Outdoor Adventure USA, LLC

It’s easy nowadays to rely entirely on a GPS receiver to direct you during a trip. Just program in your destination, and let the friendly voice and digital map guide you along the way. But like any electronic gadget, a GPS unit has its limitations, and you can end up in trouble if you’re not careful. Plus, they can lose power or break, leaving you stranded if you don’t have a back up.

You’ve heard the old saying many times: Haul it in and haul it out. That generally applies to trash, but more places now require that visitors carry out their human waste as well. In some, you don’t have any choice. In the Moab, UT area and on the Rubicon Trail, for example, the ground is so rocky that it’s impossible to dig even a small hole.

It was a wet Sunday in March. From time to time snow squalls would blow through coating the vehicles but melting as soon as it toughed the ground. Occasionally the sun would peek out. Normally hard-baked clay trails with traction like slick rock had become slick and greasy. I had been picking the more sandy trails for my class of new enthusiasts. It was about 3:45 PM and I had just shifted to 2WD in preparation to lead the beginning class out of the Park when the last vehicle in our group was intercepted by a vehicle looking for help. A Toyota land cruiser had flipped over. Fortunately no one was injured.

One of our beliefs is relying on your normal instinct to cope with off-road situations is generally wrong. You have to learn a new set of behaviors. We see it time & again: people instinctively grab onto or jump onto a vehicle to prevent it tipping or rolling over.

My Sand Clinic on Aug. 18 reminded me of a very important fact: fatigue is common in off-road driving and must be taken seriously.

The clinic was designed to last several hours longer, but by 2:30 I could tell the drivers were bushed, so I called it quits. Better that than to risk damage to vehicle or, worse, injury.

If there's one maxim that applies to 4-wheeling regardless of where you ride and under what conditions it is this: There is no substitute for safety. In many instances the margin for error is slim.

One of the more dangerous situations arises when a vehicle is stuck. Even if the vehicle is upright and on stable ground, you still must use the proper equipment and technique. One mistake, and someone could get killed. It's happened a couple times in the past few years, and the lessons learned from these sad incidents should serve as a wake-up call to anyone who drives off road. Both incidents, coincidently, occurred in Michigan, but they could've happened anywhere.

Summer is here, and for many off-road enthusiasts, that means spending even more time on the numerous trails and paths available to us. This is a good time to review the code of ethics that all conscientious drivers live by. Sometimes we become a bit complacent, and forget the fundamentals that have guided drivers for years.