Where Have You Off-Roaded Today? 3rd Gen

I like the old school badge on the tailgate.

 

Got a few scratches this past weekend, biggest bummer is my rim. The rims were perfect for 95k miles lol. Only I ever serviced my truck besides one tech at my old job that I trusted, I never even got one scratch from a lug nut during a tire rotation. It’s all good though, I’m sure there are more to come.

 

"Battle damage" works for him ...

 

Ha yeah, I bought my truck to use it but I also take care of it so to speak. Hopefully I’ll hang onto it for a really long time, I’m going for that used but taken care of look (if that makes sense ). I love seeing 20+ year old Yotas that survive but have some character.

 

There is a thread on Expedition Portal that goes back pretty far. It’s super cool seeing all the Yotas hit trails back then and how simple everyone’s set ups were. Too bad that forum isn’t as active as it used to be. Also, dang stupid photobucket ruined more than half of it.

https://forum.expeditionportal.com/threads/show-us-your-toyota-4runner-tacoma-or-truck.9576/page-144

 

Table Mesa Rd. North of Phoenix on May 20, 2025

Trail heading out of one of the many dry wash crossings. You can see the white flowers on the tips of the Saguaro cactus.



Flowering Prickly Pear. The cactus generally flower between April and June. You can see the bed of the New River behind it. No water in it at this time of year.


Corral in the middle of nowhere. Used for cattle roundups--yes they still have those in this part of the world. Only saw a few dozen head of cattle on this trip. Note the solar array to power a pump to get groundwater for the water tank and trough.


Crossing a dry wash (a "creek" for you easterners). Only has (a LOT) of water after rains.


More prickly pear cactus in bloom.


Big Saguaros and big rocks.



More of the trail.

 

Looks like a good time, Arizona and some other areas down there are definitely on my bucket list of places to explore.

 

No kidding about dry wash crossings. These two crossings were uncrossable because of the water speed and volume in the wetter part of the season. The third is from my pre-Tacoma days in AZ (a Corolla) and was dead dry only about 3 hours earlier ... until monsoon rains made a hash of about 5 crossings I had to get back across before night fell ... get some speed up to make it high enough up the steep/slick other side. One of the others was a dead dry wash that became a 30 ft wide thing two trucks just drove through but I had to stand for 10 minutes carefully picking a line with enough irregular sub-water surfaces that my 2WD/front-wheel drive 130 ponies street car could get enough speed to get over the slick other "shore".

 

Rattlesnake canyon

 

In the West Kootenays and then on to the Fraser Valley.

 

Canada has some cool places, there is one YouTube channel I watch where these guys have 3rd gen 4Runners and they wheel all kinds of cool trails.

Looks doable actually, that’s about 10 hours directly north of me.

 

That’s some great country! A very long time ago, I took my 81 up along the west side of Harrison Lake and had a great time. I came out at Pemberton and took the highway back home.

 

Yeah that's an epic loop, Very beautiful and popular. A little remote in a few spots along the way.

 

Love the above the clouds view....also got to save a jeeper who didn't know how to change their tire/where the tire iron was....slow clap for jeep putting it in an obscure hidden compartment.

 

I took this loop last year, absolutely beautiful. Was a great time until a landslide blocked the highway at Lions Bay. I had to spin round and haul all the way back through Pemberton and down Harrison. I was definitely going faster than was a good idea, but I still made the Christmas party that night.

 

Took a road trip over the long weekend. Went to go check out Shiprock in New Mexico.







Then I went up to Telluride. That is an odd town. Every building looked like it had just gotten a fresh coat of paint, ha. Went up as far as I could on Black Bear Pass Switchbacks and checked out the waterfall.

 

Such a nice build man

 

Thanks! Definitely gone through a few different versions, ha.

 

I should've got a 2020 OR ;-)