Thanks man, yeah we loved it… well the first half anyway haha. Really is a trail you gotta do if you’re in the area. Mostly riverbed up to the falls, there is a few areas through forest as you saw. Good luck
Did you guys come in on the South Esk trail? Looks like you ended up on that Nomad trail coming past Ruby Lakes. Did that once on my quad. Not sure I'd take my Jeep down that part of the trail. Looks like fun
Hey there, the route in was real simple and a nice drive, mostly river bed. On the way back we took a different route but went a step too far, yeah it was a real difficult trail to get through. Not sure we’d of taken it had we known. It was my first visit to the area so I just followed.
That trail to Ruby Falls is a one way in one way out trail. The trail you took to the lakes is not bad but beyond that was never a jeep trail until about 3 to 4 years ago. Then a few guys tried it did major bush whacking and the trail got slightly wider and the mud holes got much deeper. What you should have done was taken the hidden trail right at the lakes that links back up to the main trail but it’s often missed because it is slightly hidden. I drove by it for years not knowing it was there. I think because the sxs’s are so big now is why it is now doable for Jeeps although the mud holes are very deep and if you break down there you will be lucky to get out. That area exploded with trafic when everyone started making you tube videos on it and now not even 5 years later the trail is being rerouted and it’ll never be as good as the original. They will eliminate all the river crossings. You can kind of see why they have a problem with it because it was fine when there is only a few groups here and there that would travel the trail but like I say now with all these RU-vid videos basically advertising the place and now everybody shows up so now we have a problem because where just one or two jeeps were crossing the river every hour you might have jeeps crossing 10 times per hour and then of course the waters get all silted up and then it does become a problem for the fish not to mention any of the oil or grease that could come off the jeeps and quads. It’s kind of one of those things where we all want to share these special places with others and I used to do the same but now these days I just keep these places to myself because the end result is we either get complete closure of the trail or they reroute the trail to where it’s not even really fun anymore taking away all the obstacles people were even going in there minivans if you could believe that. I don’t know the answers anymore I think if they just fix up the trails slightly where there’s an environmental issue and instead of rerouting the entire trail the jeep groups and the ATV and dirtbike group should all band together and put money in to build bridges so that we can still have the same trail that doesn’t have to be completely rerouted but of course once you make it with bridges and make it too easy to get in then every Tom Dick and Harry shows up you’ll have a Honda Civic going down the trail so where does it end right?
Yeah, I concur. It’s a fine line between wanting to share your experiences and passion, with not wanting others to go and wreck it. We certainly would’ve chosen a different route had we know the best way around.
Oh haha thanks Bob, never been good on a horse. I do admire those that are. I bet it’s great riding that country on a horse, taking in all the sights, sounds and smells.
Hello! I am going to Ruby falls this coming February with some friends. How hard the trail is and how long did it take you? I know it’s snowy now and will take us longer to get there.
It was pretty easy in the summer but the river was deeper in one area and in the winter the crossing may be frozen or difficult. Maybe take it easy and decide when you get there, it’s a stunning place in the summer. Not sure what it’s like all frozen over. I suspect the falls will be frozen too
It’s a fairly easy run up to the falls and back, don’t go alone and take recovery gear. There are a couple of water/mud holes that you need to get through but they’re not difficult. Don’t go the Ruby Lake route back though! Enjoy, it’s beautiful, oh and definitely air down, there’s a lot of small rock that’ll shake you to pieces if you don’t. If it’s been raining the river may be deeper, I’m on 35’s so you can gauge the depth
Hello , can you pleas recommend me a trail for suv that can reach a summit of a mountain in the rockis? Doesn't matter witch one. Just to get to the top with a ''awd'' suv. Thenx.
So sad to see the devastation caused to that trail by jeeps and modified quads. Considering the fact that in 1988 that trail was easily traversed by a stock quad with stock tires. Very disheartening.
Was a good video until the end. Why would Eliot just keep spinning like that? It tears the trail all to hell just digs a big hole and you are miles and miles from no where so you don’t risk braking your rig out there. Dumb move. Has he ever heard of “tread lightly” it doesn’t mean getting stuck then making 20 attempts to get out. Like you get stuck so then STOP and pull out the damn winch. It’s guys like that that help ruin the trail. Mud is fine but holes that swallow jeeps are not and that area had to be repaired already because of people with 4x4’s digging to China. Something to think about... Then everybody and their dog making you tube video’s just brings more people and with that come more people like Eliot. Lol
Hey, yeah Elliott is very experienced and usually takes things very slowly and carefully. He’s a considerate wheeler and that hole was very deceptive, we winched through carefully once we got his bead back on and strapped his lower control arm up.
