Sark's HZJ73 Adventures (1 Viewer)

[sark]

Day 5, part 3:

One of my favorite locations of the whole trip, Goosenecks State Park.

This one might look familiar

 

[sark]

Day 5, part 4:

Next stop, the Moki Dugway. Another amazing stop...

 

[sark]

Day 5, part 5:

After Moki, we drove through Fry canyon and crossed the Colorado River at Hite bridge.

Then up to Hanksville. Small little town to stop for a refuel all around. We ate at the "Outlaws Roost", where the really nice owner had an 80-series parked out front.

 

[sark]

Day 5, part 6:

Drove the rest of the way without stops to SLC. Enjoyed a nice meal with plenty of beer at a local brewery to end this amazing day.

Day 6:

Woke up in SLC, and our first stop was a little place called the Land Cruiser Heritage Museum.

Even found a hilux!

This place is worth the stop. We went before they moved to their new location in SLC. I think the PX10 was my favorite...

I forget her name, but the receptionist was amazing. She even let me get on the phone with @cruiserdan and open up a couple hoods to verify my HZJ73's original paint color, 183. Seeing an example of this color in person was a real treat. Thanks for the help Dan!

 

[sark]

Day 6, part 2:

Next stop, Cruiser Outfitters! I regret not getting a picture with @cruiseroutfit, but we did acquire a few items:

- FRP window weatherstripping
- Center console lid
- New Grille

Also, we conveniently found a friend. Only 70-series I've come across so far in person. This one looks like a South American import, given that it is an FZJ73 by the look of it.

 

[sark]

Day 6, part 3:

After Cruiser Outfitters, we left SLC east on our way to Moab, UT. On the way, we found a cool little trail in the mountains for a quick photoshoot.

Found more deer!

 

[JDM Journeys]

Love that color, rig is a beauty, and story is epic! What a trip so far!

 

[Felde]

Thank you for sharing this. Great story. Enjoy your Cruiser and keep on posting us nice pics.
There are a couple of awesome photographers here in the 70s corner. You absolutely keep up with them.

 

[Gun Runner 5]

Between you, @FJBen and @theglobb I am now embarrassed to even post photographs.

 

[roscoFJ73]

You have something very special there, cherish it. Dont modify it any further than it can be easily reverted back to. I have always believed these will be the most sought after 7* series, maybe the most sought after landcruiser of all time. Ive always regretted selling mine.

 

[sark]

Day 7:

Next up was Moab, UT. We needed to grab some sun screen for our pasty-white selves, so we headed over to the local drug store. Seems like the locals had already accepted us by the time we came back to the cruiser

First trail we hit was next to "Jug Handle Arch", called "Long Canyon Road", which leads up to a spot called "Pucker Pass". Editing these photos, it looks like the saturation is jacked up to the max, but in reality, it's untouched and "as shot". It was very orange here

Coming up to Pucker Pass

Let's just say it lived up to it's name in my opinion

 

[sark]

Day 7, part 2:

More from Pucker:

 

[Gun Runner 5]

Thankfully it didn’t say “Cool Jeep”.

 

[sark]

Day 7, part 3:

You end the trail at the top of the canyon if you go through it West like we did, and at the top we were passed by an 80-series which looked like it was a tour vehicle. We ended up at the top of Shafer trail near Dead Horse State Park. Another switchback-style trail that took us down into the canyon.

Found an opportunity to go fast through mud, so I took it

We passed a section of unbelievably blue water, which was fenced off. Eventually we figured out it was some sort of salt farm. Our next spot was a place called "Top of the World". We did probably 2/3 to 3/4 of the trail before it got to the point where we were uncomfortable continuing. This cruiser was being pushed to its limits, and is clearly not a crawler rig. We got out on foot and continued the rest of the way. We were the only ones on the trail, and the sun was looking like it would set in the next two hours, so we left the cruiser and hiked the last section. Disappointing to not make it to the top with the cruiser, but sometimes you have to know your limits. Last thing we wanted to do was damage the cruiser, since we needed it to get us home still!

We got some pictures at the top and headed back down. It was time to check out the Moab Brewery

 

[sark]

Day 8:

The next day we checked out Hurrah Pass.

We wanted to be at our next destination by the end of the day, so we left Moab after eating lunch and headed East.

 

[sark]

Day 9:

Today we woke up at our first destination in Colorado: Telluride.

Yes it was touristy, but the views here are spectacular. They have a softball field, and I was imagining myself playing outfield with this scenery in the background... Not sure I would be able to focus on the game

We spent a day in Telluride relaxing and going over the plan for the Colorado portion of the trip.

We found a local cruiser.

And we also saw a double rainbow...

 

[sark]

Day 10:

We said goodbye to Telluride and left for Imogene Pass after getting breakfast.

This pass was really cool. We were the only ones going up from Telluride. We passed a lot of Jeeps heading the other direction, and I had a lot of photo opportunities...

 

[sark]

Day 10, part 2:

After Imogene Pass, we made our way down towards Ouray. We passed a LOT of Jeeps, and surprisingly a handful of dual-sport/dirt bikers as well, all going the other direction.

 

[sark]

Day 10, part 3:

More from the same route in between Telluride and Ouray:

 

[sark]

Day 10, part 4:

Ouray was a fun little town. Packed with 4x4 vehicles and other "overland" looking rides. If I had more time, I would have stopped here for a while longer.

We ate lunch in Ouray, but we had a long day ahead of us still. We made our way south towards Silverton, where we stopped for a few minutes before continuing through the valley East/North all the way up to Engineer pass. Engineer Pass was super sketchy because it had just rained, which made the otherwise dirt trail into a muddy mess. Still made it up no problem of course, given what we were driving...

The funny part was, we passed a sedan on the way up. Think like a VW Passat. Nobody inside, and no f---ing clue how it got up there. The trail was muddy, very narrow, and 100% a 4x4 only trail. Weirdest part of the trip.

We continued down Engineer Pass East, until we finally made it out at Lake City. It was torrential downpouring the entire time on the way down, so that was nice. No time for taking any pictures

Finally, we ended the day all the way over in Gunnison, CO, where we quite literally found the last hotel/motel room in the whole town...