So I have been working my tail off lately, but I got away to the mountains a week or so ago.
We wheeled a little bit on some of my favorite trails, unfortunately my favorite spot was packed.
We found a spot off of the main toad overlooking the Kern River from about 1,000ft above.
The family and I hiked down 2 miles to the Kern River for some fly fishing. It was nice to finally get out with the kids and explore.
The little troopers made it the 2 mile hike back up the mountain where we had lunch and headed back to town for a shower and dinner at the local brewery.
In other truck news I paid this heap off last week, so it and all the crap on it is all paid for in full. I got to say it is really rewarding to work hard, saving up your money and earning something. Especially if you maintain it and do all the work your own work.
I also got some new parts in today.
First, I picked up a 1.3 Bar TRD radiator cap. I have had the old cap boiling over. Second, I decided i like the HKS SQV purge valve on the GT4 so much that I should get one for the 4Runner. It is a lot quieter and the pull type valve makes for a lot less shutter on down shifts.
So i just finished my summer vacation this weekend. We spent 2 weeks on the road and wow what a trip! We got to go to a concert, fireworks at Lake Crowley, CA, 14 nights of camping from Home to Oregon.
We headed up to Lake Crowley for a concert and fireworks for the 4th. We spent 3 nights camping out at June Lake which was spectacular. I got to meet up with a friend from work and we wheeled some on some easy trails in the area. We had a blast and even had a cook out at our camp site. We hit Yosemite and Fished in Tioga Pass. We headed north to Reno and Virginia City, NV. In Reno I got a new tattoo and in VC we roamed the streets of the old western town. We wheeled around some of the local hills and even found some old miner graves.
Pressed on north through Susanville and McCloud CA to the coast of Eureka, CA. After a night on the beach we headed up to Oregon and checked out the beaches there and then doubled back through the Coastal Redwoods. We decided to try for Crater lake, OR when I found a road to a creek that I heard had a rare trout. Thats when things took a turn for the worse. On a mountain road about 15 miles from the highway. I hit a washed out part of the trail at about 25-30 MPH which jammed my steering rack and knocked off my alignment. With no power steering I limped the truck back to the highway and decided to head back to the nearest service facility all the way back in Carson City, NV. I stopped by the Tires Plus location in Reno on the way to try to align the truck. The folks there were nice enough to HAMMER DOWN my cam tabs to lay the cam over it to try to get it into spec (WTF!!!!). So next punch...even after talking on the phone with the service department before we left, when we got there they said that they didn't have time for a couple of days to look at it. So fairly fed up with having my vehicle purposefully damaged due to laziness and driving 400 miles for nothing. I decided I should just buy a new truck.
So, since I wasn't going to drive it all the way home through the mountains like this I decided to buy another truck and tow it home. We looked at a few Tundras but, only one had all the features I wanted. So we packed back up and headed off to look at it. We decided on a 2011 Tundra 4x4 crewmax with 20k miles on it. It even had the Pro Comp lift already on it. So after some dealing we walked away with a good deal on a new truck and towed the 4runner back.
We dropped the 4runner off at home and headed back up to the mountains for one last adventure. We camped on the Kern River with the pop up tent in the bed. We found a nice spot with a waterfall down a rock face which we used our float tubes to slide down. We also hiked into the golden trout wilderness for some fly fishing. After a long day, we camped again and grabbed lunch at the brewery before heading out.
And my jealousy grows. I've been wanting a crew max tundra for awhile. You were up by me when you were in susanville. I was a half hour away in Chester.
And my jealousy grows. I've been wanting a crew max tundra for awhile. You were up by me when you were in susanville. I was a half hour away in Chester.
*Sam, I will hit you up next time I am in the area. We had a rough night up there. We tried to camp near lake Britton, but some folks chased us out and followed us down some other country road. We tried to sleep in a parking lot in Redding, but some crack head pulled up in his car got out shouting F*this and that and that he was god. so we packed up and hit the road again it 3AM.
*Sam, I will hit you up next time I am in the area. We had a rough night up there. We tried to camp near lake Britton, but some folks chased us out and followed us down some other country road. We tried to sleep in a parking lot in Redding, but some crack head pulled up in his car got out shouting F*this and that and that he was god. so we packed up and hit the road again it 3AM.
haha that sounds like Redding for sure! My grandma lives in Chester off HWY36 so thats where i always go offroading and camp. Ill be up there Labor Day weekend with the t4r. Hoping to hit some logging roads and have some fun. I live 4 hours away but im up there a lot.
So I decided to take the Tundra out in the back yard for the first time. I have long been skeptical of drop bracket lifts, but this takes the cake. I took the "big hill" in the middle of the course and took it slow. It is a little rutted out and bumpy from it.
I didn't notice it until I got home, but sure enough it broke the shock lower link off the first time out. To anyone running scrawny lower linked shocks especially with a bracket lift beware! If you wheel it, this could happen to you too. You have to pay to play...
