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B and I weighed his blue Forester and my green Impreza loaded with our usual off road trip cargo but no camping gear. Blue Forester weighs 3739#. With both of us sitting in it, 4126#. Either way it's super close to 50/50 front/rear weight. Green Impreza weighs 3714#. With both of us sitting in it, 4102#. Either way about 150# more on the front than rear. I was a little surprised it was that heavy, with no cargo it was 3245# a month or so ago. So we started unpacking it, with a few bottles of oil still in it we got it under 3300#. So we had over 400# of tools, spares, recovery gear, tow bar, etc. This stuff really adds up. Just a couple folding recovery ramps and a couple straps was 30#. Definitely not as much volume as we used to pack in the black Outback but apparently most of the weight. Will have to keep working on packing lighter. Lateral bumper support tubes rubbed a little on the front tires and the tires aren't fresh so I wanted to add some clearance. Gas tank guard has already been put to use. Looked over the front end of the white Outback. It's been shaking increasingly worse at certain brake pressures, seems like both the front lower control arm bushings in the aluminum brackets are sloppy. At some point I'll probably replace those and the rotors. B replaced the LF rear lower control arm bushing in the Forester, it was shot. I noticed as we were driving home from the UP the LR of the Forester would change camber occasionally, maybe when cornering but it was hard to tell. We noticed this. B took the link out, replaced the bushings (bolt was frozen in one), welded that piece back in and ground it flush, welded and painted a thick washer over the top, and reassembled everything.

Drove up to Z's Friday night. He noticed one of the brake lights in the Impreza was (artistically) burned out so we went to Oreillys and got a pair of bulbs. B met us at Z's, we headed up and camped in northern WI. Saturday morning we headed north and Z took us on some ORV trails north of there so we headed north on those. Within four miles we saw a black bear and a bald eagle and some other wildlife. The main one Z had intended to take us on is ATV only. So we just drove up to the UP. Started out in an area north of Norway we'd only been through once and found some other trails and potential campsites there. Next two pictures are of one of the fairly long rocky hillclimbs (by UP standards) we did that weekend. Saw a wolf pup(?) walking down a side road, took a few pictures and let it be and got to the (nearby) dead end. Found a hillside with some big sandy hillclimbs so I tried one but stalled out and backed down when it got too off camber. Hit a different one and made it to the top. Found a human shaped sculpture made out of chainsaw parts. This sign was a bit misleading, while the road was rough by many peoples' standards, it was about average for what we drove on that weekend. Got to a man made dam that appeared to have blown out and then repaired by beavers. At the bottom where we had to drive by it there was a big leech sucking on a dead crayfish. Forester had been making a lot of exhaust noise under load so we stopped to fix that. One of the bolts had fallen out of one of the exhaust flanges so we found a nut and bolt and B got it back together while I cooked some burgers. Z spotted a big Eastern Fox snake in the trail. Wandered north and hit a bunch of trails and found a giant pile of potatoes in the woods. About a mile from the nearest farm, not sure if it was just a handy berm construction material or if they just needed to dump a bunch of potatoes. We had decided to go up to Craig Lake as B and Z hadn't been there before. Drove up to a campground and stayed the night. One of the random assortments of decorations we've seen in the UP over the years. This is miles from pavement. This weekend was a good demonstration that you never know what you'll find in the UP. Came across several beaver dams that were flooding old roads we were trying to follow. Got to a wetlands reserve and hiked in there a mile or so. Unfortunately we got up near Craig Lake to find that it's closed for the summer for maintenance. Hit some trails and did a little hiking and then camped in that area. Saw a ruffed grouse alongside the trail. It was jumping around and fanning its tailfeathers etc. It was on the passenger side and I looked out the drivers side while Z was taking pictures and saw what looked like a mouse on the ground. I went to take a picture of it and realized it was a chick so we continued on. Monday morning we went down a snowmobile trail to start wandering back home, it was eventually flooded so we found a different trail and headed south. Hit a stunt area we found last year and did a few hillclimbs. Impreza had a lot of wheelspin and rev limiter in first gear climbing a fairly steep one. Saw a turtle wandering around. Went through an area we'd been years ago that looks significantly different now, some berms gone, other berms added, trees growing up in areas that had been clearcut, etc. Found one stretch that would be good for suspension testing/tuning. A mile or so with decent sized dips and bumps and another section that's quite rough with holes in between small logs. Wound up taking a few narrow trails that went on for miles and surprised me by connecting to main trails. We took a tour of an old iron mine that was interesting. Drove through part of the southern UP we hadn't explored before with some decent camping areas. Saw a lot of turtles and some muskrats. Aired up and drove home on pavement. Lots of rain on the way home. I'm a little surprised the Impreza doesn't seem to have any leaks or electrical problems even driving through heavy rain for hours, I've done it a few times now. Overall a good weekend. No major issues, never even got stuck or got a flat tire. Impreza is great on the trails. Not used to having good rear visibility, way easier to back out of trails and the shorter wheelbase and rear overhang make it easier to turn around in the woods. The 60% rear bias and light rear end and open center diff make it handle almost like a rear wheel drive car. It was never close to actually spinning out but it has power oversteer in second or third or even fifth gear sometimes off pavement. Surprised me once in first gear on wet pavement. Steering seems to be a little quicker than the Outbacks which helps in those situations. There was one time on Saturday when B was driving it and he got stuck in a soft muddy trail. I could see just the rear tires spinning. He locked the center diff, all four tires started spinning, and he was able to drive out. It's easiest to lock and unlock when moving, never makes any grinding noises, helps to pump the clutch. So if we were in a really rough or muddy or sandy section I'd just lock the center diff for a while until we got back to some easier trails and then unlock it. Never used the low range all weekend. There was at least one hill I climbed in first gear high range that B had to use low range in the Forester to climb. Some things I like about it aren't from our doing but just because it isn't as beat and rusty as the black Outback. You can drive around with the windows down without choking on exhaust fumes, drive through all kinds of water and rain without getting any in the car. Found myself keeping it under 2000RPM most of the time and it had plenty of torque for normal trail riding. Fans ran more than I expected, when we'd start going really slow or stopping and starting the temps would creep up and at least one would kick in and then basically stay on until we shut off the car for a while but temps never got much above normal. As soon as we were moving the temps would drop back to the normal spot. Wondering if this is partially caused by our current tune being lean at part throttle at 2-3000RPM in an attempt to save fuel. Seemed like it would run a little cooler at 1500RPM where it's probably running richer. Probably a couple times a day after nearly stalling the engine it would start running rough. I just shut it off and restart it and then it would run smooth. Impreza might get a little better fuel economy than Forester on the road but worse on the trails. Might be something wrong with the fuel filler on the Impreza, on the last couple fillups it didn't seem to actually fill the tank. I've noticed recently you can feel crosswinds push you around. Not dangerously like an air cooled VW but something I never notice driving Legacy Outbacks.