theksmith

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CryVz8qorEV/

you can get up to Big Bear via Burns Canyon trail instead taking paved roads. it's very easy and doesn't take much longer than the highway route. do a quick stop by Pioneertown if you go this way. and Wildhorse Meadow is a scenic and fun-to-drive trail if you have time: https://www.trailsoffroad.com/trails/2800-2n93-wildhorse-meadow this might give you some other ideas too:

for 2024

@Bradywgn71 might be interested in this as well...

of course!

personally i like to shoot for a max of 6 rigs on a long difficult trail like this. we usually plan the next year's ORP calendar around August, so let's discuss a plan soon - if you're ok with us making this an official ORP trip?

not the in budget for me this year - but i'd also probably be down for a 2024 re-visit!

did you get to look for them on your trip?

John, get back in your Jeep and turn on the GPS - you've taken several wrong turns!

After 150K+ miles, my heel finally wore a hole in my Jeep Wrangler JK's Mopar rubber floor mats (just beneath the send-it pedal)! I wanted something with higher sides for my next set, and decided to try the Kagu all-weather mats from 3D Mats USA. I bought these on Amazon, here's the link to the ones for Jeep JK, JL/JT, and the 4XE. They have them for a fair number of other vehicles too. I've had them for about 5 months and they seem just as durable as any other. They do come clean easier than those previous rubber mats with just a spray from the hose - dried mud doesn't seem to stick in them as badly. The main thing I really like about these is that they don't "pucker" on the outer edge. I read a bunch of reviews of other brands, even big names like Husky Liners and Weathertech, that showed pictures of the tall sides folding in a bit where they stick up. These don't seem to have that problem and they really do fit like a glove. The only potential downside I noticed is that the rears don't have as high of sides as some other brands, so they won't really hold much water/mud in the back. I'd consider these sort of a hybrid between nicer looking carpet mats and full on work-duty plastic/rubber mats. I'm fond of their unique appearance though... IMHO, they seem more refined looking than the aggressive tire-tread style Mopar mats. The mats are made of TPR and XPE primarily, which are just modern types of rubbery feeling plastics. The under-side is their proprietary MaxPider material which looks like a bunch of fine plastic hairs and helps the mats lock in place on the factory carpet. The materials don't seem to produce any stinky off-gassing, and didn't need time to "lay flat" either. I'll certainly update this thread if they start to wear out prematurely, but so far they seem like a solid choice for all-weather/rubber style vehicle floor mats (for Jeeps or otherwise).

FYI - the "8 & 9 speed transmission fluid" for these newer rigs is more than double the cost of ATF+4!

yup, where the old canal crossed over the Agua Fria... the current one is much larger and goes underground.

did a little exploring this weekend near home...

i think the rounded area you are seeing is just natural rock formation. the little square next to the word "RUINS" is only about 250ft wide by 100ft tall. so the ruins may be too small to see from any aerial/sat photos. my guess is they were just very small scattered stuff and that's why the newer USGS nor FS topo maps included the notation. also, there are very short cliffs right in that spot, about 8 to 10ft tall (just before the major drop off into the canyon) - so there could just be little adobe walls in some alcove of one of those. zooming in further, the only thing i can see from a sat map that *might* be human made is this little white/gray area that is at the bottom right of where the marker rectangle was drawn on the topo. i can't make that out and it could just be light colored rock. sounds like a short hiking opportunity to me!

with the steering now behaving, i took care of installing that J8 brake master cylinder & booster upgrade this morning. it didn't make a jaw dropping difference, but the pedal travel/firmness is at least back to stock if not maybe slightly better feeling (it had gone downhill a bit after the Teraflex big brake kit install). here's the Mopar part number for the entire kit, as well as the individual components' numbers in case anyone needs them: