My Off-Roading Deflowering

So I took my stock V6 MT SR5 4x4 out to a spot near Las Vegas called "Rocky Gap Road" sometimes called "Potato Ridge". It's an 8.5 mile stretch mostly dirt, gravel, rocks and boulders that runs through several series of switchbacks and partially forested washes. There are two ways to access this trail. The eastern access is through Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. It is $7 per visit or $30 for an annual pass. I'd been hiking there before and new I'd be back either OR in a truck or for a hike so I got the annual pass. This is the access point I chose because it was the only one I had previously driven past. The other access point is through Lovell Canyon off of Lovell Canyon road from the northwest. I had driven about 10 miles of Lovell Canyon Road the night I bought my truck just to feel it off pavement for a stroll. I never reached the access point for Rocky Gap Road so opted not to attempt it from the northwest.

I went with my wife around 11 a.m. planning for a picnic and a scenic drive. We hoped to be back around 3 p.m. to shower before going out to dinner with friends. We packed the truck with plenty of food and water as well as enough hiking equipment to get us back to civilization if a walk out became our reality. We added a couple items like plywood so i could use the cheap jack all Tacoma's come with. A first aid kit, small axe and toolbox full of standard and metric wrenches, allens, pliers and the other standard hand tools.

The truck is a stock 4x4 SR5. So no locking differentials, stock suspension, Dunlop AT20 245/75/16 tires (better for parking in the garage than off-roading), almost zero undercarriage protection and it's a manual transmission.

According to the map RGR is around 9 miles in length and we drove it 7.9 miles from it's eastern entrance to the most challenging bolder filled wash out. There were a few seemingly difficult spots on the way up the pass and the Tacoma handled these spots with an inexperienced driver behind the wheel. Testing out the range of gears in 4lo was really exciting and I managed to get the hang of easing the truck over obstacles without smoking the clutch or killing the engine. I stalled the truck only three times during what ended up being a six hour drive.

When we got to about mile 7.5 the road turned into a dry river bed that's only a river after a flash flood. The truck handled so well I decided that I was going to slow down and try to tackle this next section. After walking about 100 yards of the route I came up with a plan to get me in the first 75 yards. This was a whole new ball game. The rocks were much closer in, the ditches and grooves from past traffic were much deeper and the turns and slope of the path much steeper. I made it about 50 yards in to my planned path before I was outside of the truck adding small rocks to the sides of large rocks in order to assist my traverse. About 20 yards later we dug out a 250 lb rock and rolled it about a foot to the left in order for me to make a turn. This was, in my mind, cheating and not really the type of "driving" I was looking for. After another 100 yards the terrain got even more rocky and I chose to end it and start my way back the same direction I had come. It was a little bitter to surrender but if I'd kept going another 15 yards I was going to get in to some stuff that would REQUIRE I continue forward. And the next 300 yards looked horrifying. So I rock crawled my ass in reverse and was able to find a spot big enough to make a 10 point turn about 30 yards up the wash. Fortunately I had the room to get the truck in the opposite direction and spent the next hour reverse engineering my path outta there.

About two hours later we were back in Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area on the familiar paved loop I seemed more than a little happy to see. An hour after that we were back home with the truck safe and sound covered in dust but undamaged.

A few things I learned:

1. RESEARCH THE ROUTE DUMB-ASS!!!
My wife and I were in a bit of a daze wondering what percentage of our trip was attributed to vehicle performance, driver ability and plain old luck. We poked around on the internet after the fact and found info and video's on the Rocky Gap Road and were a little shocked to see that it was rated for experienced drivers! Ooops! Most of the video's showed lifted Jeep Rubicons on massive tires with two or three spotters slowly making their way through the tough stuff. I realize that I was mostly lucky to not have ripped off my exhaust, blown two tires (I only had 1 spare), bashed in my doors or just plain stranded the truck in that wash. Luck + good truck negated inexperience (thank the luck gods). I got out only losing some gas which was expected. I hope to repeat this trip some day with the right setup. But I'm not going to try that wash again until then.

