He
wanted to pick an ideal location to test out the Trail Boss and see if it lived
up to its expectations, and picked the upper Catskills of New York (Where
Patrick Swayze flaunted his moves years ago in the “Dirty Dancing” movie), at
Samuel's Camp. One very daunting and tough-to-access 50-acre hunting camp, it
is full of rocky terrain that dwarfs many cars, and swampy ravines that
threaten to see you stuck for hours. Situated just south of the Peekamoose
Mountain, it boasts incline grades that just keep getting steeper, and it is
imperative to have a vehicle with multiple abilities to reach the top.
Only
the tried-and-true locals really know the area, and many have never made it up
the hill due to its incredibly extreme level of challenge and need for a
skilled driver to boot. The group was fully locked-and-loaded in 4WD, and in
low range, and then begin to crawl up the side of the mountain. They even had
to bring a chainsaw just in case, a necessity to avoid the worst-case scenario
of getting completely blocked in on the way up. They were now bouncing over
“rocks the size of small cows”, and a few times only had two wheels on the
ground.
As
far as making it to the top safe, Jeeps with the necessary modifications where
the only vehicles often known to make it, so the power and agility on hand was
a top priority. About 45 minutes into the journey they made it to Bear Springs,
a natural spring with the best in naturally pure fresh water. The terrain then
became very steep and narrow, and over logs, through streams, and sloped
grades, the team deemed that this truck was absolutely the boss of the trail.
They
pulled in successful at an elevation of 2,370 feet with bear tracks deer fur
and just about every
type of wildlife seen in the Northeast. They loved the smooth feel and shifts
offered up from
the 10-speed automatic transmission and ranked it better than what was found in
the outgoing
model. This is by no means terrain that you rove quickly over, and brandishes obstacles
that can scratch essentials from your underside with one miscalculated move.
The 7,000-pound
towing capacity, as well as hill descent control and auto locking rear
differentials,
were other qualities that made our proud Trail Boss conquer this trail, and let us be
frank: this is the kind of terrain that comes with a stamped-on warning to
“only be attempted
by the experts”!
