4th Gen 4Runner: Cross Country Runner

Wedding is finally done. Onto Utah tomorrow.

Only pics today was of a really cool storm front during the wedding.

No wedding pics, because I’m not a ***. :flipoff2:

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So we left Westcliffe and my Garmin took me up to Salida and then 50…which I did not realize it was closed!

So we went 149 to county road 26. It was scenic but a 2 hour detour. Finally made it to Moab and this scenery does not disappoint. Some of the coolest rock formations I’ve seen coming into a town.

Not many pics. Turned into a 9 hour road trip today.

-Apparently most of the pics are too big to upload? Weird.

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I haven't made it to moab yet, but done a few trips to South West Utah, it's my favorite place. The red rocks are so damn cool. I can't wait to get to explore more of the state, I'm jelly :flipoff2:
 
YotaAtieToo said:
I haven't made it to moab yet, but done a few trips to South West Utah, it's my favorite place. The red rocks are so damn cool. I can't wait to get to explore more of the state, I'm jelly :flipoff2:
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Don’t come here in summer. :laughing: Totally misread the weather. Shade is few and far between. :homer:
 
FleshEater said:
Don’t come here in summer. :laughing: Totally misread the weather. Shade is few and far between. :homer:
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Ya, I know, even when it's not that hot temp wise, it's still ****ing hot. :laughing:

We did sand hollow in October and got more sun in a week than a whole summer of north Idaho :lmao:

At least at the end of the season, you should be more used to heat. This time of year, 80* feels rough. :crybaby:
 
YotaAtieToo said:
Ya, I know, even when it's not that hot temp wise, it's still ****ing hot. :laughing:

We did sand hollow in October and got more sun in a week than a whole summer of north Idaho :lmao:

At least at the end of the season, you should be more used to heat. This time of year, 80* feels rough. :crybaby:
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Yeah…weatherbug.com says Wednesday is supposed to be 106. As long as it’s dry I’ll be okayish. Today was 94 and kind of humid, which I did not expect. Shade wasn’t even comfortable.
 
We did Arches today and then drove down the canyon towards Moab to have dinner, and hit the tower on Onion Creek. Tapped out at like 6 due to the heat.

Also cancelled Colorado City, AZ and are skipping all of the south west corner. Can’t do this heat. When I looked it said 90 for the high and 40’s to 50’s for the lows. It’s 100 every day and is ruining the off roading we wanted to do.

So after this we’re headed to Breckenridge, CO for the rest of the trip. Or somewhere else where it’s cooler. :flipoff2: I absolutely love the views Utah offers, but we can’t do deserts…except maybe in the winter. Everyone is pretty much done with the heat already.

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new Englander comes to desert in the summer

"Gee, it's hot" :homer:



:flipoff2:

For real though, there is a reason why koh is in February, trail hero is in October, ejs is in April.

Get up in the mountains and you'll be good though.

If you want to spend more time Utah, look at zion, it's amazing and lots of 8-10k+
 
YotaAtieToo said:
new Englander comes to desert in the summer

"Gee, it's hot" :homer:



:flipoff2:

For real though, there is a reason why koh is in February, trail hero is in October, ejs is in April.

Get up in the mountains and you'll be good though.

If you want to spend more time Utah, look at zion, it's amazing and lots of 8-10k+
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So that was going to be our next stop, but they changed all the rules in Zion about driving. If the shuttles are running you can’t drive through the park. So stupid.

But for real, I was nervous about booking in early June, but saw last week they were calling for 90-91 here, which was…okay…then we get here and it’s 106. :laughing:

Unfortunately I’m the only one getting acclimated. Today I bought a couple cheap pastel colored shirts (all I own is black :flipoff2: and it was killing me). Today I’m like, meh, 97 isn’t too bad. :laughing: So when we get to Breckenridge I’m going to be ****ing freezing! :homer:
 
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This morning we hit the road at 9am. Not terrible, but not ideal.

We decided to do Long Canyon to Gemini Bridges. Long Canyon is not hard at all, but super scenic and just cool as hell. Gemini Bridges was okay. Couple obstacles if you want to hit it for boredom, but also super easy. It didn’t get scenic until the end.

Laundry, dinner, then swimming to wind down the rest of this day. I’m definitely getting acclimated to this heat. Airing up and down is only slightly hot now. :flipoff2: The wife is still miserable. :laughing:
 
We hit Hurrah Pass and Chicken Corners today. We went to the wind tunnels and then tried finding dripping spring, but gave up and turned around.

We ate lunch in the wind tunnels and I found a pile of slugs. No idea if they’re old or new.

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We hit Dome Plateau today. Ended up behind a group of Broncos getting their “off road lesson” with their purchase of a new Bronco. The guide from this group was super cool, had some Hilux stories from owning them overseas, and eventually let me pass them.

Then we hit another two groups. Holy fawk…we were sitting in the plains area just waiting, and waiting, and waiting. Every little obstacle they hit they were creeping down them and just taking the whole thing at 2 mph. I tried to be patient, but from sitting on the flats numerous times my patience was all but worn out.

We had lunch in a wind cave again and tried to give them space. Well, after lunch we caught them headed to the arch. All of us said **** that as they were getting guided down the one drop off on the trail. Most likely they thought we were pussies but oh well.

