mrbeggins 04 Tacoma Build

awesome man!! excited for the pics!

 

I believe they had some lower uniball issues on spoonmans truck. I'm guessing they decided to get back home.

 

Nuh uh.......I bet they put their man pants on and continued to Rubicon.

 

I was just thinking the same thing. Sure doesn't sound like them to come home just because something broke.

 

DUSICON completed

 

Where there's a problem, there's a solution

 

Great to hear guys! Can't wait for pics!! Have a safe trip home

 

GOOD!! Was hoping I was wrong and you were able to get that fixed can't wait to see pics guys!

 

Hahaha TT driving and looking through TW

 

Well...here we go. Finally made it home from South Lake Tahoe this morning. We started driving at 11:30am yesterday morning, drove all day, and all night. 1400 miles in 23 hours.

Here is the run down from start to finish. Grab a bowl of popcorn and enjoy....

We left Calgary Saturday morning the 30th. Pushed all the way to Portland Oregan on the first day. We stopped in Cranbrook at the Toyota dealership for some fluids. They couldn't believe what showed up in their parkijg lot at 9 in the morning haha. Thanks again to Cranbrook Toyota for the VIP treatment and the free swag. We got into Portland late that night, camped in a farmers field due to a hotel shortage. It was pretty ghetto.

The next day we pushed all the way to Fresno. Now as Brian said it (thegame) that place is truly the but hole of California. Fuck. Prositutes and ghetto ass people all around us when we rolled into town. Got a hotel. It was much needed after the night before and 2 days of 12 hrs in the truck. We checked in feeling a little worried about leaving are rigs loaded with hundreds of dollars worth of spare parts and camping gear. However the nights sleep was accompanied by Spoonmams best man (dog). Beau, 95lb's of German Shepard and rip your fucking face off if anyone was to fuck with us. It was a great relief to have him on the trip, and as usual.....He's a real character sometimes hahaha.

The next day we made it to the Dusy Ershim trail head (courtright reservoir). We topped off are tanks and roto packs at Shaver Lake, then Got ready to......HAMMERDOWNSON. By the way, that phrase got said....my guess is a million times on the trip. It was awesome. If someone could have recorded the shenanigans on the trail, it would be a pretty epic video haha.

We crawled are way through the Dusy like no body's buisness. Thompson Hill was a piece of cake. From top to bottom it took 20 minutes haha. We camped at the top for the night. Epic campsite. Woke up the next morning after sleeping in a bit, busted out the r/c crawlers for an hr, then packed up and hit the trail again. Next came spoonmans hick up. His lower uni ball bolt stripped all the threads leaving him immobilized on the trail about 2 hrs from ershim lake. With quick thinking and some chain I brought, we rigged his upper and lower control arms together and it got him through the rest of the trail. We made it to Ershim Lake at a decent hour, so we set up camp, busted open a couple of cold beers and watched the sun go down.

The next morning (Wednesday) I woke up super early to watch the sun come up and enjoy my cup of coffee. Such a surreal camping spot. I could have stayed there for a couple of days. We packed up around 11am and headed for White Bark Vista. Faaacckkk me. There are some tight tree sections there. When we were sitting around the dinner table the night before I turned to Jamie and said, I think are worst body damage is yet to come. Well....that turned out to be true haha. The left side of my truck got damage pretty good from Dusy and the right side got damage from Rubicon. That's another funny story for later.

So most of White Bark Vista was easy peasy. The hardest part was figuring out a line to get down Vista Rock. Spoonman took the same line as I did. Between the tree and rock, down the face of it. Smash slider and box against the tree, then literally chunk are way down Vista Rock. I'll let spoonman post pictures of that section on his behalf haha. After than, it was smooth sailing out to Kaiser Pass. Dusy Ershim completed!

We headed back to civilization to get a hotel. The next day (Thursday) we woke up early, and thanks to Brian (thegame) we sourced out a Fastenal in Madera and found a bolt that fit spoonmans lower uni ball. Fixed it right in the parking lot in about an hr. After we finished that up, we both turned to earth other. Smiled. And said Rubicon? Fuck ya son! HAMMERDOWN!!!

We rolled into South Lake Tahoe around dinner time Thursday, hit Safeway to get some groceries. Hit the beach to let the dog cool down and swim. Met a really cool local guy by the name of Robert. Told us how bad the 'CON was this year after all the rains and snow melt. This was my first time doing it, so I couldn't really judge on how bad it was. But I'll tell you this. The 'CON is wayyyyy more fun than Dusy. It has more rock, and more obstacles.

After getting all are supplies, we rolled out to the trail head Thursday night. Camped at the top of Cadillac Hill, and got ready to hit the 'CON first thing in the morning. Friday morning we woke up early again, packed up in a hurry and rolled out. Chunked are way down Cadillac Hill. Spoonmans crawl box was really in its element. It allowed him to take the steep sandy rocks controlled and placed tires in crucial spots. I just about ended up on my lid about halfway down. A careless hit to a rock on the passenger side sent my front drivers side straight to the ground and my ass end up in the air. Split second thinking, I jabbed the gas for a second and everything settled back down. Got the heart rate up haha. What'd I do next? Stuck my head out the window of course and said. HAMMERDOWNSON!!!!!

