I met up with the guys of Team Xtreme in Watertown, NY at about 10 am on 7 April and I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Team Xtreme has been active in Northern New York for 18 years. They describe themselves as a truck club rather than a Jeep club, but they welcome anyone who has a vehicle with 4WD, a good attitude, and a thirst for adventure.
The first vehicle I saw was a Ford Bronco on 39″ Super Swappers, King coilovers and the top removed to reveal a full roll cage. That’s when it hit me that I’m running with the big dogs today! Two-thirds of the group was full size trucks and Suburbans on 37″ and taller tires. About a quarter of the trucks had exhaust stacks billowing plumes of black smoke from their powerful diesel motors; needless to say, this was an impressive group.
After a brief drivers meeting and time to buy club stickers and tshirts we headed for the trail head. New York has lots of “seasonal access” roads. These roads are closed from 1 November – 1 May, usually. Since this area has had an unseasonably warm winter, the roads opened up to wheeled vehicle traffic on April 1st this year. Our parade of lifted vehicles made our way from the shopping center parking lot to an empty lot near the trail head and then we sorted ourselves out according to tire size. This was supposed to help keep things moving on the trails, but with a group of about 30 vehicles that ranged from stock JKs all the way up to a monstrous Super Duty, some trail traffic jams were sure to happen anyways.
My daughter can't wait to start driving, but she'll have to wait another 12 years
I situated myself near the front of the mid-sized vehicles and fell in line heading down the trail. Things quickly went from dry and dusty to twisted and muddy. The larger trucks had power and long wheel base working for them, but they weren’t allowed many choices for lines due to their full body size. Exhaust stacks were catching trees and trailer hitches and bumpers were getting dragged through the mud. Even most of the Wranglers were dragging their gas tanks through many of the ruts. All this on a regular road that just doesn’t get maintained!
I’m looking forward to discovering many more of these seasonal access roads and exploring the many state parks that New York has to offer and meeting many more great people! Be sure to check out the interactive map and video down below. If you know of a road or area that I should check out, be sure to leave a comment on this post, email me at the4x4podcast@yahoo.com, check out the show page on Facebook, or call the voicemail number 315-955-3467 or on Skype
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