Josh's 2014 Xterra Pro 4x - guided by necessity

jhberria

Adventurer
Looking good! Best of luck on the trip and the upcoming move.

Thanks man, I appreciate it. I love what you've done with your Frontier

Great truck! I just picked up a '15 after trading in my Jeep and cant wait to start getting it ready for some overlanding.

Thanks! You'll definitely enjoy the Xterra. You real won't need to do much to make it an overland-capable vehicle, only if you want to do more technical trails while exploring.
 

jhberria

Adventurer
I spent the entire weekend around Picacho Peak State Park and on the Box Canyon Trail just east of Florence, Arizona. Myself and two buddies (one with a lifted TRD FJ, the other with a stock JKUR)drove up to Picacho Peak Friday night after work and camped in the shadow of the mountain. We woke up early Saturday, ate breakfast, shook off the whiskey from the night before, and hiked the peak. We opted for the toughest route to the top (the Hunters' Trail, as it is named), and it was tough indeed. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera on the hike, so I'll have to post some pictures after my buddy sends them to me.

After returning to the trucks, we made the hour drive to Box Canyon. The trail is a 24 mile long road that proceeds south to north through a deep slot canyon. In the lower washes, there's thick, silt-like sand. Some stretches of the trail have large rocks that need to be negotiated. We all negotiated the obstacles fairly easily (although the stock-height Jeep got some skid plate love), with the exception of one portion of the trail that required significant rock stacking and constant spotting. Overall, it was a very scenic drive that took us about 7 hours as we stopped quite a bit to explore and check out side trails. We spotted several lizard species and even some mountain goats that would stare down on us from the rocks above as we progressed through the canyon. Anyways, here's some initial pictures I took until I can get others from my buddy.







As you'll notice here, I finally got my sliders from the P&P group buy installed. Hooray!
 
Last edited:

jhberria

Adventurer
Haven't touched this thread in a while, but here's a short report from a two day trip I made a couple of weekends ago:

Spent all day Saturday riding along the border through Coronado National Forest. The day began with some exploration of Coronado Cave, which I highly recommend if you're ever in the area. Did a couple trails and visited a series of ghost towns a couple hundred meters from Mexico. The day ended with me and my buddy camping at the end of a small canyon west of Nogales near Peña Blanca Lake. Overall, it was a good time. No carnage, but I did scrape the bottom of my drivers side LCA on a rock. Me thinks it's time for 33s, especially considering my pending move to the PNW.
Coronado Cave:

Duquesne Road, which parallels the border for 40 miles and terminates in the ghost town of Duquesne.

The X straight chilling on the border:

The border fence. There were cows on the other side, whom I yelled at in Spanish, but to no reply.

Interesting memorial, read the plaque.


Just outside the ghost town of Duquesne

The toughest part of the trip was the Gualajote Flats Trail. It's an old mining road that leads from the southern end of the Huachuca Mountains into the foothills of Patagonia.




The trip ended in Peña Blanca Canyon, where we camped. It's a trail that runs through a dry river wash and cuts its way to Peña Blanca Lake.


All together a fun trip over more than 100 miles of dirt roads and rocky trails.
 

jhberria

Adventurer
Nice pics! Seems like a nice trip with all the fun factors in the path ;)

It was fun, indeed! I'm itching to get on the trails of the Pacific Northwest once I make my move to Washington in a month or so. The desert here is beautiful, but I miss trees and flowing water.
 

Longrange308

Adventurer
Check out Idaho also, if you will be driving though.. So many trails just off the highways that lead to amazingly beautiful places.
 

jhberria

Adventurer
I definitely want to spend some time in Idaho, though it likely won't be on the way up. I plan on spending 4 or 5 years in the PNW, so I'll have time to venture.
 

jhberria

Adventurer
Well, 285s (33s) happened this week. I was tired of catching my LCAs on rocks. I stuck with Duratracs, as this will be my third set on multiple vehicles and they've never failed me and are extremely versatile. I was able to sell my 265s on craigslist in less than 12 hours to cover much of the cost of the 33s.


I took the X down Corral Canyon Trail in Patagonia today to test out the tires and check out the wildlife. Here I am posing:

Heading further up the trail:


Interesting windmill contraption local ranchers use to pump up water for their cattle

Headed back down the canyon, you can see the Huachuca Mountains in the distance, which I live on the other side.

One of the many deer I saw in the canyon. They weren't particularly afraid of people, likely because they don't see too many of us.

look closely, and you'll see a Desert Screech Owl napping in the hollow of that tree. An older couple out bird-watching was nice enough to point it out to me.

I took the scenic route home. No regrets there.
 
Last edited:

jhberria

Adventurer
That looks really cool! I love 33s on the X. Looks like it could conquer just about anything.
Thanks! While the 32s never really kept me from getting where I wanted to go, I can definitely tell the difference the 33s provide in the rocks. They should serve me well when I move up to Washington in a few weeks. You're in Montana, are you going to the Northwest Overland Rally?
 

wreckdiver1321

Overlander
Thanks! While the 32s never really kept me from getting where I wanted to go, I can definitely tell the difference the 33s provide in the rocks. They should serve me well when I move up to Washington in a few weeks. You're in Montana, are you going to the Northwest Overland Rally?

I might, haven't decided for sure yet.
 

jhberria

Adventurer
I'll just be settling in the new house in Washington during that time, but I think I'm going to hit it anyways. It'll get me familiarized with the 'scene' up there.
 

gophere

Adventurer
Oh, haha those tires look great man!
Loved the feel of the duratracs when I had them on my montero.

Just ordered a set of ko2s to be here on tuesday in the 265 flavor.
I want 285s but talked myself out of it.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
185,883
Messages
2,879,162
Members
225,450
Latest member
Rinzlerz
Top