Travelling Light, poking into the sweet spots of the southwest minimalist style.

[haven]

Great trip report on your blog! 22 mpg for 200 miles of dirt roads is enough to make us all envious. I'm looking forward to your next report.

 

[upcruiser]

Great trip report on your blog! 22 mpg for 200 miles of dirt roads is enough to make us all envious. I'm looking forward to your next report.

Thanks Chip! Yeah, 22 with the XT. I would suspect a standard Outback with a manual tranny could easily have averaged 25 since the 2.5 turbos are pretty thirsty. They are a blast to drive though with 250hp and 250ft/lbs of torque. The only main difference dropping down to a standard Outback would be loosing the lsd rear diff. The car worked great though. Without having the bikes and gear this weekend we fit everything easily behind the second row of seats. The Legacy wagons can swallow quite alot of stuff, especially compared to a Forester. Now with all of this said, I would love to have seen how my dream setup would have faired with mileage. A 4banger '05+ Tacoma regular cab with a fwc shell or AT Flippac. I suspect with a small lift and slightly larger AT tires one could be close to what we did mpg-wise. Only one way to find out though, going to have to give it a try some day! ;-)

 

[upcruiser]

Slot Canyons, nature's chutes and ladders.

Had an amazing weekend in the south edge of the Swell and Capitol Reef National Park playing in slot canyons, here's a few teaser pics...

The rest of the pics and writeup are here.....

http://kristiansaile.wordpress.com/

 

[BigSwede]

Awesome, I've been wanting to hike some slot canyons.

 

[Imnosaint]

Great report. I enjoyed your prose and photography. Zion is a special place.

 

[upcruiser]

Thanks guys. Imnosaint, I am going to be down in your neck of the woods tomorrow for a bit of mountain biking. Riding Gooseberry Mesa again. Love those trails.

 

[Imnosaint]

Thanks guys. Imnosaint, I am going to be down in your neck of the woods tomorrow for a bit of mountain biking. Riding Gooseberry Mesa again. Love those trails.

PM if you're in town for lunch or dinner. I'll spring for Cafe Rio.

 

[Imnosaint]

Better yet, if you're around this evening you might want to catch a free screening of this:


It's at 7:00p at the Red Cliffs Cinema.

 

[upcruiser]

PM if you're in town for lunch or dinner. I'll spring for Cafe Rio.

Ah, thanks for the offer! I am already back to SLC. Went down super early yesterday morning and slept out under the stars last night on Gooseberry. Got some good riding in. Didn't actually venture into St George at all. I will probably be back down that way to ride again this month I imagine. That screening looked to be pretty good.

 

[upcruiser]

Here are some pictures and a brief writeup from the mountain biking outing on Gooseberry Mesa with Sinuhue a couple of weeks ago. Trying to get the blog caught up. Teaser shots...

The rest are here in the blog...
http://kristiansaile.wordpress.com/2012/05/16/travelling-light-part-v-midweek-mtb-assault/

Next up, we head out tomorrow for Overland Expo and some sights along the way.

 

[upcruiser]

Travelling Light Part VI; Extraterrestrials, Expo, and Excellent Times on N Rim

I just finished up a monster writeup on our trip down to Overland Expo and the adventures along the way. As always a ton of photos and our experiences at the event too.

A few teasers..

And the link for the full report

http://kristiansaile.wordpress.com/...ls-expo-and-excellent-times-on-the-north-rim/

 

[1leglance]

wow that was a mega write up and worth reading...
the pics were super and I like the coverage before, during & after OX12...nicely done and big thanks

 

[upcruiser]

Thanks Lance. I was hoping to say hi but every time I saw you, you were talking to folks. Popular guy. ;-) Love your burb btw. Some cool old iron in that group of rigs!

 

[1leglance]

Ok next time Kristian just come on up and wave to get my attention
I am always talking to someone it seems, if not a person, then a tree, rock or myself

I look forward to getting up to Utah before you are gone as it would be great to see your simple overlanding style in action...and you have great taste in travel companions

 

[upcruiser]

If you get up to the SLC area let us know. I am headed to NY Monday for 5 days then around a few before heading to Oregon on the 14th. I should be back around the 23rd then. We were talking about going to Columbia for a proper vacay late June but not certain yet. After that I am heading back to Michigan to get my fix of fresh water! I have been home exactly 6 days since last October, its time for me to get back and see if the house is still standing. Yikes.