Big Bear III

[HB 4X4]

Went on a solo offroading trip to Big Bear today with my girlfriend as my beautiful co-pilot. Tons of snow, maybe even too much. But never mind that.
The tires went in about 2 feet, but I estimate it to be another foot or two deep under that in some places. The level was to my sliders for reference.
Big Bear is always fun, it's got terrain ranging from fire roads, to crawling over rocks, and in this case, snow/mud. Unfortunately with offroading alone, I only have shots of the milder sections where I could actually get out.
Enjoy.

 

[HB 4X4]

Coming back after dark:

 

[chiplee]

very cool. makes me miss home. I think Big Bear is real close to me here in Ridgecrest. Might have to ride out there one day.

 

[Thai]

Beautiful pics! I wish that my paint job was still as good as yours.

 

[K.C.]

Amazingly gorgeous!!

A friend from Long Beach told me that Southern California snow isn't as great as Northern Califoria.

I've never been to Southern California snow, so I have nothing to compare to. I heard Colorado snow is even better than California's.

And plus...I'm an amateur snowboarder, so as long as it's fluffy...I like!!

Thank you for sharing those pictures!!

I was thinking of sitting this Season out, but after looking at your pictures, I'm starting to get teary eye haha

 

[Pritchnakoff]

HB-

Looking good man, wish I was there with you. Having grown up in SoCal, I'll have to PM you next time I'm driving down.

Enjoy your superbowl weekend-

 

[Falls]

Josh , Looks nice . I like driving on trails like that and just poking along looking the scenery .

How did the Nitto's handle in the deep stuff ?

Smart choice taking it easy since you were alone . (except GF)

 

[jhershner11]

that truck stayed pretty clean for offroading!

 

[HB 4X4]

Beautiful pics! I wish that my paint job was still as good as yours.

Thanks. Haha, you should see it up close and when it's not in the shade. Gorman and past Big Bear trips have marked my truck very thoroughly.

Amazingly gorgeous!!

A friend from Long Beach told me that Southern California snow isn't as great as Northern Califoria.

I've never been to Southern California snow, so I have nothing to compare to. I heard Colorado snow is even better than California's.

And plus...I'm an amateur snowboarder, so as long as it's fluffy...I like!!

Thank you for sharing those pictures!!

I was thinking of sitting this Season out, but after looking at your pictures, I'm starting to get teary eye haha

Thanks Kenny. There's no difference in snow between NorCal and SoCal, other than it may have been a season where we had less natural snow, and more man made snow. It's all "Sierra Cement" because it's wet snow. Once you get to the other mountain ranges over in Utah and Colorado, the snow is much more fluffy. The snow there is very dry compared to ours, and will literally just fall right off of you if you get covered in it.

With our constant warm sunny days, we often have very hard packed base, with a layer of man made snow over it from the night before. When it gets warm, it can really suck at the SoCal resorts.

HB-

Looking good man, wish I was there with you. Having grown up in SoCal, I'll have to PM you next time I'm driving down.

Enjoy your superbowl weekend-

Yeah definitely, we can hit up Big Bear or Gorman.

Josh , Looks nice . I like driving on trails like that and just poking along looking the scenery .

How did the Nitto's handle in the deep stuff ?

Smart choice taking it easy since you were alone . (except GF)

Mike,
When the snow got into the 2-3+ foot range, and was untraveled, is where we turned back. The Nitto's handled good, but had a few hick-ups in the super deep stuff. It got to the point where you could really only get through in 55" MT's with the PSI low. Much like the jeeps that people take up there.

I am hoping that when my 285 Nitto's arrive in the next week or two that they will help me float well when aired down since they are a larger tire and slightly wider.

We still got in some good offroading though, it wasn't all easy trails. I am not one for pure scenic driving, so I still got my fix of 4Lo, locking the diff, and creeping along some pretty gnarly obstacles.

 

[HB 4X4]

that truck stayed pretty clean for offroading!

Haha definitely not. I have to go presure wash the mud off before the car wash guys will even touch it otherwise it'll muck up their entire place. Those first few pictures were right when we got on the trail so I barely had anything. I'll take a picture before I wash it off today for you so you can see the mud

Here's what it looked like about half way through the day:

 

[K.C.]

Josh,

Just a photography tip...include more scenery.

And take shots that are WOW!!

Do shots that you don't see everyday...like park your truck there, climb up a mountain and look over and down onto the 4Runner and snap the picture like that.

But of course...I can stare at a 4Runner all day!!

 

[HB 4X4]

Josh,

Just a photography tip...include more scenery.

And take shots that are WOW!!

Do shots that you don't see everyday...like park your truck there, climb up a mountain and look over and down onto the 4Runner and snap the picture like that.

But of course...I can stare at a 4Runner all day!!

This was the highest point I felt like climbing to.

I have a bunch of scenery and a bunch of my girlfriend, but since it's a 4Runner forum, I thought it best to stick with the pictures with my truck in it.

As you can see in the second picture below, a lot of the area has burn damage, and is pretty bare.

This was the creek we stopped at, and if you look closely there is a red Jeep tucked up in there. His buddy was another 15 feet ahead of him, in the middle of a massive boulder field.

There were just too many pictures, so I chose the ones that would best apply to a 4Runner forum. Also, like I mentioned to Mike, a lot of the trip was spent on terrain that I could not get out of my truck. The rest was in deep snow, and I didn't feel like venturing too far in my normal shoes/jeans in 2-3 feet of snow haha.

I'll try to improve my photography skills on my next trip, just for you Kenny. :bigok:

 

[K.C.]

Thank you for feeding me my photography high!!

 

[HB 4X4]

Thank you for feeding me my photography high!!

Haha, no problem.

 

[onewheelshort13]

Beautiful pictures!

 

[morphius909]

Kick A@@!

 

[HB 4X4]

that truck stayed pretty clean for offroading!

I've done worse at Gorman because the mud is a thicker texture there, but it still took a good 15-20 minutes to pressure wash the mud off enough for the car wash to accept it haha. Muddy trips to Gorman take me over 30 minutes to get the mud off.

 

[BlairB]

BB IV will be this weekend

Josh- I might be able to go up Friday now if you prefer that to Saturday, I should know for sure in the next day or so.

 

[HB 4X4]

Alright, let me know. Or we can just hang out at your place Friday, and go up Saturday for the day still. I haven't decided how late I want to stay Saturday. If we get up there early, and I can leave by 4 or so, then Lisa can come with me. She's got a Bday party at 6:30.

Has your phone not been getting my texts?

BB IV will be this weekend

Josh- I might be able to go up Friday now if you prefer that to Saturday, I should know for sure in the next day or so.

 

[E30RUNNER]

you california guys are killing me! I'm going out to visit at the end of the month and can't wait.

BTW sweet 4th gen I love it!