[Atomic6]

May 26-28, 2018
Night 1: Camped just off of Entrada Bluffs Road in Moab
Day 2: Ran Top of the World


























Night 2: Camped in the same spot as Night 1


Day 3: HWY 128 to Onion Creek. Ran Onion Creek to Thompson Canyon. Then took Castle Valley to 128 to roll back to Denver.

[Atomic6]

August 31st - September 3rd
For the long Labor Day weekend, I fifth-wheeled with @AJvan64 and his wife and his friend Tyler and his girlfriend to the San Juans. This was Tyler’s first official off-roading trip with his beautiful LR3. To say I was impressed by the rover would be an understatement. The technology in the suspension was really fun to watch and experience on the trails.

I didn’t plan for it to be as cold and rainy as it ended up being, but we made the most of it and it was a hell of a weekend!

Night 0: AJ and I were coming from Denver and Tyler was coming up from Oklahoma. Since Tyler got in earlier than us, he scouted a few camp spots we spoke about before the trip. He ended up finding a great spot on Corkscrew Pass to call it a night.





Day 1: Back tracked to Ouray to fuel up and grab some coffee. AJ had a screw in his tire, so he plugged it before we hit Engineer Pass.












On Engineer, there's a spot with vaulted bathrooms the ladies were happy about. We found a rock... so we obviously posed on it:
by AJ Van Grinsven



by AJ Van Grinsven



If you’re ever on Engineer Pass, definitely make the (really short) detour to Odom Point (Trails Offroad calls it Oh Point). The views are spectacular and much better than the summit of Engineer.


Hit summit so I could check it off my bucket list and turned around to stay within the area we planned.


There was no need for us to drive all the way to Lake City to take Cinnamon Pass back to the other trails. Instead, we took the Alpine Loop Connector to San Juan CR 2 to Minnie Gulch. Drove around the area for awhile looking for camp, but ended up not finding much that would fit three trucks.


SW CO Adventure: Day 1 *Click this for the Gaia Tracks

Night 1: Camped on Minnie Gulch

[Atomic6]

Day 2 (Sunday): Drove out of Minnie Gulch back up CR 2 to Picayune & Placer Gulches






by AJ Van Grinsven

This trail connects to California Pass which then connects to Cinnamon Pass where we back tracked from Day 1.


Back up the Alpine Loop Connector and back though Engineer Pass to Poughkeepsie Gulch. I really wanted to run the harder line up Poughkeepsie, but it was pouring down rain and a dual locked TJ on 35s couldn’t make it up without his winch. My diffs are still open and I don’t have a winch, so there was no way I’d make it. Maybe next time…








SW CO Adventure: Day 2

Night 2: same camp site as Night 0. Tons of space and pretty quite



Day 3: Back tracked out of Corkscrew to the Million Dollar Highway to get back to Ouray.




SW CO Adventure: Day 3

When we were airing up, we spoke with the Forest Ranger who asked if we got any snow last night. We didn’t, but apparently some of the passes around us got a few inches. On this trip, I’m happy we didn’t get any as I wasn’t prepared for how cold it was and snow would have made it even worse for sleeping. Then it was time to part ways with Tyler and head back to Denver.



All the links next to the maps go to my tracks on Gaia GPS. Let me know if this is helpful for anyone. I used this app the entire time so we could check out the trails I pre-loaded and make a plan for where we wanted to go.

[AJvan64]

We did have a killer time up there! That high country is absolutely gorgeous and I can't wait to go back and attempt the trails on the west side of the highway!

This year maybe I'll start up my thread so I've got starting point to document the additions to the rig and share our next level trips with even more friends.

Cheers, bud! Thanks for sharing the adventure!

[Atomic6]

September 9, 2018

Quick day trip with a few friends in hunt for some fall colors. We explored the trails around Pickle Gulch/Blackhawk Colorado. It was an awesome day with no plans other than to drive around, have lunch, and shoot some photos.





by Josh Warras













by Josh Warras


Everything was going great until I accidentally had us go down an ATV trail. It was way too narrow for our trucks! The LX obviously got the worst scratches since it’s the widest, but we all ended up with a few that aren’t buffing out. Oh well, it was still a fun outing.

[Atomic6]

November, 2018

I was at the junkyard for a few miscellaneous parts for the 4Runner and happened upon an ‘88 4Runner with the roll bar still installed. Being in Denver, I couldn’t believe it hadn't been picked over yet. Since I struck out on finding what I came for, I decided to grab the bar. It was only $25 too.


Following a few threads on here, I modified it to fit. I took a page out of Dirtco’s book and added an interlocking tube clamp so I could easily install/remove it.


I’ve built a shelf to store a few Front Runner wolf packs and my Hi-Lift, but haven’t found time to weld tabs to the roll bar yet.


In the future, I’ll add a mount for my CO2 tank and a fire extinguisher.

[RomanSchnobrich]

This thread was so fun to go through! I always enjoy when folks don't give up due to a little rust-- this is a prime example. Huge fan of what you did with your ARB too, I'd like to do that to mine one day. Keep the posts coming, man!

[Atomic6]

Originally Posted by RomanSchnobrich

This thread was so fun to go through! I always enjoy when folks don't give up due to a little rust-- this is a prime example. Huge fan of what you did with your ARB too, I'd like to do that to mine one day. Keep the posts coming, man!

Thanks for the kind words. It's been a labor of love. If I could have swapped to a rust-free example, I would have, but I've learned a lot because of the issues this truck has had.

More mods to the ARB coming after I finish some other projects (rear bumper, roll bar, and rack)

[Jtico]

Loving the rig... really nice runner

[BrianSD_42]

Still making my way through your build but it looks awesome so far. Keep posting
.

[Atomic6]

January 5th, 2019
Never posted in this thread. Scored a knock-off “ARB Safari” snorkel on eBay for $98. I posted a how-to here

Dorkeled:

[CougarHound]

That is impressive work Atomic6. How are those rocker panels holding up? Is there still some holes for the water to drain out or is it completely sealed? I want to do this because my rocker panels are rusted.

[Thebeastlives]

Great trip write up, most of us take pics but hardly do we ever do a long detail informative write up about our 4 wd adventure. I feel like I was there with your group and enjoyed the food and scenery with you...lol The wife, dogs and I have done so many offroad adventures this last 4 months in the 3rd gen or Can am max when we need a much faster pace but I have not done 1 write up. Great job and keep it coming love to see more.

[Endlessblockades]

I'm glad this thread popped up today - I hadn't come across it before. A good read over coffee to keep the stoke up!!

[MoarRunner]

Do you have any idea what it would cost to have a shop do that repair? I'm looking at a 2000 that is for sale that has (worse) rust in the same spot, and I wonder if I should walk away.
I can do basic maintenance, but replacing body panels is above my skill level