1994 Hilux Surf 'Sasquatch' - few pics

[pyemaster]

Thought I'd put up a few pics from a recent Portugal trip - 4,000km in 10 days all up, including a couple of 16-hour, 1,100km legs on the way back up.

Did loads of off-road exploration when down there, and some of it some pretty extreme tracks through wilderness areas, tackling soft sand tracks, eucalyptus jungles, high ridgeline tracks, river crossings, logging access tracks, steep mountain climbs and descents, pine forests, 900m moorland (including the highest point in southern Portugal where you can see 60 miles to both the south and west coasts), cliff tracks to beaches, deep gulleys, washouts and boulders.

Owen

 

[Michael Montgomery]

Looks like a whale of a time there Owen.....Nice truck setup you have there

 

[garygiles1963]

Nice trip, great pics. Did have issues wild camping? How long agao did you do the trip?

G.

 

[Iwan]

Looks a great time out there Owen, the surf's looking dandy mate!

 

[pyemaster]

Thanks fellas, yeah had a great time, and really pleased with how the truck handled the tracks in the Serra de Monchique mountain range and on the more extreme west coast tracks - first gear low and it monstered everything!

Some very loose, steep, rocky climbs, and it just crawled up with no wheel spin or drama at all. Very impressed. Likewise on the downs, some of them I was having second thoughts on, but I trusted the low COG and tyre pressures, and it was like a mountain goat picking its way down (helped hugely by my mate on the radios spotting in fairness). Getting the wrong line off some of those rock steps and I'd have been on my lid hundreds of feet below!

No probs wild camping, did it every night both in and out of national parks areas. Checked the fire risk online and all areas were low, so we could safely have a fire each night on the pit (keeping it elevated). Camped up in pine forests near the west coast, and off cliff top tracks on the south coast. There are literally thousands of tracks spilling out in all directions, and the Portuguese authorities are more than happy to have you go off and explore at your own risk. They presume you have experience, comms and self-recovery kit on board, all of which of course we did. It's very much like WA in the tracks, the coast, the surf, the weather and their attitude to four wheel driving.

The trip was in late October / early November Gary.

Owen

 

[garygiles1963]

Amazing thanks fo the info, did you use your winch at all?

G.

 

[pyemaster]

The only time we needed to winch was heading up a very steep, off-cambered track back up from one beach, with a 4ft deep washout across it, leaving a very precarious axle-twister going up to the right about the same height as the bonnet.

I had to get my mate to jump on the front left corner to stop the whole thing tipping back over to the right rear, and tumbling down the steep track.

Unfortunately there was nothing to winch off in front (no trees or large rocks, just desert scrub). So we track built for hours into the night, used the lift-mate to Hi-lift each of the rear wheels high enough to get some big rocks underneath, but even with that, and four recovery boards, we just couldn't get up and over the last little bit.

Ended up getting a dozen half-cut travellers, surfers and hippies having a fire on the beach to come and push us the last 3ft, and wahey! Back in business!

Owen

 

[garygiles1963]

what a great adventure.

Was this the south west coast?

G.

 

[pyemaster]

Yep, as far south west as you can go in continental Europe

Owen

 

[garygiles1963]

HI

Thanks.

G.

 

[Shayne]

Gotta say them pics really bring it to life and i will be the unforgiven for saying your truck looks more cuiser than a cruiser in them

 

[pyemaster]

Haha thanks chap! I'll definitely take that as a compliment!

Edit: It reminds me of a quote a friend of a friend said: "That truck is borderline special forces issue." Considering he used to be SBS and would helicopter drop at night into the Colombian jungle in teams of 6 to neutralise Pablo Escobar drug factories, I'll take that!

Owen

 

[AndyCook]

Superb, look like you had a great trip,
Nice trails
Been up Monchique mountains in a normalcy hire car once

Good to see you drinking the local brew - sagres

 

[Shayne]

"That truck is borderline special forces issue."

Must have been my trailer i think but police looked long and hard at me on the Romanian border before deciding to ask Nick in the 80 behind if i was military transport and waving me through without a word

 

[pyemaster]

New bumper on ...

Owen

 

[clivehorridge]

Great photos Owen, thanks for posting.

Those steep tracks certainly look tempting

 

[nick_the_fish]

Great photos Owen. Love the ones on the beach, especially with the shore break.

Looks like you got onto some hardcore trails out there. Presumably you have a lot of experience off-roading? Do the trails have a ratings system similar to the trails in the US? Or is it a case of head off and see what you find?

Thanks for sharing.

 

[pyemaster]

Thanks Clive, hello Nick.

Yeah I've done a fair bit of off roading, mainly in Australia, the Alps and Spain, but Portugal is right up there I reckon, unbelievable tracks and a very relaxed attitude by the authorities who are more than happy for you to go explore (unlike Germany!)

I have used Wikiloc for tracks before but don't like the recording function so stopped using it. Nowadays I just use Google maps on satellite / terrain view for specific tracks, or just follow my nose. In Oz we used paper maps and to be fair I still use them for back up (it's just European signal is broadly good enough for Google maps now, and it's easy and free, so I go for that).

Hope that helps.

Owen