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Okay.  I got my 2004 Jeep Grand Cheroke last year.  I've been babying it until now.  Okay, I've gone camping a couple times and such, but nothing I'd really call off-roading.  I picked up a book with off-road roads/trails in Southern California.  I'm really glad to see there's plenty to start trying out.  I'm not looking to go on extreme trails or anything.  This is also my main vehicle, so I'm not looking to go wearing it out, where it only gets weekend use.  I'm looking for easy to moderate level stuff, where I can drive in, go on a nice 5-6 mile hike away from civilization for a while.  The vehicle is currently just stock equipment for the Limited model.

My questions are:
For my current interests (easy-moderate), what should I be looking to get initially?
Do I need to get all-terrain tires, or can I stick with the all-weather for now?
How needed is a skid-plate/guard?

And if you know of any good sites that help us newbies out in getting familiar with what there is to know, please post.  I'm hoping to get to "use" my Jeep this year to get out, see some nature, and enjoy sights you can't normally see.

Thanks,
-Alex
 

Hello Alex

If you just going to be doing only mild trailing at low speeds you should be fine with the jeep as it is. Stock jeeps will go places most other lifted/modified trucks cant. You will quicly learn what you can and cant do. Just remember 4-low and drop it in 1st gear for going up and down large/step hills.

As far as the tires specifically, those will get you up just about anything, but you would be the best judge when you get out there if your spining them alot ( assuming your using the right gear ) then maybe upgrade to an all-terrian as you mentioned but you could probably wait until you wear those out.

Skid Plate - always a good idea ( nothing sucks worse than cracking your oil pan open on the trail ) but really depends if your going to rocky areas? then yes for sure. If its not that rocky and your going slow then you would probably be ok with out it, just be careful.

Even a factory skid wont protect you from everything, i have smashed my oil pan with the skid plate on, so either way you will have to be mindful of large rocks.

I dont know any sites with beginner tips off the top of my head but magazines such as 4wheeler and fourwheeldrive often have them so maybe try there sites or pick up a couple mags.

Hope this helps  

Sweet!  Thanks for the info hib.  I'll definitely check out a magazine or two and see what websites I can find.  I'm glad to know I should be able to handle the basic stuff with my stock Jeep. 

Thanks again,
-Alex