This is where we got all messed up and turned around and headed back to the trail head. But that was all right, because I had to quickly go down the biggest ledge/step to pass the Broncos and I wanted to go up it.

Well it was around this time it started pouring, so I got to hit that wet. No video because of all the lightning, but that was a super fun trail if you hit all the harder lines on it.

Coming down off the trail after rain sucked. It washed away all the tracks, so I was having a super hard time navigating. Also let the oldest kid drive out so I could walk it and find the trail beforehand. Over all it was a good last day.

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Hit up a bit of Fins and Things this AM. Ass took a bite out of the seat on the first descent. The videos don’t look steep, but it feels it. :laughing: Second one the kids got out, because they did not like it at all. The wife wanted to film me over easy rocks…just because. Can’t wait to get her out in the buggy. :laughing:

Left Fins and headed for Colorado. Man this place is like yuppie heaven and I’m just white trashing this all up. :flipoff2:

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I can honestly say I’m a little burnt out today. We booked off VRBO at some yuppie place. It’s pretty much empty with a few residents, and the one rule is leave the garage door down. Guess I’ll be going over the 4Runner today in the driveway. :flipoff2:

It is even more abundantly clear that Californians are just ****ing up every single western state post 2020. Every where I go the locals are chatting to themselves about not being able to afford anything anymore and all the homes in these little towns are being sold for PILES of money.

If it’s not Californians, then there are companies soaking up these places for VRBO/AirBNB rentals that are driving up costs. Either way, it’s an absolute shame. The more and more these places get polluted with granola eating hippies, bikers, and hikers, the more likely this modern SXS crowd will get trails shutdown left and right. I already saw it on some Utah trails, where the SXS’s rip up the trails on the turns, widening the current trail and creating issues with “erosion” (that the BLM loves to push). I don’t know the answer for the fix. Because the group of 6 SXS’s I saw on Chicken Corners were all Mexicans. Highly doubt they give one **** about land use.
 
We were going to hit Georgia Pass today, but it’s closed. North Fork said it was open but the gate was locked.

Ended up hitting Rock Island Road to Humburg Hill into Lincoln and then Gold Run Gulch Road back to Breckenridge. Scenic. But pretty much nothing challenging.

Gold Run Gulch dumped us into Billionaire row. I hate these ski resort, yuppie towns. **** costs a fortune no matter what you do. Wife wanted to go to Fuzziwigs candy store and every small item the kids picked up were $5 each. This candy back home is still like $1. Complete rip off and I felt as stupid as the Californians for paying $60 for the little candy they got.

Anyways, all the trails are shut down here so we’re heading to Estes Park/Rocky Mountain National Forest and Stanley Hotel tomorrow for something to do.

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Left Breckenridge, because screw that elevation. Went to Grand Lake and ate at Sagebrush BBQ and Grill. Excellent BBQ and a lot of portion for the cost.

Grand Lake is definitely not as yuppie as Breckenridge.

After late lunch we drove through Rocky Mountain National Park. Man, I have to say that park has the best views I’ve ever seen. Also got to watch a coyote eat a snack just off the road near Estes Park.

Crashing at a ****hole hotel, Candlewood Suites, in Loveland, then heading towards home tomorrow.

While this has been a good vacation, it was too long for all of us and the heat and elevation just whooped us.

Next April is the pan handle of Florida…so…

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Well, I haven’t touched this other than winching a Tracker on a trailer for Wuz-A-zuk :laughing:.

However, I’ve got a potential distillery run to Kentucky coming up (wanted to take the buggy but it’s just too close), and we just booked the Chattahoochee national forest in Georgia then to Port St. Joe in Florida.

4Runner should be ready to rock. But considering buying better tires for mud before Georgia…the Mickey AT’s have been good for our western trips, but they’re getting low on tread.

Anyways, still need to get that FJ Cruiser t-case in this, but clearly it’s not a priority.
 
Do you have room to clear chains?

No mud tire can touch chains, especially hard clay. Although not exactly convenient, if you're in a situation where you're worried about sliding off a mountain, they would be great reassurance.

Even those zip tie style would make a huge difference. (edit: looks like most of the reviews say they just break, probably cause they're made from the same plastic as HF zip ties :laughing:)
 
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YotaAtieToo said:
Do you have room to clear chains?

No mud tire can touch chains, especially hard clay. Although not exactly convenient, if you're in a situation where you're worried about sliding off a mountain, they would be great reassurance.

Even those zip tie style would make a huge difference. (edit: looks like most of the reviews say they just break, probably cause they're made from the same plastic as HF zip ties :laughing:)
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Can’t clear chains. I rub on the body mount and almost full lock and when it gets stuffed.

Bad thing about chains and mud is wheel speed and if one lets loose. Goodbye fender. :laughing:

Just looked at my tires today. They’re still really good for another trip out west. They just suck so bad in mud. They suck in snow, too, unless 10 psi.
 
FleshEater said:
Can’t clear chains. I rub on the body mount and almost full lock and when it gets stuffed.

Bad thing about chains and mud is wheel speed and if one lets loose. Goodbye fender. :laughing:

Just looked at my tires today. They’re still really good for another trip out west. They just suck so bad in mud. They suck in snow, too, unless 10 psi.
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What about just the rear? I would think you wouldn't need wheel speed with chains.

All tires suck in snow above 5 psi :flipoff2:
 
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