The Road Less Travelled

Know what that first picture is??? It's the front bottom edge of the rear differential on my dad's Durango. Here's a set of pictures from our off road excursion.



The trail we took was very dry and deeply rutted. Second shot is the descent where we put that mark on the diff. Crawling down with it in 4-low, and there's a meaty clunk on the suspension. Set the brake and take a look, and the rear end is hung up on this rock hanging out of the ground. Get back in, and try and back it out. It does nothing but spin the wheels on the dry dirt.



Put it back in the forward gears, and pull it over with the front wheels. Of course, gravity is in our favor going this direction, but it's still a bit of a grunt to get over. We pull up a few feet, set the brake again and take a look at the damage. It pulled the rock right out of the trail!!!



We get to the bottom of the descent, where there is a wide spot (actually a dry creek bed) have a snack and bathroom break, and consult the map. The trail loop deteriorates from here, going from a solid black line to a dotted line. We decide that if it gets worse, we ought to try to go back. Getting turned around in the loose sand of the creek bed was a chance to spin the wheels a bit more, perhaps that wasn't the best place to stop. Attempting to climb back up the previous stretch of trail was even worse. A short ways up, and it's nothing but wheel spin. Trying a bit over from there is no better.



Oh well, guess we'll try the other direction. Guess what??? From the condition of the trail from there, either it had changed drastically since the map was made, or they had the line types reversed!!! Second to last picture was scouting the trail forward of the dry creek bed.



Last shot is the only exterior shot I got of the Durango. Not afraid to take it off the highway!!!