Glad to hear your family is ok, and you still had a good experience. Me and friends have removed a crapload of people from trails from unplanned rollovers to simple popped beads that turned into nightmare tires shredded that tied and ripped brake lines to simple run out of gas events. tried to be prepared and ahead. In some cases no amount of planning will work like trail carnage or simple bad luck. We took a new Tacoma out of a PUBLIC trail where some fawker had hid pieces of wood and nails to slash tires.... :grayno:
The JK's have some inherent shitty designs that can be addressed and I am a total newbie on them but can se at a glance. Undercarriage protection is inadequate and some little things here and there can leave you stranded. best way is to prepare, keep in mind that several JK's will never see trail or forest road action in their lives so aftermarket has jumped in to address a bunch of opportunities that make the JK far from perfect form factory. As much as some guys may say stock skids and steering are just fine, stock axles are just fine, plan ahead and upgrade and pretct what you can base don your needs. Carry spares on items that easily break even if you have no clue on how to fix a u-joint chances are someone will have teh tools and know how to help you out (as long as you have the part). Carry a fire extinguisher, tire repair kit, a quart of oil (remember those unplanned rollover events
?, and some random zip ties, hoses and clamps. Also, bring some tools with you
From all the lessons learned, make sure to bring extra treats and entertainment for the little ones and do not let this discourage you from future rides, but think of it as learning experience on what you can do to help be better prepared for when things go South next time