Overland_TRD's MGM Build and Travel Journal : Pic heavy

Nice day for putt through the mountains. July 3rd 2k16 what a memorable day, such a great day for wheeling in such an epic place.
If you aren't familiar with Black Hawk, CO make yourself, do a quick google search of it. One of the strangest places I've ever been. Anyways, lets get back to the important part, the wheeling. Driving through this area there are an overabundance of abandoned mine shafts, but the gold rush did more than just get people to dig holes...it got them to build some of the most isolated and amazing trails in the world.


Well now that that that's been said, back to wheeling...

Here we go, I had actually never met any of these fellow Toyota enthusiasts before but, hey, they own 3 generations of some of the best vehicles the world has seen. And they were generally nice people, don't know if they are on TW or Mud.
The day generally went very good, seeing as this was the first day with 285's I didn't know how much rubbing I'd have.
Well, the answer is not too much. I was pleasantly surprised with the lack of rubbing that I had. But at nearly full tuck the sound of twisting and crunching plastic was inhumane, needless to say a little bit of this was in my near future.

 

Paying a small homage to our country on July 4th, 2016...240 years after greatness began...and where it will end if either presidential candidate gets elected. But hey look, antenna balls aren't dead and I think that's the real take away from this post.

$10 Tenna Tops USA Patriotic American Flag Car Antenna Topper/Auto Mirror Hanger/Dashboard Accessory

Antenna ball

 

This post I'm hesitant to include too many details on locations, because this is one of my favorite spots in Southwest Colorado (probably the only hint you'll get from me). The views are amazing and the features are epic...the fact that this area is only 30 miles from my doorstep always amazes me.


As I said earlier on, I have some sort of weird... i wouldn't say fetish, but that describes it best... for water


I don't have any idea why, but for some reason it just gets me all fired up when I can pretend my little hamster powered Tacoma is a boat storming up river. Or maybe I just enjoy acting like a river shark, going around just generally fucking shit up.

 

Gotcha.... how much and where u get it at?? Cheap sometimes is not bad at all.
Great post, hillarious write up, very entertaining to read by the way!!

 

So here is where it starts to get fun...
As of now I had worked out all of the kinks in my wheeling situations, and thats where the real adventure starts.
For my roommates birthday we decided a trip into the mountains would be best suited, and you know what...we weren't wrong. This overnight trip lead us through a hell of a 24 hours. (probably going to exceed the picture limit with this post)

Gassing up and getting ready for a nice little adventure



This has now become one of my favorite camping spots in the San Juan Mountains recently, and I don't think it's hard to see why. This beautiful little tucked away corner of Colorado is the best place I could have ever moved to.



After getting my sleeping arrangement set up, we cracked open a few beers and enjoyed a nice campfire and the stars.

Waking up early next morning due to an enthusiastic grasshopper and an unstable sleeping surface, I didn't need oatmeal. I needed a beer and some great high country fishing.

And after just a few casts I got this awesome little brown trout (no, not that thing in your toilet)
This was one of the most vibrant browns I had ever seen and he put up a good fight for how small he was (no he wasn't breakfast, we brought plenty of beer).

After packing up camp I decided I wanted to go be a fish, so I did the logical fish thing...I swam upstream. (Might be snorkel time)




While my feet were wet I thought I'd try and be cool like the guys on Expedition Portal and stop in the middle of the water and do something ridiculous. But what to do? Well I guess I'll whip my rod out and fish for some attention. And yes I'm your Huckleberry.


Continuing with the theme of being kickass people and having a killer day, we decided to head further north. But we couldn't pass the best saloon in Silverton (The Handlebar), more beer and bacon cheeseburgers...you really can't get it better. But there's no rest for us, back on the road to maintain the schedule.



We were on the way to Ophir pass before lunch and let me tell you, though this isn't the longest or most technical pass the views make it worth it. The top is sitting at nearly 12000' and from there you can see some of the most amazing mountains in the country.

(This is looking down into the small town of Ophir, CO and Mt. Sneffels)


As you can see by the Rav-4 soccer mom mobile that is driving past us, just about anything could do it. Unless we are talking about the winter months in which there are 20 foot tall walls of snow and ice in this exact spot. Pic of my friend below to prove it.


Down the backside towards Ophir you get to drive nice and close to some drop offs, but on a pucker factor of 1-10 its only about a 3.


Once we got off the dirt we headed down the highway to Telluride, CO. This is overlanding Mecca. Looking straight between the wires the dirt road that is seen is Imogene Pass and far right on the sheer rock face is next to Black Bear Pass. As this day wound down to an end, we realized there was still a 2 hour drive back home to meet friends for a birthday dinner. Needless to say they waited an extra hour for us, sorry but fun shit is better than dinner.


Bonus pics for reading to the end

 

I got it off Amazon, there's a link to it at the bottom of the post. Thanks for the support!

