1997 Lexus LX450 Galleries

Copper Creek 4/08 : I took the day off from work and Becky and I headed toward Copper Creek east of Mammoth. Our goal? To see if certain closures were in place. Our result? Inconclusive because our trip was delayed due to a closed road. The plan was to enter from the San Manuel area via the Bunker Hill Mine/Campstool Ranch Road. This road was always open in the past, but not today. So, we were detoured to Mammoth where we took the old Copper Creek Road (was to be our exit road). The Copper Creek area was open and beautiful as ever. We kept going toward Sibley Mansion as we heard that access was closed. When we came to the shelf road (on right) that climbs the mountains then drops down the other side into Sibley (the easy access), we found that road open. It was late so we didn't make the drive to see if it was gated somewhere. Moving along and proceding past the Bluebell Mine Road the Sibley Mansion "creek" trail began to become it's difficult self. We decided due to lateness and being alone we'd not try. We stopped about 1 mile before the Mansion. In any event one can get close enough to walk to the Mansion IF one can't still drive in. We'll head back later and try again. Trail rating today...mostly a 2 to 2.5.

Copper Creek 4/08

I took the day off from work and Becky and I headed toward Copper Cree ...

Updated: Apr 25, 2008 2:15pm PST

Charouleau Gap with AzHummerX Club 2/08 : Trip Leader: John Shotts. The Catalina Mountains were snow covered from heavy snows. The water was running like mad from 8.58" of rain in 48-hours just a few days earlier. We had snow, slush, ice, mud, a very deep and very fast running water in the CDO Wash. You just couldn't see the hidden rocks in the wash. Bang....I stopped in an instant on a huge rock that ended up damaging my front steering and panhard arms/rods. It's the only damage to date I've ever occured on my Land Cruisers. It was not a good thing to be the trail leader today. [:>) That aside, the trip was a once in a lifetime run. The water just made things difficult. Really difficult. There were numerous strap-outs, underside carnage, dinged body parts, and one instance where I was slipping sideways toward a rapid, fearing a rollover. We backe dout as fast as we could and were safe. Then I took my only spot of the day and I needed it. Trail rating today...3.5+ with 4.0 at the Step. I must say, if you're going first....those last two river runs were 4.0's. We were freaking out! 11-hours due to the difficulty. Great group of folks though. GREAT!

Charouleau Gap with AzHummerX Club 2/08

Trip Leader: John Shotts. The Catalina Mountains were snow covered f ...

Updated: Feb 12, 2008 1:52pm PST

Charouleau Gap with the CopperState Cruisers 12/07 : Trip Leader: Alvin from the CopperState Cruiser Club. 17 TRUCKS RUN THE GAP! It was a 10-hour day for one group and 11 for the rescue group. Chris's '99 100-series exploded the front diff while climbing the Step. The attempt failed though hats off to Chris for trying (and for driving his truck out of there safely). Water was plentiful in the CDO Wash which made for added challenge (and fun). Trail rating today...mostly a 3.0, several 3.5 spots/areas, and the 4.0 Step at the wash.

Charouleau Gap with the CopperState Cruisers 12/07

Trip Leader: Alvin from the CopperState Cruiser Club. 17 TRUCKS RUN T ...

