Toughest Trail You've Done With a Stock Tacoma?

Well the titles pretty self explanatory. Toughest trail you've done in a stock Tacoma (ie: no armor or lift)?? And also how was it? Pictures also help.

 

bump

 

I'm interested in this as well... come on folks!

 

my driveway

 

Stock 04 5 lug, I've done bee canyon near idyllwild ca and riverbed near the same area. I would get pics but I moved. Google bee canyon and you'll get pics

 

Click on my link of the Mision Santa Maria trip last year... in my signature.

 

Cleghorn, Gorman 4x4 area, some trails out in Sedona AZ

 

I did these stock:
http://www.traildamage.com/trails/index.php?id=18
http://www.traildamage.com/trails/index.php?id=15


A few weeks ago I did:
http://www.traildamage.com/trails/index.php?id=8

With the mods listed below and no sliders...

 

Anderson Truck Trail in Alpine, CA:

First time taking my truck out alone on a trail I've never been before- my first mistake
Not knowing when to turn back would be my second mistake

It started out as a simple access road/ fire road so we went on some miles and got to a large ranch. After the ranch came a sign reading, "Road not maintained." The road began to get pretty uneven: first one tire would drop, go back up as we moved forward to feel the other front-side of the vehicle shift down while the rear was lifted by the previous bumps. I would get out at times to check for damage and saw many marks from my diff on the bumps. The bushes grew dense on each side of us. Girlfriend said lets back out, but I said no way! It continued on like this for a while and many times, we got to points where my tires would just spin, but they wouldn't grab enough land to push forward- for some reason backing up a little while twisting the wheel helped in many of these situations so I just tried again and pushed forward and was so happy when we met the downhill sections. Martha would get out to spot me down these sections as they were very deeply rutted. Sometimes there was no best way we just had to go on, myself believing the trail would get easier later, but it only grew harder. The ground began to shape huge dips with gigantic cracks. I would the front set of tires into the ditch-like dip, slowly push til the rear was now inside and would then ease myself out, giving my sidesteps MUCH scrape-age and deformation (but the plastic sliders popped back into place!!) Soon enough we had got down so many rutted and chewed downhill sections that I was afraid to tell Martha, "There is no turning back now." I knew I didn't have a 4x4 so I knew those sections would be almost impossible if we turned back. There had to be an exit up ahead. We pushed on and came to a downhill section where half the narrow road was washed 3 feet down with the other half acting as a half road. Martha said no but I said yes. I collected tons of small rocks and put them in place to fill in as much as I could. I gently eased the front down and then the rear. By the time I was done, the small rocks were scattered, but I made it with minimal scraping to the undercarriage. Soon after the road opened up and became very flat so I just bombed for a couple miles I think, hitting mud for my first time- That real sticky, red Indian clay. We came across a huge mud hole that I didn't want to try after feeling how slippery the mud before was. We ventured on and the trail grew smaller... locked gate with a very small bypass, just big enough for our Tacoma.

By this time, Martha had already understood there was no way back, so she cried. I took her back to the mud hole so she didn't have to stare at the gate, but instead gave her a view of the lake in the distance. I walked down the road passed the gate and what I saw was not nice: The terrain took HUGE, sharp dips. If I were go into these, I would need to be pulled out. So I walked back to the truck to rest an drink some water.

