Where Have You Off-Roaded Today? 3rd Gen

Thanks! Front decal was made with left over vinyl from my bedside decals and some knifless tape.

 

Saw the Venture4WD guy do this (YT). It looks amazing. Would love to visit one day

 

We initially had plan to go to Monache Meadow but after talking to the Ranger, it was just too crowded. We decided to stay a bit outside and explore near the Fish Creek campground. We did a few light trail in the area. Caught my first California Golden Trout as well. Here’s the link for the full video

https://youtu.be/2pBfu6JBe4Q

 

One of my remote lakes, private for 30 years has been discovered by other guys. Not easy to find but this COVID pushing people farther out as the easy access spots are so busy.

So 2 guys there a few days ago. Only room for 2 trucks/tents and 4x4 access only. Very rough last 5 miles in.

No spot for me, so I drove for 3 more hours on brutal trails trying to find a spot to pitch my tent before dark.

I found this moose/bear swamp before dark, but not suitable for tenting too rough ground. So I slept in the truck for 2 great hours... Got up at 4 in the morning all stiff and pretty cold, dropped to +38F at night. I step out of the truck to take a piss, and a HUGE crash right behind my back. I'm expecting a bear, but it is a large cow moose taking off into the bush just feet away. Scared the crap out of me as I had my back turned. Had my bear spray on me, but it would have been useless for a moose or bear that close. It must have just come up the ridge when I stepped out.

The first and last pics are the spot I slept that night beside the small swamp/pond. I walked down to that swamp that night before dark, just had to check it out even though there was a lot of fresh moose and bear crap. A beautiful spot, but in the evening just crawling with hundreds of mosquitoes.

So I made coffee and breakfast and drove another hundred offroad miles, and found an awesome new spot I had never been to. Those are the nice pics right beside the lake with the fire. Plan to go there again but for some September fall fishing. Favorite time to fish.

Beat the crap out of my truck on this trip. Front skid plate is a mess, pushed in and ravaged. Thank god for skid plates or I'd be walking 20 miles out to the main logging road. Had to reverse on a trail for a 1/2 mile and finally said screw it. Tried to turn around and basically got stuck across the trail with a large deadfall tree on both ends of the truck. Back and forth an inch at a time, hitting those each time as the truck is lurching on rocks and stumps. Back bumper has a good dent it now, and my passenger side door another dent. No big deal, this truck like my others made for the bush, a quarter of my mileage is offroad constantly searching for new remote fishing locations. All the roads are abandoned logging roads or ATV trails, not maintained for decades. Next week at it again. Have a different spot picked out and we will see how it goes. My wife is like "you're going again?" After more than 500 trips like this in 30+ years you would think she would be used to it?

 

Exploring in the woods a bit this morning... Then spend an hour getting all the mud out when I get home...

 

I am no fan of mud. I actually never go 4-wheeling, never my intention. Maybe 30 fishing trips during spring to fall months.

Every spot I go fishing requires 4x4 and 35 years of that and 4 different trucks now. Need 4x4 because I go so far into wilderness to avoid other fishermen, campers, etc. Maybe once every 10 trips I see another truck out in the backwoods of BC. The roads are shit, but that is the price to find solitude. I do like crawling along in 4-lo in the woods, cold beer in hand and lots of wildlife to see, moose, deer, bear almost every trip.

For the last 2 months here it has rained heavy at times. So the mountain roads are a muddy mess. Getting tired of it, looking forward to a drying out period where it is just dirt and dust and not an hour of pressure washing the underside every trip. Coveralls, knee pads, safety goggles and laying under the truck. Once in a while is ok, but 6 of those mudhole trips in the last 3 weeks now.

Nice truck you have there...

 

Thanks boss. I'm no fan of de-mudding the truck either. But I think it's important to know what you can and can't handle with your equipment so I like to keep trying different obstacles, including some muddy stuff from time to time. And it is kinda fun to just blast right through. I'm becoming a big fan of the MTS settings.

 

Yeah the MTS and crawl control is very handy used those a number of times now. Careful how you test your truck capabilities. I am solo remote and often 100 miles offroad. So if I break down and can't fix it I have a 2 - 3 day hike out. Have had some bad experiences, learned from those and now really measure my moves carefully. Still in bad terrain, but you have to know when to not push it.

 

Only an hour? Look again.

 

Nope dog says it's good enough so I'm going with that

 

Yessir best part of this is I'm about 5 miles from the house so not so bad as a worst case scenario situation. Last 4x4 I had before this one was a 99 Frontier mostly stock so a big step up in capabilities but I still try to play it safe. Sage advice though.

 

Wasn’t today, spent last weekend out in Lake Tahoe.

 

First ever trip with the Tacoma, about 30 miles of mild(mostly gravel/dry dirt) roads around Cherokee National Forest.

 

Power line caught fire near work this morning, so we had the day off! Took my wife up to the top of Bighorn Mountain outside of Grants Pass, Oregon to show her the excellent view. She had not been there before.


Before they logged it, I wouldn't even attempt tacing the Tacoma up there, quad only.

 

Was up in Big Bear last Saturday!

 

Took her to Santiago Peak today(first 2 pics) took her to Monache Meadows for the 4th.

 

What road is that on?

 

The squeeze