Questions: Wheelin' In Ouray, Colorado

Hey guys! As a lot of you know, I'm debating trading in my 2019 TRD Off Road Tacoma for a 2020 4Runner Off Road Premium. My current Tacoma has full RCI skids & sliders, as well as 265/70/17 BFG All Terrain tires. Plus all of the traction gizmos like Crawl Control and rear locker that come on the Off Road trucks.

My plan is to swap to the 4Runner before I take a trip to Ouray, Colorado at the beginning of September. I would like to do some portion of the Alpine Loop, potentially Engineer Pass, while I'm in the area. I'm a good driver and use my 4WD Tacoma often. But I have never done Alpine Loop or Engineer Pass.

My questions are:

• Should I go ahead and upgrade the 4Runner tires before attempting Engineer Pass? Would 275/70/17 BFG All Terrains work?
• Do I need armor? Skid plates? Sliders?
  
• Is Engineer Pass a good first-time trail?
  
• Any other easy/moderate trails you would recommend in the area?
  
• Any other advice for a novice driver?

 

I'm pretty sure I've seen stock SR5s on Engineer...

 

It sounds like a stock Off Road would have no trouble then.

Thanks for the intel!

 

Stock is good. I did it a couple of weeks ago. Engineer first and then Cinnamon coming back. I went up early and only a few of us on the road. Return around noon was a ton of traffic on Cinnamon. A couple of spots up Engineer I was careful about my path so not to tag anything. Otherwise no concerns.

 

Awesome. Beautiful photos. Any mods or armor on your truck? It looks like you might have sliders? Skids too?

 

Thanks. I have 20 degree caliraised sliders. No other protection.