Next after Cadillac hill was the big sluice box. Good lord was that fun BIG ROCKS EVERYWHERE. We crawled are way up, and at about midway where the giant tree is in the middle of the trail and the 3 big rocks are around it, that's where i lost spoonman. I just squeezed my way through, but at 140" WB, jamie found himself on the end of the winch line. By the time I figured out he was having troubles at that spot, I was parked at the top of the big sluice under the tree. I hiked back down to help out, but his quick recovery and skills had Daisy's fat ass through that obstacle. I can honestly say, he hands down drives a DCLB better than anyone I know. There were a ton of spots where I didn't think it would fit, but somehow every time I looked in the mirror, he was fitting that 140" WB through it.

After the big sluice it was smooth sailing for the both of us through the rest of the trail. Now for that "other funny story" I was talking about....

At the obstacle where the old scout was parked in memorial for the gentleman who passes, (which is now a beautiful plaque on a stump btw) there is a giant rock that has to be dropped down. Well I chunked my way down, and on the way down the giant boulder on the passenger side got my door pretty good. After clearing that obstacle Jamie dropped down the same spot. Hit in the exact same spot on the rock and on his door. Well not thinking anything of it until after the trail and the car wash yesterday, we both looked at Jamie's door and HEY!! There's my Radiant Red paint on his door hahahaha. I must have left quite a bit of paint on the rock, and when we went through he picked it back up.

We finished the Rubicon in exactly 11 hrs, headed back into town in the dark and got a hotel. The next morning, (Saturday morning) it was time to load up all are gear and head for home. We left south Lake Tahoe at 11:30am and drove non stop all the way home. Stopped a couple of times for about 15 minutes to close are eyes, BUT....non the less. 1400 road miles in 23 hrs. I'm absolutely bagged and ready for bed.

We have labelled this trip as the "DUSICON". It pushed man and truck pretty hard. Long road days. Long trail days. Sleep deprevation combimed with excitement fuelled us to not stop and keep going. We defintslly pushed the limites of IFS trucks. Hands down one of the best wheeling trips I think we've both had.

Check out Instagram for some recent pictures. I'd post up pics tonight but I need to sleep and have to head back to work tmw. So y'all need to see some truck porn tmw evening!

Instagram: stumpyy04
bugslee17

#dusyershim2014
#Rubicon2014
#DUSICON2014

Cheers everyone!!!!

 

Some teaser photos: photo by spoonman

Divorce Rock Dusy Ershim

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

Getting tippy on Dusy

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

Sloooot mobiles. Dusy Ershim. HAMMERDOWNSON

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

 

Yeah you guys are nut cases. Next time spend some time to enjoy the scenery

 

Prefect wrote up tanner. Nice job. I didn't even remember it all.

Dude, thank you to for helping me out finding a bolt. Went to fastenal and they had exactly what I needed. 3 miles from the hotel. Woohoo

Oh and we enjoyed the scenery! We didn't rush at all.

 

Just followed y'all! Sweet write up man! Glad to hear everything went pretty well besides a little body damage

 

Time for some pictures!!

About to roll into Portland. Pee break

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

Rolling shots

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

Top of courtright reservoir

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

Half hr into the Dusy, we pulled off to Courtright to cool down

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

Thompson Hill was slayed in 20 minutes. Slow and steady we crawled up

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

Looking back down Thompson

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

Thompson Hill

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

Are first camp spot at the top of Thompson. Great campsite

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

Stumpy on a stump

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

Spoonmans truck took a major shit on are way to Ershim Lake. We fixed it by wrapping a length of chain that I brought around the upper and lower control arms. This allowed the suspension to cycle in unison, while keeping the lower uni ball in place

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

Random length of trail on Dusy

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

Jamie- "Hey Tanner, where's the hammer go?"
Me- "in the butt"
Jamie- "HAHAHAHAHA Nooooo! DOWNSON!"
Me- "ooooo fuck ya bud. HAMMERDOWNSON!!"

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

Top of White Bark Vista

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

Beau waiting for Jamie to get out of bed at Ershim Lake

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

Divorce Rock. Photo by Spoonman

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

Random length of trail on Dusy

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

Working are way down to White Bark Vista

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

Dusy Ershim completed. At the top of Kaiser Pass

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

Stay tuned. I'll put all the pictures together of the Rubicon

 

awesome shots man!! this trails on the bucket list for sure!

 

Alrighty...here comes the Rubicon


image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

Cadillac Hill

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

Rubicon Springs. Stopped here for lunch

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

Big Sluce Box. Way to much fun

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

Top of big sluice

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

Stretch of trail

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

The rock on the left of the picture is the one that fucked my door. And spoonmans door

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

Loon lake enterance. Rubicon done

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

Photo by Spoonman

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

Getting out to look at are options

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

Oooo yeaaa

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

There will be random pictures added soon

 

Quite possibly one of my favourite photos from the trip. Early morning sunrise on Ershim Lake. Dusy Ershim

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

 

Great pics!!! How did the truck do? Have to winch any?

 

The truck did awesome. We really pushed the limits of IFS. Both spoonman and I.

I winched once on the trip. A little spot on Thompson. I could have stacked rocks, but the sun was going down really really quick. I figured running line was the easiest fastest way. Spoonman came back down the hill to the midway point where I was to run line for me. We had stumpy up and over the boulder in about 2 minutes. 10 minutes later we were in camp setting up are tents