F/R Locked TRD Sport DCLB Build & Colorado Wheeling

Thank you, thank you! Me too man - it's one of the best times to be outdoors here in CO. I will definitely be heading back to that area in Fraser next year a bit earlier so I can catch all those aspens in their full splendor.

 

Adding Day 2 details from this trip below.

Day 2: Fairplay to Leadville Via Weston Pass + Drive to Lake City

Day 2 kicked off with packing up camp and venturing into downtown Breckenridge for a burrito and coffee. We stopped at Unravel, which serves expensive but very good coffee. This was the first time I'd tried any of their breakfast food, and both my dad and I agreed that the burrito was pretty sub-par, haha. After breakfast, we fueled up the truck and made our way down to Mosquito Pass, which was our originally planned route. However, due to snow, the pass was closed to thru traffic. So, we did some quick research in my FunTreks books and determined that Weston Pass would be a great alternative.

We made the quick drive down to Fairplay and made our way to the Weston Pass trailhead. I aired the tires down, snapped a few pictures, and we were on our way.

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Weston Pass was incredible. A great alternative route for my dad, given his fear of heights, but still wildly beautiful with great views of the Rockies. It was originally developed during the Colorado Gold Rush and become a popular route for miners traveling between Fairplay and Leadville due to its (relatively speaking) lower elevation. At its highest, the pass reaches about 11,900 feet and has some great hiking, dispersed & established camping, and great alpine scenery.

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As we finished the trail and headed towards Leadville, storm clouds started to roll in. My dad and I stopped at the Leadville mining district to take a quick glance at some of the old structures and some of the "boom day" rocks that sit in the parking lot. Leadville was once one of the richest silver mining towns in the world and still retains much of its historic charm. They actually celebrate their annual Boom Day Festival that weekend before. Even after asking one of the locals who worked at the Pizza shop what it is, I'm still not entirely clear on what the festival celebrates, so if anyone has more info on that, I'd love to know!

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At this point in the day, we were starving and decided a pizza sounded like the move for lunch. We swung by High Mountain Pies, ordered a meatlovers, and enjoyed the pizza in their covered outdoor patio while a huge storm blew in.

After lunch, we stopped into a coffee shop and discussed if we wanted to camp near Twin Lakes or make our way down to the San Juans, where we'd be spending the rest of our trip. After some contemplation, we decided that it made the most sense to head down to Lake City and set up camp so we could fully enjoy the following day. So we grabbed a coffee, hopped in the truck, and made the ~3 hr drive down south.

We arrived at camp early evening and did some perusing of sites to see which area we'd call home for the next couple of days. We landed on a secluded site that was on Lake San Cristobal, but a bit off of the cliffside, so that we had some privacy and protection from the wind. We paid the camp host, got camp set up, and started a fire. Unfortunately, the tent was still pretty damp from the rain the night before, so we strung it along the side of the truck to the Clam, and it dried out quickly with the wind. After enjoying some time around the fire, we called it a night in preparation for Day 3.

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with the hidden winch gotta look in on that. Got any in depth pix with that install? NICE!

 

Great times man,last picture with the BFII in the the window hopped it off Thank You for sharing.

 

Got her washed and did some touch up painting on the bumper after a year of wheeling.

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Since winter is rolling in and the wheeling has slowed, I am planning on some maintenance / minor updates to the truck.

Currently, the maintenance / updates list is as follows:

1. Remove sliders and get them sand blasted and powder coated. I’m tired of the spray paint constantly chipping & the bare metal turning into rust.
2. While sliders are removed, I’m going to take the truck into a detail shop and have them detail the interior and exterior. A solid wax / ceramic coat is in the cards and after they clean the undercarriage, I’ll reapply the Amsoil HD metal protectant to entire underside.
3. Replace the hood vinyl clear bra
4. Add nylon spacers between skids to eliminate minor rattling over bumps / off road

 

Will be planning at least 2 (hopefully 3 to 4) trips down to Moab this year, so if you’re interested in joining, lmk and we can coordinate dates!

 

End of march. I’ll be there. Trip is happening this year lol

 

Looking to do Rocky Mountain Toyota thing in the San Juan's this summer.

 

Lets gooo. Do you have specific dates in mind? If I can make it work, I'm very interested in tagging along.

 

Heck yeah man, I'm super interested in joining! Is there a link to the event you could share with me?

 

The Rocky Mountain Toyota Roundup link for 2024 is below:

https://www.rockymountaintoyotaroundup.com/

It will be updated at a later time with next years info.

 

At some point during the week if 3/24

 

Thanks @AMMO461! I checked the website, but they didn't have any details on the trails that they'd be running. Have either of you participated in the past and know what trails they run & how the groups are typically setup?

 

Nice, nice. When you have specific dates, let me know. I will likely only be able to join on the weekend.

 

I corrected the link address in my previous post. The event basically replaces the FJ Summit that stopped running a couple of years ago. We went to Summit 9 and Summit X. The trails listed are what they ran in 2024. I believe the group sizes are determined by the permits the organizers acquire.
The trails they run are:
Alpine Loop to Lake City (Corkscrew Gulch, California Pass, Animas Forks, Cinnamon Pass, Lake City, Engineer Pass, Silverton)
Black Bear Pass (Black Bear Pass, Telluride, Ophir Pass)
Imogene Pass (Imogene Pass, Telluride, Ophir Pass)
Poughkeepsie Gulch
California Pass to Animas Forks (Mineral Creek, Animas Forks, California Pass, Corkscrew Gulch)
The Lakes -- Bullion King Lake & Clear Lake
The Mines – Red Mountain Mining District & US Basin
Animas Forks via Picayune Gulch (Corkscrew Gulch, California Pass, Picayune Gulch, Animas Forks, Silverton)
Stony Pass to Kite Lake

 

I'm not ran the event before but looking for a reason to get back to the San Juan's. Lots of driving if it's just me coming back out there from the east coast, about 30 hours each way. Not sure if any locals would want to come with me or not.

 

Incredible, thank you for sharing the list. Tons of great options. I’m definitely going to try and make it to this.

 

Yeah, that’s a LONG trek for sure. I’ll keep you posted on if I can make it.

 

Went out and harvested our Christmas tree last night. By far one of my favorite holiday traditions we do each year.

Theo got to run around in the snow & we were lucky enough to find a spruce this year. We also got an incredible sunset - the whole sky turned a mix of pink and baby blue. Overall and incredible day / night out in the mountains.

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How are those Goodyears in the snow compared to the KO2s you had on?

My wife's 35" KO2s are new but vibrate like a mofo and Discount Tire is having a hard time balancing them. I'm thinking about trying something else. They’ve been great otherwise.