Hi Guys,

Well, after the majority of people seemed to agree to hold the next Colorado 4Runner Jamboree in Utah :pat:, I have been working on coming up with a good name for it. I wish it were still being held in Colorado, but oh well!

Anyway, I have a number of names to suggest, but do not see how to create a poll. I have read it in the F.A.Q.s, but it isn't showing up.

Anyway, here are my ideas:

4Runner Festival - Utah
4Runner Foray
4Runner 4Play
4Runner Crawl
Rock Runner's Crawl
Toy Time
Toy Crawl
Toy Bash

This is kind of a big deal to me. Since I am not "local" anymore, I really am trying to find a way to contribute to the future jamborees!

Let me know which one you like best.

Thanks Guys!

-Scott

 

Oh yeah, and when did we tentatively agree to hold the event? Utah is WAY too hot in August, so are we going to push it back to September, or pull it way forward to like May?

?,

-S

 

How aboot

U-tah
I-wheel??

Or

4runner
4titude ??

 

you have to be a contributing member to post a poll

 

Based on my impression of how other rigs will be and how I hope to find my rig, it should be called "The Big Spank Off!" Not because my truck will spank, but because others will likely spank more.

Scott, not to step on your toes, but I thought that this would be better planned in private because of the number issues.

I have been in Moab on Memorial Day and I drank 2 gallons of water a day just driving the truck.

April is EJS.

October is Crawloween.

May is Cruise Moab.

For what it's worth, my humble temporarily out of state vote is for September, perhaps the middle of it. I would be an absolute no go before then.

I also intend to continue my Colorado Jambo attendance if scheduling permits and if the trails are cool.

 

That is the problem I got the impression that the Colorado Jamboree would no longer exist. I want to stay in Colorado, but I feel I'm going to get outvoted.

-S

 

I feel the same way. The wife and I had a great time and learned alot. I also plan on the 4Runner being better prepared for the next Jamboree (dual ARB Lockers and 4.88s). Hell, I still want to head out and hook up with the AZ boys. I need to take the entire summer off.

*Off-Topic*: Adrian, do you mind if I e-mail you some questions about going through Drivetrain Direct and your entire pre-built locker purchase experience?

 

If it is going to be in Moab this year, here is my first suggestion:

CoMo4RJ or Colorado Moab 4Runner Jamboree

Okay so it is not so good, but I am tired.

I enjoyed the 2 days I got to go last year and look forward to going this year. I will have the 4Runner better prepared.

BTW Scott, the trip up Mt. Antero, with you and Alan last year, is still the quickest I have been up that mountain.

 

Lance, go ahead and drop me a line. I have been at the computer a lot less lately since I am at home on dial-up, but I would be happy to answer any questions.

Regarding the termination of the Colorado trip, that would be too bad, but it seems like a necessary end. It appears to my out of state self that most of the areas with trails close to eachother have been used. It could be the year for a return trip to Ouray, but that is a looooooooooooong drive for me to do trails that I have done already and that more picturesque than challenging.

Buena Vista was awesome, but now Iron Chest is paved and more rigs will be set-up to do Chinamen's and Holy Cross. I think that everyone involved would be disappointed with 20 rigs on either of those trails.

Avalanche Ranch? That makes it more wheeling and less sight seeing/scenery watching, but who knows?

 

I think the name of the Utah event should be separated from "Colorado". That is, it just happens to be in the same general area of the U.S. but shouldn't have the name Colorado in it.

Something like Moab 4Runner Foray would get my vote. There's some good names in there that we could work with. I now think it's a good thing for us to emphasize 4Runners in the name, although it's typically an event for all Toyota enthusiasts. TTORA and Land Cruisers have their own gatherings.

Almost every weekend in mid April to mid May is typically consumed with massive events in Moab. EJS is the full week of Easter and is total chaos - a fine time to avoid Moab with cushion room around that time. The 2nd largest 4x4 gathering in Moab is actually 'Zu Zoo for Isuzus which is at least 4-5 days in early to mid May. Cruise Moab is the 3rd largest which is also normally right around that time.

I'd prefer to meet in Moab in the Fall. I need to check the average weather again for Moab, but I think October would be good. We need to avoid Rocktoberfest which is sometime in Oct. And Crawloween is always in November but that's intentionally a relatively small unpublicised and unorganized event so it stays under the requirements of the BLM.

I think we'd have better luck with the weather and avoiding crowds in October, but I haven't searched out any event calendars yet. I can't remember when their rainy season is.

