No problem! I don't mind at all! I have done quite a bit of wheeling up there and I love it...There is so much to see and definitely a place to get away....When looking at maps, I use both Google Earth and this website http://www.trails.idaho.gov/

Its a really good website and fairly updated.. When you click on that link in the top right hand corner you can do a search...Look up trail number "70667". Its called Big Boulder; its a Forest service road that takes you to amazing country...It can't be any farther than about an hour outside of Stanley. Be ready for snow though, I was up around 9000 feet hiking last weekend and there was quite a bit in the shadows... That road gets fairly treacherous in places. Once you start up the only way back down is to either go to the top and turn around or back down. Let me know if you have any questions. Here are some pictures from a few years ago

 

nice work!

 

Thanks man! As you can see, its definitely been a work in progress!

 

UPDATE:

Went camping with my family for my Dad's 2 weekends ago and got to do some wheeling and hiking. We had a blast! Went to a town called Stanley, Idaho which is about 3 hours from Boise. Took off after work on Friday and stayed until Tuesday. Like I said, had an amazing time. One of the days we took off for a day drive and ended up going on a 100 mile loop. Took us on one of the only road that travels through Wilderness area in the country and it took us through one of the largest Wilderness areas in the lower 48; the Frank Church Wilderness of No Return. Enough talking, and some pics!

Google earth shot of the trip we took. I like to do this so I can document trips I take and see the data such as elevation drop/gain, length, etc. If anybody wants me to send the file, I can do so. Wish I could figure a way to just upload it here.



The start of the trip took us up Yankee Fork, which flows into the Salmon. Here, we passed a old ghost town of Bonanza.









From here, we proceeded up Loon Creek Road. The road switched back up 2300 feet, to an elevation of 8800 feet, in about 8 miles. Once at the summit, we were at the edge of the Frank Church Wilderness of No Return. From the pictures below, you will see a massive mining operation, pretty cool.

















We then proceeded down into Loon Creek. This dropped us 3000 feet in 11 miles into Diamond D Ranch.















Once at the dude ranch, we ran into Pinyon Peak Loop Road. This is where the drive started to get incredibly beautiful. However, about a mile up, a massive tree was down across the road. Luckily, no more than after 5 minutes, Forest Service showed up and took care of it for us. This road took us up 3700 feet to an elevation of 9400 feet in ten miles. At the top, you can see Pinyon Peak Lookout. There is a road to the lookout, however, it was beginning to get late in the afternoon and we didn't know what the rest of the road held for us.

























The trip down began. From the first picture, the Sawtooth National Wilderness Area can be seen in the distance. These are the mountains that backdrop Stanley, Idaho (camp). Other pictures seen are Kidney Lake, Unknown Lakes, and tight roads.

























This concluded the end of the dirt road portion of the trip. Overall, it was an amazing experience and will be doing it again in the near future. I had plans to run this with a friend (Has a '11 JKU), however, a forest fire is burning in the area, and the road is shut down. I will try to get a few pictures up of the hiking I got to do.

 

Somehow I've been missing your updates even though I'm subscribed. I'm glad to hear your sticking with the XJ. I've had a TJ and loved it, but now that I have a XJ I love it more than the TJ. The XJ has a better ride and more cargo room and still does just as good off road if not better.

Have you noticed any sort of performance gain with your new exhaust?

If you can weld, I would recommend welding some new metal to those rear quarters to fill the holes - the metal will last longer than bondo.

 

Nice build, I'm really liking where this is headed!

 

Beautiful, just beautiful. Keep getting out there my friend.

 

You know, I have had that happen to a couple of my subscriptions before too. I go and check and I missed like an entire page..Its fairly odd

As far as the exhaust goes, I like it. I didn't want anything loud and obnoxious, just something with a nice tone. At around 1500 RPM, it sounds really good. Performance wise, maybe a little extra boost from the start, but not too noticeable. I would like to eventually do bored throttle body with the '99 Intake upgrade, possibly a cowl intake or something. Regarding miles per gallon I can't really tell you anything ha...I installed it the same day I got my 31's put on. I can tell you this though; my gas mileage has remained the same if not gone up by 1/2 MPG.

I can weld, not great, but not bad, so I'm thinking about doing the sheet metal welded in, that way I can cut all of the cancer out. That should do the job. Plus, the end cap covers it up, so it doesn't have to look PERFECT.

Thanks guys! Glad to see somebody is following this. Like I mentioned earlier, I do this so people can see my adventures and progress and also for my own good. I enjoy looking back to see my own progress. It's definitely been an experience. I may be getting out this weekend with a group of 6 JK's, not sure though yet.

 

Any updates on your build or have you abandoned the forum?