I've been lurking this site for a good while now, starting over Metcalf's "Do it all Dodge". As I looked around and branched out, I started seriously wanting to try out some sort of over landing. Finally, the old lady got a week off work and set a deadline for our vacation. Wanting to do anything but another trip to some tourist trap beach, I started looking into some sort of over landing we could try.
I wanted plenty of room to drive around, lots of fire roads and whatnot, so after lots of research I settled on the Monongahela National Forest. With this being our first trip of the sort, I bought a map from the nice folks at Mountain State Overland. Due to our starting location, we took their path in reverse, south to north instead of north to south, but it was still worked out very well.
It all started out on Saturday morning: I went and piddled around at work for a few, then gave up and started working on the RC. General maintenance stuff, checked all the fluids and changed any that looked suspicious, tightened bolts, checked tires, dropped the fuel tank and tried to see if my sender was working correctly. (It was, with a cummins gauge cluster the RC gas sender won't ever drop below 3/8 tank). The missus cruised over and cleaned the interior and swept it out, generally making it habitable.
Sunday morning we pack all our stuff, but there's a growl coming from somewhere that I'm just not ok with. I run back to work, pull the axles, and check/tighten the wheel bearings. Turns out the front right has somehow exploded its outer, inner(heh) race. Possibly something to do with the flood water I went through a couple weeks ago I was told, I've never personally seen one bust like that.
Anyway, I fought with that until 4pm so we just cruised to Summersville and grabbed a motel. The Applebee's steak and beer.
In the morning, I took her out some of my motorcycling roads. They go out around Summersville Lake and the New River Gorge, great for the sights, not so great in a lifted RC and a girl that gets sea sick.
The dam was letting out a good bit of water due to all the rain, more than I had ever seen before.
We headed toward the forest on Rt. 39, stopping at a little diner in Fenwick WV: Fenwick Diner if I recall. When we pulled up, an older fellow was eyeballing my Before he went inside. Normally it's the usual stink-eye I get in the thing since it looks like a rolling meth lab, but this dude actually looked interested. I had the world's greatest BLT and the missus said her BBQ sammich was very good as well, then as we were leaving he finally couldn't take it and had to come ask about it. I popped the hood and showed him the sights, nothing too interesting since its bone stock, but he told me about his son's Cummins and we got to talking about why I was there.
Upon hearing I was there to camp for the first time, he told me about all the nearby camp sites and how to get to them. He really recommended Cranberry or Big Rock, so we headed out to see what was what. At this point, I hit my first ever fire road.
We cruised along for a bit, the roads were very well maintained but with the amount of rain they had been exposed to the last couple nights there was the occasional rut and washout. First thing we saw was a scenic picnic area, so I turned down to see what it was. Nothing too crazy, but there was a nice creek and some trails to walk out to it. We used the facilities, mine had a mouse nest in the corner, and I grabbed the first pic of the trip.
Yes, it really does look like a meth lab. 5.9, VE Cummins/727/NP241/D60/D70. Axles are 3.08 geared, Detroit rear and Spartan front lockers, wheels are Level 8 ZX 17x9, tires are Nitto Terra Grappler G2 35/12.5/17
load range E.
We finally found Big Rock campground, it was right next to this angry fellow.
Burnt some time cruising around since it was too early to set up any sort of camp, then cruised back when we were tired of being in the truck. Still being too early to set up anything, we threw some chairs out on the river bank and she read while I drank a beer and watched the water go by. This poor guy must have been sucked in somewhere upstream. You could tell he regretted being in there, luckily right across from us was an up-current he got into and managed to crawl out. He was pretty tired because it didn't even bother trying to hide, just laid down and stared at us.
At this point an extremely nice lady park ranger came cruising by in her truck. She was posting signs that the site further upriver, the Cranberry place the fellow mentioned earlier, was shut down due to flooding. She asked what our plans were and we pointed across the road at our plot, prompting her to mention that even though she wasn't closing that site and we could camp there if we want, it probably wouldn't be smart with the new rains coming in.
