I'm looking to test my off road vehicle.

[monkeyboypratt]

so the title basically says it. I live in LA and I want to go offroading somewhere that is fun and challenging but won't ruin my rig. Ha! I have an FJ Cruiser with aftermarket suspension and Ive taken it a few places but don't realy know where to go. Any suggestions of places near LA? Any groups going out need a tag along? Let me know. Thanks
chris

[cruiserlarry]

so the title basically says it. I live in LA and I want to go offroading somewhere that is fun and challenging but won't ruin my rig. Ha! I have an FJ Cruiser with aftermarket suspension and Ive taken it a few places but don't realy know where to go. Any suggestions of places near LA? Any groups going out need a tag along? Let me know. Thanks
chris

Welcome to the site, Chris. Boy, timing is everything they say... just got back from BorregoFest 2008, and fantastic 3-day weekend offroading in the amazing Anza-Borrego desert, where about 70 other members here joined in to test their skills and sightsee with each other. Sorry you missed it. Keep watching this site for other events.

There are a lot of great people on this forum, and I'm sure you'll be able to hook up for an off-road adventure soon....

[raYGunn]

Welcome!

Fun is relative but anything that will test your rig or takes you off the beaten path raises your chance for damage. I am still relativity new to this as well but what I did seems to be working for me so far and I am happy with what I have accomplished in terms of fun, safety, meeting people and seeing new places.

I recommend you start by taking some training classes with someone like Tom Severin (TomS), who also posts here, of http://www.4x4training.com/. I did this and it helped me tremendously! I wrote about it here... http://www.oausa.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=630

Once you do that you will have a lot better idea where you want to go from there. I think everyone here got started differently and this may not be what you had in mind but I hope this gives you some ideas!

[FunJunkie]

I would recommend looking at the trail reports and pics on this site as well as the www.socalfjcruiserforums.com site. you can hook up with folks in your area and choose to make some runs that suit your skill/comfort level. Lots of great places in socal and lots of great people to run with.

[OLLIE]

Welcome Chris... A trail near and dear to a lot of people here that is near LA is the famous Cleghorn trail off the I-15 near Cajon Pass. There are runs up there quite often. Keep an eye open for the reports and the trip planning.

Again... Welcome and I look forward to meeting you in the near future.

[Cnynrat]

Some good suggestions have been made here already.

I would second raYgunn's suggestion that you look into a class from Tom Severin. We took his one day intro class out at Hungry Valley, and found it to be very worthwhile - Tom is a wealth of knowledge.

Another easy trail in the area that doesn't get mentioned too often is the Rincon Shortcut. It's up in Asuza canyon in the San Gabriels. It runs for about 25 miles from Rt 39 over to Rt 2. The trail is very scenic with views both down into the San Gabriel valley and also into the San Gabriel range. There are locked gates at both ends - you need to stop at the OHV area on Rt 39 (on weekends) or the Ranger's office in Glendora (on weekdays) to get a permit and the current combination to the lock for the gate. The RT 39 end of the trail is just up the road from the OHV area, so we usually run it from there over to Rt 2.

It's quite easy - in dry conditions you can probably do it in a high clearance 2WD vehicle. Depending on recent weather there is one water crossing, but I've never seen it with more than 6-8" of water. There is some chance of pinstriping, but that's part of the game really.

[big dave]

Monkey, ill go to Azusa with you.