Homestead Road Update 11/1

I left a shiny brand new shovel near the crux of the Homestead road. I would love to get it back if you head up that way. She is red and her stickers are still attached. There's a cold beer in it for ya if you rescue her.

I checked out the road the other day with a few friends and thought I would give a condition report. For reference, I have a lifted 4wd 4Runner on 32 inch tires and full skids with a rear locker.

The road is looking manageable but is still a serious undertaking. We had three full(ish) sized men with picks and shovels working for maybe 90 mins to an hour to make the road navigable. I utilized an experienced spotter and am myself not foreign to off-road driving. I high centered the vehicle once and almost utilized the Hi-Lift jack to unstuck myself. If you don't know what this means there's a good chance you shouldn't be on this road. This part of the road was later leveled out a bit to be manageable.

I also slipped a tire bead and lost probably 75% of the air pressure I had in that tire (already aired down to 18 psi). I have a portable air source which I utilized to fill back up that tire and I would recommend this. I was on three wheels on more than one occasion but, again, this was manageable.

I think with the work we put in the road should be accessible to high clearance 4wd rear diff locked vehicles. I know this sounds like a lot but I don't want to be responsible for people getting stuck or worse. Most of the problems we encountered was before some maintenance on the road. I have absolutely no doubts I could make it no problem next time around. All of the above is assuming you drive in a controlled manner. If you are an absolute savage a-la certain VX owners you may be inspired to just drive 30 miles an hour, tires spinning, with both front wheels off the ground until you rise triumphantly to the top of the crux. This is, of course, at your peril as there remain multiple tippy spots.