North American Ramblings of a Perpetual Transient

[upcruiser]

We had another great evening with a campfire that night, sad to know we had to start the journey back to Moab in the morning. Alyssa had to get back to work and we had to get her back to her car where we left it in Moab.

Last morning at Toroweep, making breakfast in the enclosure. It is nice for when the conditions aren't ideal and or you need an escape from the sun. We were stoked though that Walt's weather predictions were wrong. The previous day and night ended up being calm and beautiful. So glad we stayed. We got camp packed up fairly quickly. I love how much more efficiently setup and breakdown is with two people who know what they are doing versus doing it solo. SO nice. Again, the damn zipper is not making things easy on the cover. With alot of coaxing and the use of my leatherman we get it zipped to the back, but with some teeth not engaging. Kind of a pain in the butt.

We chatted with this family briefly. A husband and wife with two teenage daughters, loaded up with their camping gear into their Baja Bug and setup at Toroweep. LOVE IT! Brings back memories of my camping trips with my dad and brother in our Volkswagen Thing. Note to self, I really, really want to get an old late '60's Beetle someday...

Getting back on the dirt road back out we immediately got behind a procession of three slow moving vehicles. They were some hikers from New Mexico that had camped near us. Not that I travel at prerunner speeds or anything but their 20mph speeds and huge cloud of dust was getting old fast. I was surprised that they didn't yield and pull over and it took me the action of pulling up and around to pass to get them to realize that maybe they should pull off and let me by. This was after 10 painful miles of sucking dust. Once past we didn't see another vehicle the rest of the way back to pavement. We stopped in Kanab to grab some grub from a cafe and then had a great time driving pavement up highway 89 to highway 12 driving through the area near Bryce Canyon, Escalante, Capitol Reef, and through the town of Boulder. I was curious to see Boulder as Sinuhe has mentioned it being such a great area. What a great mix of scenery. I really wished I was driving a Porsche though and not an overladen, top heavy Disco on skinny tires. That is some serious world class sports car (or sports bike) road there. Regardless it was still fun in the Discovery. I can see the appeal of Boulder, with the red rock to the south, the forests and mountainous terrain to the north and the expanse of land I really need to explore to the east towards the Henry Mountains. Looks super cool.

Self portrait at a pull off north of Boulder looking east towards the Henry Mountains.

We rolled into Moab around 7pm and grabbed some food. I really had no plan other than to work my way west. Alyssa suggested coming up to SLC. This worked well as the office for my work is in Park City and I have friends in SLC that it would be great to see. So after eating, we climbed into our vehicles and headed north. The Disco will cruise 80mph pretty effortlessy with the 4.6 but with my setup it nets single digit mpg's at those speeds. I try to keep it under 65mph in an effort to get closer to 15. She has a nice little Outback XT that can burn up miles without breaking a sweat. In a display of true patience, she followed me at what must have been a painful 60-65mph all the way back to SLC that night. It was a long day in a car with such a huge mix of scenery, made it all worth it.

My next major thing I needed to do was be in Mammoth Mountain, CA again for our first training camp for the upcoming 2011 season. I had just over a week..... I ended up spending an entire week in SLC. It was nice just laying low, catching up with some friends, working on the truck a bit, and catching up with some work at our offices in Park City.

The Disco has been great. The bushing replacement did the trick and aside from the oil leak from the front main seal the truck was running like a top. I can't say enough good things about the Discovery I platform. It is comfortable, capable, and a great place to take in the passing country side from. I have never once felt concern for being stranded anywhere as you might seem to imagine when you hear folks ranting about how awful Land Rovers are. Yes they have their issues, but an early DI is a mechanically stout truck that begs to be used hard. I did an oil change, switched to a high mileage Valvoline blend with additives in an effort to curb the oil leak, shook out the air filter which was caked with find dust and silt from the trip so far. I also spent some time tightening up hardware on the roof basket which from time to time gets some rattles. I also discovered my power steering pump bracket had come loose. That was it. Good to go.

