Fortis Overland Adventure Thread

[Fortis Overland]

It's been a long time coming trying to create my build thread for my 2016 Toyota Tacoma TRD Off Road. I'm going to try to do this chronologically, although I have a ton of pictures to sort through.

Here's how she currently sits:

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Current Mods:
OME Nitrocharger Full Lift Kit
OME Heavy Duty Dakar Leaf Pack
285/75/16 Falken Wildpeaks
1.25" Spidertrax Wheel Spacers
Caliraised Ditch Light LEDs
AFE Dry Air Intake Filter
KB Voodoo Bed Bars (modified with unistrut for more strength)
CVT Mt. Shasta Roof Top Tent
2016 Tacoma SR Grille

Future Mods:
Sliders
Cab-height topper
Bed drawers

And here is the day I brought her home:

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[Fortis Overland]

On the day we picked it up, we took it out to Rampart Range Road, Colorado Springs, CO for its first trail time!

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[Fortis Overland]

Camping at Eleven Mile Reservoir

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[Fortis Overland]

Eleven Mile Reservoir
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[Fortis Overland]

We began to prep for our first overland adventure with a custom built bed rack and our new CVT Mt. Shasta tent.
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[Fortis Overland]

We took Gold Camp Road to Mt. Baldy and to Cathedral Park
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[Fortis Overland]

More Eleven Mile Reservoir. Getting used to deploying and using the tent prior to the big Moab trip!
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[Fortis Overland]

We were off to Moab! The plan was to hit Potash Road, camp at Shafer Campground for the night, then make our way on Canyonland's White Rim Trail (100+ miles) the next day.

This was our first major trip, and as we were trekking down Shafer Switchbacks, we were in awe of what we were about to accomplish.

Day 1:
Shafer Switchbacks, Potash Road, Thelma and Louise Point, and Shafer Campground

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[Fortis Overland]

MOAB DAY 2:

We were woken up at Shafer Campground the next day by a Desert Big Horn Sheep trampling down the cliffside. We proceeded to cook up some good breakfast, and started our travels on White Rim Trail.

The second day consisted of primarily White Rim Trail, but we ventured off the trail temporarily to visit the Colorado River and Lathrop Canyon.

Camping on night 2 was done at Murphy Hogback. The pictures below don't do the location justice, and the stars at nighttime were out of this world.

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[Fortis Overland]

MOAB DAY 3

This was our final day on White Rim. Originally we had planned to camp along the river, but the mosquitoes were out in droves, so we chose to continue on through White Rim and exit towards Moab. We didn't take many pictures while exiting the trail. While the truck did great in stock form, we did nail the front skid plate when heading over a ridge. Not damage was done, but it forced me to focus more on trail safety rather than finding the right pictures.

If we had any issues with heights before this trip, those issues definitely subsided by the end of it!

With some light still out, we chose to explore what we could of Arches National Park before the sun went down.

When travelling out to Double O Arch, we originally thought we had gotten lost, and while losing light, we didn't think we'd make it to the arch and back home, but we managed to find the trail again, get a shot of Double O, and then went out hunting for a camp spot in Moab.

We ended up at Sand Flats Recreation Area, and ended up camping at the Juniper Campground, away from the crowds. This spot ended up being super quiet and made for some awesome sunset views.

At this point in time, I was still really learning how to use my Canon S120, and thought that HDR was the way to go. While I'm not impressed with some of the pictures now, I thought they were pretty cool back then :)

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[JCWages]

Great shots!

 

[Fortis Overland]

Still not doing a great job of keeping this up to date. Generated a logo awhile back that I'll mature as time goes along. Thinking about getting a sticker for the truck

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[Fortis Overland]

It's been a LONG time since I've updated this thread. COVID threw our 2020 plans for a loop, and having a newborn during the year definitely complicated things as well, since both me and wife enjoy the overlanding experience. So rather than going back and updating from quite some time ago, I'm going to start with where we currently are in the year 2021!

A lot has changed since we first started overlanding with a stock Tacoma and RTT. We've done plenty of upgrades to the truck, and are now utilizing a Nucamp T@g Boondock trailer rather than RTT. We're also currently in the process of trying to figure out how to connect our Gazelle T4 tent to the side of the Boondock and treat it as a separate room.

Since we've gotten back into the groove of things, and since we now have AC and heat when required for the kiddo, we've started exploring campsites in the Colorado area, but haven't done what I consider to be "true" overlanding. This at least scratches the itch, and it's been great to share our experiences with our 1.5 year old.

If anyone has any tips on travelling with a 1.5 year old, let me know! It hasn't always been the easiest, but she's a champ!

 

[Fortis Overland]

Receipt of 2021 Nucamp T@g Boondock. We chose this because it has AC and heat and has a small footprint if we ever decide to take it on the trail. It's been great so far, but we definitely have some areas that we want to improve on, to include the cheap Chinese hardware that was used during its buildout. We've yet to truly take it on a trail, as I'm tempted to utilize the Gazelle on overland trips (won't be taking the kiddo on these), and gradually building confidence in offroading with a trailer in tow.

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[Fortis Overland]

Our first trip was at Lathrop State Park in Colorado. We snagged a electric site to test out the heat and AC, and surprisingly we ended up using both on the same day. We love this place, and with it being a less popular spot, it was super quiet the entire trip.

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[Fortis Overland]

We went to Eleven Mile State Park and snagged another electric site. Eleven Mile is known for crazy winds, so even though we brought my father-in-law's boat, we didn't get a chance to touch the water. The kiddo didn't do well with the wind and the cold, and we had to call the trip one night early. Lessons were learned.View attachment 202750View attachment 202751View attachment 202752View attachment 202753View attachment 202754

 

[Fortis Overland]

We went to Turquoise Lake in Leadville, CO. Probably one of our top spots to visit and camp as it's not terribly popular (3 hours from Colorado Springs) and the views are awesome! I didn't get a ton of pictures during the tip because we were enjoying it so much, but if you haven't been there before, I would definitely recommend making a trip out of it. On your way, make sure to visit Twin Lakes, just outside of Buena Vista.View attachment 202755View attachment 202756View attachment 202758View attachment 202759View attachment 202760

 

[Fortis Overland]

We just got back from a 3 day, 2 night trip to Rocky Mountain National Park. It's crazy that we've explored Utah and haven't experienced what's in our "backyard" just a few hours away. Because we had the dogs, we weren't able to hike, but we had a great time doing Trail Ridge Road, driving to Grand Lake, and enjoying some of the off-shoot drives that exist at the park. We'll definitely be going back dog-less so that we can hike to the lakes that the park is known for.
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[Fortis Overland]

We recently went to Eleven Mile Canyon to camp over the July 4th holiday. We have always camped at the Reservoir, but wanted to give the canyon a shot (camping spots are hard to come by), and we'll definitely be booking camping at the canyon vs. the reservoir in the future!

We had a great time in the T@g Boondock, and I got to finally put my newly forged camp knife (my first knife!)to the test (it passed). We primarily stayed close to the South Platte River, but did venture off to do some quick forest roads. Overall, great time in the canyon!

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[Fortis Overland]

Ended up trading in our Tacoma this past weekend to size up to a Tundra. With a growing family, we needed the extra space that the Tundra offers. Traded in the Tacoma at 90k miles and experienced zero issues over that timespan. Really looking forward to putting this 2021 Tundra TRD Pro to use!