This was the first Toyota event at MERUS Adventure and it was a blast! Their next Toyota event is Spring 2022 and Land Cruiser Unite Oct 2022.
Here is our adventure and some of the stories to be told...
Day 1 - Thursday:
We traveled to Amarillo to our friend's shop (@POTATO LAUNCHER) then convoyed on down to MERUS Adventure Park. The total drive for us from our home, off of HWY 14 in NM, was about 6 hrs total driving time. We got all checked into the park and a nice greeting from Jax the owner's young son. Dirk, the owner, then took us to a hidden camp spot on the cliff's edge of the canyon and we set up camp. The views were amazing a so colorful, really hard to believe we were in TX!
Later that evening we headed to the rec center and meet other folks joining the event, checked out their rigs and made an nice circle as we chatted and got to know one another. Oh and we ended up having a mini competition around building those tall heaters, that made for some fun! Several FJ40s and FJ80s, FJ60 was there, Sequoia and FJ Cruiser made their way in the group and even a fun Tacoma that had Land Cruiser emblems on it to fit in... lol, it was a GREAT group. @4Cruisers from NM joined us as well and made a nice impression on others!
After the meet and greet we found our way to camp after searching in the dark for that secret road to our hidden camp spot, it was really hard to find as we had followed Dirk in and just drove out, made a comical ending to our evening.
Day 2 - Friday:
The wind was a little rough on all of us last night so the morning call for 7:30a was a no go for most of us.
Woke up and found our friend, Nate, had joined us at camp from Classic Cruisers after a late night's drive down form CO.
Gathering at the rec center around 9am was the earliest we could make it as we all slept in, again. Finding hot coffee and yummy breakfast burritos was very welcoming after a cold windy night. We hit the trails around 9:45a with a group of about 11 Toyotas and the drop in to the canyon is always exciting. Long steep road down down down to the bottom. We followed Dirk and Jax, in his new to him FJ40 that he was excited to get out on the trials for the first time and it did awesome!
Dirk took us down several trails, can't remember all the names but I remember Sidewinder, Salt Creek, Tin Tin, Lonesome Dove, Merus 101, and maybe one or two more but it was a FULL day of fun obstacles, lots of spotting, some winching, and a recovery for the Sequoia on the third day. The trails were a good mix of easy, moderate, a little difficult but doable with this group. Wade @fj40Wade , the FJ Cruiser, had never been on the trails before and so watching a newbie blossom was the best! He was so excited to conquer those obstacles and learned from a great group on how to navigate through these trails.
A stock FJ80 was on trail and took one little hit to the front bumper but made it out dustier than it started with and so it was a good day had when you return dirtier that you started. We did not stop for lunch as we were all having such a fun time we just kept on going. Towards the end of one of the last difficult trails on the last obstacle the Sequoia went up an incline a little too hard and shredded the rear differential, the ring and pinion gears were destroyed. We will have to return to the Sequoia tomorrow as we can not tow it out and don't have all the tools to disassemble and prepare for a tow.
We continued on our way from the Southern end of the park back to the Northern end and up up up the canyon road to the top. After a quick run to camp around 6:30pm we were happy to see @80Lady and @BombCity setting up their trailer after searching for our secret camp for a few hours, oops.... Met up again at the rec center and shared our experiences and made a plan for the recovery of the Sequoia the following day. The weather was perfect that night and we all slept much better back at camp. We found camp with no problems that night, just fyi.
Day 3 - Saturday:
Sunshine greetings on the face are always welcome. Waking at camp we again all slept in but made our way to the rec center for kolaches and coffee around 9. The plans were set and one group was going to run the vR4 trail, which is a rim trail, and the others back down the Merus 101 to Lonesome Dove for the recovery of the Sequoia. There was a hike planned at 2 through some amazing boulders to the top of the rim and back down.
But first the recovery so those who are not part of recovery made their way to vR4 and the others following Gerald from Merus back down down down the canyon road to the bottom and headed South. We went with the recovery team as Gabe, @mesa man, was a handy one to have around for this job. @POTATO LAUNCHER was the main mechanic on this job and Nate from Classic Cruisers was a good one to have there. Larry, @lds577 with his stock FJ80 had lots of helpful tools and fluids as they prepared to pull the third member and removed the destroyed ring gear, removed all the chunks of metal, then put it all back together making the Sequoia a front rear drive.
