Which car would you recommend for remote bushwhacking?

[smitty77]

I was thinking that an ATV (towed on hi-way) might be good to get around those lumber roads in ME - espec the wash-outs.

I like RUP's idea too. They can easily be towed behind any vehicle and you can pick up a nice used 4wd unit for 3-4k plus another $800-1000 for a trailer. A co-worker has a Can-Am (made by Bombardier, the same folks who make snowcats) that is automatic and 4x4 and there is NO place it won't go. You're only limited by the amount of guts in the operator. They also make great utility vehicles around the yard if you have the need.

 

[RoySwkr]

At a certain point I guess one has to ask if the game is peakbagging or peakbagging and off-roading.

I was thinking that an ATV (towed on hi-way) might be good to get around those lumber roads in ME - espec the wash-outs.

Sure, and a trail bike would be even better

However if Gene Daniell was still around he would disallow any such "ascents" because the FTFC is for hikers not ATV-ers, at one time even 4wd was considered unsporting

 

[Kevin Rooney]

Roy - I didn't read those posts as suggesting ATV's or trail bikes being used to get to the summit. Rather, to use them between the paved highway/good road and the trailhead.

 

[RoySwkr]

Roy - I didn't read those posts as suggesting ATV's or trail bikes being used to get to the summit. Rather, to use them between the paved highway/good road and the trailhead.

With NE 3k and similar bushwhacks there is not necessarily any "trailhead", you drive as far as you can, then walk up the road, then (maybe) bushwhack - I think you could get to the summit of Boundary 38xx with a trail bike

Gene felt that as hikers we don't want to encourage the use of ATVs

Also many landowners disallow ATVs not that it stops anybody

 

[Bob]

With NE 3k and similar bushwhacks there is not necessarily any "trailhead", you drive as far as you can, then walk up the road, then (maybe) bushwhack - I think you could get to the summit of Boundary 38xx with a trail bike

Gene felt that as hikers we don't want to encourage the use of ATVs

Also many landowners disallow ATVs not that it stops anybody

Most ATV owners don't encourage their registration fees funding hiker rescues.

As a landowner ATVs; as well as snowmobilers and hunters are welcome on my property. Did I miss anyone?

 

[rup]

NOT for summiting!! (although that would really be something. Talk about 'guts' of the driver!!). Some of those wash-outs on logging approach roads in ME def add some steps for those w/o a vehicle to negotiate them.

 

[Bob]

just get a rental car

any rental car

 

[Tim Seaver]

Rental Cars

Be aware that if you use a rental car on a non-paved surface, any insurance you may have purchased with the rental is generally voided.

I don't know of a single company that allows use of their vehicles on unpaved surfaces, which has always been an issue when I travel out west - there is no way you can do a decent amount of exploration in say, WA or OR, without many, many miles of forest road driving.

I never buy the insurance, and bring the car back caked in dust inside and out.
"Lots of construction zones", I tell them, with a wink.

 

[Dr. Dasypodidae]

early 70s Datsun 510 wagon or late 1980s VW golf, if you can find either.

 

[RoySwkr]

I never buy the insurance, and bring the car back caked in dust inside and out.

I always wash it so they don't think to look underneath for the undercarriage damage. Similarly, I paid to repair the 2 flat tires I got one trip so I wouldn't have to explain how.

 

[Becca M]

Or, you could use a '92 Miata - this can make any regular hike a bushwhack since so many of the TH's are inaccessible with it!!!

 

[sardog1]

early 70s Datsun 510 wagon or late 1980s VW golf, if you can find either.

-1 on the late '80s Golf. Lots o' fun to drive, so long as the road was paved and dry. No fun at all if it wasn't. Wide, low profile factory tires and low clearance were miserable in the snow, notwithstanding the front wheel drive. And I think I recall a hydroplaning incident as well, but my brain seems to be protecting itself from recalling the horror . . .

 

[Craig]

Continuing the nostalgic theme, I'll put in a plug for the domestic market.

1979 Chevy Chevette.

I routinely took this new car into the woods and drove it where no car should have been driven. The 4 cylinder 4 speed had a hard time getting out of the way on the highway but had no problem negotiating the rocks and mud of the old logging roads.

Ohhh to be young, dumb and full of testosterone.

 

[Paradox]

Have you considered a "Rhino Package" for your Honda? The heavy duty front grill and most importantly an electric winch to pull you out of the tough spots.

 

[andrewb]

You had to walk farther in order to go walking? Absolutely ridiculous!!

At a certain point I guess one has to ask if the game is peakbagging or peakbagging and off-roading.

Couldn't agree with you more! To me, these mega extreme measures that some are willing to go through in order to avoid what would be a *very* easy road jog seems odd. Once the driving is no longer easy, you also risk hundreds or thousands of dollars in repairs if things go bad -- not to mention being stranded.

This being said, I have done and am planning trips with an estimated jog of a few miles at most before and after the hike. If I had to go 20 or 30 miles, I'd be singing a different tune for sure. Luckily for me there are no such trips on my horizon.