Totally no problem on the waiting! There was nothing you could do about it... And it could have been much worse... I'm just glad nobody got hurt and no major body damage.

As far as you getting one and a half feet dare I have it on video and it's uploading right now. Like I said, there were only spots of that portion because you would ask me to spot for you and then Ruben ask me to please go down and get ready, as we were losing daylight pretty fast.

One thing you forgot to mention, regarding John Bull.... I would add to your recommendations that anyone who wants to do that needs to get up there early... Because especially on that trail the odds of you having carnage or needing some serious time to get out of something are dramatically increased. Another reason to get there a little early is because, well, I can only speak for myself, but I could absolutely not see a damn thing for a large portion of that incline... The Sun was absolutely blinding right in my face!!!!!!! I literally had to put my whole head out the window in order to see anything, and even then, on top of having my glasses on, it was literally coming right over the top of the rocks.

Thank you so much for taking great pictures and video, buddy! While some of the ones I took are not great there are a couple good shots of you getting some flexin going on! Lol. If you could only talk Ruben into taking some video from the top. However, I think he'd rather just spot, and that's fine.

I'm running around right now but I will update my thread with a similar post. I might even just start a thread.

Anybody who's interested in finding these trails on your own by just going up there and winging it, just download all the PDFs for maps of the trails up there and you can see all the ways most things lead you back to the same spot. Coming up John Bull? I think I would also add one more thing... I'm sure there are videos, rare anomalies that display people doing so... But I would highly recommend against people at stock height tryingto get up that, I don't give a crap how awesome the truck is. In fact, I would recommend at least 33's and a lift of 3 or more inches... And one last thing regarding that trail... It is nearly impossible to turn around and pretty much the last thing in the world that you want to do once you get past the trailhead which is pretty much the worst but not by much.

 

Awesome pics, Richard! It's too bad about all the mechanical issues. But it looks like you guys had a great time!

 

Nice pictures fellas! It's always nice to see some wheeling photos from you Mark! If you ever make your way up North to Tahoe, let me know! I'd love to hike or hopefully ride passenger with one of you guys! I guess i'm in Idaho now so that may be a while haha. I'm glad everyone made it out of the hills and back home safely!

 

Great job! no camping or fishing?

 

looks like we both went wheeling this weekend. glad you guys made it and the SA is working great from what i can see. my laptop is to old and it takes to long to load the videos. when it does its really choppy.

i did make it to pismo last weekend. had a great time. ill post pictures of it on my page soon. as well as the ones from today hehe.

 

Big Bear 8-31-2013;

Richard, Ruben and I took a trip to Big Bear yesterday, as Richard has already posted.....

I have a few pics and videos, myself, and I figured I'd just do my own post with all of our stuff, combined,......ok? Haha....

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The plan was to meet up at Denny's at 7AM.... So I hit the ole GoGo station at 5:30AM......



As I already shared, I had to wait a bit because poor Richard had a case of dead alternator...

So I waited up at the Denny's on Millekin Ave., Ontario, CA... ( pretty good meeting place if you need to grab a bite to eat before heading up the mountain. There are others after that but it is pretty good last stop before heading up. )..



From there, we headed up the 210 to the pass, and it started raining again....





Got up to town, and as we got to grabbing some gas, I saw a SICK auto show was going on... As you can see, a cop is sitting right there, but my LOVE of American Classics led me to shoot some as I passed byn anyhow! Hahaha.... I know, what a rebel, right? Lol......











Then we headed up the mountain on the North side of the east end of the lake, past Fawnskin.....







Heading up the mountain.....







Hitting the first portion, Ruben had a fuel pump failure, poor dude! Richard took him into town and NAPA saved the day! .....



He slid back from there, as you'll see in the video, after nearly rolling, and right there she sat(Also the videos of us getting up that section... It was really slick and much worse than video reveals........as often is the case, lol)...












I waited for a bit til they got back....



Laid down and saw what I thought were a couple cool pics....





Sweet GeoYota right before we got back on the trail after the last visit of Murphy & Murphy Law Firm....


Back on the road again......















Some pixn to compliment all the video, on the way up to a spot we would be stopping for lunch and then on to John Bull....

























Time to stop for a bite of grub and a photo op of the terrible threesome....





Back on the road on our way up to John Bull Trail.....



Just before heading turn off for John Bull, we had 1 little scare that was a good thing to catch at the time before we got up into that "NASTY"( yes, I'm very aware I use that word for too much in the videos yesterday, hahaha) set of boulders and highly steep inclines... I gave Richard a highly persistent honk session because his swing out tire and Jerry can carrier was trying to swing away! Hehe. ...



Voila, nice roadside repair bubba!..... Ok, back at it...







Here's a look at the beginning, more simple part of John Bull...



Heading up. .....






















HOLY CRAPOLI! .... hitting that right after some serious rain didn't make it easier, but all I took was one hit.... a taillight.... and it's a blast is your rig is up to it and you're prepared with some recovery aids....

On the way out after a very long and very fun day....




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It was great going with Richard and Ruben... Aside from the few bits of drama, it all worked out in the end, and we not only all got to go, we all made it trough pretty much unscathed, and were all able to drive home, to boot!

This last video is 20 minutes, which is why I'm posting it last. It just gives people a pretty decent idea of all the different trails up in Big Bear and how there are plenty of you the lines to take if you're not up for the behemoth boulders, lol. If I got something out of order for missed it all together, I will do my best to correct it as quickly as possible.

As far as heading to Big Bear, pretty much anyone with the four wheel drive can have a good time up there... It's just that, well, if you're running a fairly stock rig or limited and anyway, it might be wise to do a little research before you go and check out some apps that I provided, Google each pass, and you will certainly find plenty of information regarding each one, along with pictures as well... For example, here's a guy on a fairly simple portion of the trail, most likely was flexing out I'm trying to push it to the max, and Tipsy Fox she went!....