Taking in some sights of SLC, being a total tourist and loving every minute of it. Epic trips aren't just about getting out to some super remote place and camping, I find the contrasts of the natural landscapes followed by some local culture to be fun. Pictured here is the Temple.

The capital building is an impressive structure as well.

I caught up with one of my best buds Ethan. He is big bmx'er and lives with Matt Berringer who needs no introduction for those into the bmx/dirt jumping scene. Their house in Layton is insane. This is kind of a crappy 360 degree pano of the garage which is completely bowled and painted like a dart board.... The back yard is
a dirt jumping zone that is hard to describe, rather than try, here is a vid I found on youtube that shows it a bit with them riding in it...



Ethan and I grew up together and he was the guitar player in our band (I played drums). We bmx'ed and played music like crazy, all fun stuff. We haven't gotten to jam in awhile so, of course, in the basement of their place he had a drum set and his equipment, and we shredded for awhile. Felt great.

with one of his prized guitars...

He's an electronics wiz too, this is one of his amps he builds... 3 EL34 power tubes, 100 watts of loving

 

[upcruiser]

So I ended up spending the better part of a week in SLC and only gave myself two days to get over to Mammoth Mountain. The plan was to check some stuff out on the way over...

First place was the Bonnieville Salt Flats. I have driven by here numerous timest but never checked it out. It was a warm sunny day and after driving a ways out onto the flats and stopping to take some shots and just take it in, I realized just how intense the sun is out there! The sun reflecting off the sun is similar to what you get on snow or standing on a glacier in direct sunlight, the glare at mid day is insane.

I set the offical overland vehicle top speed record at .014 Mach. Kind of fun to just drive in a big circle out there for the heck of it too.

Giving Dave a little Trasharoo shout out too. It is so nice not keep my garbage and waste in the truck on these warm days!

Definately a cool contrast with the distant mountains, the salt and a set of tire tracks. I was driving back off of the salt flats and noticed a van in the distance that didn't look right. I pulled out my binoculars and saw why, it was a large Dodge Sprinter mired up to the frame in the back in a soft area on the flats with a few people standing around it. I drove out to see if I could offer a hand. It turned out to be a the Line Skis Travelling Circus, a crew of freeskiers and film crew that were travelling to Tahoe to shoot a ski film. They pulled off onto the flats to take some footage on the bleak landscape. Problem was they got into an area that was soggy and soft and their rear wheel drive Sprinter got hopelessy stuck. Even with the Disco I was sinking a bit on the surface. I offered to try and tow them out but they had already contacted a towing service that was brining a dozer to come pull them out. Good call because I could see the futility of me trying to budge that thing on that surface with the Rover. I wished them luck and got back on my way. I burned up some miles on 93 then 6 across Nevada. I wanted to get to an area that looked intriguing on the map, Lunar Crater. After finding the dirt road that accesses it 10 miles south of the pavement I blazed down it in the last bit of dusk. It was a calm evening, the road surface had recently been paved so the surface was that fine silty dust. The road was perfectly straight and right at the end as you climb up to Lunar Crater you can see back the entirety of it. I have never seen dust hang in the air like that but all the way back as far as you could see fine dust hung in the air showing the route perfectly that I came in on. I was here, on the edge of the crater but it was just dark enough that I couldn't really see into it or get a sense of how big it was.

Auxilary lights to help with my desert rallying that evening.... I found a nice flat spot on the eastern rim of the crater off of a two track that skirted it. I set up the RTT quickly, and crawled into bed. I would get up at first light and shoot the sunrise. I fell asleep to some tunes on my portable speakers for my ipod.

Sunrise seemed to come quickly. I decided to climb the tall hill to the east side of the crater in order to capture the crater itself. Seeing the crater in the day light was wild. It is 3/4 of a mile across and looks like something out of Deep Impact. It looks like you would imagine a giant meteor strike to, except thats not what it is. It is actually the sit of a violent erruption believed to have been caused by magma mixing into a large subterrainian chamber of water, causing a giant explosion. It is also interesting to note that NASA used this site for testing equipment and astronaut training for its Apollo program.

