Can my Subaru make it to certain trailheads?

Trailhead condition requests, questions, alerts, etc.
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ezabielski
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Joined: 7/13/2012
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Re: Can my Subaru make it to certain trailheads?

Post by ezabielski »

An Outback has got to be the best all around vehicle for accessing 14ers, period. And I say that as a Land Cruiser owner. The number of miles you have to walk on 4WD roads for 14ers that an Outback cannot access is not significant in the scope of things. Maybe someone can add it up but it's going to be a pretty small number of miles. It also holds a lot of stuff (easily 4-5 people and gear for a weekend of 14ers), is easy and nice to drive, gets better gas mileage than proper 4x4s, you can sleep in the back, and is pretty reliable.
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Jeff Valliere
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Re: Can my Subaru make it to certain trailheads?

Post by Jeff Valliere »

I have seen some insane things on some of the tougher 4wd road approaches, forget Subarus, but small passenger cars or CR-Vs in some very surprising locations. It takes a combination of good driving, good luck and a high tolerance level, but judging from oil puddles, assorted car parts on the side of the road and some desperate predicaments I have seen, does not always go according to plan.

If the road gets bad enough that I am truly apprehensive about it, I find that it relieves a lot of stress to just park and walk, run, or stick out a thumb, as the whole point of the trip (at least for me) is to get some exercise and enjoy the day in the mountains. Beating up my car, then worrying about the trip out takes away from the fun, so I just skip that. Of course the feasibility of that can vary depending on the approach and circumstances, in which case I may find a friend with 4wd or make alternate plans.

As Gerry Roach says "I want more mountain, not less" (or something like that). :-D