 

After a few wheeling trips I noticed that smacking the exhaust tip wasn't as uncommon of a thing as I had previously thought. So it was time for a little bit of cutting. I can't seem to find any progress pics and its about 28* in CO right now so this'll do.
Its a really easy mod and so far seems to not have any downsides, except that I don't have a shiny chrome exhaust tip.

After doing this I have also been looking into some new bump stops, anybody have any suggestions or previous experience with any?

 

So this post is going to be a long one, if you want to read it thanks but if you don't enjoy the pictures.
TLDR: 5 day camping trip in Silverton, Ouray, Telluride, and Lake City.

This trip was with my roommate (Silver FJ 60) and his Aunt and Uncle (Sportsmobile named Mo)

DAY 1: The drive out
The drive started from Durango, CO out to Silverton, CO. The views coming over Coal Bank and Molas Pass are great, with plenty of spots to pull off and take pictures.

(Just past Purgatory ski resort, looking at Engineer Mountain)

The trucks were still clean, something they will never be again. Dropping down into Silverton we were greeted by this behemoth piece of history. The backstory on this train is pretty great and it is one of the main reasons Silverton hasn't turned into a mining ghost town.

First place we started was the Mayflower gold mill, no we didn't take a tour. The real history is in the mountains that they mined, so we went and found history. Everyone piled in my truck because the trail was tight and the others were too wide.

Getting to the top we were met with some great views and a cool little lake. The mine was just down the road a little bit but was extremely dilapidated, mostly just some wood scraps and a few cables. The real interesting part was the cable system that started in the Mayflower Mill and ran all the way up the mountain, probably about 4 miles long; and to think that feat of engineering was done in the 1920's was pretty amazing.


American Basin, what a gorgeous place. This is a 30 minute to 1 hour detour that is well worth it in my opinion. The road that I am stopped on leads you almost all the way to the base of the rock faces.

The wildflowers, oh my the wildflowers. As far as the eye can see, waist deep and the colors are so vibrant.

After getting back down we went to the store and stocked up on food for the next 4.5 days. The campsite the first two nights was not the greatest. Animas Forks is a very busy place but it has so much to offer nearby.
I was also the only one actually roughing it (not really) but I did have to sleep on the ground...
Getting to bed early isn't that easy especially when it doesn't get dark until 9:30.



DAY 2: Stony Pass + some cool mines
After waking up the next morning and eating breakfast early, it was time to hit the trail.
We decided to go to Buffalo Boy Tram House, just a small detour from Stony pass, and what a cool detour it was.
This was one of the more intact buildings that we were able to see this trip, harsh Colorado winters are extremely tuff on buildings especially over nearly a century!


We continued up the trail trying to get a better vantage point, and boy did we find it.

(Headed to the Top)

The trail ended at a couple of marked grave sites at the top of the mountain, and honestly it is a great place to be memorialized.
The wildflowers, though not as vibrant up here were still very beautiful especially at 13000'
Coming back down we picked Mo back up and headed over to Stony Pass. Stony Pass, though not very technical, is fairly long. With the summit at just over ten miles in it continues down towards Lake City. There are turn-offs to go to different lakes and streams along the way. But about 22 miles after reaching the summit the road, go left (north) to Lake City or take the highway right to continue to Creede.
We decided Lake City was far enough and after a quick lunch at a nice little diner, we turned around the way we came to head back to Animas Forks.

(LPT: Let the biggest vehicle lead, it scares the razors)

(This was taken at the trail marker just past the Pass sign, elev. 12624')
After this long day, and almost 75 miles of off-road driving we decided to head back to camp, crack open a few beers and sit around the campfire. Good times and good friends.

Day 3: The Alpine Loop + Extra Credit
Waking up early and starting at Animas Forks once again, we packed up all our shit. (and I mean a lot, I didn't just how much stuff I could fit in a tote and camping pack)

First to cross off the list was Animas Forks Mining area, getting into some areas that I probably shouldn't have but dad always told me "adventure is, the respectful pursuit of trouble"



After this we decided we needed to go get high, I'm talking Engineer Pass top of the world high. The road is long and windy but it was worth every second. 12800' feet of mindblowingness, being able to see for a seemingly impossible distance.



(On the way up letting 10 foot tall 10000lb van drive all the Razors off the road)

Unfortunately the road that can be seen headed to the top of the mountain is not drive able, I am not sure if it ever was but it's as haggard as anything I'd ever seen.

Heading down Engineer and continuing along the Alpine Loop the next stop was an extremely iconic spot, the house with a bridge. Even if you've never heard of the Alpine Loop this cabin with an interesting walkway has probably been something you've seen.


Continuing down the trail we found ourselves in a great little valley that follows a river and mining equipment down towards Lake City.
And once we got to Lake City it was time for a little lunch and a fuel up. Over 200 miles driven already!

Heading out of Lake City and still continuing on the Alpine Loop headed towards Cinnamon Pass.
And just like that we made it to the top. We got here as the sun was setting which although made for a great view, did not make for a great camp site setup. So we took a quick beer break, and headed on back towards Animas Forks.

