Where Have You Off-Roaded Today? 3rd Gen

I think you need a front camera.

 

Wicked bad, my wife was riding shotgun, running her cell phone cam, and being my set of eyes in some of the bad angle spots.
Front cam, hidden winch mount, winch, and under armor are next on my list of upgrades.

 

That's so pretty! Doesn't look too dry up there. It's starting to get really dry again here in Utah.

 

“Doesn't look too dry up there.”

It is beautiful up here, but way too dry.

You can’t judge dry or humidity levels based on how green things are. Kelowna has had 3 inches of rain since January 1st.

Phoenix AZ has had 3.5 inches in that same time span.

Utah has had almost 7 inches in the first 3 months of this year.

Since April 1st in BC, 4 million acres of forest have been lost to wildfires with most of that in the far north where it is much cooler. The forests are dangerously dry.

The most recent wildfire near my home, was sparked by the exhaust of an ATV.

Yup it is dry enough right now to keep me out of any narrow overgrown trails in the woods. Too much risk of sparking a fire just from a hot exhaust.

I drive a lot of narrow trails like in this picture, but not when it is this dry. Just not safe.

 

Well, went for a quick run up Quartz Mountain in Washington State last night to get some Milky Way photos, and ended up meeting some other Toyota folks so I used my big fancy camera to take some epic sunset photos with Mount Rainier in the background.

 

Can confirm that a stock DCLB with an inexperienced/new driver can do Broken Arrow if led by someone more competent, without issue.

Enjoy!

 

Depends what you mean by Issue's. I have a 2022 DCSB and have done Broken Arrow a few times, one of which was in my Jeep JK. I have scraped everytime. Nothing bad just scrape the skids (Full RCI Skids) and have scraped on the hitch. My Tacoma is on 32" tires with the OEM TRD lift at 2" of front and 1 1/4 in the rear. You can make it but you will scrape something.

 

I've done it close to 50 times now in the past 12 years, with a wide range of vehicles and with a wide range of companions.

You're right, you will scrap the hitch no doubt. I have been able to avoid touching skids back when my 2016 was just on 265/75 Wildpeaks, but yes, you can also bump skids a bit too.

I personally do not consider these things issues, just 'normal use' type stuff, given the trail.

 

Wow. Toyota.com worthy shot...!

 

The Swell

 

Red mud (or dust) means you're having fun.

 

Definitely calendar worthy!

 

Truckee California

 

Seriously, Thank you! That spot is the closest dirt road, besides my driveway to my house. It takes about an hour to get up there. 360 degree views, and an incredible spot to photograph the sunset. I just got a new Olympus OM-1 Camera, and a new lens, and this is what resulted. Holy smokes new cameras these days are good. This was the Hand Held High Resolution 50 Megapixel Mode so I do have a file that is large enough to have printed in large format. We ride the bikes up that road all the time, it's one of my favorite places in WA State, and the WABDR completely skips it.

 

Well off road trips will be waiting for a while. Had one planned but then the wildfires hit hard. Just freaking grateful to still have a home and not evacuated.

Much of Kelowna on fire right now, and so many homes have been lost. Thankfully no one killed in the current fires.

We are fortunate and not evacuated yet, but my Taco is fully loaded in case our home gets marked for evacuation. Its a tight fit, I wish I had a bit of extra space. Have a tent and sleeping bags packed too, just in case as a lot of highways are shut down.

So many evacuated right now. My wifes boss (dentist) said we could sleep in the dental clinic if needed. No way, they might try to pull some teeth while I am sleeping!

Horrible for those out of their homes amd waiting to hear if they still have a home. A couple of pics of what those poor folks are waiting for word on. These are all from the westside of Okanagan lake. West side fire started first, and then 4 fires started the same day after embers blew miles across the lake and ignited the east side. It is that dry. A little calmer today, it cooled a bit and a bit less wind, but houses still burning as I write this. These fires all started just 3.5 days ago and spread so fast.

 

It’s amazing how fast these things can spread! Also amazing when it’s this dry people still have wood camp fires or litter with their cig butts. I don’t have knowledge of what started this fire but we sure would have a lot less with smarter people in the woods. I love my little propane fire and you have the benefit of not smelling of smoke after being around it!

Thoughts and prayers for all involved. It’s so devastating to be in the situation of having a house by a wildfire.

 

Yup. Campfires are banned in all of BC, but still people are starting them up. Not to mention, who needs a campfire when it is 100F outside? On my last trips before these fires, I found fresh campfires while the ban was in effect. I find half smoked cigs all over those same campfire spots. I have personally watched a passing car chuck a cig into the bush and within 30 seconds start a wildfire. It can happen. In that case I called 911 and fire crew was om scene in 5 minutes.

About 4 years ago, just 5 miles from my home a guy chucked a cig into the roadside brush by Okanagan lake. It was spotted by another person driving behind. That fire was instant. The folks who saw it called 911 and stopped to try and put it out, but in less than 15 minutes it raced up the steep hillside and took out 8 homes before the fire department could save them. The people who were home in those houses only had time to get out and were almost trapped.

Like Lahaina, it can happen that fast.

Here is the current BC wildfire view. Every one of those hundreds of red dots is a fire listed as “out of control”, and many are confirmed to be human caused. Not all of the fires are even shown as I could not expand the map larger on my ipad to display them all.

The bigger flame icons are the ones that are threatening homes.

 

I have fought a lot of fires and I have never seen a season this crazy before. Really hoping California and Mexico dodge the opposite side of the spectrum with this system moving North. Stay safe everyone!

 

Yeah, I’ve known too many people effected by wildfires. Even if your house survives, the community suffers and your stress of not knowing is painful. I think people just feel like they have to have a fire while camping. I do like the light that’s why I have the little propane fire ring. Just enough to give off the light and be safe from embers starting fires.
I understand if there’s an accidental fire but, like you said there’s no real reason for a campfire right now in most places and it’s pretty obvious that it’s unsafe for no excuse right now. I know in my area they found people intentionally lighting fires, those people should be locked away and the keys tossed.

 

yup, Suspected cig butt that started the Rock Creek Wildfire in 2015. We we there, in the area safe, but were trapped with nowhere to go to leave other than a huge detour. The ash smoke, and embers raining down was scary.