The Hunt is Over: Adventures in Arizona (lots of words and pics)

[kellogg]

Three weeks ago I sold my 1999 Limited 2WD because I realized that I really wanted to have a 4WD 4Runner. I spent hours upon hours of sifting through all the ads on craigslist and auto trader not just here in San Diego but in the western part of the USA, trying to find a good deal.

Two Saturdays ago, while searching Phoenix craigslist, I knew I had found "the one". It was a 1997 SR5 V6 4X4 5spd with locker AND leather! Not only was it my dream combination, it was a 1 owner car! I immediately called the man and asked him a few questions. He said he special ordered it from the dealer. "The truck has a 140,000 miles, but I have had it serviced religiously at the Toyota dealership I bought it at, and I have a large folder full of maintenance records", He said. After talking to him for a while and seeing some more pics via email I told him I wanted the truck for sure and the next day I sent a deposit in the mail and bought plane tickets for my girlfriend and I to fly out and drive the truck back. We decided to make a fun little trip out of it and made plans to drive the truck from Phoenix to Sedona, where we could test out the 4WD and see the sights.


Fast forward to this past Friday. My girlfriend Erin and I jumped on the plane to Phoenix.

Bye San Diego!

Hello Phoenix!

 

[kellogg]

We took a cab and met them at a private Title transfer place. Everthing went smoothly. The PO's were really nice and $5900

later THE TRUCK WAS MINE!

The 4Runner drove beautifully and I couldn't get over how fun the 5spd was. The drive from Phoenix to Sedona was about

2 hours. The storm clouds were rollin in.

 

[kellogg]

We arrived in Sedona and checked into our hotel and spent the rest of the day relaxing and checking out the

shops

I had read about some of Sedona's off road trails before we left, and I knew that off road Jeep tours were a big thing there.

The next day, I decided to check out Broken Arrow trail. Having never owned/driven a 4WD vehicle before, I was really excited. There is a

large rock ledge strategically placed at the beginning of the trail to prevent low clearance vehicles from entering. The rain had created a

muddy puddle in front of the ledge so it was a little more difficult than it should have been. Nonetheless I made it up fine, even though I

did smack the running board on it.

There were about 4 or 5 pink Jeeps on the trail

 

[kellogg]

The trail forks, and the right side leads you to up a large slab.

Gorgeous Scenery

The next somewhat difficult obstacle was a sort of steep rocky climb that made me a little nervous. After a few tries I made it

up.

 

[kellogg]

That obstacle led us to submarine rock where the mountain bikers were having fun

Find the Pink Jeeps

We then headed towards Chicken Point

 

[kellogg]

From Chicken Point, We headed to Devil's Staircase. It looks exactly how you would think, A steep rocky drop covered in

large jagged rocks pointing straight at your diff and gas tank. I had Erin get out and spot and she did a great job. I made it down with no

damage. I am so impressed with the capability that Toyota gave this thing straight out of the factory.

Later that day, we decided to check out Schnebly Hill Road, as we heard there were some great views to be seen. It was a

fairly smooth dirt road that took us to the top of the rim. The scenery was awesome and the valley looked amazing with the thunderclouds

and rain rolling in.

 

[kellogg]

On Sunday, we decided to check out Soldier Pass trail before we headed back to San Diego. The short trail led us to Devil's

Kitchen, a huge natural sinkhole

We left for San Diego before noon and thus began the long boring drive through the desert. Thank God for cruise control

and AC!

Looking at Palm Desert from the Palms to Pines highway

It was an awesome trip. I absolutely love my new Runner, I plan to keep it till the doors fall off. I spent some time cleaning it

up today, here are some pics

I have already ordered the black mudguards from Jacque at TRDparts4U so I can take off the running boards. I also plan to

do the deckplate mod and maybe get a muffler welded on. Anyway I just wanted to share the pics with you guys, thanks for

looking!

 

[spongerx]

Good for you!!! Glad you found what you were looking for. :biggrin2: :biggrin2: :biggrin2:

 

[sn0wrunner]

Looks like a hell of a trip! Great pics man! and congratulations on the new runner!

 

[Clemsonfan15]

Wow........that is really awesome. I know that was a great trip. Time to start moding now.

I see the damage on the running board. :\

Your totally right, the 4runner is great even in it's stock form. What's even crazier is that you did all that on stock tires.

 

[LINY4Runner]

nice trip! cute chick

this pic made me laugh myself to tears:

 

[Clemsonfan15]

nice trip! cute chick

this pic made me laugh myself to tears:

LOL!!!!

I didn't notice that because of my small laptop screen. Very funny.

 

[RonMAIDEN]

:cheers:

Congrats on find and it looks like it's in great shape especially the interior.

 

[kellogg]

Thanks all!

What's even crazier is that you did all that on stock tires.

Yea the tires are pretty bald too, I was suprised.


HAHA I didn't even see that old lady there in that pic! She must have wandered over from the Pink Jeep group. Funny.

 

[smallfry]

Congrats, on finding the new set of wheels and a 5spd manual with leather and locker. Nice. :bigok:
Is the headunit a single CD or mulitple CD? The multiple units from my understanding and experience are prone to eat your CD's and you have to take it a part to get your CD back.


Sedona is one of my favortie places in Arizona to wheel.

When you guys went to Soliders Pass did you continue down to the Seven Scared Pools. If it had rained that area might be flowing and produce a pretty cool waterfall.

The staircase is just slightly more slick in the rain than what it normally is but not by much.

 

[david_ray320]

Great lookin' pics, great lookin' runner, great lookin' girl! That sounds like an awesome trip and I'm glad you found what you were looking for! At some point in the near future I'm going to start looking at 4WD models and try to sell my current 2WD rig so I'll be able to off-road once I move out west after graduating college.

Keep us updated on everything you have planned for the new rig and congrats again!

 

[kellogg]

Thanks smallfry and david!

Smallfry - yea we checked out the Seven Sacred Pools but there was no water flowing. I was surprised considering all the rain. We witness some toads getting it on there haha.

 

[nighthawk]

Congrats on finding the one you want. Still looking for a 5spd one. I wish it wasn't such a PITA for me to go to the US to get one cause there's more 5spd ones down there than up here in western Canada. It just totally dried out. Not a single 3rd gen manual on any of the local classifieds.

 

[kellogg]

Yea they are definitely much harder to find. I wasn't even specifically looking for a 5spd, just a clean 4x4 w/ locker. I had trouble finding those even. I started looking in San Diego, then LA, then all of CA, then I said what the heck I'll try Arizona. Glad I did!

 

[AleksV]

nice suv, and what a sick place to go offroading