WKexpedition
Built, not bought!
What an amazing trip, with 2 of the best looking fronty's out there. Glad you guys had a great time!! Would love to get out that way someday.
"Lola" - WreckDiver1321's 2005 Frontier CC/SB Nismo Build and Adventure Thread
- Thread starter wreckdiver1321
- Start date
wreckdiver1321
Overlander
Now you really set the hook with the XO sighting .... carry on!
Haha then my post did what I hoped it would do. I'm sure you guys are suffering waiting for it! Update coming...
Indeed it was my friend! Thanks! You guys were absolutely fantastic to go on an adventure with, and I can't wait to do it again next year. Morrison is 100% on the list for next year!
Thanks man! The trip gets better, I promise.
Whenever you try to head out this way, let me know. I'd be happy to play tour guide again.
I know right? I laugh about it now, but I was SOOO frustrated at the time. But the way this story works out makes it all completely perfect. The timing could not possibly have been better.
Hahahahaha I was wondering how badly you guys were suffering
Trust me, the awesome part two of this story is coming.
Mountain4runner
New member
Wow what a story and what a thread! I'm extremely jealous of the area you guys are from. Unfortunately I didn't have time to browse through the whole thread, I'll have to save the rest for another time. Keep up the great build.
I just joined this forum looking for someone who lives in the Wyoming/Montana area. I live in Illinois and am doing a pretty epic trip through your area in a couple weeks. I would love the company if you would be up for running some trails with us. Funny enough, one of your last posts is exactly where we wanted to go. I was also looking at the Morrison Jeep Trail and the Goose Lake trail. Please let me know. Any directions towards the trails from your last post near Cooke/Red Lodge would also be much appreciated. It's difficult to find directions to get to many of these trails. I had to purchase a map of the northern Shoshone forest just so I could understand how to get to the Morrison.
I just joined this forum looking for someone who lives in the Wyoming/Montana area. I live in Illinois and am doing a pretty epic trip through your area in a couple weeks. I would love the company if you would be up for running some trails with us. Funny enough, one of your last posts is exactly where we wanted to go. I was also looking at the Morrison Jeep Trail and the Goose Lake trail. Please let me know. Any directions towards the trails from your last post near Cooke/Red Lodge would also be much appreciated. It's difficult to find directions to get to many of these trails. I had to purchase a map of the northern Shoshone forest just so I could understand how to get to the Morrison.
wreckdiver1321
Overlander
Hey thanks man! Glad you're enjoying it.
I'd love to join you if I could, but I'd have to know exactly when you're going. I'll be in Canada until the 4th, and I won't be back home until the 5th. I'm free Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays.
As far as where to go, I can give you all kinds of directions on where to go. On the Beartooth Highway alone, there's Fantan Lake, Sawtooth Lake, Daisy Pass, Lulu Pass, and Goose Lake. Fantan and Sawtooth are easy to find, the road to access them is between Little Bear Lake and the Top of the World Store. Fantan Lake is the second left turn, and if you follow the road it turns into the Sawtooth Lake trail. Fantan is really easy. I've done it at full pressure on 265/75s while it was incredibly muddy, in the dark. Sawtooth is much rougher, with a technical part or two. Both go to picturesque locations.
Daisy, Lulu, and Goose are all accessible from the same loop above Cooke City. If you PM me your email, I'll send you a map. From the area above Cooke, you can check out tons of side roads and great places to go. If you go down from Daisy Pass you can make your way to Lake Abundance, which is a short hike (half a mile or so) from the parking area at the end of the road. If you make your way north from Lulu Pass, you'll find a route that turns into a trail and eventually goes to a great hidden place to camp. There's also a section near Lulu where you climb some rock steps and then drive literally straight up a mountain. It takes you to an amazing viewpoint.
Here's how I'd do it: I'd go up Morrison and pop out near Long Lake on the Beartooth Highway. Turn left and make your way to Sawtooth Lake or Fantan Lake and camp for the night. From there, go into Cooke City in the morning and do the loop above Cooke. Check out Daisy, Lulu, and some of the cool offshoots. Shouldn't take much time. On the way off the loop is the turnoff for Goose Lake. Take the rest of the day and run the Goose Lake trail, which is one of my favorites. Bear in mind it's pretty rough, but it's doable and a fantastic trail to drive. I'd camp at the end and run back to Cooke City in the morning.
