Awesome pics! This is exactly the trip I am planning when my boys grow up a bit. Have fun.
'OLE BLUE - 2016 Blue Onyx Mods and Adventures (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter tabraha
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- #22
@BRob2756 Don't wait too long. Even if they don't remember it they'll enjoy it at the time. My little man turned 1 on Black Bear Pass; one day he'll have a great story to tell the ladies...
Day 4 NM->AZ
We started out early and pushed hard on Day 4. We started out at Acoma, which my parents took me to as a 7YO 33 years ago. That was a cool moment for me getting my kids there. For those unfamiliar with Acoma it is a Pueblo Village situated atop a 350' tall mesa and has been continuously inhabited since 1150AD. (Pic below is not mine.)
One cool thing we did that I didn't do in '84 was take the old trail down. It was a little hariy getting the 4YO down but we did it and were glad we took that line instead of a shuttle.
We took the route to Acoma that went by Enchanted Mesa and that was much more scenic than the signage induced way. Left there and set our sights on Utah by the end of the day. 6hrs later we were staring at Horseshoe Bend. While the iconic view was fantastic I had no idea of the volume of tourists. Wow, was it like being in the middle of a cattle drive! Obligatory Pic was one of the only ones I've pulled from the dSLR and uploaded so far. All of the iPotato pics didn't have a wide enough field of view:
Parking Lot at Horseshoe Bend; you never see this side:
Day 4 NM->AZ
We started out early and pushed hard on Day 4. We started out at Acoma, which my parents took me to as a 7YO 33 years ago. That was a cool moment for me getting my kids there. For those unfamiliar with Acoma it is a Pueblo Village situated atop a 350' tall mesa and has been continuously inhabited since 1150AD. (Pic below is not mine.)
One cool thing we did that I didn't do in '84 was take the old trail down. It was a little hariy getting the 4YO down but we did it and were glad we took that line instead of a shuttle.
We took the route to Acoma that went by Enchanted Mesa and that was much more scenic than the signage induced way. Left there and set our sights on Utah by the end of the day. 6hrs later we were staring at Horseshoe Bend. While the iconic view was fantastic I had no idea of the volume of tourists. Wow, was it like being in the middle of a cattle drive! Obligatory Pic was one of the only ones I've pulled from the dSLR and uploaded so far. All of the iPotato pics didn't have a wide enough field of view:
Parking Lot at Horseshoe Bend; you never see this side:
- Thread starter
- #23
Day 4 Cont. - Arizona
We rolled out of the hordes of Japanese tourists at Horseshoe Bend and made tracks for the Navajo Bridge at Marble Canyon next. That was a pretty impressive sight with zero crowd. The sky was gorgeous and there were some guys on the pedestrian bridge setup with some serious telephoto gear. I own some Canon L series glass and when I saw these guys I knew this was something I should ask about. Turns out they were waiting on a California Condor nest to get the right light on it. I had my trusty 24-105L so I did not bother to take a picture as there was nothing to see with my focal length. These guys had 800mm L glass and may have even had a 1.5tele on that! Moving on here's what my iphone did with the Navajo Bridge:
The next stop was one I had butterflies in my stomach about. Not about the difficulty of the trail but whether or not we'd be the only ones there as I really wanted to be away from it all and knew the potential this spot had. So we tore out from the Navajo Bridge a few miles and found some dirt/rocks to cruise down instead of asphalt. About 45min later we emerged from our own dust and had this prime spot to ourselves. YES!!!! HOMERUN!!!!
Light was fading fast (or so this easterner thought at the time lol) so I took a few snaps quickly of some cactus that posed nicely and started unpacking my drone for a quick video.
Found this one for the kids and pronounced it a Mickey Mouse Cactus.
Ran around to try and get a pic of the rig for scale. So hard to capture scale out west. Anyhow that hint of a ditch in front of the 200 is a ~700' cliff down to the Colorado River.
We rolled out of the hordes of Japanese tourists at Horseshoe Bend and made tracks for the Navajo Bridge at Marble Canyon next. That was a pretty impressive sight with zero crowd. The sky was gorgeous and there were some guys on the pedestrian bridge setup with some serious telephoto gear. I own some Canon L series glass and when I saw these guys I knew this was something I should ask about. Turns out they were waiting on a California Condor nest to get the right light on it. I had my trusty 24-105L so I did not bother to take a picture as there was nothing to see with my focal length. These guys had 800mm L glass and may have even had a 1.5tele on that! Moving on here's what my iphone did with the Navajo Bridge:
The next stop was one I had butterflies in my stomach about. Not about the difficulty of the trail but whether or not we'd be the only ones there as I really wanted to be away from it all and knew the potential this spot had. So we tore out from the Navajo Bridge a few miles and found some dirt/rocks to cruise down instead of asphalt. About 45min later we emerged from our own dust and had this prime spot to ourselves. YES!!!! HOMERUN!!!!
