First I want to thank Clint for including LOST members to this special event to help JEEP promote their new 07 JKs. What a great time I had. I got to drive a 06 TJ up Cadillac hill and then drove a 07 4 door JK down Cadillac hill. The 4 door JK is one cool Jeep. It don't bounce has much has the 06 TJ and a very capable 4X4. The electric swaybar disco is sweet just push a button and it is disconnected. The first thing I would change is the front bumper as you can see from Desertlibery photos I hit the passenger side on a tree but did not know until I got to base camp cause I did not feel anything. The bumper is to long and made out of plastic trim like the KJs. At first I thought a 4 dr JEEP would look odd but after seeing it it really looks good. JEEP got a winner!
Clint asked Ted and I if we could drive our KJ's to base camp to help Mike and Tammy bring their camping equipment out. Since I drove both ways through Cadillac hill I felt we could do it. Driving down was no problem JJsKJ met us halfway, he hiked from base camp, and spotted us down Cadillac hill.
Going up was fun but need to pick the right lines for the KJ Clint spotted me up Cadillac hill. I have a TruTrac up front and Powertrac No Slip in the rear also front swaybar disconnecd. I think Ted has a Tracloc in the rear and TruTrac up front. Both of us have all the armor on our KJs. If you going to do Rubicon Cadillac hill you're going to need all the armor and NO open dif's. Mike R (MJR) with his 88 Jeep Wagoneer followed us and of course he did not have a problem at all. On the easy part of the trail I took the wrong line and got hung up on a tree stump. Ted had to winch me off backwards while Mike R supervise.
I had a great time and can't wait for someone to set up a club trip back to
Rubicon. The camping was awesome and still need to find that swimming hole JJ talked about.
Yes a KJ set up right can do Cadillac hill with good spotting. The Rubicon valley is just awesome the camping sites, hiking trails, scenery are great.

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2002 Liberty
W/Lift+Armor+Diff mods

Great write-up, Nolan. Of course, what he didn't say was that when he was hung up on the tree stump, most people would have just slid off one way or another. Not Nolan! He totally removed the stump! We now call him Stumpy. Well, OK, I got stuck a few times also. Once exactly where I'd gotten stuck before, but I'm a slow learner.

The fact is that the KJs did an awesome job on the trail. This despite a lot of naysayers and doubters, and a bad previous track record with them.

The new JKs are truly amazing, though. With the 116" wheel base on the 4 door, I had thought they would have many problems. That just wasn't the case and I got to drive every variation: 2 door, 4 door, manual and auto trans. Touch a switch, sway bar disconnected; another switch, lockers engaged; another button, SIRIUS radio. And they're quieter with less vibration.

When we had to stay overnight in Truckee, we were given a new Commander with a 5.7L hemi to use. That was really impressive too. Want dinner? Use the GPS to locate and direct you to one. Want an ice cream afterwards? The GPS found us a Baskin Robbins. We didn't ask for anything else, but it probably could have found it and gotten there fast.

What to buy next? So many good choices; so few dollars.

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Ted Kalil
2005 KJ Renegade & 1987 Wrangler.
2010 Yamaha 700 Grizzly - got very sick. So.. 2012 Polaris RZR 800