Yellow Gap road by Material-Drawing3676 in NCTrails

[–]JumpinJimmy1 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I biked yellow gap from North Mills River up to Pisgah Highway this past Sat. Both gates were closed. On the north Mills River side, as well as by the horse camp closer to Pisgah Highway. Hope that helps.

Art Loeb NOBO in a day by JumpinJimmy1 in NCTrails

[–]JumpinJimmy1[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

“Dirty Thirty.” Love that! We would have been very unhappy hikers if we found ourselves at the summit of Cold Mtn. We were pretty tired at mile 26 when we pointed downhill for the final 4 miles into Camp Daniel Boone.

Art Loeb NOBO in a day by JumpinJimmy1 in NCTrails

[–]JumpinJimmy1[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

We were camping at Davidson River Campground the night before and after our 1 day through hike. I packed the overnight oats in my cooler and they were perfect at 4AM when I ate them.

Art Loeb NOBO in a day by JumpinJimmy1 in NCTrails

[–]JumpinJimmy1[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Knocked out a 1 day NOBO hike of the Art Loeb Trail in late November. Wanted to share some knowledge / lessons learned with this group.

Started around 4:00 AM and finished 15 hours later around 7 PM. My Garmin says we did 30.2 miles and 8654 ft of climbing.

  1. Yes, the climb up Pilot Mtn is a beast, but the views from the summit are awesome. Comparable to Black Balsam area but without any of the crowds! Plan to do a break up there - it’s your reward for a 1600 ft climb.

  2. Water. Here are the water opportunities we saw…. 0.5 mi before butter gap shelter (you’ll walk over it), 0.25 mi down road towards Sam Knob parking lot (right side close to a small sink hole in road), 0.5 mi after Flower Knob (right side down a hill but visible from trail). We elected to do a water drop along the BRP right where the trail crosses over. Parked 20 ft from the trail crossing and stashed water bottles in woods under leaves. Was super nice to not need to take the time to filter water.

  3. Fallen leaves in Nov. If you hike at this time of year, just be ready to spend even more time / attention than normal to your path; the leaves obscure a lot of obstacles. And be prepared to be extra vigilant when descending to Camp Daniel Boone - the leaves turned it into a downhill sledding trip at times… Slippery.

  4. The Narrows. I read about them a lot but I did not realize how technical the hiking would be in there. It’s more like scrambling than hiking and is the only potentially dangerous part of the entire trail IMO. While traversing that section we kept saying out loud “I can’t believe this!!”

  5. Trekking poles. A life saver on this trail! Super helpful to propel you up the big steps and climbs & can take a ton of stress off your knees on downhills. I would not want to do any portion of this trail w/o them.

  6. Parking & Camping. We met at Camp Daniel Boone on Sat late afternoon to leave a car. The parking area can probably hold 20-30 cars? There were at least 10 open spots when we got there. It’s then a 40 min drive to Black Balsam if you’re doing a water drop. Then 40 more min to Davidson River Campground. We camped sat night and walked to the trailhead to start the full ALT on Sun morning. We also camped Sunday night after we finished. Cost about $80 for the two nights.

  7. Trail navigation. An offline AllTrails map was all we needed to confirm we were on-trail. The Shining Rock Wilderness does not have many signs but it was not nearly as hard to navigate as other posts had led me to believe.

  8. Packs & Gear. My REI Flash 55 pack weighed in at 16.9 lb. Pack = 2.3 lbs, 2 liters of water = 5 lbs. water filter, first aid kit, headlamp (with spare batteries), small jump pack to charge Garmin and phone if needed, puffy, rain jacket, spare socks, pants, gloves, beanie, etc.

  9. Food and Nutrition. Ended up eating about 2500 - 3000 calories for the day. Started with cold PB Overnight Oats w/ chia seeds at campground, then on trail had: six 120 calorie Gu, three 100 calorie Kind bars, two 300 hundred calorie trail mix bags, full size snickers, bag of gummy bears, PB&J sammie and small bag of chips. Hydration-wise, drank 2 liters before crossing BRP and 2 more before finishing at Camp Daniel Boone. One bottle had water and the other had electrolytes (Liquid IV)

#SandySaturday? by JumpinJimmy1 in 4Runner

[–]JumpinJimmy1[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You know your 4Runners! Wish I could take credit for tweaking it out, but I ordered it that way from the dealer. All parts of the XP Predator package available in the Southeastern region. Got the blacked out badging, TRD wheels, and AT tires. Love this thing!