The hike to the top of the hill yielded this pano shot of crater and surrounding landscape. Absolutely stunning.

This is a zoomed in shot looking down onto the east rim and the Rover just barely visible. I hung out for a bit, not in a huge rush to get rolling this morning. I made breakfast out of the back of the truck and took in the sun. Never once did I see another person the entire time till I returned back to pavement. What a great spot. I really love Nevada. Granted my tune might change in the summer time 110+degree heat but how many places in the lower 48 can you find such vast tracts of undeveloped lands? So vast that you can't even pick up radio stations for large areas. There aren't a ton anymore, that's for sure. This region has a unique, special feel to it, that's for sure.

I continued to make my way west to the Sierras. The team was flying in to Reno and driving down, I was hoping to get there before them and get some of the logistics dialed in.

I love all the little old towns and abandoned gas stations you come across in this stretch of the country. It was a great drive, I had the windows down, good tunes playing, a ribbon of pavement extending over the horizon in front of me, its like the whole landscape is just a metaphor for freedom.

Like a towering, impenetrable wall, the eastern Sierras come into view...

 

[Moody]

It was a great drive, I had the windows down, good tunes playing, a ribbon of pavement extending over the horizon in front of me, its like the whole landscape is just a metaphor for freedom.

I dig. :ylsmoke:

 

[upcruiser]

Back to Mammoth, back to winter again.... Well, its now been a few weeks since I was last in Mammoth. Just like seemingly everywhere this spring, winter was holding on pretty well in the Sierras as well.

And yes, there is still just a touch of snow... even down in town.

Being that this is the first on snow training camp for us for the coming season there typically is alot of work going on. Preparing and testing next year's skis and boots as well as integrating new staff into the team. Me pictured with the skis, while off the hill I spend a GREAT deal of time working on the equipment.

We would be on snow for five days straight with the intentions of doing some speed training and working on jumping. Mother nature really wanted to make things difficult though. We got some pretty heavy snow, high winds and all the stuff that makes for epic free skiing, but lousy training.

One of the mornings as we were training giant slalom right before the weather moved in.

..and things got soft. Julia Ford in the giant slalom course, snow coming down heavy...

I think the Rover was even a touch sad being thrust back into winter.

Despite the weather we still got to go off some of the jumps. Laurenne Ross off of the Gremlin's jump during super g training.

A few sunny mornings for sure!

The five days flew by. Our last day on snow was a beauty. By the time I got packed up and done with work it was 5pm and the plan was to hit Mono Lake for the night.

 

[Trail Outfitters]

Good to hear from you Scott! Yeah, the snow was mostly gone from that route we attempted before getting turned around. How's the 60 running? The shot of your Chinook airing out the front wheel on Elephant Hill is still one of my favorites from that trip!

Did anyone ever here how Tom with the Tacoma's trip to Panama went? I am so curious.

Ride on I really wanted to go through that section. I'm sure the Chinook would still be there if we did. 60 is ok, just having smog issues as usual. Just grafted a VW pop up top on it! I always have to be different!

Yeah that was a cool picture. I had a blast hanging off your bumper on that trail. You guys were a lot of fun to travel with. I love all the pics from that waterfall spot we camped at in Canyonlands.

Cool to see Walt in those pics too. How is he doing?

Never heard from Thomas. We hung out for a few days in Moab then he split for Baja. I was a little worried about him to be honest. Emailed him once, but no response.

Hope to see you on the road again man!

Scott

 

[upcruiser]

By the time I refueled and resupplied with food the light was getting long. I cruised up to Mono Lake and found a nice place out on the National Forest land off of a soft, sandy two track that skirted the south side of the lake.

I got to catch some good light still to snap some shots at some tufas along the shore.

Another gorgeous night at camp. This time with Mono Lake as the backdrop.

Last light over the Sierras.