About the next CO4RJ - I don't know where we would have it. It would probably be somewhere in late July to mid August if it happens. John had recommended Dillon as a base camp last year. There isn't a huge selection of trails in the area, but we'd be looking at trails like Wheeler Lake, Webster Pass/Red Cone, St.Johns area, Radical Hill, Glacier Ridge (the tough branch), maybe Spring Creek, St.Mary's Glacier area and Yankee Hill, etc. Holy Cross would be the only notably difficult one anywhere near there. I'd assume there wouldn't be a huge crowd at CO4RJ this year because the big draw for the area would be the Moab event (maybe 40 people at that one?). But maybe I'm wrong.

We just did Buena Vista, so it's hard to get excited about another event there immediately. Ouray would probably be OK, but we did most of the cool trails (except Black Bear) the previous year. And there isn't anything really challenging down there anyway. I haven't been to Avalanche Ranch yet, so I don't know how much they have for moderate trails. That's about as long of a drive as going to Ouray for most people. Another idea is the Aspen/Marble/Crested Butte area. There are some great trails there with awesome scenery. We'd quite easily need to have a "moving base camp" though with a different camping place each day, which also takes more time every morning and evening. And that's definitely not the best for a big group.

About the Moab gathering max size - I've mentioned it before, but there will have to be a max size of something like 40 people so we stay under the strict rules and requirements of the BLM for organized gatherings. I was working on researching that and I still need to call them about the details. BLM permits require legal organizations, insurance, fees, portable restrooms, etc. We want to stay just under the requirements for having an event permit. And if an event exceeds that number of attendees, the BLM imposes large fines per person per day for not going through the whole permit process - at least in Moab. So we need to avoid that whole mess. I've seen the mess that the Isuzu folks needed to do to legally have 120 attendees at their gatherings with the BLM's approval.

If anyone wants to help with organizing or somehow helping with these events, please let me know. There were a lot of people that helped to bring the last CO4RJ together.

 

Aha - found it. Here's the average seasonal conditions in Moab. Late September to early October looks pretty good. There's a spike of precipitation in mid October. It's mostly important to avoid the hot temps in the summer.

 

As you can tell by my first post, I am really excited about the next 4Runner Mountain Jamboree (for lack of a better term right now).

I understand people's reluctance to do trails that are not terribly challenging for the highly built rigs. I do have to defend those of us that are not highly built up and say that for many of us, the Jamboree is as much about the camaraderie as it is the trails. I'd love it if there was a mixture of both, and I'd love it even more if my rig was as well-built as so many others, but it isn't. I'll go to wherever the event is held, but I am going to strongly push to ensure that if the Jamboree is moved out of Colorado this year, that it can or will return in years to come. I don't have anything at all against other states, it is just that this was started as a Colorado Jamboree and I absolutely love Colorado. I'm hoping we can all reach an agreement and turn the 4Runner Mountain Festival (just thought of this one) into a multi-state event.

Perhaps we could alternate between Utah and Colorado....

Who is with me?

-Scott

 

How do you like the name

4Runner Mountain Festival ?

It is not associated with a specific state or location, so the name would work for wherever we go.

This year it could be the

4Runner Mountain Festival - Moab and next year it might be the 4Runner Moutain Festival - Aspen or Ouray, or Boisie, Idaho. (Okay, maybe not the last one, but you get the idea.)

-S

 

Jeff,
I'm up for helping with the event in any way I can. I've been to Moab a bunch, and have done quite a few of the trails, plus spent a lot of time camping or in motels with the GF, so I know my way around fairly well. I was there in October and November this past fall, and would vote for Oct. as November was getting cool for any of the AZ folks that might want to venture north J/K. I should have my web site up by tonight with some photos of the trip this past fall so people can get an idea of what to expect.
As of right now it looks like I will be moving from Maine to Seattle in about a month, but would still plan to be in Utah for the event. Let me know what I can do to help.

 

Any name with the word "mountains" in it still sounds like Colorado. Sorry, but it sure doesn't evoke an image of Moab.

I think we should just keep them separate and include Moab in the name of the Moab one. The Colorado gathering can just wander around Colorado like we've been doing.

The Isuzu guys have been having both a Moab event and a Colorado event each year for about 6 years. Moab is more of a draw for the out-of-state people because there's such a massive variety of trails. The Colorado one gets a little boring after a few years because you have to re-run the same trails after a while, so it's mostly locals that attend them for comradarie. I'd expect that's the likely direction of the 4Runner gatherings as well. There just isn't any better place for huge gatherings than Moab, since there's perfect trails for everything from 2wd gravel roads up to extreme 4x4 rock buggy type of trails.

We'll definitely need volunteers that have done Moab trails and are confident enough to lead a trail. I've done a ton of trails in Moab, but I'll probably only be leading 2 out of 9 trails if we have 3 trails per day for 3 days.

 

1st annual UT4RJ?

RIP CO4RJ? I hope not!