Subaru Sand Pit Sunday

A New Pine Barrens Adventure

My mid-life crisis has been sort of backwards. I drove sports cars well into my forties, from Mustangs and Mini Cooper turbos to Acuras. Whether it was hitting fifty, missing the camaraderie of the dojo¹, or cabin fever from the pandemic lockdown, my “crisis” involved buying a safe, reliable car and a mountain bike (okay, three mountain bikes… it’s a problem.)

I bought a Subaru because Sarah got tired of me getting Pine Barrens sugar sand in her Honda. I looked at Jeeps (ridiculously expensive for the capable models, terrible reliability) and the new Ford Bronco (hard to get in the capable models, very expensive, and buying a new model Ford means you are asking to be an unpaid Quality Assurance tester.) A few web searches led me to local Subaru groups who went on camping and road trips, and the dealer just happened to have a new Outback Wilderness edition in metallic green with copper accents that reminded me of my grandmother’s vintage ‘70s kitchen.

The hulk green truck nutz were just for this photo.

The Subaru AWD is well-established as one of the best in the business, and the Wilderness has an extra inch of ground clearance, waterproof upholstery, better gearing for low end torque, and roof rails that can support a 700lb. rooftop tent. As you can see, you can have some fun with it, if you’re careful. Or, not so careful:

The Outback has a front-facing camera that can be helpful, if you use it. I was too concerned with an approach that would get me between the two trees at the top of the rise, because I had the longest and widest car there. The bumper lip on the skid plate did what it was meant to do, but I had a lot of fun getting sand and pebbles out of the nose of the car!

This sand pit is easily accessed from the highway and has trails of varying difficulty. We saw a pair of Toyota 4Runners, and a couple of dirt bikes. Then we set out on the back roads and visited one of my favorite places in the Pine Barrens, known as the Devil’s Hairbrush. Named after a stand of dead Atlantic Cedars in the swamp, it’s one of the first places I visited. It’s still beautiful:

The bridge is washed out and replaced with a culvert and gravel, and requires driving through two spots with a few inches of running water. From there, we tried several roads to make it to Hidden Lakes, which I visited in January. That was a fun trip, but we weren’t meant to visit again. One road was flooded out and required a detour. We followed another to a dead end, and finally followed one that crossed railroad tracks which tore out the exhaust of that cute white Forester with the heart headlights! The pipes were sort of jerry-rigged on, but Ilya had to drive home with a very loud exhaust and couldn’t hear us on the mobile radios.

I wanted to take this trip because I invested in some Primitive Racing skid plates to protect the engine bay, transmission, and the rear differential. As you can see in the video I posted above, the bumper lip earned its keep. I’ve decided not to upgrade anything like the suspension or tires until they break or wear out. As I’ve heard off-roaders say, the best upgrades are the driver and then the tires. I’m working on the driver—I’m too eager to “full send it” as they say in the mountain biking community—and the tires haven’t let me down yet.

The under armor, and Ilya's exhaust

If car stuff ain’t yout thing, next week there’ll be Woodpecker Wednesday, and a visit to the Leatherman’s Cave (not a BDSM joint).

And a reminder, Vyx Starts the Mythpocalypse will be released on Tuesday, March 26th in ebook and paperback! It looks amazing:

Vyx Starts the Mythpocalypse is available for pre-order on Kindle and all other e-book formats, and soon, paperback will be available through Amazon. A special edition hardcover from Barnes and Noble is in the works, as well. The print editions contain nearly three dozen illustrations by Kim Parkhurst! It is a book of fierce hope, and I can’t wait for you to read it.

Until next time… I’ll be bouncing around the Pines.

1. Not a Mojo Dojo Casa House. A krav maga dojo which shut down in 2020.