rjmarmjr
New member
Hey all,
This doesn't reach epic road trip status, but I wanted to share some pictures and articulate how well my T4R performed on a long road trip with some grueling legs of driving.
Around August of last year, my friend told me about something called the Grizzly Double Dare: there's a half marathon in Grand Teton National Park on the first Saturday in June, then one in Yellowstone the following Saturday. If you do both, you've conquered the Grizzly Double. He'd never run a half marathon, and I had resolved to head west again in 2016 after a cross-country road trip through Moab and the rest of UT on the way to Cruiserfest in my buddy's 80 series last September. We were sold.
We decided to drive for various reasons: flights into the area are really expensive, renting a car is expensive (especially an SUV), we needed to bring a ton of stuff for varying temperatures/running/hiking/camping/etc., and of course...the appeal of getting to drive my own truck through WY, ID, MT and two of the best national parks in the country. I decided it was worth it, despite the wear and tear on my truck and tires.
The only really grueling part was that we didn't take our time getting out there or coming back. We drove 33 hours getting to Jackson, WY with only two drivers alternating through the night. Same deal getting back from West Yellowstone, MT but it took 36 hours and we were understandably exhausted, having pushed ourselves running and hiking all week. We finished the Yellowstone Half around 9:30 on Saturday and were on the road by 1pm. Ouch.
The 4Runner performed awesomely! So much room for our stuff, comfortable ride (even with heavy tires, bumper, etc.), best gas mileage I've ever gotten (mostly due to driving 45mph so often), and just that feeling of security from being in a super capable Toyota.
No reason to get into too much detail about what we did, but I want to point out that thanks to some other threads on here I did hit up this 4X4 recommended road in Grand Teton with some pretty cool views. It was fun, bumpy, not technical, and mostly just provided an off-the-beaten-path way to view wildlife and take in the magnificent scenery. It was the Bar BC Rd, also called River Rd, also called Cottonwood Creek Rd. Many thanks to [MENTION=118909]MTgirl[/MENTION] for the advice in another thread.
Obviously I took a million photos, but I'll just post the 4Runner related ones. My truck in scenic places, bug massacre on the front bumper, other cool Toyotas and a LR Defender that was pretty awesome, and a screenshot of our track from the 4X4 road in Grand Teton on Gaia.
All in all, it was an unforgettable trip and I am sure that long road trips in the 4Runner are going to become at least an annual thing.
This doesn't reach epic road trip status, but I wanted to share some pictures and articulate how well my T4R performed on a long road trip with some grueling legs of driving.
Around August of last year, my friend told me about something called the Grizzly Double Dare: there's a half marathon in Grand Teton National Park on the first Saturday in June, then one in Yellowstone the following Saturday. If you do both, you've conquered the Grizzly Double. He'd never run a half marathon, and I had resolved to head west again in 2016 after a cross-country road trip through Moab and the rest of UT on the way to Cruiserfest in my buddy's 80 series last September. We were sold.
We decided to drive for various reasons: flights into the area are really expensive, renting a car is expensive (especially an SUV), we needed to bring a ton of stuff for varying temperatures/running/hiking/camping/etc., and of course...the appeal of getting to drive my own truck through WY, ID, MT and two of the best national parks in the country. I decided it was worth it, despite the wear and tear on my truck and tires.
The only really grueling part was that we didn't take our time getting out there or coming back. We drove 33 hours getting to Jackson, WY with only two drivers alternating through the night. Same deal getting back from West Yellowstone, MT but it took 36 hours and we were understandably exhausted, having pushed ourselves running and hiking all week. We finished the Yellowstone Half around 9:30 on Saturday and were on the road by 1pm. Ouch.
The 4Runner performed awesomely! So much room for our stuff, comfortable ride (even with heavy tires, bumper, etc.), best gas mileage I've ever gotten (mostly due to driving 45mph so often), and just that feeling of security from being in a super capable Toyota.
No reason to get into too much detail about what we did, but I want to point out that thanks to some other threads on here I did hit up this 4X4 recommended road in Grand Teton with some pretty cool views. It was fun, bumpy, not technical, and mostly just provided an off-the-beaten-path way to view wildlife and take in the magnificent scenery. It was the Bar BC Rd, also called River Rd, also called Cottonwood Creek Rd. Many thanks to [MENTION=118909]MTgirl[/MENTION] for the advice in another thread.
Obviously I took a million photos, but I'll just post the 4Runner related ones. My truck in scenic places, bug massacre on the front bumper, other cool Toyotas and a LR Defender that was pretty awesome, and a screenshot of our track from the 4X4 road in Grand Teton on Gaia.
All in all, it was an unforgettable trip and I am sure that long road trips in the 4Runner are going to become at least an annual thing.
