21months old.
I made sure to strap them down well and also provided them with extra cushion around their necks.

My friend Gus brought 3 of his kids which are similar in age as mine and they seemed to get along well which was awesome

 

[aroundincircles]

do you find that going off road puts your kids to sleep? mine NEVER will fall asleep in the car, unless I take them bouncing and jolting down a trail, then they are out like sacks of potatoes. I've never understood it.

 

[Xavier]

do you find that going off road puts your kids to sleep? mine NEVER will fall asleep in the car, unless I take them bouncing and jolting down a trail, then they are out like sacks of potatoes. I've never understood it.

YESSSIR
Happens all the time, it's like they're being rocked to sleep non stop haha :zzz:

 

[aroundincircles]

YESSSIR
Happens all the time, it's like they're being rocked to sleep non stop haha :zzz:

when we lived in maricopa, we were 5 minutes away from some good dirt tracks on indian land, it was awesome for getting the kids to sleep! with the one on the way, its going to be a bit tougher.

 

[Xavier]

Blue Monster Jeep Trail

Adventure #2
Sept. 30th, 2015
Part 1

Aired down at the Starbucks in Camp Verde then took a family pic next to the world's largest Kokopelli.

Map of Jeep trail; Blue Monster - Rated Medium.
This trail is not Patriot friendly, you can try it, but you'll risk some serious damage to your vehicle imho.

Trail Video

We ran into 2 different problems on this run.

1. After our first stop to take pics at a viewpoint,
I turned off the XJ, walked to the overlook and realized there wasn't a good view due to over grown bushes.
I walked back to the car, tried turning it on and it wouldn't start, this happened to my brother about a month ago.

After doing some research the first time around and again out there, it appears to be the CPS (Crank Position Sensor).
The car basically wont start up until it cools down.

There were no trees in sight, only big 6ft bushes to provide shade.
I used a machete I had purchased a week ago to cut down half of a 6ft bush to create some shade we could cool down in.
20 mins later, I went to start it and voila, a relief to say the least.

My plan was to do 3 stops on the trail to explore and take pics, but after that issue, I decided to drive through them.

2. Second issue we came across was the fact that I have no flex (my XJ has a 2inch budget lift / spacer).
There was one spot where I literally thought the XJ was going to break.
As I was going over that section, I heard cracks coming from the rear and said to myself "OH SH*T!".
I'll have to invest in a real suspension lift with quick disconnects.

Thanks for looking, thanks for reading.

 

[Earthworm51]

Nice Video, looks like your trails are getting tougher. CPS is a pita to get to. I've had the CPS go bad once on my 1987 Jeep Comanche in the 28 years that I've owned it. Was there another rig with you on this trail ? The Jeep Cherokee XJ does darn good right out of the box. Keep the Videos coming, thanks. Ps You are now hooked on wheeling.

 

[aroundincircles]

I had to replace the CPS on my XJ, its... interesting... to replace. You'll need a few extensions and a wobble end. The hardest part for me was getting the stupid bolts to line back up again when putting it back together. It actually didn't take me as long as I thought it would (taking out the time lining up the bolts)

 

[Xavier]

I was out there by myself Earthworm.

Not the smartest idea I know, but figured all would be well since we were close to town and we also had cell reception.

I also left my patriots keys with my younger brother and told him to be on alert just in case the XJ broke down.

Apparently it's quite easy do change the CPS on an XJ according to a youtube tut.

I'll be buying the sensor soon and will give it a shot, would be my first fix.

There are 2 more posts I'll be sharing from this trip, next share will be another trail that was harder than I expected.
Everything looks soo easy on Google Earth LOL (dumbass) :doh:

 

[aroundincircles]

Hey, if you ever go out by yourself again Post on VJC, there is a whole thread dedicated to that. That way if you don't show up on time, then people can start looking for you/organize a rescue!

http://www.virtualjeepclub.com/showthread.php?69423-The-quot-I-m-wheeling-alone-quot-thread

 

[Xavier]

Adventure #2
Sept. 30th, 2015
Part 2

After the Blue Monster trail, we got some sandwiches from a local deli and drove to a water hole I found on Google Earth.

I was expecting an easy ride, but instead turned out to be rough.
Sharp rocks, one deep rut and one ledge was enough to stress us out.

We got to the bottom, ate, looked around and headed back up.
The plan was to run another trail in Sedona after lunch, but after BM and the water hole,
we had enough offroading for the day so we drove straight to our rental in Flagstaff.

Map

Waterhole

Family Pic

Trail vid

 

[Xavier]

Adventure #2
Oct. 1st, 2015
Part 3

On Oct. 1st, we drove the Snowbowl Scenic Drive
2. Hiked a portion of the Aspen Loop trail
3. Drove through the Hart Prairie Rd.
4. Visited the Lava River Cave
5. and then relaxed at an Aspen grove where we met up with a local jeepster for family pics.

Driving through the Hart Prairie Rd.

Family pic at the Lava River Cave

The main reason why we went to Flag, to take a family picture.

Family video, Oct. 1st, 2015 in 2 mins.
This video includes some footage from the scenic drives and family pics.

 

[Xavier]

Box Canyon of the Hassayampa River

Adventure #3
Oct. 12th, 2015

Trail Map / Guide / Info

Lunch spot

Slot Canyon

Trail Drivelapse

Easy scenic trail.

I love that our Cherokee can take us where our FWD Patriot can't.
We could of easily gotten stuck on some soft sand areas like we did back in March of 2015
with our Patriot at the beginning of the Margie's Peak Trail South of Buckeye.
Felt good to slide and feel the XJ sink a little, this is why we bought this SUV, to take us where the Patriot can't.

We didn't get to drive through the pools though (at the end of the vid),
didn't want to risk getting stuck since we were out there by ourselves.

We had a great time overall, nice relaxing day.
We also met a local who we chit chatted with for a while.

Been a while since I've shared my recent trips, I'll be sharing a few more trips soon

 

[Xavier]

Sedona with Gus - Trip #2

Adventure #4
Oct. 24th, 2015

This was the second time we went offroading with my buddy Gus who I met through G+.

We ran 3 trails together;
1. Bill Gray Rd. which is basically a dirt road, no high clerance nor 4x4 required.

2. The Sugarloaf Mountain Trail, A/T's needed, 4x4 not required.

& 3. the Dry Creek Rd, 4x4, A/T's and high clearance needed.

Once the sun set, Gus decided to go home while my wife and I continued with our adventure.
We then ran the Outlaw trail at night

And to finish up the night, we ran the Broken Arrow Trail.
Will not be sharing the entire night run, but here is the hardest part of the trail, the steps;

Once we were done, we decided to spend the night/camp on the Eat side of town, near the Homestead trail.

We woke up, ran Broken Arrow again and then drove home.

Here are a few pics from the 2 day adventure

Camp spot

Broken Arrow pics

And the family trip vid

We paid off the XJ 2 weeks ago, we'll be upgrading it as the money becomes available.
We're not in a hurry though, it has taken us where we've been wanting to go with no issues whatsoever.

 

[aroundincircles]

Nice! I bet it feels good to have it paid off.

I need to get out more, I feel like I spend all my time fixing my jeep and not actually driving it.

 

[Earthworm51]

Awesome Adventures, looks like you have advanced your trail levels.