From Cooke City you can head down to Red Lodge. if you turn left at the Lily Lake turnoff and turn left at the next intersection, you can check out the 4x4 route that takes you back into the woods there. Or you can opt to go straight to Red Lodge. You'll want to take some time and explore the Beartooth Pass. It's an amazing drive that I never tire of. After reaching the bottom of the Pass, turn left at the first turnoff. Keep left and you'll reach a T-junction. From there, you can go left and into the valley, which leads to a great hike up to an amazingly picturesque lake. Alternatively you can go right and go up Hellroaring Road, which takes you up to Hellroaring Plateau. The road is rough, but the views at the top are unbeatable.
Afterwards you can drive into Red Lodge. Check out the area, it's gorgeous. To finish it off, I'd take to bypass over to Roscoe and eat at the absolutely awesome Grizzly Bar. Delicious and charming. From Roscoe, it's a short drive to East Rosebud Lake, where you can spend the night near one of the most amazing views. From East Rosebud you can hike to Elk Lake or Rainbow Lake, where the views are even better.
Hope that helps!
wreckdiver1321
Overlander
Alright, now for part two!
Having seen the XO Tacoma fueling up at the pump, I quickly pulled into the gas station next to Clay Croft's beautiful 60 Series. Seeing my truck pulling up next to him put a big smile on his face. We got out of our trucks and introduced ourselves. Clay was very interested in my Frontier, and thought it was really nicely built and very cool. He also very much liked Bijan's truck. He also loved that I was using an Oztent, like him. He was so cool to talk to. Real down to earth guy and generally enthusiastic about running into people like us while he was out with his family.
While we were talking, he took the time to show me around the new XO Tacoma, which was awesome. We also met their friend Ross, who does Hollywood production work as well as working as a wilderness guide in Yellowstone. Really awesome guy. After about twenty minutes, we were all getting ready to go. Clay asked where we were going. We said we were going to the Boulder River and found out they were going to the same place. It was also discovered we were using the same route. After a bit of excited talking, we all decided to convoy together. So yeah. I got to convoy with Clay and Rochelle Croft. And their friend Ross. And Bijan. On a dirt route, on our way to my favorite 4x4 trail. No big deal.
We spent nearly two hours following them across the West Boulder route and up into the Boulder River Valley. We stopped a couple of times while Rochelle was looking for a campsite, and Bijan and I got a chance to really talk with Clay and Ross. We made friends and really got a chance to get to know them a bit and share our intense love of overlanding. Clay offered us some stickers and we said we'd love some. He said he'd get them when Rochelle returned with the Tacoma. We looked over each other's rigs and talked about places to go. Clay asked my advice about Goose Lake trail, which I thought was a cool role reversal. We eventually stopped at a campsite they loved. While Clay and Ross were scouting it, I took the time to talk to Rochelle a bit, who was such a sweetheart. She asked if we were camping with them, and I said I'd ask Clay. I went and talked to Clay and he offered to camp with us. I checked with Bijan, and we both agreed the site wasn't ideal for us. It was kind of small, and there was a lot of tall grass, which doesn't work well with Bijan's young child. So we politely declined, and told them we'd be on the way down the next day. They said they'd see us then and bid us good night.
I led Bijan up to one of my favorite campsites and we set up. They both thought my Oztent was pretty cool, while I enjoyed the details of their Ruggedized Tepui. When the camp was set up and the fire was started, I started to grab stuff for dinner, but they quickly put a stop to that and said they'd cook me dinner as a thank you for being their host. I was quite taken aback and accepted. They served me the most delicious venison tacos and a tasty cocktail. Bijan, you guys are first class. I'll go exploring with you anytime.
Around 11, we called it a night and I tucked into a James Rollins novel, excited for the next day.
I woke up around 8, catching the rays filtering through the valley. When we were both up, we ate a nice breakfast of scrambled eggs and cowboy coffee. We talked about how awesome the previous day had been, and how excited we were for Independence trail. After that, we packed up and rolled up the road towards Independence.
To be continued....
