fj cruisers are pretty sweet ! I wish i had one !

there are a rediculous number of places to go within 3 hours and quite a few within 2 hours . Many of the best local trails are currently under snow or wet . MANY trails and offhighway vehicles areas close when its wet to prevent excess errosion . the desert is your best bet right now and call the ranger station for trail conditions or look it up online.

i have tons of books and this is the best one www.amazon.com/Backcountr.../1930193041 also make sure to get Delorme atlas and gazzetter for so cal. Sometimes they are both its at sport chalet. this book has everything you need to get started and beats the hell out of surfing the net . I never leave for a trip without it . there are like hundreds of trails. if u go on a trail in this book i would go on a two or a three difficulty rating the first time. anything higher then three damage or rollover is a real possibility with one misplaced tire.


I would make sure you have proper gear before you ever hit the trail.all this stuff is soooo important if you go with just one vehicle. You'll need a HI- LIFT jack with offroad base thing . I helped a family out and got 80 bucks on my very first 4x4 trip. Then i got 50 bucks another time and that paid it off but i only used it once for myself . if i didn't have it I was stuck with a flat at 12,000 feet in the sierra nevada with a 20 mile walk out ! so you need hi- lift jack, shovel, fullsize spare tire, lots of extra food , water , compass that u know how to use , maps , first aid kit etc.


Read about some 4x4 driving stuff . Feathering the brake while holding the gas is the most usefull trick! when its really rough and you have to crawl super slow it prevents stalling. Its really hard but i'm getting good.unless your planning on taking serious risks at damaging your new truck you'll probably never be backing down hills unless there is oncoming traffic . backing down a really tough hill is very dangerous and much harder then forward so do get in a little practice. I have LS in the back and i've gone up endless miles of trails without problems. many times i've got out and walked up and thought there is no way i'll make it up. then i'll go up it like nothin. However stalling on hillclimbs does happen in a stick and getting it going again can be hard. With lockers and some big tires that fj should be almost unstopable.

if you have ABS you have to be careful with extreme hillclimbs that are loose and have to reverse down ! these problems are compensated for in some cars and all the best offroad vehicles have ABS disable switches. i dunno about fj! If your going backwards and ABS engages you will basicaly be unable to lock the wheels and may loose control and be unable to stop.locked wheels push up a mound of dirt infront of them allowing u to stop . with abs they keep rolling and so do u . Just carefully watch the surface conditions , a hill you can easily pass dry may be impossible with just a light rain.

make sure to get some pinstrips on that new truck cuz no 4x4 trip is complete without them !

I have the other book listed above too . Its also a very good book but the trail descriptions are alot less detailed and there is alot less historical stuff and pictures . many of the trails overlap with ones in the first book I posted but it does have some very hard trails in it that are not in the first book . I still would go with the first book it will present plenty of challenges and offer some easy roads too which actualy can be nice sometimes so the driver can look out the window and enjoy instead of focus endlessly on the next obstacle.