BigFishAllDay
New member
[MENTION=88391]NateMob[/MENTION] [MENTION=85218]Toyotacolin[/MENTION] [MENTION=83876]white toy taco[/MENTION] , myself and a few other guys from the TW forum went for a run on MLK day. We hit an area that I've been through before and finished the day at a spot that was completely new for most of us.
It was a pretty diverse group of Yotas airing down at the trailhead...
White toy taco, getting over a spot where most of us lifted a tire (Photo by Toyotacolin)
All of the Toyotas walked this spot pretty easily, but the Jeep got crossed up and had to give it a couple tries.
We worked our way to the top of the original path up a large rock escarpment called La Bajada Hill. This was part of the original Rt. 66 during the early 1900's but has been abandoned and is no longer maintained. After some flooding rains last summer, it has a few spots that are barely passable.
Group shot at the top...
After that we continued on over the Caja Del Rio plateau. I got turned around and made a wrong turn at one point, which burned about 20 minutes by the time I figured out where we were and got us back on track. Our next stop was a big sinkhole.
Nathan, thinking about taking a dive into the sinkhole...
Good thing he chose not to jump, it was a long way down...
Colin, coming down the steep north side of the peak where the sinkhole resides... but what's that white stuff?
Views of Los Alamos across White Rock canyon...
The group having lunch at the entrance to Tank Trap...
Tank trap is a trail that follows the bottom of a rocky wash that pours into White Rock canyon. There are several erosion control dams that are basically impassable near the bottom (unless you're in a buggy), so we dropped in below the uppermost dam. The line around the dam involves traversing a steep off camber section of big rock ledges. At the bottom is a 3-4 foot deep pond.
NateMob and myself were the only ones willing to give it a shot.
This shot is NateMob trying a STEEP alternate line up the first obstacle on Tank Trap. He ended up getting stuck on two ledges that blocked the P/S front and D/S rear at the same time. Plus there was a huge point of rock under the rear axle/gas tank that kept pounding his rig.
Note, the surface of the iced pond under his P/S rear tire. Also, where's the front bumper!? Something new is coming soon, I think.
And another shot, by Toyotacolin...
I took the standard off camber line, and with some excellent spotting I made it to the top.
Coming back down was SKEEEEEEEETCHY!!!! One of the guys had run it before in a Jeep. He warned that coming down the obstacle would be worse than going up and he was right. I tried several lines and kept having to back up and try again. Eventually, I got to the point where the truck was at 35+ degrees on the inclinometer, with the P/S rear wheel off the ground. It wasn't looking good and I was very close to flopping my rig.
Photo by Toyotacolin, as usual it does not do justice to the situation, but notice the P/S rear tire just hanging there. The line that NateMob took is right below my D/S rear tire.
Finally, the anxiety got to me and I decided to turn hard driver and just gun the throttle. "When it doubt, throttle out!" I was banking on the centrifugal force pushing the P/S rear back down and allowing me to get past the obstacle and stabilized.
Just after I got the truck stable and stopped...
Thankfully it did work, but this was me:
Finally off the obstacle while the group talked about how close I was to tipping..
Headed out at the end of the day...
It was an awesome run, and I really enjoyed catching up with some people as well as meeting Nathan and Colin. Tank Trap is the hairiest obstacle I've ever been on and it gave me some good off camber experience. The weather was gorgeous and most of us were in t-shirts by the end of the day. We all got to see some new things and places while exploring the plateau, which was cool because it created a new experience for the whole group.
We finished out the day with some microbrews and Chicken & Waffles at a local brewery. I know Nate got a picture of the dinner, it was good stuff.
Thanks to Toyotacolin for the excellent pictures of Nathan and I on Tank Trap, and throughout the day. He has a few more that I'm hoping he'll post soon.
It was a pretty diverse group of Yotas airing down at the trailhead...
White toy taco, getting over a spot where most of us lifted a tire (Photo by Toyotacolin)
All of the Toyotas walked this spot pretty easily, but the Jeep got crossed up and had to give it a couple tries.
We worked our way to the top of the original path up a large rock escarpment called La Bajada Hill. This was part of the original Rt. 66 during the early 1900's but has been abandoned and is no longer maintained. After some flooding rains last summer, it has a few spots that are barely passable.
Group shot at the top...
After that we continued on over the Caja Del Rio plateau. I got turned around and made a wrong turn at one point, which burned about 20 minutes by the time I figured out where we were and got us back on track. Our next stop was a big sinkhole.
Nathan, thinking about taking a dive into the sinkhole...
Good thing he chose not to jump, it was a long way down...
Colin, coming down the steep north side of the peak where the sinkhole resides... but what's that white stuff?
Views of Los Alamos across White Rock canyon...
The group having lunch at the entrance to Tank Trap...
Tank trap is a trail that follows the bottom of a rocky wash that pours into White Rock canyon. There are several erosion control dams that are basically impassable near the bottom (unless you're in a buggy), so we dropped in below the uppermost dam. The line around the dam involves traversing a steep off camber section of big rock ledges. At the bottom is a 3-4 foot deep pond.
NateMob and myself were the only ones willing to give it a shot.
This shot is NateMob trying a STEEP alternate line up the first obstacle on Tank Trap. He ended up getting stuck on two ledges that blocked the P/S front and D/S rear at the same time. Plus there was a huge point of rock under the rear axle/gas tank that kept pounding his rig.
Note, the surface of the iced pond under his P/S rear tire. Also, where's the front bumper!? Something new is coming soon, I think.
And another shot, by Toyotacolin...
I took the standard off camber line, and with some excellent spotting I made it to the top.
Coming back down was SKEEEEEEEETCHY!!!! One of the guys had run it before in a Jeep. He warned that coming down the obstacle would be worse than going up and he was right. I tried several lines and kept having to back up and try again. Eventually, I got to the point where the truck was at 35+ degrees on the inclinometer, with the P/S rear wheel off the ground. It wasn't looking good and I was very close to flopping my rig.
Photo by Toyotacolin, as usual it does not do justice to the situation, but notice the P/S rear tire just hanging there. The line that NateMob took is right below my D/S rear tire.
Finally, the anxiety got to me and I decided to turn hard driver and just gun the throttle. "When it doubt, throttle out!" I was banking on the centrifugal force pushing the P/S rear back down and allowing me to get past the obstacle and stabilized.
Just after I got the truck stable and stopped...
Thankfully it did work, but this was me:
Finally off the obstacle while the group talked about how close I was to tipping..
Headed out at the end of the day...
It was an awesome run, and I really enjoyed catching up with some people as well as meeting Nathan and Colin. Tank Trap is the hairiest obstacle I've ever been on and it gave me some good off camber experience. The weather was gorgeous and most of us were in t-shirts by the end of the day. We all got to see some new things and places while exploring the plateau, which was cool because it created a new experience for the whole group.
We finished out the day with some microbrews and Chicken & Waffles at a local brewery. I know Nate got a picture of the dinner, it was good stuff.
Thanks to Toyotacolin for the excellent pictures of Nathan and I on Tank Trap, and throughout the day. He has a few more that I'm hoping he'll post soon.
Last edited:
Maybe you had to be there? I'm sure parking with one tire on big rock next to a maintained dirt road would look much harder.