2. A LIFT!!!
I only bottomed out twice and fortunately I was going slow when a rock scratched the cheap front bash guard between the front wheels. I never hit an axel, drive shaft or exhaust. If I'd had another 1" of height I wouldn't have touched the ground at all. And with a 3" lift I think I could handled the whole route through to Lovell Canyon Road.

3. BETTER TIRES!!!
I gotta be honest these $91 Dunlops are ugly, narrow and almost tredless but they performed on some nasty stuff I probably never should have tested them on. A lot of these rocks were sharp and few were rounded or forgiving at all. I got in to some spots where my wheels got to spinning. Usually when the tire was up against a semi large rock I'd get stuck and have to re-route or bounce myself up on over. I needed something that would really grip.

4. TWO SPARE TIRES!!!
I realized about halfway through the pass that it was going to suck if I got two flat tires with only one spare. I had read about this on the forum before and felt a little foolish but still hoped for the best.

5. UNDERCARRIAGE ARMOR!!!
I don't ever want to bottom out this vehicle again... period. I got away with a couple soft touches on the right spots but it still got me pissed.

6. SIDE BASH BARS!!!
Again, I don't want to smash my truck on rocks. I plan on doing this a long time in the same vehicle. These things cost to much $$$ to need to blow a ton of money repairing them.

7. MORE PEOPLE!!!
I recently joined the Southern Nevada Land Cruisers Club but won't have a chance to go out with them as a group until their next trip in the middle of March. Having my wife saved my arse more than a couple times. She's a great spotter and I credit her with getting me through a ton of stuff that would have caused me a lot of body damage had I just been out alone. I'm excited to get back out on some roads a little less challenging with a group of guys that have more experience than me.

8. MORE EXPERIENCE!!!
Overall I had a great time practicing in 4lo. It was really interesting to drive the course in reverse and experience the problems of having gravity with you on the descent as apposed to it working against you on the ascent. Totally different feel.

Anyway, Thanks zbaldo, bjmoose, HuntinTruk, Findus11, capetaco12, Box Rocket, BamaToy1997, cosmicfires, ffdawson, Papa Taco and everyone else who responded to my earlier post about manual off-roading. It was useful info and nice to get such helpful responses.

I'll post another update as I get more mods and experience.

Mute

 

Glad everything worked out. Time for a lift, tires, plate bumper front and rear, rock sliders, Front skid, transmission skid, transfer case skid, and gas tank skid. Just like that $4,000 is gone.

 

Hey, before you go crazy...

1. do the tires, ALWAYS get friends to come, and then re-evaluate. A stock truck does great things with the right driver, but tires are necessary. After that, you can evaluate exactly how much modding you need to do in order to accomplish the trails you wish to do. You'll be a much better driver with a good skillset. I watch British TV, and there's way too many of those guys pole vaulting over mouse turds with a built Rover

2. I do agree on the sliders. Heck, I would even put them on a street queen to avoid the shopping carts!

3. You only need one spare... I've never seen anyone but perhaps race teams carry more than one.


4. You need pics for the rest of us to enjoy!

 

This last image is where we moved a massive (1 cubic foot of granite ~ 160lbs, this was bigger) rock to make the left. We road the wash another 50 yards and stopped. It was a little painful turning her around. But we did it. We stopped taking photo's. I didn't want to have photographic evidence of a completely different post titled "Noob destroys Tacoma with 700 miles on the odometer..."

 

Well none of it looks ridiculous for a stock truck. Always better with friends, though, so if you get stuck you can get out. And better tires!
A lot of offroading is picking the right lines, though, which takes practice. If you know what you're doing you can do some crazy stuff with a stock Tacoma.
Congrats on popping your cherry!

 

This looks like fun! Made it through stock? Nice

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNzhbfQO97c&feature=em-share_video_user

 

Basic recovery gear.

Tire repair kit, deflator, and air compressor.

Tires.

Sliders.

Armor.

Then figure out what else you need.

 

Better watch those Rocker panles you'll empty your bank on them lol