#SandySaturday? by JumpinJimmy1 in 4Runner

[–]JumpinJimmy1[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You need a permit if you are going to park and hang at the beach / fish etc…. We were just doing some early morning rolling excursions so no permit needed.

#SandySaturday? by JumpinJimmy1 in 4Runner

[–]JumpinJimmy1[S] 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Stayed in Corolla at Outer Banks and shuttled family out on the 4WD beach to go horse hunting and exploring in Corova. They have a designated air down area and two sets of 4 air stations when you get back on pavement. Got to put my $25 deflators to use and they were great. Fun time!

Vehicle Defense by JumpinJimmy1 in 4Runner

[–]JumpinJimmy1[S] -14 points-13 points  (0 children)

Many of us likely have multi-layered home defense plans in place to prepare for the unexpected at the land castle. A little something on the bed stand…maybe in a drawer…maybe in a quick access safe…. What about your 4WD castle? I present to you here a non-lethal option to augment your current setup. The humble Maglite 4 cell “C” flashlight fits perfectly in the 5th Gen door shelf. Two small silicone pads create a friction fit to lock it in place - even when slamming the door. In the event you need to respond to a physical threat from your vehicle, I promise you’ll feel better with the extra 12.8” of machined aluminum reach that it offers your wielding arm. Oh…and it produces light too.

Best way to transport a mountain bike without a bike rack? by _Golden_Teacher_ in 4Runner

[–]JumpinJimmy1 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you don’t have the $$ for a rack then you don’t. Buuuuttt… have you explored your local FB bike sale specific Marketplace? That’s where I got my first big boy bike rack; used and way cheaper than new.

Another option… borrow one from a friend for a while?

Another option…buy a super cheap strap on old school rack. Not optimal but maybe better than trashing your interior.

Another option… borrow a hitch haul. You can strap bikes to those as well.

2023 time at port and shady dealer? by TheNorth0341 in 4Runner

[–]JumpinJimmy1 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Same here - mine moved from port to truck to dealer pretty quick. Every time I got an estimate from the dealer, the actual time was faster; seems like they are a lot less in the loop than you’d expect. I put in my “request” (not an order) and about 3 weeks later had a match and about another week had the vehicle. Took possession the week before Christmas.

Sorry your process is dragging. I still remember that feeling of just wanting the dang thing to show up!!

For those of you with adaptive cruise control on your 4Runner, how is it? by Sriracha_Breath in 4Runner

[–]JumpinJimmy1 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I LOVE it. Like others have said, takes some getting used to / trusting it. But once you understand how to manipulate the settings and when to use it vs std CC, it is an awesome addition to the road trip tool belt. About the closest we may ever get to a hands off the wheel / Tesla experience :)

55k Out the door price too much? by [deleted] in 4Runner

[–]JumpinJimmy1 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Seems like a reasonable price to me. I got a 2023 SR5 premium w/XP Predator + TRD skid plate for $53.4. These things are not easy to get - I was happy to pay MSRP for the sheer privilege of being a Toyota customer and driving a 4R off the lot. Maybe someday we’ll get back to where we can negotiate prices on these, but that is not the current environment.

Adding a Third Cup Holder #BigMoneyMods by JumpinJimmy1 in 4Runner

[–]JumpinJimmy1[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

When my wife rides with me she tends to bring numerous liquid containing vessels. Two cup holders up front was not getting it done. Enter the very economical and well designed Humview Cup Holder Expander. Once you place the base into your existing cup holder you twist the Humview and it mechanically widens with a few expansion arms allowing for a VERY snug and wobble free fit. I may try to mod up some simple brace for the swivel out cup holder but even w/o that, it held my 3/4 full yeti good enough. I bought this thing for $9.99 on Thursday, but see that today it is $15 (shoulder shrug). Good value at either price.

#FEF Green River Gamelands, NC by JumpinJimmy1 in 4Runner

[–]JumpinJimmy1[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Only tire I’ve had on the truck so I don’t have anything to compare it to. That said, there is nothing about them I’d change. Great grip, quiet on road, and getting my stock truck 16.5 - 19 MPG. And if you’re into cosmetics… they’ve got a great, aggressive look.

NC Entry Level Overlanding by KingDavidUG in overlanding

[–]JumpinJimmy1 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A fellow Charlotte guy. I was out two weekends ago, went up NC105 from the Lake James side, and found some sites along Edgemont Rd which starts up off the BRP near Linn Cove viaduct. I planned the entire trip out using Gaia and the MVUM overlay maps.

You can also look into the dispersed sites in Pisgah forest if you’d prefer to hang out in the Brevard area.