Light was fading fast (or so this easterner thought at the time lol) so I took a few snaps quickly of some cactus that posed nicely and started unpacking my drone for a quick video.
Found this one for the kids and pronounced it a Mickey Mouse Cactus.
Ran around to try and get a pic of the rig for scale. So hard to capture scale out west. Anyhow that hint of a ditch in front of the 200 is a ~700' cliff down to the Colorado River.
awesome pics and trip!!!
Beautiful trip.
We were in Antelope Canyon/Horseshoe bend with our 17 LX about 3 weeks ago. Parking lot was full of Chinese tour buses
It was the conclusion of our 3700 mile trip all the up to Glacier and Back, hitting yellowstone/teton/bryce/zion/horseshoebend/antelope.
We didn't have a cool trailer like you though
Be safe and enjoy the trip
We were in Antelope Canyon/Horseshoe bend with our 17 LX about 3 weeks ago. Parking lot was full of Chinese tour buses
It was the conclusion of our 3700 mile trip all the up to Glacier and Back, hitting yellowstone/teton/bryce/zion/horseshoebend/antelope.
We didn't have a cool trailer like you though
Be safe and enjoy the trip
@BRob2756 Don't wait too long. Even if they don't remember it they'll enjoy it at the time. My little man turned 1 on Black Bear Pass; one day he'll have a great story to tell the ladies...
Day 4 NM->AZ
We started out early and pushed hard on Day 4. We started out at Acoma, which my parents took me to as a 7YO 33 years ago. That was a cool moment for me getting my kids there. For those unfamiliar with Acoma it is a Pueblo Village situated atop a 350' tall mesa and has been continuously inhabited since 1150AD. (Pic below is not mine.)
One cool thing we did that I didn't do in '84 was take the old trail down. It was a little hariy getting the 4YO down but we did it and were glad we took that line instead of a shuttle.
We took the route to Acoma that went by Enchanted Mesa and that was much more scenic than the signage induced way. Left there and set our sights on Utah by the end of the day. 6hrs later we were staring at Horseshoe Bend. While the iconic view was fantastic I had no idea of the volume of tourists. Wow, was it like being in the middle of a cattle drive! Obligatory Pic was one of the only ones I've pulled from the dSLR and uploaded so far. All of the iPotato pics didn't have a wide enough field of view:
Parking Lot at Horseshoe Bend; you never see this side:
- Thread starter
- #26
Thank you Ken. Still have to process almost all of my raw files but they have to wait a little longer. I traded out an extra day at our vrbo for some uav footage of their property for them to use so they get to the front of the line!
- Thread starter
- #27
Beautiful trip.
We were in Antelope Canyon/Horseshoe bend with our 17 LX about 3 weeks ago. Parking lot was full of Chinese tour buses
It was the conclusion of our 3700 mile trip all the up to Glacier and Back, hitting yellowstone/teton/bryce/zion/horseshoebend/antelope.
We didn't have a cool trailer like you though
Be safe and enjoy the trip
You guys had a full plate too! We did Yellowstone and Grand Teton last summer ourselves. I could easily spend a month there. Bryce and Zion were a madhouse last week. A very different experience for sure.
When we went Yellowstone
Glacier
Bryce
And Zion were almost empty
We did it over two weeks during weekday only to stay away from tourists
Antelope canyon fell on a weekend for us
Horseshoe lot had no parking
Even though we had two month ago antelope canyon tour booked but still had to wait in sun for 2.5 hours after our slotted time
A woman broker her hand by slipping right next to us while waiting on lower canyon
Medics were there
It was a mess
be safe ! I was looking at trailers and spend two hours researching your trailer
- Thread starter
- #29
I was looking at trailers and spend two hours researching your trailer
Let me know if you have any Turtle questions. We've probably got more miles under our belt with the Turtle than most.
- Thread starter
- #30
Day 4 Video
I shared this on FB, don't know if any of you saw it on the TLCA page. I did this video to show folks back home a little bit of why I haul my family thousands of miles with no hotels etc. Not my best work but when you've got 2/3 of a battery, sun dropping and are honestly a still bit overwhelmed yourself its easy to overlook the little things.
BLM is a helluva drug!
I shared this on FB, don't know if any of you saw it on the TLCA page. I did this video to show folks back home a little bit of why I haul my family thousands of miles with no hotels etc. Not my best work but when you've got 2/3 of a battery, sun dropping and are honestly a still bit overwhelmed yourself its easy to overlook the little things.
BLM is a helluva drug!