The job took about 2 hours to complete to get the Sequoia rolling again. Jimmy in his heavy powerful Bronco buggy was there to help with the towing as there is a large hill to climb to get out of the canyon. As we made our way out Gabe and I passed the group and headed to the trailhead to catch an EPIC 3 mile hike though LARGE boulders (the size of small houses) up the canyon rim for some fun bouldering and views!
After our hike we made our way up up up out of the canyon and again a quick stop at camp as we all headed to the rec center for some good conversation, story telling, yummy food made for us, a small raffle with good prizes, warm heaters to sit around, cold beverages, and a beautiful sunset to admire. Sounded like the other group that took the vR4 trail had a nice day and enjoyed the views from their end of the canyon. The Sequoia made it up the BIG hill with the Bronco towing him until the very steep part where they then winched him to help save the road. So a good day was had again and we all went to bed with beautiful weather and full bellies.
Day4 - Sunday:
I think it was the time change as we all slept in again but no morning meeting as it is pack up day. All our friends at camp sat around on the canyon rim and enjoyed colorful views, each other, hot coffee, and fun conversations before we all kicked it into gear and packed up camp around 11am. Gabe and I decided to hike the Eagle Point by our campsite, which we named Eagle Point Campsite. It was a really nice way to end our adventure there by enjoying the full views of the park/canyon and being together out there on that point.
As we headed back to camp we are now feeling ready to get home to our boyz and enjoy some home time. We left MERUS at 1:00p and made it home by 7:00p after a few quick stops, 330 miles from Merus to home. Not bad at all really! the drive is easy and so beautiful especially as we get closer to home and mountains!
We are now going through hundreds of pictures and about 40 videos, some are 20+ minutes long. More of those to come…
Check out:
Merus Adventure - Adventure Park | Something For Everyone - https://merusadventure.com/
Merus Adventure on IG and FB
If you were there and have pictures to share please do on here and I can tag you if I have missed you!
@Ridgemaster
Here is our adventure and some of the stories to be told...
Day 1 - Thursday:
We traveled to Amarillo to our friend's shop (@POTATO LAUNCHER) then convoyed on down to MERUS Adventure Park. The total drive for us from our home, off of HWY 14 in NM, was about 6 hrs total driving time. We got all checked into the park and a nice greeting from Jax the owner's young son. Dirk, the owner, then took us to a hidden camp spot on the cliff's edge of the canyon and we set up camp. The views were amazing a so colorful, really hard to believe we were in TX!
Later that evening we headed to the rec center and meet other folks joining the event, checked out their rigs and made an nice circle as we chatted and got to know one another. Oh and we ended up having a mini competition around building those tall heaters, that made for some fun! Several FJ40s and FJ80s, FJ60 was there, Sequoia and FJ Cruiser made their way in the group and even a fun Tacoma that had Land Cruiser emblems on it to fit in... lol, it was a GREAT group. @4Cruisers from NM joined us as well and made a nice impression on others!
After the meet and greet we found our way to camp after searching in the dark for that secret road to our hidden camp spot, it was really hard to find as we had followed Dirk in and just drove out, made a comical ending to our evening.
Day 2 - Friday:
The wind was a little rough on all of us last night so the morning call for 7:30a was a no go for most of us.
Woke up and found our friend, Nate, had joined us at camp from Classic Cruisers after a late night's drive down form CO.
Gathering at the rec center around 9am was the earliest we could make it as we all slept in, again. Finding hot coffee and yummy breakfast burritos was very welcoming after a cold windy night. We hit the trails around 9:45a with a group of about 11 Toyotas and the drop in to the canyon is always exciting. Long steep road down down down to the bottom. We followed Dirk and Jax, in his new to him FJ40 that he was excited to get out on the trials for the first time and it did awesome!