After breaking the news for Martha and holding her as she cried out of fear I couldn't help but feel like an ass hole for dragging her out there with me. So after enough resting and stressing about the hard truth, we turned back. Many of the uphill climbs took a couple tries as I still didn't know my truck very well; I would get so far and start slipping, back down, choose a different line and gun it harder than last time. This seemed to work for most of the inclines until we got to the half broken road again. We must have gave it 5 shots and still no luck. We tried one side, then the other and almost made it till one tire was just completely in the air hanging over the broken ledge and the other tire spinning on the loose gravel. It looked cool as fuck but by this time, we were done with pictures and how "cool" things looked. In fact, in most of the tougher spots, we just didn't take pictures because our focus was on staying safe. I backed it back down again and just sat there for a while not knowing what to do. Bushes, rocks and sticks. They were all around me and so I used them. We started collecting any rocks and limbs we could find. I ventured back and lugged over some gigantic rocks that must have been over 75lbs each. I was beat after a few of them. We placed the bushes on the rocks and more rocks on the bushes and tried to fill in the gaps with small rocks. I tried again, but just started slipping and tossing debris when the back wheels touched. Frustrated, I backed down and put some of the bushes and rocks back into place. It wasn't nearly as well done as the first time. I was done with it and so was she. I asked her to wait up the trail as I didn't want her to get hurt should I overshoot and fly off the hillside or go into a rock. I pretty much just hit the gas and took to the rightmost side, launching my truck at least a couple feet off the ground to feel a harsh bottoming out in the front and rear upon the landing. I made it up at which point I got out to look for damage- none!! I did see though, some very large rocks that were tossed out by my tires about 20 feet behind me. So glad I told Martha to wait ahead and not behind. I walked back and picked up all of the big rocks I could find to put them in my truck for weight and to help my way out up the rest of the climbs. They proved very useful to make the dips easier to cross and helped filled in ruts on the tougher climbs. Again gunning it and careful lines were key in getting us up and out. We again traversed the very uneven ground and dense bushes in our stock Tacoma. Once we hit the ranch, we were so happy to see the angry looking dogs racing towards us. I almost wanted to get out and hug them but I knew they weren't running at me to happily great me so I tossed that idea out the window as quickly as it came. In all, we spent about 5 hours out there. Two hours spent getting into the situation and three spent getting out. Keep in mind I was trying my best not to hurt my truck (didn't care about the slight scratches though,) but kinda said screw it half way out. This was my first time ever doing a real trail- I had never been on a road such as this so it pretty much broke me in with how scared I was and all.





















I've gone back there recently with my new suspension, new tires, and experience. That broken road looks to have been repaired with sand bags, but a lot of the terrain has become more beaten in some areas but in all is still challenging and fun.

 

Toughest trials stock would probably be some trail driving near Jackman, Maine. It wasn't an overly difficult trail and I went til it got to where skids were probably a good idea and decided it was far enough. Unfortunately no pictures though.

 

Damn dude that sounds like quite the experience. I'm sure the crying girlfriend helped out as well

 

Funny... but I just got done doing the 9 mile loop Big Red just posted.

There are about 4 or 5 spots that were brutal in the stock '98... but this truck is friggen bomber as we all know.

Only (hopefully, haven't given it the full monty inspection) sustained a softball sized dent/crunch on the passenger side rocker panel.

I ended up meeting two dudes in rock crawling Jeeps, half way through the loop, and they said "Good luck, you're never gonna make it..."

 

I did the Coney Flatts/Middle St Vrain trail in a completely stock (stock tires and all) 2007 Nissan Xterra (Offroad version/locking rear diff) with less than 500 miles on it. Boy I had NO idea what I was getting into. It took a good 6-8 hours, and I made use of my skid plates for sure. But I made it, no body damage. Oh, and it was raining the entire drive too. Wet rock gardens, stock tires? Yup.

I'd feel much more comfortable doing it in a stock Tacoma (off road....the locking diff is key), because the vitals are all tucked pretty far up past the frame on the underside. The Xterra, not so much. I set the Xterra on one of the stock skid plates at one point, and later on discovered that it crushed in my oil pan. That never would have happened on the Tacoma.

 

What time of year did you do it?

They only opened this trail maybe 2 weeks ago. And there was lots of mud in spots. And the Coney Creek crossing was pretty deep. Just above my 31" tires.

I went out this morning to assess if there was more damage... can't see to much as there is dried mud on everything under neath But I did notice that I lost my front plate... I don't like littering on trails, but I had no idea. I lost my driver's side front mud flap... was able to retrieve that. And noticed a large dent/crunch on that front skid plate.

I told Ol' Red I'm going to give him a day at the spa: Full wash (including underneath), clay bar, wax and full interior detail. He deserves it after that 6 hour - 9 mile loop.

 

Had some problems with mud last spring, had to go through it, got pulled out by off road equiped tacoma.

 

Some of these mud stretches I went through were as high as the top of my front license plate.... which now rests somewhere in the mud.

 

Ptarmigan Pass to McAllister Gulch near vail pass CO