Beginner's Off-Roading Parks in Washington State

[VandalSibs]

Does anyone know of a good place that teaches off-road driving? I've driven 4wheelers before, but I'd like to learn about basic off-road driving that I can apply to my R1T.

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[Forager]

I believe Dirtfish has off-road driving instruction. I know they have a rally school. It’s around Sammamish, WA.

 

[godfodder0901]

I believe Dirtfish has off-road driving instruction. I know they have a rally school. It’s around Sammamish, WA.

That's mainly rally focused. And I don't think it's BYOV(ehicle).

 

[VSG]

Dirtfish is a rally school primarily. I've heard a lot of good things about it. Yes, you're allowed to bring your own vehicle.

It's on the site of the old lumber mill pictured in the opening credits to Twin Peaks.

I've always thought of that area as North Bend, but evidently their address is officially Snoqualmie. It's right off of I-90, which is about a 4 hour a drive for you.

 

[VandalSibs]

Might be a bit far for a learning thing, maybe I can convince my wife to combine it with some other sort of trip around there sometimes in the future...

 

[Mr. Ham]

backroad4wd.com was at the Rivian drag event last year. I never booked anything with them though.

 

[VSG]

I don't have any actual suggestions for off-roading schools. I personally learned by doing, bootstrapping to increasingly harder things. That was a long process. I expect a school would accelerate the process, but nothing beats doing - you still need to learn from experience how big a rock you can drive over without scraping your underbody, and you still need to learn from experience where your wheels are. Some of that you can learn on city street - I find that aiming to just miss manhole covers is great practice because you can feel when you hit them. That can help you learn exactly where your wheels are at all times, which gives you confidence for dealing with tricky situations.

Be assured that your Rivian is far more capable than you think. Don't be afraid to turn around if you're not comfortable going further - increasing experience will lead to increasing confidence. Try to go out with other people, because you can push each other and learn from each other and get rescued by each other when you push it too far. Check out the off-roading clubs in your area, and try to participate in some of the group outings.

East of CdA in the national forest there are a lot of roads you can explore which will help you get comfortable with what your Rivian can do without pushing it too far. Also down in the Blue Mountains and the Wallowas, although that's farther from you. Check out the Idaho BDR (also the Washington BDR). Because these are well-defined routes, there are videos and web sites that will give you details which will help you decide what parts you think you can do and what parts will be a challenge.

My suggestion is to plan a couple of trips and take the "back roads" to get there. It will be an adventure, and lead you to other adventures. Hopefully your significant other will feel the same way about driving these routes as you do ...

 

[VandalSibs]

East of CdA in the national forest there are a lot of roads you can explore which will help you get comfortable with what your Rivian can do without pushing it too far.

I'm decently familiar with those logging roads - it's where I've done almost all of the ATV driving I've done! Lots of camping too.

I was actually telling my wife the last time we were out there that it could be quite fun to take the truck on those roads... Just wasn't sure how bad it would be on all-season tires.

 

[VSG]

Just wasn't sure how bad it would be on all-season tires.

Again, I can't claim to be a Rubicon-trail level expert, but to me the tires aren't as important as the ground clearance. I have 20" all-terrain wheels/tires, but the 21" seem just as capable unless you are driving at the extremes. The sidewall with the 20" means you don't have to worry as much about scraping your rims, and means you can air down more, but I personally have never found traction to be the limiting factor. Although, many people will blame traction for things that they as drivers have complete control of. No one likes to admit that they are at fault for tackling an obstacle that exceeds their level of ability.

Your Rivian has a better ground clearance than just about any stock vehicle out there. I learned on a 4Runner, which has roughly 10" of clearance, if you ignore the differential. My Rivian on the other hand has about 15" of clearance, at max height, with a flat bottom. So I know if I can do it in my 4Runner, I can do it with my Rivian.

 

[Polar]

Join us over at Emerald City Rivian Club

Plenty of us go offroad regularly; and are happy to have folks who are learning tag along.

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