My son and I just drove the FAT in his 2005 Jeep TJ Rubicon. What fun - we started about 50-hours of some heavy rain fall and expected to have lots of water crossings. We did, managed all except for one and had to use our winch for recovery but that in itself was fun. One thing we quickly learned approaching these unknown water obstacles - if there was a bypass and it looked fresh, take it. Probably some local who knew more about the trail that we did. The one time we didn't, yep that's when we had to use the winch. We also decided to do some night driving one night (my son had recently installed some new overlanding lights and wanted to give them a try). That was even more fun - all the animals we saw along the way. The ONLY negative in this trip were two marked camp sites on ONX were occupied by some creepy vans. One site had three vans and by the amount of garbage around them they had been sitting awhile. The other had an older female with her dog. We gave her plenty of space and set up as far away as we could. As other adventurers have done, we filled several large contractor bags with trash we found at each site. My son plans to drive it again with his wife after he finishes building her jeep. Safety in numbers for sure so take a buddy in a separate vehicle. My son documented our adventure for his own youtube channel. His next adventure will be the Georgia Trail.
back in 1976 we'd go out to the "Canal Diggin's" and scale that wall of dirt....much fun then with my 76 CJ 7 V8, loved the jeep and the ONF. Glad ya'll are still trailing out there and taking care of it. God bless
Wow, the landscape is so incredibly different than where I am in Cali..! It’s amazing that there are wildfires there too. Great video! Subbed and looking forward to watching some older videos and new ones as you post! 👏🏻👊🏼😃
Awsome video, you did an absolutely amazing job capturing the beauty of this place on video. I go off roading here pretty frequently and it also bothers me how much garbage gets dumped on the trails. Some people just have zero respect for the things they are lucky enough to have available to them.
Awesome video, but boy Florida is so flat. It really trips me out going there, or even South Carolina and not seeing a mountain in any direction. Not saying it’s not beautiful there, but I get lost in my sense of direction sometimes there.lol People are outstanding! Love the people
@@DefiantOffroad last time I brought my car it was a 911 so.. not much off roading to do! But I’ll come back with the G, don’t know when yet but I’ll take notes from your videos!
I was out there last weekend and it was dry as a bone. Some good advice I was given before my first ONF trip about 20 years ago that I will pass on is the following: don't go alone and take a gun.
Other than from puddles caused by the rain, it was pretty dry when I was there. Even the spots waypointed on the route as water crossings and mudholes were dry. You and I made our first trips out there around the same timeframe. Of all the times I've been there, I don't know if I've ever actually gone by myself, and yeah, I'm never not armed ;)
The F.A.T. passes very close to the Paisley Trail, but I don't believe it's following the same exact route there. Definitely the same part of the forest though!
@@DefiantOffroad Great place to go swimming in that area is where the bridge goes over Alexander Springs creek on 445 for anybody around there on a nice warm day, crystal clear water year round.
I have a front wheel drive pick up truck. What do you think would be my limitations when visiting the park to drive on trails and camp in the truck bed overnight?
If your truck doesn't have 4 wheel drive, I would stay off of the dirt roads. While they are mainly hard-packed dirt, they can become soft, loose sand quickly. Ocala NF has some campgrounds that are easy to access though. Also check further north at the Osceola National Forest. The main trails there are much harder packed dirt, and most passenger vehicles can travel on them.
Generally speaking, no. There are areas that dispersed camping is allowed, though. You would be better off going to the National Forest website and looking up the regulations there.
@@DefiantOffroad Thanks. We don't live that far from Ocala. We just did Windrock in the Smoky Mountains and got a little experience with rocks and mountains. Sand and mud would be a fun next step.