She very kindly gave us a map of the place and we packed up and headed for higher ground. This is the higher ground, Bishop Knob.
That pile of fire wood was brought up by those two guys at the diner, apparently one of them has a cabin about 1/2 way between Big Rock and Bishop Knob so they were cruising around to make sure we found everything alright. Being from Ohio, I know they're weird about transporting wood between states because of the Ash Bore, so I didn't bring any. They were nice enough to bring more than enough for us to cook hotdogs, along with some "Boyscout Fluid"(50/50 mix of diesel and lighter fluid) to get it going even as wet as everything was. That first night was made 100000x better because of them and I really appreciate it. Thanks, Scotty and Dave, if you ever read this I'll be dropping off your refilled Boyscout Fluid at the diner next time I go through.
It didn't rain too badly that night, but the Ranger told us about the falls and glades back on 39/20 and the missus wanted to see them, so away we went. Since we were heading back that way, we stopped at the diner again for breakfast(2 BLTs this time) and grabbed a couple of foam mats to put on the floor of the RC. Speaking of, here was our typical cooking and sleeping arrangements.
Sleeping wasn't bad at all, the door could completely close with me fully stretched out. The bags are just thrown in for this pic.
The Falls of Hills, or something like that, were very cool. A long hike to see them, and you could barely see the first through the trees, but the second and third totally made up for it. Not much to scale from in this pic, but this is like a sixty three foot tall waterfall.
Next stop was the Cranberry Glades, a very cool spot but not something you could really appreciate in a picture. It's some kind of natural bog that's way further south than it should be.
After the Glades we shot into Hillsboro for some lunch, then back to the Highland Scenic Highway. They're not kidding, that puppy is up there. At this point, we finally hit the Overland fellow's route so we bailed off and hit some more fire roads. I don't know if it was all the rains or what, but you literally couldn't drive twenty feet without seeing some babbling brook that you usually only see on a calendar. I started taking pics of them but eventually gave up as we'd have never gotten off that road.
Once again needing, but dreading, the facilities, we pulled into Day Run campground. In it was the most amazing bathroom I had, or have, experienced in that forest. I may make the trip again just to use that bathroom.
After that we followed their trail back onto the Scenic Highway, then through Cass and Durbin. Cass is very cool, lots of trains there and a little past it is that big radio tower. We didn't plan for any train rides or tours so we parked at a school and finished our lunch while we stared at the tower, then sat in the Cass parking lot and watched a train roll in. Very unique locomotives they have there, the engines are transversally mounted and off to the left side, then there's a front and rear driveshaft that run to each set of wheels and turn them via bevel gears. I'd never seen such a thing before.
After Cass we went to Durbin, another train town, though not quite as extravagant. Almost more of a train junkyard, but that almost appeals more to me anyway as they had a locomotive gutted and you could see inside the boiler and stuff. At this point, the missus was getting a little grouchy. The combination of being assaulted by the RC all day and not having a shower the night before had gotten to her, so we hit 28 and fast tracked it to 33 to Seneca Rocks campground. Having gotten our showers for the night, I can't lie, I enjoyed mine as well, we cooked and went to bed.
Upon waking up, we ran down to Gateway Family Diner for breakfast and to burn some time before Seneca Rocks opened. Once back at Seneca rocks we bought (******?!) another map of the area since our Cranberry area map didn't cover it, and started the one and a half mile, one thousand foot elevation climb. This probably isn't a big deal to most of you, as proven by the older gent who not only passed us on the way up, but let us leave before him at the top and passed us on the way down too! This would also be considered our first real hike of any consequence. Nice view up there though, I even got a pic of the RC!
See it?
The missus wanted to see the Seneca Caverns, so we headed back to them and got stuck in a 50 minute wait(on a Wednesday?), so we bailed and headed for Smoke Hole Caverns instead. I figure one hole is as good as another, am I right?? They were pretty cool, lots of screaming kids in the group but that's what I came out to nature to enjoy so it was a win/win.. She was happy so that's all that matters.
