A Guy A Girl and a Trail: Adventures in a 4Runner Limited

I was wondering how you like your Arc Lights. I have their hatch lights and like them and I’m considering getting more. For the maplights, is the white setting too bright at night? Do you have it usually set to red, especially when driving?
Thx.

 

I like them a lot. They are very very bright, I don’t use them as white while driving ever, red is usable. Generally speaking I almost always have the lights set to red unless I’m indoors.

 

Morgan has been loving the whole overland thing and is wanting to get more involved.

She likes to travel and write, I like to travel and take pictures. This is what it has become. I’m doing Instagram, she’s going to do a website/blog with our adventures, travels, cool places we’ve found along the way, gear we like, 4Runner build and details, etc.

Follow us on Instagram

 

Always enjoy your updates here, will absolutely be following your adventures

PS love the caricature drawing of you and the runner!

 

Thanks. I’m really happy with how the art turned out as well.

Our most recent outing was 1 state, 9 days, 1200 miles, no schedule, no hotels, no accommodations, camping the whole way.

3 National Parks
- Great Sand Dunes, Mesa Verde, and Black Canyon of the Gunnison.

9 National Forests
- Pike, San Isabel, Rio Grande, San Juan, Uncompahgre, Gunnison, Grand Mesa, White River, and Arapahoe.

12 Wilderness Areas
- Lost Creek, Sangre De Cristo, Great Sand Dunes, Weminuche, Lizard Head, Uncompahgre, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, West Elk, Hunter-Fryingpan, Collegiate Peaks, Eagles Nest, and Ptarmigan Peak.

16 Mountain Passes
- Kenosha (10,000 ft), Red Hill (9,993 ft), Currant Creek (9,485 ft), Medano (10,040 ft), Wolf Creek (10,856 ft), Lizard Head (10,222), Ophir (11,789 ft), Red Mountain (11,017 ft), Corkscrew Gulch (12,244 ft), Hurricane (10,338 ft), California Gultch (12,931 ft), Engineer (12,800 ft), Cinnamon (12,620 ft), McClure (8,770 ft), Independence (12,095 ft), and Fremont (11,319 ft).

 

Dang. Wish that trailgator was still available. Been trying to figure out how to get a changing table on our 3 row. Removing the third row is not an option so tailgate was the next thought.

I swapped mine out for Meso‘s option. Just liked the fit and finish better on Meso. If you want the map lights though, they’re kicking around my “light drawer” in the garage

 

Thanks for the offer. I have some of Meso’s products and they’re great. I’m going to order the red/white map lights from him and give them a try.

 

Great thread! You do such great coverage with photos and write ups of your trips Quick question, how are you liking the Superpro LCA’s you got? Any complaints so far?

 

That’s crazy what happened to your OCD end links! Did you reach out to them about it? What did you decide to do to fix it? Back to stock end links or something else?

 

I was going through some of the previous pages just now and thought "They should start a YT channel or social media page" lol
Love the content

 

Following!

 

Nothing to report about the LCA’s, no news is good news.

 

I did reach it to them, they wouldn’t even respond. I replaced the boot and removed the front sway bar, it’s been off ever since.

 

Headed to pick it up now….

 

@Agent_Outside Do tell, headed to pick up what?

 

The sign on the building, Colorado Axle and Gear. I regeared the diffs with 4.88s

 

I’ve been looking at your thread and I am really enjoying it!

Which leveling blocks are these. Do you still have them and do you like them or did you go with something else by now?

I need to get some but don’t know which to get yet

 

This is what I have, I’ve been using the same set for years.
https://www.campingworld.com/camco-...yUba81PkSvIe_xoEXMBoC1GoQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds



And here is an up to date very complete list of everything we use
https://aguyagirlandatrail.com/the-4runner/

 

Great thank you.

I love camping, skiing, mountain biking, and obviously I love the 4R so it’s really nice looking at your pictures!

I’ve been wanting to live in Colorado for a few years now but the wife has family in AZ and is not ready to move out of the state yet. Maybe in 10-15 years…
In the meantime I’ve been teaching her how to ski for the 2nd year now.

 

I love Colorado how it was 10 years ago. I'm little disappointed with higher crime rate now. But I still love rural / mountain CO country for the views. Even the people are better and friendly than city.

Back in the day I had not much problems traveling on long weekends but now we tend to stay at home on long weekends due to traffic that mountain highways cannot handle. I'm also not a fan of driving in snow days now with lot of people not knowing how to drive in snow nowadays.

 

I never actually posted pictures form this trip.

Day 1: Pike National Forest —> Lost Creek Wilderness —> Kenosha Pass —> lunch in Fairplay—> South Park National Heritage Site —> Arkansas Canyonlands —> San Isabel National Forest —> Sangre De Cristo Mountains —> Medano Pass —> Sangre De Cristo Wilderness —> Great Sand Dunes National Preserve —> dinner and camp on a mountain off Medano Pass at 10,000 feet

Day 2: San Isabel National Forest —> Sangre De Cristo Mountains —> Medano Pass —> Sangre De Cristo Wilderness —> Great Sand Dunes National Preserve —> Great Sand Dunes National Park —> Zapata Falls Recreation Area —> Zapata Falls —> Alamosa national Wildlife Refuge—> Blanca Wetlands —> Rio Grande National Forest —> Wolf Creek Pass —> Weminuche Wilderness —> Camp in the rain at 9,600 feet.