Updated: Dec 31, 2007 3:18pm PST

Battleaxe to the Coke Ovens with the AzLCA 11/07 : Trip Leader: Joe Chott. Commentary by Joe Chott. Trail rating today...mostly a 2.5 with several 3.0 sections. Story: We met at the Express Stop in Superior at 8:00 AM on Saturday, November 24. Eight vehicles gassed up and were ready to go by 8:15 AM, after a short drivers meeting. The following club members were on this run (Joe Chott, Walt Phillips, Randy Drwinga, Rod Seagle, John Bricker, John Shotts, Ahmet Sezen and Troy Colgrove). With the cold wind blowing hard in Superior, we anticipated a brisk day on the trail. We headed east on US 60 for just a bit, turned right on AZ 177 and then turned right on Battleaxe Road and aired down. By then, we were down in a valley, the sun was out, the gale had died down, and it was a beautiful, sunny day, seeming to have warmed up at least 30 degrees from our meeting place in Superior. The drive past the White Canyon Wilderness is very scenic, with great views in all directions. In the spring, the creeks are flowing with little waterfalls, but today they were all dry, a victim of our drought. After cresting the last hill near the Wilderness Area and viewing the western-looking valley in the distance, we could barely make out the Gila Rivers course, and the railroad tracks on the southern side. There were several steep wash areas that needed to be crossed, and some areas that were starting to wash out pretty bad. Wheel placement was critical at times in several of the off camber areas. We ran into four other four wheel drive vehicles down by the Gila River close to the Coke Ovens. The Gila River ford areas that we saw looked to be difficult at best, but we were not planning to ford the Gila today. We made the long, steep loose climb up from the Gila to the Coke Ovens lookout where we had lunch. Since the new owners of the Coke Ovens had requested that they didn't want visitors on their property, we honored their request and enjoyed the view, although there were numerous quads, motorcycles and four wheel drive vehicles parked by the Coke Ovens, with several motorcycles driving into and out of them. After a quiet lunch, we started north toward Martinez Canyon, driving slowly over the bumpy terrain. In many places, the bedrock was contorted into mini-rock gardens, so the going was tough. There were several play areas along the way, with different types of ledges and obstacles. There was some bumping and scraping, but nobody had any real trouble. Once we got up closer to Martinez Canyon, we turned left toward Box Canyon, and stopped at the red play hill. Several people just had to see if they could drive up, or if they were game for the goosey ride down. Lots of wheel lifts going both ways, along with clouds of red dust. The ride down was a controlled slide most of the way. Once everyone had their fill here, we ambled out to the Box Canyon turn-off, and started slowly weaving our way through the narrow trail. Luckily, we only met a few vehicles here, and we were able to negotiate past them. In the middle of the tight section, we happened to spot at least four sheep up in the rocky shelves, but they scampered off quickly, too fast to get a picture. This was the first time that I saw sheep in this area. The sun glowing off the tannish pink walls was awesome. On the winding gravel road out to AZ 79, we encountered several quads that were taking up the entire road, only veering out of our way at the last second. This made for a pretty scary ride for the trip leader. Once we made it out to AZ 79, we aired up, said our goodbyes, and headed for home. This was a pretty run, with some great scenery, some expansive views of our beautiful desert, and some semi-challenging four wheeling. There were no breakdowns, flat tires, etc., making this a nice safe run. Trail rating today...Mostly a 2.5 with some 3.0's.

Battleaxe to the Coke Ovens with the AzLCA 11/07

Trip Leader: Joe Chott. Commentary by Joe Chott. Trail rating today ...

Updated: Dec 10, 2007 1:27pm PST

Sutherland Trail (FH643) with Expo Portal 10/07 : Trip Leader: John Shotts. This trip was offered up to the Expedition Fortal group. We had 6 rigs out here today. The weather was perfect. The trails was tough in several places. I epxerienced some trail damage to my Lexus. Alvin was spared though he did get into some trouble on two occasions. Lot's of grasshoppers! Trail rating today...a very rocky 2.5 approach and depart. The fun stuff (last half) was a solid 3.5/

Sutherland Trail (FH643) with Expo Portal 10/07

Trip Leader: John Shotts. This trip was offered up to the Expedition ...

Updated: Oct 14, 2007 10:20am PST

Charouleau Gap with Expo Portal 8/07 : Trip Leader: John Shotts and Lonnie. After all the monsoon rains (over 12" to the Catalina Mountains) we had to run the Gap to see what changes had occured. The Catalina side was really washed out in places and the runs ran deeper than I've seen them. I hope nobody smooths them out! All was going well on this muggy day until Brian's Jeep broke a panhard mount just decending into the CDO side from the Gap. He did a temp fix and headed back to Catalina. We all followed and in the end had a sweet day. There was some other minor carnage too (my flair, Jon's Disco rear bumper). In the end it was super to see how gren the desert was and to cross the CDO wash while it was running. Trail rating today...3.0 with some 3.5 spots.

Charouleau Gap with Expo Portal 8/07

Trip Leader: John Shotts and Lonnie. After all the monsoon rains (ov ...

Updated: Aug 14, 2007 1:49pm PST

Rice Peak 6/07 : It was going to be 100 degrees in Tucson on this day. Becky and I were free and wanted cooler temps. 7550' Rice Peak was the trick. We did the long loop with the 3 wild switchbacks. It was cool at the top though warm in Oracle on our return. Becky ran the Mt. Lemmon Road when it was HOT! Good thing the Lexus had air. (Somebody had to drive!) We were also happy that SOME of the roughness had returned to the trail. Trail rating today...mostly a 2.5 with a couple of 3.0 spots.

