Tellico
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Story by TXJEEPER


Tellico Trails
Part I

In November of 1999 I was invited to North Carolina to run Tellico National Forest by some friends of mine on the TJ mailing list. The run was to start out as a sort of pre-run invite-only thing on Friday and then on Saturday, it would be an official club run for the Central North Carolina 4x4 Club. Being my first trip to Tellico, having a small group the first day out would be a good way to get acquainted with the terrain.

You can enter the Tellico area from either the North Carolina or the Tennesee sides. We came in from Murphy, NC. The road in to the trail area is very long and is 2WD all the way in. It's considered Trail number 2. The road is pretty much a washboard dirt road and if you don't get aired down beforehand you'll regret it, as we did. It felt like my dashboard would fall off at any minute.

Tellico
Once we all finally complained enough, we pulled over to air down (and tighten up some loose screws here and there).
Tellico
Donna Gardner crawls her TJ slowly down a very rocky section once the trailride really got going.

 

Tellico
One of the first sections we hit was extremely steep and rocky.
Tellico
DC Peters guides his TJ around a boulder on a tight and steep spot.

 

Tellico
Though one of the water crossings is not very hard, it does have a great rock section on the far side.
Tellico
There are a few ways to take the rocks; either straight on and listen to scraping or to put your wheels up on the rock on the big boulder on the left if your rig has enough flex.

 

Check out more photos from Tellico

 




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