Day 3: Rio Grande National Forest —> Wolf Creek Pass —> Weminuche Wilderness —> San Juan National Forest —> brunch in Pagosa Springs —> San Juan River —> Southern Ute Indian Reservation —> Chimney Rock National Monument —> Tracks Across Borders Scenic Byway —> Durango Craft Spirits in Durango —> Mesa Verde National Park —> camp just outside Mesa Verde National Park 6,800 feet.

Day 4: Mesa Verde National Park —> (Canyon Lands National Park, Arches National Park, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and 4 Corners visible from lookout) —>hike to Step House cliff dwellings—> lunch in Cortez at Gustavo’s Mexican Restaurant and Bar —> Canyons of the Ancients —> used biodegradable soap to clean up in the McPhee Reservoir —> San Juan Skyway Scenic Route —> Uncompahgre National Forest —> Trout Lake —> Lizard Head Wilderness —> camped with the marmots at the Crown Jewel Mine ruins in Gold King Basin at 11,300 feet.

Day 5: Gold King Basin —> Uncompahgre National Forest —> Alta Lakes —> lunch in Telluride at New Sheridan —> Imogene Pass was crazy busy with some kind of huge group rally going the opposite direction so we turned around and went to —> Ophir Pass —> Ophir Needles Geological Area —> San Juan National Forest —> Bonner Mine —> Million Dollar Highway —> Chattanooga Historic Site —> Red Mountain Pass —> Red Mountain Mining Area —> Yankee Girl Mine —> Ironton Townsite —> Uncompahgre National Forest —> camp at 10,000 feet on Brown Mountain.

Day 6: Uncompahgre National Forest —> Brown Mountain —> Corkscrew Gulch —> Hurricane Pass —> California Gultch —> Animas Forks ghost town —> Engineer Pass —> Uncompahgre Wilderness —> Red Cloud Peak WSA —> Whitmore Falls waterfall—> late lunch/early dinner in Lake City at Climb Elevated Eatery —> Cinnamon Pass —> Gunnison National Forest—> Wager Gultch —> Handies Peak WSA —> Carson ghost town—> Cinnamon Pass —> Sherman Townsite —> camped at Cataract Gulch on Cottonwood Creek at 9,600 feet.

Day 7: Gunnison National Forest —> Handies Peak WSA—> Red Cloud Peak WSA —> Cinnamon Pass —> American Basin ACEC—> Aminas Forks ghosts town —> Alpine Loop Byway —> Silverton—> Million Dollar Highway—> San Juan National Forest —> Chattanooga Historic Site —> Red Mountain Pass —> Uncompahgre National Forest —> Bear Creek Falls —> Ouray —> Cascade Falls—> Ouray Hot Springs —> Uncompahgre Wilderness —> camp at Dexter Creek at 8,650 feet.

Day 8: Uncompahgre Wilderness —> Uncompahgre National Forest —> breakfast at Kate’s Place in Ridgeway—> Black Canyon of Gunnison Wilderness —> Black Canyon of Gunnison National Park —> Rim Drive Road —> Gunnison Gorge NCA —> Grand Mesa National Forest —> West Elk Loop Scenic Byway —> McClure Pass —> Gunnison National Forest —> West Elk Wilderness —> White River National Forest —> Top of The Rockies Scenic Byway Redstone National Historic District —> dinner at Clark’s in Aspen —> Independence Pass —> Hunter-Fryingpan Wilderness —> Collegiate Peaks Wilderness —> camped along Lincoln Creek at 10,700 feet.

Day 9: Collegiate Peaks Wilderness —> Top of The Rockies Scenic Byway —> Independence Pass —> Twin Lakes National Historic District —> San Isabel National Forest —> Fremont Pass —> White River National Forest —> Eagles Nest Wilderness—> Ptarmigan Peak Wilderness —> Arapaho National Forest —> Home.

First camp site on Medano Pass




Plenty of water left in the crossings, and there were a lot of them


Making our way into The Great Sand Dunes National park








Climbing up to a waterfall for the first "shower" of the trip



Ice cold snow melt in the middle of summer is painfully refreshing




Mesa Verde




Biodegradable soap and a lake and a lake makes for some huge smiles after a few days

 

Also for what its worth, not once on the entire trip did we air down.

 

Stunning pictures and adventure! I drove thru some of those areas this Fall. Mostly on the pavement for the 4R, but some great trails on the mountain bike! I slept in the 4R for 17 of the 20 days - loved it. I would do a repeat of that trip in a heartbeat, but plan to do a MT, ID, OR, WY mountain bike trip this Fall. You are so fortunate to have access to that kind of terrain! I am in Maryland!

 

Looks like it was an amazing trip! Great pictures!

Any recommendations on biodegradable soap? I like to do the same thing, but have been told that I shouldn't use regular soap.

Sometimes I do it more for comfort than traction.

 

Colorado seems to be getting worse and worse in general. Traffic has gotten horrendous, everything is crowded, and costs have skyrocketed.

I have to say though, I'm enjoying it a bit more now that I live in downtown Denver. I can ride my bike 10 minutes to get to work. I can walk to bars, restaurants, museums, parks, grocery stores, etc in my daily life and then still jump in the 4Runner and get out to the middle of nowhere when I want to. It makes me appreciate both environments more.

 

It was an awesome trip. It rained every day in the San Juans, we could have done without that, but it was a great time.

We use "Campsuds" for showers, hands, and dishes because its fine to get on the ground and into water.

With the Kings and the front sway bar removed we never felt the comfort was lacking. It was a lot of hours of seat time though and that got old. Next time I'd plan a full day stay here and there to have some down time to relax.