Predawn glow on the Sierras the following morning.

The formations around Mono Lake are so alien.

Serene is a word that comes that comes to mind to describe this calm morning.

After spending a good amount of time snapping some shots and making a leisurely breakfast, I finally got around to packing up.

I spent some quality time cursing at the zipper on the RTT cover, now it is broken for good, the zipper mechanism itself broke and can't be tightened back down over the zipper track. I find this frustrating as I have only had this RTT in use for one year. Last spring it was brand spanking new and for a device that is intended for harsh use in varied conditions I find it rather unacceptable to have something fail that is so key to the performance of the tent. Luckily the front of the zipper is still attached so I simply pulled the other three sides over the tent and used the two velcro cover straps to secure it. It actually worked fine. Now if... and when the zipper on the front comes apart then life is going to be a big PITA.

 

[mph]

Where in the Swell are you headed? Was thinking about hitting the northern portion. Looks like Saturday's weather won't be too bad but Sunday rain again? Crappy weather this week! Are you guys rafting or kayaking? I kind of have a committment Saturday that I am trying to get out of in order to sneak down there, yet to be determined!

It will be in the northern section. South of Price 30 miles or so...yes, the plan is to Kayak. I have a bout with stomach flu but trying to rally. The river looks prime! Keep me posted, I might be able to get you a boat.

Or, you could stay around and ski Alta. 14 inches of fresh. Crazy!!!!

Safe travels...

 

[exitinn]

If you get around any lakes that have boats . You can get a canvas person to fix that zipper .

 

[upcruiser]

It will be in the northern section. South of Price 30 miles or so...yes, the plan is to Kayak. I have a bout with stomach flu but trying to rally. The river looks prime! Keep me posted, I might be able to get you a boat.

Or, you could stay around and ski Alta. 14 inches of fresh. Crazy!!!!

Safe travels...

Sounds like fun, crap, with all this rain and snow I can't help but to think what the rivers will be doing. I think my weekend plans just changed again, might not be heading down that way, had some stuff come up. I also just learned I need to be back out here again June 7th for a week so I am kind of needing to get back home earlier now to do all that home and yard stuff that needs to be done in the spring. Still figuring it out.

 

[upcruiser]

If you get around any lakes that have boats . You can get a canvas person to fix that zipper .

My plan is to take the RTT off when I return home next week and take it to a place like that. Was going to pop the RTT off for the summer anyway so I can haul my kayaks and canoe. With the zipper attached on the front it is holding together ok at highway speeds.

 

[upcruiser]

Well, the plan today was to check out some ghost towns near the Nevada/CA border and work my way east a bit. JC Brandon gave me some suggestions to check out.

From the north side of Mono Lake I wanted to check out the ghost town of Bodie, CA. However 5 miles up the road I came to this sign. There were plenty of tracks going around it but I didn't want to chance getting far down it and having to turn around. I decided to try a road that appeared on my GPS due east just across the Nevada state line. I don't recall the number but it was shown as a forest service road. It was a rather narrow, unused looking road that shadowed a high transmission power line. I followed it for a good distance and it began climbing in elevation.

Working my way up in elevation with Mono Lake visible in the background. There was two sets of tracks that had been on this road anytime recently, and they were identical telling me it was a vehicle that came in and out the same way. I was beginning to worry if I was going to encounter snow and have to turn around before I connected with country road 270/East Walker Rd. The tracks eventually turned off on a spur that went to radio tower and suddenly I was bumping along on a very rough, barely used trail that had no visible signs of tire tracks. I was almost to the top by this point and figured I gotta try.

At the crest of the ridge looking north into the valley where 270 lies. As I descended I came into intermittent patches of snow, the last traces really about to vanish for the summer. The trail surface became so rocky and bumpy it ended up taking a good deal of time to cover the last 7 miles to the better dirt road I was trying to get to.

Once on East Walker River Road I was able to cruise. It felt like a super highway. I was bummed to miss Bodie but Pine Grove was a more obscure ghost town that JC recomended to check out and I was determined to find it.

