Applejack
Explorer
I sketched out a kind of spur of the moment plan to hit the Alvord desert for the peak of the Perseid meteor shower on August 12th. After a day there we would head up into the overshadowing Steens mountains until the 15th and then return home My thought was that this would give my daughter one more trip out this summer before heading back to school, and also she has been begging me to let her drive, and what better place is there for a 12 year old to learn?
I had asked if David Ramirez (DaveRami) and his wife would like to join since we've been trying to come together on some trips, since they only live 70 or so miles away. And as luck would have it they were able to join us at least for one day in the Steens mountains
Wednesday came with news that my friend Scott who is living with us but travels most of the time,would be coming home that evening and would like to join us as well. GREAT!! Only one problem, space was already filling up fast and I did not want to take our trailer. So it was decided that we'd try our best to pack light like backpackers to get all our gear in the 4runner sans the trailer.
With a little cramming here and a little jamming there, we got it all to fit.
200+lbs in the Thule MOAB basket on top, 100lb German Shepherd in the back along with about 150lbs more of our gear, and we were set to jet.
The traveling was slow but uneventful and I swear that someone stretched Hwy 140 to Denio, NV an extra 65 miles.
Along the way we did meet these weary travelers. It looked like they'd been on the trail a loooong time, and weren't much for talking.
About six and a half hours into our trip we reached Fields, OR and topped off the tank. I was greatly surprised to be averaging nearly 19mpg the whole way there.
After the top off we hit the road for a few miles out of town and came to our destination, The Alvord Desert.
We pulled off some chairs had a beer and wandered a bit by foot to investigate what appeared to be a very wet surface in some places.
It wasn't wet but shiny, and after finding that the bugs liked the grassy area as much as we did, we moved out further out onto the playa.
It was already to decided that we'd sleep with our pads on the ground to enjoy the full view of the brilliant night sky.
Unfortunately I don't have a camera that can capture the evening sky, but I did get the moon setting and I rose early and did my best to capture the early light.
More to come...............
I had asked if David Ramirez (DaveRami) and his wife would like to join since we've been trying to come together on some trips, since they only live 70 or so miles away. And as luck would have it they were able to join us at least for one day in the Steens mountains
Wednesday came with news that my friend Scott who is living with us but travels most of the time,would be coming home that evening and would like to join us as well. GREAT!! Only one problem, space was already filling up fast and I did not want to take our trailer. So it was decided that we'd try our best to pack light like backpackers to get all our gear in the 4runner sans the trailer.
With a little cramming here and a little jamming there, we got it all to fit.
200+lbs in the Thule MOAB basket on top, 100lb German Shepherd in the back along with about 150lbs more of our gear, and we were set to jet.
The traveling was slow but uneventful and I swear that someone stretched Hwy 140 to Denio, NV an extra 65 miles.
Along the way we did meet these weary travelers. It looked like they'd been on the trail a loooong time, and weren't much for talking.
About six and a half hours into our trip we reached Fields, OR and topped off the tank. I was greatly surprised to be averaging nearly 19mpg the whole way there.
After the top off we hit the road for a few miles out of town and came to our destination, The Alvord Desert.
We pulled off some chairs had a beer and wandered a bit by foot to investigate what appeared to be a very wet surface in some places.
It wasn't wet but shiny, and after finding that the bugs liked the grassy area as much as we did, we moved out further out onto the playa.
It was already to decided that we'd sleep with our pads on the ground to enjoy the full view of the brilliant night sky.
Unfortunately I don't have a camera that can capture the evening sky, but I did get the moon setting and I rose early and did my best to capture the early light.
More to come...............
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