Land Speeder
InstaH8R
Tad! It was so great catching up with you last weekend after over a decade! This rig is SO BAD! To say I'm jelly of you and Ward for having this color 200... WHOA! Like I told you, you were the first person I ever saw with an LX470 on the trail, and now the first person I've seen with TWO 200-series in the driveway! And FIRST person I know with one of these blue 200's! So Awesome!
Looks like ya'll had a great trip!
Can't wait to see you in 2027...
Looks like ya'll had a great trip!
Can't wait to see you in 2027...
- Thread starter
- #32
Glad you made the ride up to Marshalls! Hate it's been so long since we saw each other. We've lost a fair amount of trails since then.
Let's step up our game and try to get together sometime in the next decade LOL.I've got to get some more pics up in this thread too. Dropped the ball!
Love your truck. I lived in Kanab Ut. For several years just a few miles from Zion and the north rim of the Grand Canyon. Had a 99 Land Cruiser at the time and I also had a new Harley Lowrider good time driving through the canyons and all the open road some beautiful vistas miss it sometimes.
- Thread starter
- #34
Thanks! We stopped in the Kanab area and could go back there just to have a dedicated wheeling trip. BLM Field Office was very well run and helpful for some trails to hit. We hit Big Al's Burgers for lunch (and ice cream... and milk shakes lol) when we passed through. That worked out well! Kanab definitely seemed to know how to cater to the off road community.
This was taken at the BLM parking lot in Kanab:
- Thread starter
- #35
For some reason 'mud embeds vimeo videos in a much smaller frame than youtube so here's the youtube version of our Marble Canyon video:
Day 5 - Kaibab NF
Made it to the North Rim, banged around on some FS roads that then became pig paths and then came across a lodgepole pine about 40" in diameter across the path we had planned to run on. We adapted and overcame which meant the wife spotting me for about 3/4 of a mile in reverse with the trailer as it was a solid wall of either earth or cedar on both sides where this occurred. No unhitching and swinging the trailer or anything. Got our money's worth out of that field marshaling course she took at Overland Expo! Beats having to give a course on spotting while stressed out. All in all Kaibab was great. Plenty of trails and not plenty of people.
Good little store and our last gas before hitting the NF:
Laying the smack down on bugs for 2000 miles at this point. Only 4000 more miles to go!
Pinstriping courtesy of Kaibab; can't say we don't use it right?
(Paint looks pretty good now after a good wash but i'll need to do a good buff/correction to get some of these out)
We made camp at the intersection of 2 FS roads at which we were the only traffic at the intersection for that entire day LOL. Great camping weather and great bird watching too. I've got some killer shots of western tanagers my daughter spotted but I still haven't processed anything off of the dSLR yet.
Day 5 - Kaibab NF
Made it to the North Rim, banged around on some FS roads that then became pig paths and then came across a lodgepole pine about 40" in diameter across the path we had planned to run on. We adapted and overcame which meant the wife spotting me for about 3/4 of a mile in reverse with the trailer as it was a solid wall of either earth or cedar on both sides where this occurred. No unhitching and swinging the trailer or anything. Got our money's worth out of that field marshaling course she took at Overland Expo! Beats having to give a course on spotting while stressed out. All in all Kaibab was great. Plenty of trails and not plenty of people.
Good little store and our last gas before hitting the NF:
Laying the smack down on bugs for 2000 miles at this point. Only 4000 more miles to go!
Pinstriping courtesy of Kaibab; can't say we don't use it right?
(Paint looks pretty good now after a good wash but i'll need to do a good buff/correction to get some of these out)
We made camp at the intersection of 2 FS roads at which we were the only traffic at the intersection for that entire day LOL. Great camping weather and great bird watching too. I've got some killer shots of western tanagers my daughter spotted but I still haven't processed anything off of the dSLR yet.
- Thread starter
- #36
Day 6 - UTAH!
It really sucks when you have close to a 3 week trip and you know you are still only scraping the surface of what each area has to offer. That said it was nice to get exposure to so many areas on this trip. Several in the southwest we had done before (like the Grand Canyon several times), and I think that Utah was the only state I had not been to before, but most of it was a first for our kids. I began to look at things from the viewpoint almost as a scouting trip at each area with the thoughts of visiting each later for an extended period. Looking at things from that perspective made me capture details I may not have noticed at the time otherwise.
I could not even think about doing all of Utah even on a dedicated trip. It would at least need to be a trip for the SW quadrant, a trip to for the eastern portions like Moab/Arches etc. and a third for everything else LOL!
As posted earlier we hit the Kanab BLM Field Office and then over to the BLM Visitor Center. Both were good stops and the Field Office provided good knowledge of the nearby trails with good suggestions. This pic (same as up a couple posts) was from the BLM parking lot in Kanab.