Finding the turn off to Pine Grove wasn't to difficult, it showed up as Pine Grove Rd on my gps despite there being no sign and a fork in the beginning of the road up. There looked to have been some sort of signage before but only the posts remain now. The drive up is a cakewalk, nice smooth dirt road for the most part.

Pine Grove was an old gold and silver mining settlement from the mid 1800's till 1910ish.

One of the old buildings, an Inn perhaps, that is half buried from runoff.

An old house.

It is shocking to see how well preserved the interior is. In the old ghost towns back in MI the structures rot away once the roofs are compromised by the moisture.

An old mine shaft.

 

[upcruiser]

After checking out Pine Grove I headed north to the town of Yerington to refuel. I spent the rest of the day travelling highway 50 east. I stopped to check out some F18's that were doing training runs over one of the test ranges. Took a peak at the Sand Mountain recreation site (that looks like way too much fun) and just thoroughly enjoyed the drive on 50. This was my first time driving on 50 and it is gorgeous.

The view of the Toiyabe range from highway 50. I found a dirt road with a perfect spot to pop open the tent for the night.

The weather was mild which was nice for a change. I had yet to really have any warm evenings during the entirety of the trip. Last light on the mountains was amazing. One thing I love about Nevada is that you cross from one epic valley to another as you travel east or west and each one stretches your perceptions of distance and each one is feable to try and capture with a camera, especially an iphone. One thing this trip is making realize is that I really want a good camera rig.

I had been getting up before sunrise every day lately and it was nice to just sleep in the following morning. I had no place to be, no time to be there so I had a lazy morning making food, reorganizing some gear in the truck. Also found some more hardware on the roof basket getting loose so I went over everything and tightened it up alleviating some rattles that I was hearing the previous day. I hate rattles.

I got back on highway 50 eastbound and drove through the town of Austin. What a cool town. No modern franchise bs crap there, just an old town with little Ma and Pa businesses. It reminded me of some of the old towns in the UP where it feels like you just stepped back into time 40 years. These types of towns are getting few and far between. Obviously Austin's proximity to absolutely nothing has preserved its unique small town charm. It is tucked into the side of the Toiyabe Mountains. Good stuff.

I stopped and checked out the Hickison Petroglyph BLM Rec Area next. I spent some time hiking around to the overlook and the petroglyphs. These had a distinctly different feel than the Anazasi petroglyphs in southern Utah. They were carved much deeper and seemed more ornamental almost.

 

[upcruiser]

After refueling in Eureka I headed west to connect with 892 which ran north. I wanted to travel north to I80 on what looked to be a pretty remote section of Nevada, mostly on dirt. The route again proved to be another extraordinary drive through a mostly undeveloped valley with a few scattered ranches. This was an old stable that caught my eye.

An intersection with the old Pony Express Trail.

My original plan was to camp up near the base of the Ruby Mountains which are beautiful but as late day approached I felt the desire to continue out onto I80 and get back to Salt Lake that evening. Talking to Alyssa we made a plan to camp the following night and I wanted to get back, have a nice hot shower and sleep in a real bed again.

Sun setting over the Bonnieville Salt flats east of West Wendover.

The following day we drove up to Ogden and met with Alyssa's family for dinner then made a dash for the north end of the Great Salt Lake. I find it fascinating that SLC people spend so little time or give much attention to this giant body of brine water. Being a guy from northern Michigan, it is all about the water. Everything is centered around it so to be near a large lake, in a desert of all places, it is odd to me that it receives so little attention. It was well after sunset by the time we got out to the mudflats on the northwest corner of the lake and setup camp. For the first time on the entire trip to this point, it was warm enough to actually sleep with the screen window and not have the flaps down. Felt great with the stars out, the warm temps, and getting out to a new place.

We awoke to a beautiful sunny day.

