Every year The Botches get together and do a camping trip celebrating the 3rd gen 4Runner. this year we were excited to add a 4th 3rd gen to the trip just for its drive shaft to spontaneously Combust a few days before the trip. along with that our buddy Shane had some family stuff going on so what was supposed to be a bunch of 3rd Gens in the woods ended up being 2 3rd gens and a Tacoma. This was also meant to be Alex’s Silver trucks last trip.
Friday (Day 1)
At 4pm Duncan and Alex met up for the 2 hour drive north on M37, everything was going smooth until they come upon a massive accident on M37 from what we could tell a small car rear ended a boat trailer that was turning right; at a very high rate of speed, this caused the truck and boat to go into the ditch and almost roll. The car was absolutely destroyed. we arrived at the same time as the county sheriff, he seemed young and not sure of himself but, it was a pretty scary scene. after making sure everyone was alright just some bumps bruises and stitches were needed. we then got the cop to help push some of the debris out of the road to clear a path for North bound traffic to turn East and get around the accident (at this point there were 50+ cars) we waited for all the traffic to clear and then headed out on our own.
we made it to about 5 miles from the campsite without any issue Alex was leading using Onx to navigate and somehow (Alex thinking he was better than OnX) we ended up on a quad trail that led to a bridge that was very very narrow. we had to back out of this super tight trail. very much so not preferred.
back on track Alex and Duncan make their way to a trail that leads to camp but, if you thought they would make it without issues boy Howdy would you be wrong. almost at the end of the trail where it turns into a road again they come face to face with a Ford Fusion buried all the way to its belly in sand. Duncan got around behind the Fusion and we hooked up to its rear control arm. after multiple attempts we finally got the car out and backed it up the trail until it could turn around. we get the car out on the road and begin on our way.
after about a mile Alex noticed Duncan wasn’t behind him and turned around. turns out the fusion had a skid plate bent up under the car and dragging, no big deal right? well the car is low, super low so we drive it up on some fire wood and get the plate off now officially we can go to camp just one problem. Alex’s truck wont fire it will turn over act like it wants to start just wont fire off. after a lot of fiddling with it and trying different things we hook the jump pack to it (even tho the battery read 12.9v) and it started right up. once again we are moving.
at this point its dark we are hungry and just want to be at camp. Alex misreads the map 4 times with lots of turning around. finally Duncan takes over takes us down the first trail Alex had tried and boom it was right. Duncan leads for about 2 miles before he leads us to a dead end. this is when Mark who left for his 2 hour drive a hour after us called wondering where we were. Alex takes over and gets us to camp, FINALLY. a whole 5 hours after we set off on our 2 hour drive.
This campsite was beautiful. we set up our tents in the dark and started making dinner plus getting a fire going. what a wrap on a long day that should never have been long. normally I would share coordinate but, this site is kinda gem and I don’t want it getting trashed.
Saturday (DAY 2)
Our day really didn’t start until 3 we spent most of the day just hanging out around camp. Mark had planned a route that would possibly fix a big issue we had with the TOAD (Troll Overland Adventure Drive) it was amazing. he really knocked the route planning out of the park. it led us to a Bridge that was perfect for Instagrammy photos. we spent a embarrassingly long time here take pictures and drone shots
we pushed on not long after Alex’s 4runner started to overheat. (I wonder if this was what was wrong on day 1?) so we stopped and check coolant. it was bone dry. after filling it up it was fin the rest of the trip. we found some beautiful campsites along the route that were right on the river edge.
Along the route back to camp is a massive steep sandy hill climb all tho we couldnt get traction to get up the 3rd gens could at least go down!
Pictures and even Video for that matter do not give this hill justice. its massive. at this point we went back to our campsite and made our dinner ( Black Truffle hot sauce marinated steak, mashed potatoes and corn) this was hands down one of the best camp meals any of us had ever had! Side by Sides were out with a vengeance Saturday night. all we heard as we sat around the fire was them zooming up and down trails being super rowdy. around 11pm a group came into our camp and did half donuts to turn around and get out. absolutely obnoxious. the next morning we packed up and headed out.
this was a amazing weekend with friends couldn’t have asked for a better group of guys to hang out with.
3 years we have been getting together and dong this trip and its been a wild ride watching these trucks evolve. cant wait to see what is in store for next year with the Phoenix build.