Dirk took us down several trails, can't remember all the names but I remember Sidewinder, Salt Creek, Tin Tin, Lonesome Dove, Merus 101, and maybe one or two more but it was a FULL day of fun obstacles, lots of spotting, some winching, and a recovery for the Sequoia on the third day. The trails were a good mix of easy, moderate, a little difficult but doable with this group. Wade @fj40Wade , the FJ Cruiser, had never been on the trails before and so watching a newbie blossom was the best! He was so excited to conquer those obstacles and learned from a great group on how to navigate through these trails.
A stock FJ80 was on trail and took one little hit to the front bumper but made it out dustier than it started with and so it was a good day had when you return dirtier that you started. We did not stop for lunch as we were all having such a fun time we just kept on going. Towards the end of one of the last difficult trails on the last obstacle the Sequoia went up an incline a little too hard and shredded the rear differential, the ring and pinion gears were destroyed. We will have to return to the Sequoia tomorrow as we can not tow it out and don't have all the tools to disassemble and prepare for a tow.
We continued on our way from the Southern end of the park back to the Northern end and up up up the canyon road to the top. After a quick run to camp around 6:30pm we were happy to see @80Lady and @BombCity setting up their trailer after searching for our secret camp for a few hours, oops.... Met up again at the rec center and shared our experiences and made a plan for the recovery of the Sequoia the following day. The weather was perfect that night and we all slept much better back at camp. We found camp with no problems that night, just fyi.
Day 3 - Saturday:
Sunshine greetings on the face are always welcome. Waking at camp we again all slept in but made our way to the rec center for kolaches and coffee around 9. The plans were set and one group was going to run the vR4 trail, which is a rim trail, and the others back down the Merus 101 to Lonesome Dove for the recovery of the Sequoia. There was a hike planned at 2 through some amazing boulders to the top of the rim and back down.
But first the recovery so those who are not part of recovery made their way to vR4 and the others following Gerald from Merus back down down down the canyon road to the bottom and headed South. We went with the recovery team as Gabe, @mesa man, was a handy one to have around for this job. @POTATO LAUNCHER was the main mechanic on this job and Nate from Classic Cruisers was a good one to have there. Larry, @lds577 with his stock FJ80 had lots of helpful tools and fluids as they prepared to pull the third member and removed the destroyed ring gear, removed all the chunks of metal, then put it all back together making the Sequoia a front rear drive.
The job took about 2 hours to complete to get the Sequoia rolling again. Jimmy in his heavy powerful Bronco buggy was there to help with the towing as there is a large hill to climb to get out of the canyon. As we made our way out Gabe and I passed the group and headed to the trailhead to catch an EPIC 3 mile hike though LARGE boulders (the size of small houses) up the canyon rim for some fun bouldering and views!
After our hike we made our way up up up out of the canyon and again a quick stop at camp as we all headed to the rec center for some good conversation, story telling, yummy food made for us, a small raffle with good prizes, warm heaters to sit around, cold beverages, and a beautiful sunset to admire. Sounded like the other group that took the vR4 trail had a nice day and enjoyed the views from their end of the canyon. The Sequoia made it up the BIG hill with the Bronco towing him until the very steep part where they then winched him to help save the road. So a good day was had again and we all went to bed with beautiful weather and full bellies.
Day4 - Sunday:
I think it was the time change as we all slept in again but no morning meeting as it is pack up day. All our friends at camp sat around on the canyon rim and enjoyed colorful views, each other, hot coffee, and fun conversations before we all kicked it into gear and packed up camp around 11am. Gabe and I decided to hike the Eagle Point by our campsite, which we named Eagle Point Campsite. It was a really nice way to end our adventure there by enjoying the full views of the park/canyon and being together out there on that point.
As we headed back to camp we are now feeling ready to get home to our boyz and enjoy some home time. We left MERUS at 1:00p and made it home by 7:00p after a few quick stops, 330 miles from Merus to home. Not bad at all really! the drive is easy and so beautiful especially as we get closer to home and mountains!
We are now going through hundreds of pictures and about 40 videos, some are 20+ minutes long. More of those to come…
Check out:
Merus Adventure - Adventure Park | Something For Everyone - https://merusadventure.com/
Merus Adventure on IG and FB
If you were there and have pictures to share please do on here and I can tag you if I have missed you!
@Ridgemaster
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