The landscape was pretty striking. The mud flats are large enough to prevent you from even seeing the water of the Great Salt Lake. One of the advantages of being camped here versus closer to the water somewhere is the lack of bugs. Brine flies and mosquitoes are out this time of year and can be nasty. I was happy to report no bugs at camp.

We packed up and worked east towards our destination for this outing. The Spiral Jetty. This area has a series of nice, smooth dirt roads that you can cruise down effortlessly.

We used a section of the old Transcontinental Railroad line to access the lake where the jetty is. Again, gorgeous, felt like you were out in the middle of the praire.

The Spiral Jetty from shore. It is the work of sculptor Robert Smithson, created from Basalt rocks and sometimes completely exposed, or other times completely submerged. As you can see in this picture, the lake level was rising and submerging it again.

A view from water level.

Alyssa out on the jetty.

 

[upcruiser]

While it was strikingly beautiful that morning with the calm lake, reflections of the sky and mild weather, the truth were that the bugs were terrible! We were getting devoured soon after getting out of the rig. We had to resort to bug dope to ward off the attack..... tones of home.

We met a guy who was there snapping pics too who shared some interesting facts about the area and the lake itself. He volunteers at Antelope Island and has spent alot of time kayaking the lake. I was shocked to learn that the deepest point on the lake is merely 30 feet! He snapped a shot of Alyssa and I, nice to have a pic that isn't taken from arms length!

We headed back and stopped by the site of the Golden Spike. The parking lot was brimming with tourists and being the consummate cheapo and social phobe, I present this picture of the Golden Spike from 200 yards away....

The folllowing day we ventured up to hike Grandeur Peak just outside of SLC.

It was rad. Anyone know the shirt reference? If so you get mad props in my book.

We had to turn back near the top due to snow. The prospect of wading in hip-deep, wet snow in shorts left something to be desired.

I decided to stick around another week in SLC. I spent a couple of days helping Alyssa shop a new car, which while for most people would be a chore, I really am a car geek so I took special pleasure in it.

Found it! Ok, so maybe it was a bit too over the top but you can't blame a guy Everyone should have a GT3RS to rearrange their outlook on life.

Ok, this is more reasonable but come on, did you see the carbon fiber wing on the GT3?? Garrrrr......

Another big event of a rather low key week with poor weather.... my annual self haircut. Just in time for summer..... or maybe not, more on that later.

 

[upcruiser]

With the end of the week, also came our next outing. We went back and forth over a bunch of options of places we wanted to go, back towards the Moab area, the Swell, the mountains north of West Wendover... but ultimately decided upon Maple Canyon. A place that is a bit obscure in stature unless you are versed in the world of climbing. This seemingly random spot in a rural valley of central Utah is one of the hottest climbing spots in the state due to its formations of unique conglomerate rock. We zipped down from SLC and found it easily southeast of Nephi.

We drove through the canyon and headed up a 4wd road that takes you over a saddle into a forested area that was just clearing up from snow. This shot is looking down into the canyon from above. We decided to find a place to camp away from the climbers who all were congregated in the campsites in the main area of the canyon. I am one for dispersed camping whenever possible and convenient.

We found a great little meadow where a creek flowed through which was inviting. Perfect.

There were still snow patches in the area and it wasn't terribly warm but despite this the greenery was trying to overcome.

Kicking back and awaiting the end..... Yep, this was the day that Judgement Day was supposed to occur. I had NPR on just to hear if it was happening but no luck... We joked that we might return to civilization tomorrow and find it all gone.

Aspens still awaiting leaves....

No better to wait out the end of the world then with some Coronas and Red Hot Blues.....

Another shot of camp. After all the desert camping lately it was nice to be in some green, even if it was all pretty saturated and wet.

After a great night's sleep, in part due to the babbling brook, a nice touch that reminded me of home a bit, we headed back down into Maple Canyon to check it out a bit. The week of bad weather and awful forecasts had scared many folks away, as we rolled through the campground only a handful of hardy folks still remained. Rain started to drizzle.

We hiked up a canyon offshoot that afforded some cool scenery.