Rice Peak 6/07

It was going to be 100 degrees in Tucson on this day. Becky and I wer ...

Updated: Jun 04, 2007 9:19pm PST

Charouleau Gap with AzHummerX Club 5/07 : Trip Leaders: John Shotts (AzLCA) and Jose (AzHummerX). Well, I got my wish...to see Hummers out there on the trail, and they did GREAT! We had 13 vehicles total and of great variance. H2, H3, 80-series, 100-series, Tundra, Taco, FJ Cruiser, FJ40 and 4Runner. Everybody got to see a different vehicle ride the rocks. It turned out to be a very long 9+ hour trip. I got stuck in my Lexus on an optional rock (thanks all for your help out). We had Taco breakage, a few FJ Cruiser delays and some FJ40 fuel issues. The only body carnage was flair damage to an FZJ80 and the Tundra, and my left knee from being a dumbaxx. Great trip, great people, and a little HISTORY was made.....Rod Seagel brought his current model 100-series on the trip. Rod is the first known 100 series to run the entire trail. We wondered how the bigger 100 would do IF Rod attempted the 4.0-rated "Step". Rod pulled up, we spotted him for the climb and that was it....like the 80-series...Rod was up. It was big-time high 5's for Rod. Congrats! Lastly....do not miss the picture of Beav's H2 coming down the hill from the Gap. I spotted him into a very aggressive line. Beav followed and yanked a rear wheel so high (my plan all along) I could stand underneath! I told him to stop for a pic as I could see he was stable. I'm sure it didn't feel stable for Beav however it was. With the added track and wheelbase those H2's bring thought to the word "planted". After I snapped the pics he wanted down, and he was down safe and sound. Great job Beav! Thanks ALL for coming!

Charouleau Gap with AzHummerX Club 5/07

Trip Leaders: John Shotts (AzLCA) and Jose (AzHummerX). Well, I got m ...

Updated: May 10, 2007 1:09pm PST

Sutherland Trail (FH643) with the AzLRO 4/07 : Trip Leader: Michael McDonald of the AzLRO. Why have I not been on this trail before? What a shame! It was a fantastic run! Lots of rocks was the down-side. Several difficult obstacles was the best part followed by the great scenery including the running creek and swimming holes! We had Discoverys, a cool D90, an FJ Cruiser and us in RockLX. Great folks...capable rigs...no damamge other than a few scrapes and pinstiping. We will return SOON to hit these obstacles again....guaranteed! Trail rating today...Mostly a 3.0 with some 3.5 to 3.5+ obstacles...one could be dangerous if something went wrong (4.0 if decending this obstacle which nobody did today).

Sutherland Trail (FH643) with the AzLRO 4/07

Trip Leader: Michael McDonald of the AzLRO. Why have I not been on th ...

Updated: Apr 10, 2007 4:25pm PST

Montana Mountain with the AzLCA 3/07 : Trip Leader: Joe Chott It was a picture perfect day today. Scenery in the Superstition Mountains is killer. We had 6 trucks and enjoyed the day dearly. On the exit, 3 of us took an optional powerline road and came upon the old cemetary at the Pinal City townsite. We got lucky. Trail rating today...2.5

Montana Mountain with the AzLCA 3/07

Trip Leader: Joe Chott It was a picture perfect day today. Scenery i ...

Updated: Mar 27, 2007 4:05pm PST

Tortolita Mtns with the AzLCA 12/06 : Trip Leader: John Shotts. This turned out to be a super trip! Perfect weather and a great group for four-wheelers! Becky and I drove the Lexus, then we had 4 80-series Cruisers (Walt and Tammi, Joe Chott, Brad and Alice Musil, and Richard and sons), one in a FJ62 (Steve), Chuck in his Jeep Wrangler, and Randy in a new-series Tacoma. Thanks to Randy we veiwed some petroglyphs. And thanks to Joe Chott for his rock-crawl session...can you say "near-rollover?" Joe's and expert driver though this obstacle put him close to being on his side...DON'T MISS THE VIDEO. The trip is very scenic, the side trip offered some nice challenge, and overall the run was a success. Trail rating today...mostly a 2.5 with some 3.0 sections.

Tortolita Mtns with the AzLCA 12/06

Trip Leader: John Shotts. This turned out to be a super trip! Perfec ...

