Hi Guys,

I'm new to this forum.  My boyfriend owns a tracker.  I am looking for some fabulous places to suggest to my boyfriend that we should go "wheelin'" in, in Northern California and surrounding areas.  Please suggest places that are constantly muddy like swamp areas, or places that get constant rain.  Also, any tips for protecting the engine and other bits and baubles from water/mud damage?

Thanks,
Trackergal81

I'm not from CA and as such do not know anywhere to go wheeling but I also am UBER EXCITED to have a new member on the forum.  WELCOME!!! I hope you guys find some good sloppy spots to wheel. To keep water out of the motor try a snorkel. There are a few threads for homemade ones on here.

Where in northern Cali are you located?
I'm up in Eureka

Amilla

A few hours south of you, but we are willing to travel a good distance for some quality wheeling!

What part of nor cal are you in?
There's not to much wheeling around here, i have to drive at least a hour (quite a bit more in my samurai) to get to some good wheeling where i don't hit the same trail twice in one day.

If your down closer to Ukiah are, you can go to south cow mountain.  Im not sure how open it is right now thou, due to it being winter and all.

Amilla

If you are near Ukiah then Cow mountain is not to bad.  There is snow up there right now and mud a little lower, all the roads are open though depending on your attitude.  I was just there last weekend; I'm in Santa Rosa.  Also futher up, just north of Fort Brag on hwy 1 there is USAL which is also know as the Lost Coast and ia a really fun trail that goes to camping on the beach and if you take the trail the other 25 miles it dumps out at Sinky Ones state park by shelter cove.

http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/fo/ukiah/cowmtn.html

http://infolab.stanford.edu/~crespo/lostcoast/

If you do Lost coast this time of year, especially after all the rain have a second vehical, it gets super muddy and slick.  I have some good shots of the USAL trail and camp sites as well but they are a bit big to post here. That is one of my all time favorite spots.

Okay resized a few, thank you Gimp shop.  The guy on top of the tree is a buddy of mine, and the bottom one is part of shelter cove.

Two more...

Ok Thanks Cuthulu!  You are a big help!  I'll be sure to tell my boyfriend what you said, and show him the pictures 

I'm not sure if "mud" and "quality wheeling" go together, but you'll just have to poke around for fields to play in. I love mud, it's fun... but quality? California is pretty anti-fun (overly pro-"environment"), so there's not a lot of places that you can go mudding like you can in southern states. We are home of the world-famous Rubicon trail, and the even harder Fordyce trails (actually harder than Rubicon). Nevada's got some great desert to run in - if you're into that kind of thing. In Sacramento, there's Prairie City OHV park. I'm sure there's others.

 HI welcome to the site. It would be more than a day trip for sure, but there are lots of good wheelin areas in Kentucky. I know long way off but lots of good wheelin.

Mud is fun but very damaging to the vehicle. Watch out for overheating caused by a blocked radiator. You'll also find that wheel bearings, CVs, UJs, alternators and starter motors get a hard time. Mud can also get in around the clutch and cause the thrust bearing to seize. Brake pads and drums will wear rapidly too. You should fit a snorkel if the water is going to be more than bumper deep.
On the plus side its not as bad as wet sand