Toyota 4X4 Trail Rides - Toyotas Take Paragon

Much of the rockcrawling in the area consists of large surface boulders and rock slabs. The better set-up Toyotas were equipped with extra-Low transfer case gears to allow for smoother creeping.

The event is not actually confined to 4Runners, or Toyotas for that matter. Randy Bombase from Virginia Beach, Virginia, piloted Toyotas for years, but his current ride is an '04 Jeep. Locked, lifted, and off-road treaded, his TJ made short work of the rocky trails and ledges.

We found a fairly new trail named Turtle's Revenge cut back into the hilly recesses of the park. This route has some nice challenges. Broderick Pfetzing used his 36-inch Swampers and ARBs to get his '84 4Runner up and over this stairstep ledge and down the drop on the other side.

When it rains, it puddles. Then, puddles turn to pits. We managed to find a few water troughs and mud holes, and some in our group couldn't leave well enough alone. The park at Paragon is scenic and offers a wide variety of trails from mild to extreme. Rain and wet terrain can certainly take them all up a notch or two in difficulty.

Most everyone carries at least a few spare parts, and if you drive your rig on the road a spare driveshaft may be in order. This 4Runner owner found a handy way to store a spare 'shaft by tucking it between his rock rail and door.

No trail run or event is without some breakage or a trail incident. We had a rig lose one of the hex axle drain plugs. If you wheel a Toyota, you'd best consider tack-welding the hex plug or converting to the low-profile ones that don't drag on the rocks.

Strip your rig, tube it, and make it lighter. That's what local wheeler Eric Neustadter had in mind when he built up his third-generation truck. With the sheetmetal bed gone and a tube structure in its place, Eric could concentrate on pushing the 37-inch Pit Bull Rockers up the trail and past some pretty gnarly obstacles.

Jason Durand impressed us with his IFS truck at last year's event, but his rig sprouted legs since then. He torched away the old suspension and slid a solid front axle in its place, meanwhile making room to run 36-inch Swampers and get some good articulation. The Virginia wheeler also counts on his Inchworm transfer case gearing and a spooled rear axle to help him navigate the obstacles.

Saturday morning our group hit the PAJ Trail, which has some huge rock slabs and interesting obstacles. This '99 Tacoma belongs to Sean Horgan and makes good trail progress equipped with dual ARB lockers, Cornfed suspension mods, and a warmed-over 2.7L engine.