Montana Tacomas

Thanks for the advice. I've got a Garmin Inreach Explorer+ for communications and emergencies. Is that Burnt Knob in the pic?




Since @MTgirl mentioned they only OPEN the roads after it stabilizes and dries out, I'll probably head that way as soon as they open both Lolo and Magruder. In hopes of getting there before the fires screw up visibility.

 

That is indeed Burnt Knob! @MTgirl knows those roads better than the roads here in town. haha (Not joking actually). We went to another fire tower up that way as well. You can drive along and she'll just say, "Turn here."



This second tower was kind of sketchy. The stairs going up were not in the best shape - you could see where folks had actually replaced a few stair treads. And there's a hole in the middle of the floor up top where there was once a dumbwaiter. They covered it with a podium.

 

that hole!

Hey look someone left a perfectly good fork.

@MTgirl hmmm...What would it take to get a MT/NC Lolo Magruder convoy going?

 

I just pulled Dashcam video from my incident on Sunday in which my children and I got stranded in the mountains. I thought we were going about 15-20mph. Turns out according to my GRDIAN Dash Cam (which uses GPS for speed measuring) we were going between 6 - 8 MPH the entire time. As you'll see this road is NOT that rough. The fact that this upper control arm had not fallen off anywhere else after repair is an absolute blessing. This truck is a daily driver and sees 75 - 80MPH trips on Montana interstates.

Always listen to your intuition. I heard the thump, noticed the truck pulling slightly left, and 'knew' something was wrong. It would have been very easy to just keep driving and hoping everything was fine.

 

Just got my Tacoma back. Dealer washed it for me so that was nice. I was going to wash it on my way home tonight.

They got it re-aligned and so far seems good. No rubbing in turns on flat roads like last time they aligned it.

Tell you what. I'm glad to have my truck back. Although that Toyota Avalon was a way nice car it felt really weird being so low to the ground. It rode very smoothly, the power train was very refined, felt like a go-kart in corners (yet smooth on bumps), way better fuel economy, more comfortable seats... but the damn tech was way too complicated. Automatic climate control.... that you can't control. A giant touch screen infotainment thingy that had way too many physical buttons. A HUD on the windshield that I could never see with polarized sunglasses on. About 20 different buttons on the steering wheel. I never did figure out what all the buttons in the car did. All over the dash, the steering wheel, the infotainment screen. The JBL sound system was nice and clear and it had a factory subwoofer. Although, ALL the sound seemed to come from the dashboard which seemed really strange to me.

On the other hand my Tacoma is dusty inside. The seatbelt doesn't like to reel itself in all the time. My cheap seat covers don't compare with the perforated leather in the Avalon. My touch screen stereo is TINY coompared to the Avalon. My A/C doesn't blow nearly as hypothermic as the Avalon. It leans a little in round-a-bouts. I can feel the bumps in the road. The engine makes a hell of a lot more noise while accelerating half as quickly. It certainly doesn't smell new. But, I know how to make shit work because it's simple. Want cold air? Turn the switch to blue. Done.

 

LoL My fear of heights was pegged on that climb too.

And who said I'm bitching about my truck? Despite all the negatives I still like it better.

 

Cant go wrong with that Toyota AC

 

The family and I went to Leslie lake via the Skyline mine trail. It was a nice day of wheeling.

 

Added to my list of trails to run. That looks like a good one.

 

This was a good trail. The lake is about 3/4mile from the mine. Some real nice views from up there. the whole trail is rocky no real difficult obstacles. I tried thos trail 2 years ago in my F-350 no way was it go up without damage.

 

Perfect for bringing the 2 year old on.

 

Funny how I measure trails and outings by the likelihood my 4yr/1.5yr old will tolerate it.

 

My boys are 9 and 10. There was lots of interesting things for them. I takes a couple of hours one way as it's rocky and low range 1st gear mostly. Some exposure sections that my wife didn't like she doesn't like looking down steep drops. Overall I'd say this is definitely a kid friendly trail. The Elkhorn ghost town is at the bottom and there is the cemetery above the town to check out if one wants to.

 

Anyone else grilling or smoking for today?

Smoking up a chicken and tenderloin today!

 

Looks good! I’ll be over in a bit. Bringing the beer

 

Anyone try Magruder on a 4x4 suburban? My in-laws wanna tag along but were worried they would get stuck. Looking at September outing.

 

What time should I be there? LOL. Nice.