Updated: Jan 10, 2007 10:07am PST

Coke Ovens and Battleaxe (with Walt Phillips) 12/06 : NICE DAY...before the cold and wet weather came! My buddy Walt planned a last minute trip into the Box Canyon area. Only Becky and I showed so we-all decided to run to the Coke Ovens then we exited via Walnut Canyon. We also scoped out the Gila River return to Price route. We decided against the attempt today due to high water in the Gila. Trail rating today...3.0. THANKS WALT!

Coke Ovens and Battleaxe (with Walt Phillips) 12/06

NICE DAY...before the cold and wet weather came! My buddy Walt planne ...

Updated: Jan 31, 2007 7:48am PST

Tortolita Mountains Pre-Run (via Cochie Canyon Rd) : This was second and third scouting trips we went on to find a pathway up and over the Tortolita Mountains. The first trip is shown under the 2001 UZJ100 section. Trip one ended due to time. Here we went back though entered the range from the other side (west side/Marana). We got to within a half mile of where trip one ended only to find a gate "quad-sized" so we were at a loss. We re-checked maps and decided to look for the longer route around. We came upon an amazing rock house for sale. The view was insane! This longer route had very little brush and wheeling was basic. The fun stuff is on the central and east side. Trail rating today...2.0 with a few 2.5 spots.

Tortolita Mountains Pre-Run (via Cochie Canyon Rd)

This was second and third scouting trips we went on to find a pathway ...

Updated: Nov 11, 2006 1:22pm PST

Pyeatt Draw with the AZLCA 8/06 : Trip Leader: Ben "Spike" from the CopperState Cruiser Club. This was our first trip to Pyeatt Draw. We heard about this trail when BF Goodrich listed it as one of their Top Ten Most Beautiful Trails in the US. We had to go. Man, it was a day of carnage. First...Steve's 60 wouldn't start in Phoenix. Second...Brad's 80 gave up the power steering in Payson. They both headed home. That's 2 down. Next...Rod's 100 destroys a front differential and rear arms. OK...I mess up a door (kind of) on a 4-foot rock). Then...on section three...Walt and I wreck our rear driveshafts. Lastly, Mike in his Disco mangles a rear arm and it's "be creative time". 10-hours, damage, it was hot, but the great people made up for all the shortcomings. The trip would nothave turned out anywhere near this well if Ben had not come and took the lead. I thanked him many times on the trail and I'll thank him again on my website. BEN: THANKS! Trail Rating Today...3.5+ (very close to a 4.0)

Pyeatt Draw with the AZLCA 8/06

Trip Leader: Ben "Spike" from the CopperState Cruiser Club. This was ...

Updated: Aug 22, 2006 4:30pm PST

DeSoto Mine--"FJ Rocks AZ" with the Toyota FJ Cruiser Trail Team 6/06 : Trip Leader: Steven Schaefer. 50+ trucks of all varieties (mainly Toy's) showed up for my planned event with Toyota's FJ Cruiser Trail Team. The group was so large we had to split up into 2 groups. The modified group ran the DeSoto Mine Trail and the stockers ran Mt. Union. The DeSoto trip was long due to some stuck stock vehicles in the rocky wash. Overall though Steve did a good job leading despite the major challenges that a big group demanded. Good job Steve! Trail rating today...3+.

DeSoto Mine--"FJ Rocks AZ" with the Toyota FJ Cruiser Trail Team 6/06

Trip Leader: Steven Schaefer. 50+ trucks of all varieties (mainly To ...

Updated: Jun 13, 2006 1:39pm PST

Powerline with TTORA AZ Rocks 3/06 : Trip Leader: Chris...Mr. Baja Taco. GREAT DAY! The rain didn't come which meant we got out safely. (This trail can become impassable in or after heavy rains) The group of 20 Tacoma's from the annual Arizona Rocks TTORA event split into 2 groups. We ran the most difficult sections with the "modified" group. Our good friend Scott Brady from Expeditions West took the lead with the more "stock" group. The Taco's did super, even in the toughest areas. This was our first "official" outing since building the Lexus. We sure were pleased with this truck's solidity as well as it's extra suspension lift. Made new friends...drove a tough trail...and pinstriped the heck out of the Lexus...so it's broken in.

Powerline with TTORA AZ Rocks 3/06

Trip Leader: Chris...Mr. Baja Taco. GREAT DAY! The rain didn't come ...

Updated: Mar 23, 2006 4:36pm PST