Well,
The last time I pulled the campah with the jeep I was so unhappy because of the severe vibrations under load, and on ANY grade at all. On even slights hills on the highway I couldnt keep 55mph because the truck was vibrating so bad.
Flash forward past the new unicorn axle and all that crap, and we arrive at present day. My girl wants to take her family camping when they come visit in a few weeks, so I figured it made a good excuse to take a shake down run.
The plan: Load up the wag with me, her, the dog, and whatever crap we needed, swing by work to pick up the campah, then head for cooler climates. Specifically Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. Spring Mountain National Recreation Area. Mt. Charleston, if you will. There is an area called Mack's Canyon that is more or less "open" camping. Take a long and winding dirt road that ends at a group camp site, but has many nice little spots along it, away from people and away from the main road.
Lets do this!
Loaded up, gassed up, drove across the city and grabbed the Campah (which thankfully was on the way).
We are headed somewhere up in them thar mountains:
Here's the thing that worried me, and here's what we were here to test...
We turned off the highway at around 3000' elevation, and after the 14 miles to Macks Canyon, we would be right around 7600'. Macks Canyon Road goes varies roughly around 7600'-8300' in elevation. I dunno, but gaining 5000' in 14 miles seems like a bit of a grade!
For a while, I was having no issues keeping 45mph headed up the hill. I wasnt trying to push it. It was about 104* that day, and we had just pulled a ways on the highway also slightly up hill from the city. To the trucks credit, it never crossed 210* the whole time. Temp gauge was hovering between 195* and 205* and about 3/4ths of the way there (just passed 6000' mark), it started acting up. Every few seconds it would lag for a fraction of a second, like a hiccup. I tried to get on the gas more, and it just was coughing and sputtering, and smelled odd. I'm assuming at this point the carb was just heat soaked and I was boiling fuel? Got to the point where I pulled over, let the truck idle for about 2 minutes, then got back on the road. Stayed in 2nd gear, and couldn't go much past 30mph, but it was running smooth enough. Guess the hill and the camper were just too much for the old girl.
In the past, going up the hill sans trailer, it was a struggle to keep 45mph, so I guess this is par for the course? Oh well, we pressed on.
Soon, we saw the turn off for Macks Canyon. Thats pretty much the "story" part of the story. The rest was a normal trip that went well!
Desert way below!
Soon I got camp set up
Somebody was happy:
The whole dang time he kept trying to eat flys that were buzzing around. Dummy.
Decided to go for a little walk, again, you can see the desert floor way down there.
Just me and the dog.
We've really been enjoying the little old pop up.
What kind of camping trip is it without a cigar and PBR?
Somebody was nice enough to whip up a batch of chili
While somebody was clearly all tuckered out...
It cooled down to the 60's at night but nothing bad.
Woke up, I cooked some eggs up and reheated a little chili, made a pot of coffee, it was a good morning. It was probably the most I've ever slept in on a camping trip. didnt wake until about 8am.
We loaded up, and headed out around 10:30
Gives a good idea of the elevation, with the valley floor wayyyyy down there.
The road isnt bad but there are a few spots we had to go pretty slow with the camper. I had taken my dodge magnum up in here before, and some fairly basic vehicles were driving in and out. Still, being away from the road is what our goal was, and there were only a handfull of cars that passed our campsite.
Back to pavement and headed doooowwwwnnnn. These pics kind of give the idea of how high we were, which you never notice on the way up.
down
down....
and finally back to the valley floor on the highway.
Headed home it was about 102* and she pulled like a champ once we got off the mountain. It's just them big ole hills that get her I guess.
So, that was my weekend! Thanks for reading!
Cool truck though.
