Moose, Meteor Showers 16-Year-Old in an FJ40
Moose, Meteor Showers & a 16-Year-Old in an FJ40
A convoy through Yellowstone. Bears in Lamar Valley. Sharp Beartooth rock. One highly motivated moose. And a 1971 Land Cruiser with the youngest driver in the group.
Point the Cruisers toward Cooke City.
Every good 406 Cruisers trip begins with a convoy, a full tank, and the collective belief that ten old Toyotas moving through Yellowstone will somehow remain on schedule.
The 2026 Cooke City / Goose Lake run took the club south from Bozeman, through Gardiner and Yellowstone, across Lamar Valley, and toward Cooke City. Traffic in the park was measured in wildlife, tourists, and the occasional bear-induced traffic jam. In other words: normal Yellowstone operating conditions.
Past Cooke City, pavement gave way to the rocky high country of the Beartooths. The air got thinner. The views got bigger. The rocks got sharper. The radio chatter became approximately thirty percent useful trail information and seventy percent people admiring the scenery while pretending they were still concentrating.
Mark's 200 Series got chased by a moose.
The night before the club run, a young moose chased Mark's 200 Series. That is the entire fact, and frankly it does not need improvement.
Most people prepare for a trail run by checking fluids and airing up the spare. Mark apparently added “confirm the Land Cruiser can outrun an adolescent ungulate” to the inspection sheet.
By departure time, the moose had moved on, the 200 Series remained intact, and the story had already become required campfire material. Yellowstone and Lamar Valley supplied the rest of the bears and wildlife, because apparently the Beartooths had decided this trip needed a supporting cast.
The Beartooths do not believe in flat ground.
Goose Lake is not the hardest trail in Montana, but it has enough sharp rock, ledges and awkward lines to keep a convoy honest. The larger trucks picked their way through. Spotters found the good lines. Tires found every pointy object in Carbon County.
Above 9,000 feet, the trail opens into the kind of landscape that makes a person stop talking mid-sentence. Granite bowls. Cold blue lakes. Endless ridgelines. Old Land Cruisers scattered across the mountain like Toyota had launched them from orbit.
Sunset out. Meteor shower on.
The final daylight stretched across the lakes and ridgelines until the Beartooths turned orange, red and then black. Engines cooled. Camp settled down. The sky took over.
Away from city lights, shooting stars cut through the dark during the meteor shower. Nobody needed an app. Nobody needed a screen. You just looked up and waited for the next streak.
During the day, Goose Lake makes the trucks look small. At night, the sky makes everything look small. Even a 200 Series. Even Mark's moose story. Almost.
The oldest truck carried the youngest driver.
The blue-and-white 1971 FJ40 had been a father-and-son project from the beginning. The Prospector chose the idea. Then he grew into the truck.
He helped wrench on it. He learned its lines. He learned how an old 40 moves differently from a 100 Series. By 2026, at sixteen years old, he was no longer posing next to somebody else's old Land Cruiser.
He was driving the 1971 FJ40 through the Beartooths while a convoy of adults followed behind him.
The old F engine ran a little rich above 9,000 feet, but it did the job. The Prospector's dad was officially reassigned to co-pilot. That is the kind of demotion a father remembers forever.
It was the coming-of-age story.
Toyota Trails, we're looking at you.
Somewhere between the moose chase, the meteor shower and a sixteen-year-old wheeling a 1971 FJ40 through the Beartooths, it occurred to us that this might finally be the year TLCA has to put us in Toyota Trails.
Preferably on the cover.
We've been subtle long enough.
If this doesn't qualify, I'm not entirely sure what they're waiting for.
Threads, history & more 406 Cruisers.
Read the original trip planning, follow the FJ40's father-and-son build story, or dig through the AaronGoesFast archive for more Montana Land Cruiser adventures.
