Where Have You Off-Roaded Today? 3rd Gen

Yep, that’s the one!

It’s not that scary if you leave the lights on

Turn off the lights and it’s hills have eyes meets decent meets Texas chainsaw massacre

 

How’d she do in the clay? Any issues?

 

There will be no sequels of Deliverance or The Crying Game if/when I go there!

 

Yup clay is the worse. Mud, sand, etc generally ok. Wet clay is brutal. Cakes your tires until the clay contacts the wheel wells and have to get out and try to scrape it off each tire. Zero traction on some of that. Had my old 1986 F150 in that, on the flat with no hill or angle and just sliding sideways, almost into a lake and that at 3mph on a road that bordered the lake. Glad to get out of that spot.

 

Oh man- it was fun. Clay caked up the treads on my duratracs and I just spun tires. The snow gave better traction. The truck didn't stand a chance. Shortly after this picture I slid down the clay with wheels locked.

Interesting note about crawl control- I found it very useful reversing down a wet clay slope. When not using crawl control the truck wanted to slide laterally/fishtail but with CC active, I could back straight down the hill and avoid a ditch. CC didn't help me climb back up at all though.

 

North Carolina section of the Transamerica trail.
Mostly hard pack, but a few light technical sections. Even brought the bike for a little two-wheel off-roading.

 

Salsa Timberjack? I have the same bike

 

My first little off pavement jaunt with the brand new truck. Rides offroad SO MUCH BETTER than my sport.
With the smoke, dust, and desert, it almost looks camouflaged.

 

My wife and I decided to take a nice 2700 mile road trip to Sequoia and Yosemite. Unfortunately we were smoked out by the Creek Fire but tried to make the best of it. Definitely wish conditions would have been better though, especially in Yosemite.






This was our view from Glacier Point in Yosemite.


This was the best view we had the entire trip.

 

Hey, if you're not used to the smoke from forest fires, get that ash off your truck asap. It will stain the paint if left on there...Been there, done that. Made the hood on my old magnetic gray truck look awful after a couple years. I was out of town for a week when it got ashed on, and by then it had put these stains in little blotches all over the hood and roof.

 

Went off into North Jersey today with the new 2020 TRD Sport, made a little video on YouTube if you would like to check it out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcXp9CSXcqE

 

Sport, not pro

 

Corrected thank you.

 

Finally made it out to the Calico area and hit the Phillips OHV Loop and was not disappointed. I finally got to check off one of my bucket list items by hitting the Kramer Arch, in both directions.

 

The fires are so bad in California, Oregon, Washington, that all of British Columbia is covered in that heavy smoke now. This year we have been mostly spared bad fires (thank god...), but the smoke is so thick from the fires drifting north, that your trip to Yosemite looks like dream air! Here, visibility is less than 1/4 mile today. Anything past that is a gray wall. It is actually so bad the past few days it is the same as when 1.3 million acres burned in BC the summer of 2018. Not complaining though, the smoke we can take, we are not burning up like down south. What a disaster, and so much suffering down in your parts. In 2018, my brothers entire town of 40,000 was evacuated for 3 weeks, along with many other communities the same.

Here is my city yesterday at noon and today is worse. I was planning on getting out for some remote lake fishing this week, but the forecast is more of the same smoke this week. Maybe might be a breather at some mountain lakes over 6,000 foot. Won't be clear but might be a little better. Stay safe down there!

By the way, nice truck and setup, looks great. I am looking at a rooftop tent for next spring. Might be a trick as I pack my 10 foot aluminum boat on every fishing trip on my Thule racks. Might have to use my 12 ft inflatable on overnight trips.

 

that looks really cool!

 

Went to Sheep Bridge about 40 miles north of Carefree. It is a pretty long trip. Takes about 6 hours minimum round trip.

 

Finally made it out to Alstrom Point.

No drone, so these are the best photos of the place I could get.

03 - AP by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

02 - AP by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

01 - AP by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

 

TECHNICALLY OFF THE ROAD, Timed LOTOJA with the line scan camera on Saturday then took some back roads home

 

Loop Trail Scenic Drive in Big Cypress National Preserve, FL. Lots of gator.