So I decided to take the Tundra out in the back yard for the first time. I have long been skeptical of drop bracket lifts, but this takes the cake. I took the "big hill" in the middle of the course and took it slow. It is a little rutted out and bumpy from it.
I didn't notice it until I got home, but sure enough it broke the shock lower link off the first time out. To anyone running scrawny lower linked shocks especially with a bracket lift beware! If you wheel it, this could happen to you too. You have to pay to play...
So this past weekend after breaking the Tundra we decided to pick up and head out to check out some historic sites. We camped on the side of the mountain near Lone Pine the first night. the second day we went swimming in a local creek and toured the Manzanar camp after a picnic on the Owens River. We doubled over to the mining town of Trona. We had a cookout by the Trona pinacles and camped near some abandoned train cars.
So this past weekend after breaking the Tundra we decided to pick up and head out to check out some historic sites. We camped on the side of the mountain near Lone Pine the first night. the second day we went swimming in a local creek and toured the Manzanar camp after a picnic on the Owens River. We doubled over to the mining town of Trona. We had a cookout by the Trona pinacles and camped near some abandoned train cars.
First thanks for your service and what awesome adventures you've been on! I can't wait till our youngest boy gets a little older so we can travel more! Stay safe out there you gave me the bug for sure!:hello:
So I broke the shock on the tundra again after driving a mile to work on pavement each way for the last 20 days. Its all good especially when it turns out like this...
I just finished up my trip to DV with my friend. We started off at the Crater and headed south on Racetrack road which was rough. I beat the heck out of the 4runner on it. we passed a car full of people in a Ford Escape as well as a couple of rental jeeps. We took off cautiously down Lippincott and were surprised to find it in great shape. The road to the springs was smooth sailing. On the way out in the morning the north pass was in great shape too.
Another great trip to DV in the 4Runner. It handled the tore up racetrack road like a beast. On another trail there was a wash out that snuck up on me and I managed to jump the truck across at a high rate of speed. It landed fine and no issues, but man was that fun.
Ash Meadows
Zabriske Point
Picnic at Scotty's place (his parties are legendary)
Teakettle Junction
Mystery solved
Lippincott in spectacular shape
My little paradise
"just as the four walls close me in my eyes are opened up with pure sunlight"
I even made a new friend... (he kicked like a mule and bit like a crocodile)
So since i am away for the month I decided to make a road trip out of it. I figured I would give the Tundra a chance to show what it has on the trails here in Colorado (it needs to take its @$$ back to Cali ) Anyway, last weekend I dedided to try my hand at the Poughkeepsie wall and Poughkeepsie gulch. The next day I did Ophir Pass.
Poughleepsie is part of the Alpine Loop and hits over 12k ft. The trip started fun with the tundra squeezing its big self through the narrow ledges at the beginning. It was smooth sailing until the Wall where you should have lockers and a winch to get up it. Having neither I "cautiously" approached the wall at an easy angle with no traction to get up (rock warrior what?). So after giving it some good tries and realizing no one would be around to give me an assist I deiced to back off and try the bypass. Well the bypass sign reads something like:"for non high clearance 4wd vehicles" it didn't look bad so I muddled on. I went through one section and I got in about a mile an the road turned to mush. It didn't , look bad, but one section i entered at a turn and the truck immediately sank to the frame . So, to make things more fun, the runoff was melting and starting to run down the hill and decided to fill in the spots where my tires were and...it decided to snow. It was fun and a breath taking carrying rocks around in the cold at +11k ft. After about 2 hours of stacking rocks in the mud I turned around without making much of a mess. So I doubled back to town for a hot meal with me and the Tundra covered in mud.
The next morning after checking over the truck. I only managed to lose on lug on a tire through all of the previous days adventure. So, With white out snowy conditions and calm 40mph winds I started in on ophir pass. Something deep inside says this is a bad idea. Something else says shut up its not even freezing and this trail is supposed to be easy. So, I pressed on and as I got further up the snow started to clear as the wind got worse. Getting up from the east side was easy, but at the 11.7K ft summit the wind was probably a breezy 60mph and it was cold. I could see some ice on part of the narrow decent so I locked it out in 4LO and rode 1st gear down the pass. About 1 mile or so in the truck started sounding funny and I smelled melting rubber. I got out and squeezed by to check the vehicle and found a shredded rear right tire. Awesome as they cost about $400 each. So I got the joy of changing a tire on the side of a 10k ft hill. It was a good time though. The aspen trees were beautiful and the view was quite literally breath taking.
So On the way home from school this weekend I decided to stop in Moab for the night and hit a few trails in the morning. I decided to just do an easy trail as I had a 9.5 hour drive in front of me and didn't want to break anything or get stranded
So this time I took the Tundra on the beautiful and scenic Onion Creek Trail about 20 miles north of Moab. It was a pretty easy road with lots of shallow stream crossings and scenic canyons. It ends in a beautiful valley with the towers and mountains dominating the skyline.
