.

the car junkie daily magazine.

.

Wet, Muddy And Awesome: Off-Roading In Western Washington With Subarus!


Wet, Muddy And Awesome: Off-Roading In Western Washington With Subarus!

Not every Subaru is a wicked little STI that makes big horsepower and big noise with a big turbocharger. Not every Subaru is going to be Colin McRae’s Impreza, blasting down fire roads at speeds most of us wouldn’t attempt on a winding two-lane road somewhere in the country. Most Subarus are meant to be basic transportation with the ability to drive all four wheels, and they’ve been that way for decades. They weren’t sexy, they weren’t fast…they were boxy and “uniquely” styled, and most of them were cast off and forgotten, but these little beasts, with a little work, make for surprisingly fun off-roaders. You might see a rallycross-prepared Impeza or Outback, but when was the last time you saw a Loyale, lifted on aggressive off-road rubber, wading a washed-out ravine?

Washington State, especially west of the Cascade Mountain range, offers great off-roading and plenty of trails to try out. Whether you just want to bomb down a fire road at speed or you want some tricky, technical work in the rainforest, you’ll find just about whatever you want. We aren’t 100% sure where this trail run is actually located, but tell us that you wouldn’t have had some fun on this trail ride. That last section looked like a blast!


  • Share This
  • Pinterest
  • 0

4 thoughts on “Wet, Muddy And Awesome: Off-Roading In Western Washington With Subarus!

  1. floating doc

    My wife had an 85 subaru 4×4 wagon when we met. Glacially slow, I don’t think it even had 100 horsepower. I used to mock the car, until it showed me what it was capable of.

    We were pulling onto an unplowed entrance to the Blue Ridge Parkway, and I misjudged the location and dropped both left wheels into a culvert. The car was tipped at a 45 degree angle, with both left wheels hard up against the concrete, and snow up to the windows on that side.

    We kicked the snow away from the car, I got in, put it in four low, started rocking, and drove it out in under a minute.

    I never mocked that car again. We live in Florida, and after that the little wagon became our beach driving car.. I could climb the steep sand berms off the hard pack without even spinning a tire, where my TRD tacoma would take two or three tries due to wheel hop, even with the locker engaged.

  2. C.M. Bendig

    A few things most Subaru owners never do:
    1, Put on tires with decent tread. At least one of them has Super Swampers.
    2. Lift the Suspension for ground clearance.
    3. No cry like a baby about a scratch or a dent.

    We used to trail ride a number of Near Stock or Stock SUV’s & pick ups before the trails got closed. I have been on trails in 2WD trucks, even. Clearance, Traction & good judgement can get you places people have not torn up to the point you need 35’s just to get threw the mud pit mid trail.

    Anther place we used to go, we would wheel a near stock Jeep CJ7 with some generic Mud tires with a tread like a BFGoodrich mud terrain. Others in that ground had lifted Sameri’s. 100% not street safe shackle lifts, welded rear spider gears and 31-33 inch heavy lug off road tires.

    If you have $500-$1000 you can have a off road play toy. If your not going hard core trails, rock crawling, or threw deep mud pits.

Comments are closed.