Imnosaint
Adventurer
We've been moto-camping for years, living in a mixed marriage of motorcycles; she on her Sportster 1200L and he on his CBR 1100 XX. We've manage to tote along enough to keep us warm, dry and fed, logging 20k miles throughout the West. Sleeping rarely came easy, though, and while eating out of a pouch saves on clean-up, we missed real outdoor cooking.
Life events changed the way we get around, now in a third generation Montero/Pajero/Shogun that gets the same mileage of our motorcycles combined. We've been building and outfitting for the last couple of months preparing to leave asphalt behind and explore our own backyard, the Grand Staircase National Monument.
We decided our first excursion with our newly acquired kit would be to the end of the world, or at least the Arizona Strip, the Toroweap Overlook and campground, nestled above a 3000 foot drop to the Colorado River.
We left St. George, Utah, Saturday taking the Main Street route, BLM roads 1069 and 5 from St. George, about 90 miles to Toroweap, Arizona, most of which is off-road.
Our trip back was the Sunshine route, BLM 109 to Highway 389, a few miles east of Pipe Springs.
We arrived late afternoon and established our camp.
In about ten minutes we had it all up, including a shower/changing room. The roof-top tent goes up in seconds, along with the awning. The kitchen deploys with pedestals for stoves or coolers along with a canvas wash basin under a removable work surface.
We didn't know what to do with ourselves having grown-up camping gear compared to what we pack on the motorcycles.
One improvised item is a heavy-duty garden sprayer I converted to a shower by replacing the hose and sprayer with a food-grade tube and shower head from an old solar shower. Pumped up it provided great water pressure for washing dishes and showering.
We broke-in the kitchen with grilled chicken, sauteed squash and rice. A real meal not consumed out of a bag.
After dinner we hiked down to the overlook to take a few photos. Found these natural tubs along the way.
The Toroweap Overlook at golden hour.
You don't take a step anywhere near the edge without second-guessing the canyon wall's integrity. It all has the look of giving way at any moment. We talked about what kind of sign the National Park Service might erect were this the case and decided on, "Natural Selection in Progress."
Three thousand feet to the river. Made us jealous of the wind swallows, the California Condors and the ravens.
Back at camp we relaxed a bit and watched the stars unveil and climbed up to our roof-top nest and turned in. Comfortable.
The wind picked up later taking the awning down. We rolled it up and tucked it away and admired the Milky Way, the half-moon having gone past the horizon.
Life events changed the way we get around, now in a third generation Montero/Pajero/Shogun that gets the same mileage of our motorcycles combined. We've been building and outfitting for the last couple of months preparing to leave asphalt behind and explore our own backyard, the Grand Staircase National Monument.
We decided our first excursion with our newly acquired kit would be to the end of the world, or at least the Arizona Strip, the Toroweap Overlook and campground, nestled above a 3000 foot drop to the Colorado River.
We left St. George, Utah, Saturday taking the Main Street route, BLM roads 1069 and 5 from St. George, about 90 miles to Toroweap, Arizona, most of which is off-road.
Our trip back was the Sunshine route, BLM 109 to Highway 389, a few miles east of Pipe Springs.
We arrived late afternoon and established our camp.
In about ten minutes we had it all up, including a shower/changing room. The roof-top tent goes up in seconds, along with the awning. The kitchen deploys with pedestals for stoves or coolers along with a canvas wash basin under a removable work surface.
We didn't know what to do with ourselves having grown-up camping gear compared to what we pack on the motorcycles.
One improvised item is a heavy-duty garden sprayer I converted to a shower by replacing the hose and sprayer with a food-grade tube and shower head from an old solar shower. Pumped up it provided great water pressure for washing dishes and showering.
We broke-in the kitchen with grilled chicken, sauteed squash and rice. A real meal not consumed out of a bag.
After dinner we hiked down to the overlook to take a few photos. Found these natural tubs along the way.
The Toroweap Overlook at golden hour.
You don't take a step anywhere near the edge without second-guessing the canyon wall's integrity. It all has the look of giving way at any moment. We talked about what kind of sign the National Park Service might erect were this the case and decided on, "Natural Selection in Progress."
Three thousand feet to the river. Made us jealous of the wind swallows, the California Condors and the ravens.
Back at camp we relaxed a bit and watched the stars unveil and climbed up to our roof-top nest and turned in. Comfortable.
The wind picked up later taking the awning down. We rolled it up and tucked it away and admired the Milky Way, the half-moon having gone past the horizon.
