Wisconsin Tacomas and bad financial advice

Jon had a loose shock bolt that needed attention. I figured we would be there for a few minutes and the chair was just inside the door. Grabbed a Coke and a smoke and sat down. Jon was done before I was.

 

F'n old man that has done dozens of water X-ings in his life and the dumb son-of-a-bitch still waded into swift running water without a walking stick.
I did grab an appropriate stick at the rock bar and proceeded to check out the X-ing on the other side. Got halfway to my knees but the water was moving a lot faster and looked a bit deeper. That was a sure no-go to cross. Glad I had that stick walking back. I don't think I had to point to the high water mark on my leg. The redness tells all.

 

Man these photos and stories.....

 

Certainly changes my perspective on things. Opened my eyes to other possibilities.
Since my teens I always had this thought of retiring with a winnebago or a van and doing the "van life" around the country but they're somewhat limited to roads.
I'm attracted to the "off the beaten path" adventures.

 

Twark day 4:
After a fun decompressing night of banter and cocktails we got day 4 rolling. Looking over the ford of the Mulberry we were presented with we decided against it. No biggie, easy reroute from camp with an intersecting line basically straight up out of the valley. the road was fun from the start-steep, rocky and narrow enough to demand that you pay attention as it was a bench road that switch backed up the hill. This climbed for a decent amount of time slowly getting less and less obvious use until it kinda turned and went up. Well, this would have been fun but remember the rain? Yep, muddy clay like soil here and it was a no go winch situation. Again, we talked over the deteriorating state of the trail and the odds that it went as far as we needed... and decided to go back and find another way through.







Very scenic up there!



We had a wander after that with many miss steps-amazing how many yards and houses get built on mapped roads! A few creek crossings but nothing of significance. At one point we meet an older gentleman who was clearly out on a joy ride with his grandson and he gave us some advice as he remembered it. Lunch came up high in the mountains!



After more wandering we began a descent along a rough road that eventually would lead to an amazing (or so I was told) waterfall. This was a rough trail. Seriously FUN. Right near the top we stopped and let a group of 12 or so sxs go past. This was the only day we experienced any real traffic; but, as @CygnusX191 says-they should be banned form the world! Anyway, politics aside this was fun... technical trail and water crossings. Some route finding and mud holes...







So... mud holes. I have a deep hatred for SxS at the moment. My soap box: They allow stupid people access to a part of the world they don't deserve access to. They are incredibly capable without the process of building and learning. And, they make flucking mud holes. Every time we came into a hollow or near a creek crossing the game of chance began. Why? Because the fluckin SxS's go through and dig the road to shit and make a by pass. Then do it to that and make another, etc. etc. Jesus, there were often 8+ choices that all looked bad to decide on how to get through. Being point I had to make this happen and I chose poorly as often as not-which helped as I was the only one to really get submerged and stuck... There is video of the flatty and a stump arguing-stump lost by the way. That was a stresser for me and of my own doing as Dave goaded me (peer pressure is real!) into a route I might not have taken otherwise; however, the next time was a legit route and nearly bottomless. No pictures unfortunately, but Dave said he saw a tsunami of muddy uck go up and over the bed of the flatty. This was a mess and very concerning! Backing up clearly plugged the exhaust as I got some weird noises from up front. in a panic I made like a swamp buggy and sent it... But I had the windows open. FFS! What a mess! Stress. Argh!!! This image was after the first mis-step:



This was the inside after the second...



But in the end we made it up to a beautiful 60 foot waterfall! Worth it. Really. Truck will never be the same inside, but worth it. Really. I spent most of the waterfall visit trying to clean the windows off enough to see... We met up with the SxS group here and had to do a bit of jostling to get them out and us up into the parking area. Did I mention how much I hate those things? They drove right up to the falls-couldn't walk 20 yards, oh no! Blaring their music too... Aren't the rigs loud enough??? Anyway, there was a nice outlet creek from the fall to use to clean some of the mud off the door and windows so I could see.

 

Twark day 4: Part 2:

After a nice waterfall visit we began the process of climbing up and out of the bottom we were in with the intent of getting up to Fly Gap and camp. Didn't seem too far or too hard... But, never say never! The road became a bit more challenging. Rocky bench road with fun ledges and rock problems. Have to say-Jonathon did an expert level job negotiating these with no lockers!!! This was fun and took hours!