Here's the last video, it's a bit long, and almost half of it I had the camera covered around the back with some fabric to keep it still... But I had it over the gauges instead of on the inclinometer... A large portion of it though I had fix that.


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Back in her hole and, as promised, picture of my only damage...





It's always a bummer to bust original Toyota taillight lens in that good of shape... But with all the things that could happen on any trip, I'm just grateful we all made it home safely and had a great time. One thing is for sure, on the way back I had to share backup and someone had cut the hose at the Valero station, which I have as I remember a pretty quick compressor. They said that every year on Labor Day someone cuts the hose. Anyway, we headed to the 76 station down the road, and in the back in the dark they had a compressor and water machine... Was the slowest damn compressor I've ever used in my life. It had to be a minimum of 6 minutes per tire...... I bring this up because I am most definitely getting on board air in the works as quickly as possible. Even for in town applications I can't tell you how many times I could have used one. The Rock lights and roof lights wont be bad, either, especially considering we nearly wound up having to get out of there at night.

I hope you all enjoyed it....

 

Great pic, Mark! I can't watch the videos now since I'm at work

*Sigh* We don't get that kind of terrain and scenery over hear on the east coast. I'm very jealous.

It may have been a bummer about the tail light lens, but at least it wasn't like a rear quarter panel or something It looks like the rear bumper did its job!

 

Glad you had safe fun, guys! Awesome pix & videos.

 

Nice write up Mark. Better job then i am in writing out the details lol. Thanks for getting some videos of me man. I really liked them. Although you spent approx 4&1/2 hours waiting on all of our repairs put together all alone at least we had a super great time. I'm just happy we decided on going to this trail vs Angels Crest. Angels crest would have too easy and you still would have been left wondering how much can your truck really handle. What better way to test out all your new stuff with the hardest trail in Big Bear. right? i'm happy you got to test ol' Redrum to the fullest capacity. She performed great. I hope you get to come on the next trip some time; whenever that is.

 

Looks like you guys had a blast! Couldn't watch the videos (I hate Hughs Net) but enjoyed the pics! Your Ruby is one sexy, and flexy gal!

 

I am all out of suggestions for your gremlin. I would be suprised if it was the fuel pump causing you problems, but stranger things have happened. Looks like you had a great trip other then the tail light and Murphy stopping in on you guys a few times. Feel for the guy that had the fuel pump issue. Guessing it was a mechanical pump. If it was an 22re, doing the pump on the trail would be a pain on the fuel injected trucks. Great pics and videio as always.

 

Right on, you should come with sometime!

No problem, Richard... And, as far as the Angeles Crest being easy? Not hardly, trust me... It's just that we couldn't really mess with that stuff at the time. Gotta hit all the trails like Little Rock truck trails and on the opposite side off the 14 as well and the rest of the goood stuff up higher... and up through Red Rock Canyon and so forth. There are some seriously sick trails all through the Angeles Crest. It's really just another portion of the same mountains, divided by different county lines. Trust me, there's plenty to do in the Angeles National Forest, and we will!

Appreciate it man! You can't watch videos all? That's really were all the best stuff is. Lol. I know, rub it in right? Sorry man... The Internet is just too slow?

Thanks bud! ....

And, no prob on having noideas onthe gremlin, I have none either! Haha... And yes..... a PITA for a 22RE Pick Up... BUT CAKE in a 4Runner lol.

 

I don't need to go wheelin' anymore with all these great videos!

 

I have Wild Blue (another satellite internet provider) and I hate their download limits. I live in a rural area, so we can't Verizon. The only choices are dial up, satellite or Comcast. Comcast is too expensive for my parents taste, and if I had dial up, I'd have to wait about 3 hours just to see the pics. Satellite is nice, but the limits are just too silly.

 

Where is the Reddeth launch?

Good videos.

 

Where's my Launch? you mean the video of when I got a couple feet of air? It wasn't recorded. Sorry loli had both Mark and Ruben spotting me lol.

 

Looks like you guys had a great time. Some really nice pics. I will have to wait till I have something better than my phone to watch all the videos but the ones I watched are cool.

 

Aww bummer.

If the missus doesn't get this job we hope she gets we are going on a road trip. If that happens there is a very strong possibility we will be down your way.

She want's to see Disney Land.


I've been before but not since 1996. I'd love to go again.

On the way I'll get that Blazeland kit. There is a vendor in Washington State.

I'll let you guys know if we end up down your way. I'd love to join in on one of these runs.

 

Oh man very nice! Good luck with her job. And sure thing man. Give us a good heads up and we'll try to put togetger a quick trip. I'm sure you should be able to do that trail with a blazeland long travel. I'd love to see your truck in person. Its one of my favorite 2nd gens.

 

Oh thanks. It looks nicer in photo's. It's much harder to see the speed holes.

It's funny with the job. It's perfect, perfect area with an affordable cost of living and beautiful. We really hope she gets it but there is that secret part where we both hope she doesn't. It's the ˟˟˟˟it thought lets go be bums gallivanting around in a truck for a couple months.

Then I remember I'm a grownup and the job prospect is really promising.

Win win either way.

Edit//

Oh and I get new seats. Back is trashed so the missus wanted the tire carrier so I wouldn't move the tire anymore and new seats so I can not be in pain.

When I heal, I'll still have them.


She's been great lately. I need to light some candles and make her a nice dinner real soon.




I've never done duck confit. I have some duck fat from when I roasted a couple at Christmas. Maybe Chef has some French cooking tips?

She has been watching French movies lately so it might be fun. I'm pretty good at cooking. Not a pro but certainly a decent amateur.




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