We were faced with two options at this point, going all the way backdown and head back to Animas Forks (this was the easier of the two routes) or we can continue over to a trail called Mineral Creek, known to be a fairly technical trail.
But since we were adamant about not staying another night in Animas Forks we went for it. The beginning of the Mineral Creek trail is mellow, so we decided to just find a good spot to camp as soon as possible. After a little searching we found an area near some old mining structures and called it good. Time for some dinner.


Little did we know that taking night pictures this night was going to be interesting. As a shot was finishing up my roommate noticed a bright light and made me turn around. There was a giant fireball shooting out of the sky, by far the biggest meteor I had ever seen. However it turns out it wasn't a meteor, it was on the news. It was a piece of a Chinese rocket that was falling back from space.

DAY 4: The crawling day

Mineral Creek Trail, what a great place. This was the most fun I had crawling the entire trip, and there were plenty of rocky sections like this scattered down the entire trail. The only issue is we are still traveling with a 10 ft tall van, and these tight off-camber corners are not the best friends of those types of vehicles.


Needless to say there were some pants that needed changing, and some seats that may require reupholstery.
We needed to head down this trail to get to the highway leading over Red Mountain Pass to get to Ophir pass and eventually lead us to Imogene Pass where we would end up camping that night. We had a very long way to go....


This is near the bottom of Mineral Creek, where it finally starts to level out a bit before getting to the highway. After getting to the highway, the first pavement seen in nearly 50 miles, we headed back to one of my most frequented passes, Ophir.

After getting through Ophir and down to the highway, we headed for Telluride. This is one of the most scenic places in America. This is looking from downtown out to the iconic Black Bear Pass to the right of the waterfall.


Once we got on Imogene road en route to the pass we had to stop and take pictures. There are many more pictures than I can share with you.

Well, we couldn't have picked a more perfect time to reach the top, 13114'
This sunset from the elevation we were at couldn't have been more perfect.


But the drive wasn't over, we still had a few more difficult sections to navigate the SportsMobile through.


This was a very long day, and it was time to keep going down and find a spot to set up shop for the night.

DAY 5: Beautiful Mornings


I could get used to waking up to a site like this.
This was by far the best wakeup call we got all trip.

But it was early rise and straight to work, making breakfast and breaking down camp so we can get the day started.

This is by far one of the favorite pictures I have of my truck. This location off the Ouray side of Imogene was amazing.

Continuing down Imogene and all of its iconic gloriousness we were on our way out to Yankee Boy Basin, one of the most visual appealing portions of this trip. There is a reason they call this area "The Switzerland of America"


This was the last picture I took this trip, after getting off the dirt we headed back to Ouray and through Silverton back home. I was exhausted. After un-packing and making a nice meal I fell into a deep food and beer induced sleep for the next 12 hrs.

Until next time this is Ron Burgandy, good night San Diego


Bonus Pics for getting to the end:

 

You've sealed the deal for me, I am absolutely getting 285's and methods after my 255's wear

 

Hey man your truck looks great. Its crazy because your current picture looks very very similar to my truck. I was wondering how you did the gear shifter mod? I am now watching your thread! Great build so far.

 

285's are great, but I can never go to anything smaller anymore.

Thanks man! The gear shifter mod is just a 7/8th inch wooden dowel cut down to size then put on the grip, drill a hole down the center thats slightly smaller and twist it on to the existing shifter. Easy as that.

 

After this great trip I had to start school, and getting out to the mountains is always so difficult but I try to make some time every now and again.
This trip was taken in late September when the yoga pants come out and Punkin' Spice Lattes are back at your local Starsucks.

I don't care if people call me a white girl but fall is probably my favorite time of the year. Snow in the high mountains, close enough to see but not enough to be too cold.

 

Man those trails look pretty darn amazing.

 

Choke Cherry
Hoping it didn't end up like the last time we were out there, Jeep rollover, a friend and I decided to make the trip out there.


Needless to say this little break from work and school was well worth the gas burnt to get out there.

 

With all the wheeling I had been doing I decided it was time I get some better protection
Thank you Rocky Road Outfitters for making a product that fits great and is strong enough to hold up to any punishment I might give them.

 

I like the low profile look of those. Bolt on?

 

Yah, they're bolt on. They bolt into the frame and into the pinch weld on the body.

 

Have always wanted to get a topper, and a fellow TW member made that possible. Perfect match for my truck.

One last pic of the truck without the topper

Im really pleased with the look, and it makes a pretty decent place to sleep


For those who are wondering its an ARE Z Series

 

With the new topper I decided a CB would look good, and I've sorta wanted one but never had a good reason to buy it. But I needed to fab up a mount because I was not spending $50 on something I could make in 30 minutes.

I also wanted to consolidate my gear to one side of the bed, so I dabbed up a little mount for that as well

 

Did you have to install all that before you put on the shell? I have the same set up but would like to do the same mod but would prefer not to take the shell off. Im talking about the shovel mount in relation to the bars running front to back that the shell is bolted to.