The fun ground to a stop when I found the crux of the trail-A two and half foot ledge that was cocked across the trail on a very steep dirt section - oh and narrow bench to boot. Needless to say I tried to get up it, and had it been dry I might have been able to, but not today... So winch time. There are pictures of this elsewhere as I was busy.
Except... Wait. A truck and a 4Runner are coming down a bench right above this problem! Off through the woods like scared does we sprang!!! Low and behold there IS a bypass. Now keep in mind it isn't much better than the rock mess as it was-hold onto your beer-made by SxS idiots. Very tight and no thought as to how to build a road. Okay, I'll take it! Unfortunately, it was not to be taken without a cost. Long Bois are problematic when SxS use SxS logic. Dean did a magical job of getting through the tree maze, but there was a turn onto the bench that cost him his front bumper cover. Oh the discussions about options!!!



Well off we went getting closer to the top and done with the day. However, several mud hole mazes still hade to be negotiated. One particularly dicey spot got Dave cocked up and into a tree, breaking his headlight cover. Goodness! Expensive day. We were all getting tired and clearly making mistakes. Eventually we got up on top and started down a VERY tight and scratchy road to camp. Unfortunately, Google Maps let me down and what I saw as a clearing was nothing but a small turn around in the trees. Bummer, so back the way we came to a spot that had been sighted not far down the trail we came up. Beautiful camp. Exhausted trekkers, but great food and good stories were had. Dave was giddy for the rest of the trip about that trail!!! Camp spot and sunrise:

 

I remember you telling me, all nonchalant, "It happens".

 

For the record, Pat took the muddy line to the far right, not 2nd line to the right that I pointed to. He had a 'lil speed and those 35's cleared out the muddy water and we could see how deep the ruts really were, plus Pat had scraped and flattened the high spot between the ruts. There was no way the other 3 of us were going through that line without being winched.
On the 2nd big muddy, Pat tried with all his resolve to get up that rise and out of the mud. Very short but steep, with an Ent guarding the exit. Pat's 3rd or 4th attempt and backing up for a bigger "bump", the left rear corner went underwater and the ensuing tidal wave washed over the entire flatbed and flooded the cab.

 

Always easier when its someone else problem...

 

Uhhhh... they were ALL muddy lines. None looked any better than the rest

 

This is great reading. Wow, this was a legitimate adventure. Looking forward to the next installment. I will say this…Pat, you’re kinda crazy. I had my suspicions lol.

That solo water crossing alone, yikes! Glad you got through it! If it was me doing that water crossing, I would have been happy for the mud soaking you got when you left your windows open…because it would’ve disguised the soiled drivers seat!

 

This exactly! It’s kind of what I envision the 4runner platform is good for. But the possibility of getting into really tough spots has me thinking building a flat-bedded taco and making tough camper type pop-up might be ideal. I can imagine it would be nice to keep lower height near the top corners to keep it from smashing into trees. One can dream.

 

BTW Dean @rubbersidedown, if you need a bumper cover, I have one of them also.

 

What he needs is steel bumpers, high clearance in the rear. If it's anytime to pitch it to the wife, it's now!

 

That goes without saying. It sounds like he may be experiencing higher than normal pushback right now. That's a fine line to walk.

 

Twark Day 5: Frog Bayou
This was to be a big day for us. When I asked about this with the Arkansas guys I was given a Giai rout that took 7.5 hours!!! Well, okay. After a good breakfast and pack up, we headed out. From camp we had a cool looking trail to get up to St Paul AR for gas. This trail started out going down and had some creek issues (but things have certainly calmed down from Mondays deluge now...) Sometimes the road is a creek and sometimes the creek is a road. For this trail it was impossible to tell which was what! Unfortunately, the road ended at a field. There was a ford but it went no where, so back track we did...



A bit of trail and some pavement later we gassed up in St Paul.



From here the road turned to dirt and then to trail. This trail was long. It also was tight and rough. Time well spent. Trees flowering, flowers flowering, mud, creeks and rock. Nothing but fun!














Eventually after rolling along in 4Lo, climbing rocks and mud we came to the falls. This is one of the highlights of this region and one I had not seem last time I was here. There is a ford, but the falls are the focus and them onward up the trail.
The falls images are bittersweet for me. We took some great pictures but come to find out we cannot share them here as it is illegal to stop at the precipice of a falls??? You can drive back and forth across the creek and river, you can tear things up and make mud holes but you cannot do that. WTF??? This image is okay because I am not in the water. But I had to be to get there. Hypocrisy! Ohwell, we got to see Dave in his skivies as he tried to get some shots!





It was so cool to get here, but we were NOT done and it was hard to start banging up the trail.

 

(Darth Vader Voice) It is time. Search your feelings and you know it is true.