Rules &
Safety
NWFJCC Trail Rules
1. Safety will always be #1. We
will publicly chastise members ignoring safety. You don't want to go
there.
2. It is the goal of the NWFJCC to leave a
trail area like we had never been there. We will be ghosts in the
machine.
3. Courtesy to our surroundings and fellow
members is an absolute must. We will expect nothing less.
4. If you bring it in, pack it out. No
matter what it is. Even if it isn't ours, we will pack litter out.
5. Smoking is restricted to the inside
your vehicle on a trail. All smoking materials will remain in your
vehicle. No exceptions! Like with rule #1, you don't want to go there.
6. Never, ever blaze a new trail (period)
7. Hot-rodding, and burnouts are not
acceptable. We want to tip-toe through the tulips, not impress the girls
on Main Street.
8. Enjoy your surroundings. We will stop
many times on a run to catch our breath, enjoy the scenery and have a
Kodak Moment. We live
in God's Country. Enjoy it!
9. Never purposely disturb the flora or
fauna. Never remove anything (except trash) from any
road or trail. No rock/flower/critter gathering unless you have a
permit.
10. Always use tree straps when using a
tree as an anchor.
11. Loud music is rude.
12. If we need to pile stones or other
forest material to get over an obstacle, put the material back before
moving on.
13. If clearing a trail, be careful to
leave the area as natural as possible.
14. If clearing a trail we will only cut
fallen trees/branches to clear the trail. We will never cut down
trees to make a trail. Let the forest service take that job on. Cutting
down trees is normally a prosecutable offense.
15. If camping, fire safety cannot be
stressed enough. Place your hand into your fire pit before leaving your
campground. If it doesn't burn you, it won't burn down the forest.
Accidental forest fires are a prosecutable offense.
Right of Way
Keep right. If it is safer to move left
instead of right, then by all means do so; the rule of common sense
applies. If there is only room for one vehicle to pass, the more
maneuverable vehicle, or the more experienced driver, should give way.
When two vehicles meet on a grade and there isn't a safe place to pull
over, the vehicle traveling uphill has the right of way. It is safer for
the vehicle traveling downhill to back up, and it will be much easier
for the downhill vehicle to get under way.
When wheeling in ORV/OHV parks or other
high-traffic areas there may be times where we will need to let other,
faster vehicles pass-through our group. The drivers at the rear of each
group will take the responsibility to inform the lead drivers that our
group needs to find a safe spot to pull over.
Courtesy and common sense should always prevail.
NWFJCC Trail
Ratings
We will try and rate trail difficulty
according to the following standards:
Level 0:
Open roads, highways, Well maintained gravel roads. You can run these
trails in Grandma's station wagon. In fact, your Grandma could run these
trails quite well.
Level 1:
Gravel/dirt roads with some minor ruts and dips. You will probably
not even use 4-wheel-drive on these roads.
Level 2:
Gravel/dirt roads. You might run into a few minor mud puddles but
nothing noteworthy. Some moderately steep climbs. You may use 4-hi on
these trails from time to time.
For levels 3-5 and above we will rate
in increments such as 3.4, or a 4.7, or a 5.3 and state exactly what can
be expected.
Level 3:
Steep climbs, slippery mud, rocks will be met on a regular basis. You'll
hit 4-low often and some of the trails will be fairly technical. You may
have to spotted in a few areas. Airing down is a must on level 3 and
above..
Level 4:
Very steep climbs. Expect very tight, very technical trails. A modified
vehicle is recommended for this level and above. Some minor damage can
occur. All safety and recovery gear is required for level 4 and above.
Spare parts recommended. A good, complete set of tools is required.
Level 5:
An extremely modified vehicle is required for even attempting this
level. Level 5 and above trails are for extreme 4-wheelers and
professional drivers. Safety and recovery gear for this level trails are
not even listed on the site. We're talking Baja 1000, The Rubicon Trail,
extreme rock crawling and harder for this level and above.
It is not likely any of us will ever run a
level 5 trail or higher.
NWFJCC
Pinstripe Ratings
We're all driving $25K-$35K vehicles or
more, depending on mods, so we do understand that some folks are not
real keen on pinstripes on their beloved FJ Cruisers. Some could care
less whether they can be "buffed out" or not as they are not car
detailers and don't want to start. So, we will rate our trails according
to the following standards:
Level 0:
The only way you can get striped on this level of trail is to purposely
drive into a tree, bush or to pick up a rock and throw it at your FJ.
You will be more likely to get a door-ding at the mall than to get
striped on this level of trail.
Level 1:
A minor stripe may be possible, but avoidable.
Level 2:
Minor stripes likely. Some will be unavoidable. These stripes are
nothing to cry about and very easily buffed out by hand.
Level 3:
You will get a stripe or two or three. Most can be buffed by hand, but
you will likely receive some stripes that will require a buffer. If
climbing through large rocks some minor wheel damage could occur.
Level 4:
Break out the buffer! Also, at this level trail you may experience
slider scrapes, skidplate scrapes and bangs and wheel dings and scrapes.
Level 5:
Possibilities of vehicle damage are very high. The NWFJCC
is not likely to be running level 5 trails.
