5th gen 4Runners in scenic locations

After the snow melted, we did Longwater Gulch in Colorado. Pretty impressive, sometimes shady trail. The 4Runner made everything seem so easy and smooth. This beast never seizes to amaze me.

 

Nice - Yosemite is amazing!

 

OBX

 

From the weekend

 

Tahoe?

 

Basically! Was on the way to Bowman Lake.

 

I was gonna say... This looks familiar

 

Oh nice! was this recent? like this week? I'm probably going camping/climbing/paddling out there this coming weekend...and was wondering about the conditions

 

From Saturday, it was great! Had some snow further out but Bowman and Lindsey were friggin perfect. I didnt wanna leave

 

Boca Reservoir-Truckee

 

If you park on that rock and walk towards Canyon Creek, you'll find a small granite dome right above the creek with petroglyphs on it. And the dam's construction camp was right across from that, so lots of old, interesting trash.

 

Where is this at? Looks like Colorado

 

Sorry, didn't see you answered already

 

Babcock Webb Wildlife Preserve - Punta Gorda, Florida.

 

This is also my avatar, but figured I'd toss it in again. Lake Texoma - Oklahoma side. The "special" hood ornament is a one-of-a-kind!

 

Is that on the flats around Tishomingo?

I need to make a trip down that way for a day.

 

Close! It's on the beach near Washita Point. Tish is about 15 miles north! Good eyes though!

 

In south Padre Island, TX - 99F today.

 

Damn I love it down there.

 

In Hickory NC

 

Completed the last segment (for me) of the Backcountry Discovery Route (BDR) in AZ (Four Corners to Kingman, AZ via UT and NV). A 1,256-mile trek (in blue). After previously traveling in the Four Corners to Page, AZ area, I began this segment just south of the Vermillion Cliffs, AZ. After leaving late from Phoenix, AZ I was not able to find a campsite ⛺️ along the south rim of the Little Colorado River canyon. ☹️ Opting to return to a previous campsite ⛺️ on the north rim of the river in the dark. Here I got to try the motion sensor LED light introduced in a previous post, and it worked great. A keeper! Considering a second one. The next morning waking up at an awesome campsite ⛺️ at the end of the road where the river was the backyard! The cherry on top is a fossil seashell at the canyon top. Amazing!



From there, overnight camped ⛺️ at the Lick Wash trailhead on the western edge of the Paria-Hackberry Wilderness Study Area. Here, my first ever attempt at making a pizza from scratch. I’m lazy! A frozen pizza would have been a better substitute. I also tried out the latest shower version here too. A much better version until the wind blows the wet curtain onto your bare back. I know. I know. What a wimp? That said, with the warmer weather, this trip was much easier than the ones during the winter ☃️ months. The warmest it got was 90F in the evening, and the USB fan from Walmart worked just fine. I do better in hot weather. ‍♀️



The next morning went for a short hike before zipping through Bryce Canyon and Zion ⛰ National Parks to settle overnight on BLM disperse camping ⛺️ in Virgin, UT. Unknown to me, I picked the place with the most annoying gnats on the planet. Fortunately, they magically all disappeared at sunset. Unfortunately, they all reappeared at sunrise, and then some. Ugh! Being in a vehicle, I simply moved elsewhere to have breakfast. Interestingly, at this camp, ⛺️ at nighttime, it was a windy location, and I had to put away the motion sensor LED lights as they stayed on due to the motion of the swaying trees that would trigger the sensor.



While not part of this AZBDR but nearby, I wanted to reach the Toroweap Colorado River overlook, even if only to look, leave, and overnight camp ⛺️ elsewhere as I was trying to get home within the next 48 hours. ⏳ Unfortunately, on the way to Toroweap, there was no passage on the road due to an active recovery of a vehicle that had gone over the cliff. Surprisingly, this roadblock was unknown until driving a mile on the single-vehicle road right up to the recovery site. While I did not see the police officer, ‍♀️ something tells me folks before I were discontent that a closed ⛔️ road sign was not posted before reaching this point to prevent all of us from driving in reverse on this single-vehicle mountainous curvy road.



Nonetheless, like those before me, I backed up, and, at some point, made the 15+point K-turn to turn the vehicle in the other direction to head elsewhere. Calculating on the fly gas ⛽️ used and needed to go and posted distances to elsewhere took a chance on Whitmore Canyon, which was listed on the road information sign at the turn to Toroweap. That chance took to score an epic campsite. ⛺️ And early enough to hike down to the Colorado River and back before sunset.



From Whitmore Canyon, the fastest route home was just over 400 miles via asphalt. However, I wanted to continue taking the AZBDR at least to Kingman, AZ, which was fewer miles but longer in time due to significantly decreased mph via mostly dirt roads. On top of that, had to consider whether I had sufficient gas ⛽️ from Whitmore Canyon to continue the AZBDR to Moapa, NV, the next refuel ⛽️ opportunity on the AZBDR, or going back to St. George, UT, the last gas ⛽️ stop and redoing that section, aim for Mesquite, NV to refuel ⛽️ and return to AZBDR from there, or chance it to Moapa, NV? Eventually, making it to Moapa, NV, with a quarter tank of gas. ⛽️ Not a fan of carrying extra fuel ⛽️ despite being aware that when traveling alone the desert’s vastness and harshness is unforgiving.



From Moapa, NV, skirted the western edge of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. Having driven over Hoover Dam a dozen times took the bypass back into Arizona and back onto dirt roads, mostly the Temple Bar Back Road and eventually Route 66. A side note, folks from AZ will attest to this, we always find an abandoned boat ⛵️ in the desert. Anyhow, after driving some 1,000 miles in four days felt short of making it home that night and instead slept at a gas station⛽️ and drove home the next morning.



Another AWESOME drive! Maybe the Arizona Peace Trail next and with India as co-pilot. Thanks for the ideas and suggestions! Be safe!

 

I was only going out to get my oil changed, and the next thing I knew, here I was:

 

If you liked the AZ BDR then you should also try to do Nevada and Utah ..they're awesome as well (I just moved to N. NV, so Im going to try to do Idahos next or maybe Oregon
In Az theres also the NAT which is a great 3 day trip

 

The AZBDR were great trips. BDR has a great product and I would like to get through them all. Right now the delay is disposable time. I believe BDR has another 3 to 4 state routes they are developing. Would like to run CA, NV, and ID, and then continue on to Alaska on a single trip. That would be AWESOME! Again, waiting on disposable time. Was looking at the southern section of NM for Jun 2022 but the current wildfires make the trip too unpredictable. Thus, going to try the AZ Peace Trail. Already did a segment from Quartzite to Yuma, AZ and running parallel to the Colorado River was AWESOME too.

I tried to find what is NAT but nothing came up. What is the NAT in AZ? Thanks.

 

https://expeditionportal.com/overland-routes-northern-arizona-traverse/

 

Valles Caldera National Preserve. March 2022

 

Spent the day up in Big Bear / Holcomb Valley OHV area. Found a couple of offshoots from the main trail that were harder than what I’ve done so far. I finally got to see what 4LO can do. All I can say is 4Runners are Beasts, they are in their true element when you take them off road. Only took a picture of where we parked to make some Burgers.

 

Thanks

 

Roosevelt Lake





Moab

 

Looks amazing!!