Having seen the XO Tacoma fueling up at the pump, I quickly pulled into the gas station next to Clay Croft's beautiful 60 Series. Seeing my truck pulling up next to him put a big smile on his face. We got out of our trucks and introduced ourselves. Clay was very interested in my Frontier, and thought it was really nicely built and very cool. He also very much liked Bijan's truck. He also loved that I was using an Oztent, like him. He was so cool to talk to. Real down to earth guy and generally enthusiastic about running into people like us while he was out with his family.
While we were talking, he took the time to show me around the new XO Tacoma, which was awesome. We also met their friend Ross, who does Hollywood production work as well as working as a wilderness guide in Yellowstone. Really awesome guy. After about twenty minutes, we were all getting ready to go. Clay asked where we were going. We said we were going to the Boulder River and found out they were going to the same place. It was also discovered we were using the same route. After a bit of excited talking, we all decided to convoy together. So yeah. I got to convoy with Clay and Rochelle Croft. And their friend Ross. And Bijan. On a dirt route, on our way to my favorite 4x4 trail. No big deal.
We spent nearly two hours following them across the West Boulder route and up into the Boulder River Valley. We stopped a couple of times while Rochelle was looking for a campsite, and Bijan and I got a chance to really talk with Clay and Ross. We made friends and really got a chance to get to know them a bit and share our intense love of overlanding. Clay offered us some stickers and we said we'd love some. He said he'd get them when Rochelle returned with the Tacoma. We looked over each other's rigs and talked about places to go. Clay asked my advice about Goose Lake trail, which I thought was a cool role reversal. We eventually stopped at a campsite they loved. While Clay and Ross were scouting it, I took the time to talk to Rochelle a bit, who was such a sweetheart. She asked if we were camping with them, and I said I'd ask Clay. I went and talked to Clay and he offered to camp with us. I checked with Bijan, and we both agreed the site wasn't ideal for us. It was kind of small, and there was a lot of tall grass, which doesn't work well with Bijan's young child. So we politely declined, and told them we'd be on the way down the next day. They said they'd see us then and bid us good night.
I led Bijan up to one of my favorite campsites and we set up. They both thought my Oztent was pretty cool, while I enjoyed the details of their Ruggedized Tepui. When the camp was set up and the fire was started, I started to grab stuff for dinner, but they quickly put a stop to that and said they'd cook me dinner as a thank you for being their host. I was quite taken aback and accepted. They served me the most delicious venison tacos and a tasty cocktail. Bijan, you guys are first class. I'll go exploring with you anytime.
Around 11, we called it a night and I tucked into a James Rollins novel, excited for the next day.
I woke up around 8, catching the rays filtering through the valley. When we were both up, we ate a nice breakfast of scrambled eggs and cowboy coffee. We talked about how awesome the previous day had been, and how excited we were for Independence trail. After that, we packed up and rolled up the road towards Independence.
To be continued....
bijanjames
Adventurer
That pic with us rolling with XO is incredible!! It was such a cool trip...
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Trikebubble
Adventurer
Excellent Story. Watching the X Overland series last winter was what convinced my Wife that this form of adventure travel could be very fun and rewarding.
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WKexpedition
Built, not bought!
Wow what an amazing write up. This is turning into the trip of a lifetime. Can't wait to read more!!
Mountain4runner
New member
I almost missed this... For some reason I did not get a notification of the post quote. Anyway, I am leaving Moab on the 5th of August, so I should be in the Montana/Wyoming area from the 6th to approximately the 12/13th. If you're free Monday's and Tuesday's perhaps we could run a couple trails on the 8/9th? I really appreciate the advice and suggestions, until yesterday I couldn't even find a map of the area. Thanks for the help, and I look forward to possibly running some trails together. Cheers!
-Konrad
I don't think I mentioned it before, but I have a built 4th gen 4Runner, so rig capability is not an issue.
wreckdiver1321
Overlander
Thanks man! It was such an awesome experience. Bijan was awesome and running into the Xoverland people was just the icing on the cake.
You and me both dude!
Thanks! Yeah we got really lucky on this trip. Everything just clicked into place so beautifully. Couldn't even have planned something better!
Haha sorry man! Life has been so hectic for me at the moment. I'll fill everyone in in the next post.
Thanks Mouse! It was such an awesome weekend. Chapter 3 coming as soon as possible!