VanWaLife
Active member
I'm finally doing it. I'm finally starting a thread to document my adventures and non-adventures rattling around the PNW and beyond.
About my rig: I got her in '01. I call her Old Blue Midnight (she was Old Blue until I rhino-lined the bed and went with a satin paint job). She's a 1985 Toyota Hilux Camper Special. At least that's what the emblems on the tailgate say...
About me: Born in Santa Cruz, California, I am a professional engineer living in downtown Vancouver, Washington. I love the natural world around me and occasionally get of the couch to explore it.
There is an irony built into my VanWaLife moniker; here you will not find seamless edits and perfect shots documenting a blissful life lived in a van. What you will find here is dirtier, more dysfunctional, and sloppier. If you know anything about Vancouver, it all makes perfect ironic sense.
So to kick things off I'm posting about a recent camping trip on Swale Canyon in Klickitat County, Washington. I own some land out there and spent a few days scouting and getting ready for turkey season. As this is my first post, I'm starting with a few videos that show my camping setup:
This is what I would call the full-blown glamping setup, and it takes about a half hour to get everything set up, probably double that to pack back up. If I'm just out for a quick overnight, I generally just throw the stove on the tailgate, pop the tent up, and enjoy.
Aside from making and breaking camp, on this trip I mostly spent my time clearing a new camping area and scrambling up and down the unforgiving slopes of Swale Canyon looking for turkeys and other critters. The Swale Canyon rail trail is a lesser known but quite stunning hike near Goldendale, Washington. The rail trail hooks up with the Klickitat trail, creating 40 miles of trail. I have not hiked the whole trail...one of these days. This is a great time of year for Swale Canyon; a little cold, maybe. But the ticks and rattlesnakes hate the cold much more than I do.
This is what it looks like from the top of the canyon.
And this is what it looks like lower down. Most of the waterways in the area flow south into the Columbia River. Swale Creek is separated from the Columbia River by Stacker Butte; it flows north to the Klickitat River.
One final point of interest before I post this thread. I came across this very old can bushwhacking down the canyon:
Not knowing what sheep dip is or how it is used, I did a google. It turns out this is not a cure-all for humans made from sheep (my first thought) but rather insecticide/fungicide used on sheep to cure, according to the label, scabs, itches, sore throats, etc. etc. Hmmm, well interesting to come across anyhow.
About my rig: I got her in '01. I call her Old Blue Midnight (she was Old Blue until I rhino-lined the bed and went with a satin paint job). She's a 1985 Toyota Hilux Camper Special. At least that's what the emblems on the tailgate say...
About me: Born in Santa Cruz, California, I am a professional engineer living in downtown Vancouver, Washington. I love the natural world around me and occasionally get of the couch to explore it.
There is an irony built into my VanWaLife moniker; here you will not find seamless edits and perfect shots documenting a blissful life lived in a van. What you will find here is dirtier, more dysfunctional, and sloppier. If you know anything about Vancouver, it all makes perfect ironic sense.
So to kick things off I'm posting about a recent camping trip on Swale Canyon in Klickitat County, Washington. I own some land out there and spent a few days scouting and getting ready for turkey season. As this is my first post, I'm starting with a few videos that show my camping setup:
This is what I would call the full-blown glamping setup, and it takes about a half hour to get everything set up, probably double that to pack back up. If I'm just out for a quick overnight, I generally just throw the stove on the tailgate, pop the tent up, and enjoy.
Aside from making and breaking camp, on this trip I mostly spent my time clearing a new camping area and scrambling up and down the unforgiving slopes of Swale Canyon looking for turkeys and other critters. The Swale Canyon rail trail is a lesser known but quite stunning hike near Goldendale, Washington. The rail trail hooks up with the Klickitat trail, creating 40 miles of trail. I have not hiked the whole trail...one of these days. This is a great time of year for Swale Canyon; a little cold, maybe. But the ticks and rattlesnakes hate the cold much more than I do.
This is what it looks like from the top of the canyon.
And this is what it looks like lower down. Most of the waterways in the area flow south into the Columbia River. Swale Creek is separated from the Columbia River by Stacker Butte; it flows north to the Klickitat River.
One final point of interest before I post this thread. I came across this very old can bushwhacking down the canyon:
Not knowing what sheep dip is or how it is used, I did a google. It turns out this is not a cure-all for humans made from sheep (my first thought) but rather insecticide/fungicide used on sheep to cure, according to the label, scabs, itches, sore throats, etc. etc. Hmmm, well interesting to come across anyhow.