Coral Pink Sand Dunes was a blast and I'd love to take my CanAm out there. Looked like it would be a hoot. The kids and I climbed the largest dune and having never been on the crest of an ever-moving formation it was freaky. The wind was insane, getting sandblasted and feeling the formation shifting beneath at the same time was out of this world.
I have some better pics on the dSLR that the wife took from the bottom while we were up there as these pics do NO justice to the size/scale of these dunes.
We ended up the day by almost smoking Wile E. Coyote about 100 yards before getting to our primitive BLM site for the evening. The kids thought that was cool at first; then the thought of how close that was to our site crept in their head LOL! We have plenty of coyotes in SC now and we live in the woods so get to hear them all of the time in close proximity. I told them these were no different than the ones back home and there was nothing to worry about. That was good enough for them!
Wound down cooking some awesome steaks over an open fire rehydrating after literally running through the dunes.
It really sucks when you have close to a 3 week trip and you know you are still only scraping the surface of what each area has to offer. That said it was nice to get exposure to so many areas on this trip. Several in the southwest we had done before (like the Grand Canyon several times), and I think that Utah was the only state I had not been to before, but most of it was a first for our kids. I began to look at things from the viewpoint almost as a scouting trip at each area with the thoughts of visiting each later for an extended period. Looking at things from that perspective made me capture details I may not have noticed at the time otherwise.
I could not even think about doing all of Utah even on a dedicated trip. It would at least need to be a trip for the SW quadrant, a trip to for the eastern portions like Moab/Arches etc. and a third for everything else LOL!
As posted earlier we hit the Kanab BLM Field Office and then over to the BLM Visitor Center. Both were good stops and the Field Office provided good knowledge of the nearby trails with good suggestions. This pic (same as up a couple posts) was from the BLM parking lot in Kanab.
Coral Pink Sand Dunes was a blast and I'd love to take my CanAm out there. Looked like it would be a hoot. The kids and I climbed the largest dune and having never been on the crest of an ever-moving formation it was freaky. The wind was insane, getting sandblasted and feeling the formation shifting beneath at the same time was out of this world.
I have some better pics on the dSLR that the wife took from the bottom while we were up there as these pics do NO justice to the size/scale of these dunes.
We ended up the day by almost smoking Wile E. Coyote about 100 yards before getting to our primitive BLM site for the evening. The kids thought that was cool at first; then the thought of how close that was to our site crept in their head LOL! We have plenty of coyotes in SC now and we live in the woods so get to hear them all of the time in close proximity. I told them these were no different than the ones back home and there was nothing to worry about. That was good enough for them!
Wound down cooking some awesome steaks over an open fire rehydrating after literally running through the dunes.
Markuson
SILVER Star
Love this thread! Drone footage...happy kids...killer landscape! Nicely done.
Saw a post on ExPo from Main Line Overland about the Evo Corse DakarZero wheels that they were bringing into country. I was planning to replace the 20" OEM wheels on the white LX570 with these but the LX refused to cooperate suddenly with immobilizer issues the week before we left to go on a ~6000mi trip so it got benched. The Blue 200 was next in the bullpen so here's what we ended up with. Ton of pics in this post because I've had a ton of requests for pics on the whee/tire combo!
17" Evo Corse DakarZero wheels, 40 offset.
They meet FIA T1 and T2 Technical Regs so in case I decide to enter that I'm covered.
tabraha,
I have a couple questions about your Evo Corse wheels. I have a set on order for my 2016 and I remember from your LX thread that they took some time for you to get them. How long was your wait time? I’m sitting at about a month at the moment.
Secondly, were you able to reuse your stock lugnuts or did you have to go aftermarket? The picture above looks like stock lugnuts, but I can’t tell for sure.
Lastly, did you use new TPMS sensors or did you have them pulled from the stock wheels? I’m considering going with new so I don’t have to have the tires dismounted from the stock wheels.
Thanks!
Steve
- Thread starter
- #39
Sure thing:
I paid extra to have mine shipped via air freight from Italy to MLO. I was told that the wheels were in production, had one week until paint then one week for shipping to MLO then FedEx to me. I placed the order Apr-6 and wheels were delivered May-20. I'm not sure if air freight was actually used but yes it took awhile...
The wheels had a full set of lug nuts packaged with them so we went with those.
We transferred TPMS sensors. If I had more room in my timeline leading up to the trip I definitely would've gone with cloning the TPMS sensors like a couple other guys on here have done.
The wheels really get a lot of compliments and the only place I've seen another set has been at Overland Expo.
Thanks for the info! Sounds like I could be in for a long wait. Didn’t realize the wheels came with lugnuts.
