I didn't know it bent that way... - a photo on Flickriver

Shockingly, the alignment on the truck was still perfect after doing this. Tacoma TRD Offroad FOR THE WIN.

This is Mengel Pass, the single toughest spot on the Jeep trail which crosses the Panamint Mountain Range from Badwater to Ballarat. This photo was taken on the lower portion of the insane section, which was at a 30* angle (not obvious in this photo) and littered with giant rocks. It took us about about an hour to get the truck 60 feet up this. 4wd low was insufficient and resulted in the truck just spinning the tires and going nowhere. We only succeeded in getting the truck though this section after settling for the last-resort option of locking the differentials...

After getting through this section, we encountered an even worse stretch. Spotting + 4-low + locked diffs weren't enough to get the truck up it. We spent over 2 hours building ramps out of rocks, but these ultimately were blasted out of the way as soon as the wheels hit them. One of the rear mud flaps was ripped off when it was caught under a rock. In desperation, we lightened the truck's load by ~400 lbs when Charles and I got out and removed our fuel and water tanks. Working together, we built ramps using the giant, hard-to-move rocks. Whenever Michael got the truck forward a few feet, we would chock the wheels, making it impossible for him to roll backward. There was great joy when we finally got the truck to the top of the pass.

A video of this adventure can be found at www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=VOEd8....

Taken in: United States / California (show map)

Taken on: December 20, 2011

Tags:

California

United States

pass

tacoma

trd

offroad

off

road

4wd

4x4

death

valley

national

park

toyota

wheel

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Groups appears in: • Death Valley National Park

Camera: Canon EOS 7D, f/9.0, 1/640 sec, 72mm, ISO 200 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS 7D
Lens:	EF-S17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM
Aperture:	f/9.0
Exposure Time:	0.002 sec (1/640)
Focal Length:	72mm
ISO:	200
Exposure Bias:	+2/3 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop CS5.1 Windows
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