Speaking of her being happy, she set the rule that she needed a shower every night, so that only left us one campground up there: Big End(Bend?). We took of for it, backroading around once again. Upon arrival we were informed that the camp overlord wasn't there and wouldn't be back for a while. We piddled around then decided to go look for a trail marked nearby on the map. After about thirty minutes of searching and not finding, I got fed up and started to head back to camp. Under the impending knowledge that the overlord wasn't going to be there anyway, I stopped before the road got really rough(the roads were way worse up north, washboarded, potholed, just nasty compared to the Cranberry area) and asked the old lady if she had had enough. I kind of wanted more but I didn't want it here, you know? We both just kinda lost steam right then and there, so I set the GPS for home and away we went. We stopped at a Texas Roadhouse in Clarksburg, I got drunk, and let her drive the rest of the way home.
As a wrap up, we will be going out again, we both really enjoyed getting away from it all and I know I enjoyed the solitude. She literally just mentioned to me that she wishes she had skipped the shower request and kept going the last night, but that'll be for the next trip.
Plans so far are:
OD trans in the RC: I've got one already, just needs cleaned up, installed, and driveshafts modified.
Suspension work: the front leafs are completely shot, 250k hard miles from my old truck before they went in this. I'll have to have a custom set done as I'm not looking for much lift and I'd like to keep the as thin or thinner than the current pack for clearance on my crossover steering. Softer ride is the main goal though.
Some rust repair: I don't care how the thing looks, never have, but I lost a body mount right before the trip started. Oddly enough, it seemed to pull away from the frame as it went instead of settling, but it still needs fixed.
Portable shower: Our premature evacuation could have been avoided with one of these, we will have one next time.
Air mattress: Not a requirement, but would be nice.
Otherwise, things were nice. We had fun, saw amazing scenery, and just enjoyed some serenity. Total fuel burned was 42.4 gallons, typically at $2.99 a gallon(Always a station at 2.78 right down the road), and total cost was around $500 counting the hotel and all the food. Later plans are a trip out west, I'm hoping to find a rust free RC out there somewhere and bring it back for a body swap. This thing is too far gone for me to bother with.
Hope it wasn't too ridiculous of a read, especially for how boring it reads, and thank you all for the inspiration!!
I wanted plenty of room to drive around, lots of fire roads and whatnot, so after lots of research I settled on the Monongahela National Forest. With this being our first trip of the sort, I bought a map from the nice folks at Mountain State Overland. Due to our starting location, we took their path in reverse, south to north instead of north to south, but it was still worked out very well.
It all started out on Saturday morning: I went and piddled around at work for a few, then gave up and started working on the RC. General maintenance stuff, checked all the fluids and changed any that looked suspicious, tightened bolts, checked tires, dropped the fuel tank and tried to see if my sender was working correctly. (It was, with a cummins gauge cluster the RC gas sender won't ever drop below 3/8 tank). The missus cruised over and cleaned the interior and swept it out, generally making it habitable.
Sunday morning we pack all our stuff, but there's a growl coming from somewhere that I'm just not ok with. I run back to work, pull the axles, and check/tighten the wheel bearings. Turns out the front right has somehow exploded its outer, inner(heh) race. Possibly something to do with the flood water I went through a couple weeks ago I was told, I've never personally seen one bust like that.
Anyway, I fought with that until 4pm so we just cruised to Summersville and grabbed a motel. The Applebee's steak and beer.
In the morning, I took her out some of my motorcycling roads. They go out around Summersville Lake and the New River Gorge, great for the sights, not so great in a lifted RC and a girl that gets sea sick.
The dam was letting out a good bit of water due to all the rain, more than I had ever seen before. We headed toward the forest on Rt. 39, stopping at a little diner in Fenwick WV: Fenwick Diner if I recall. When we pulled up, an older fellow was eyeballing my Before he went inside. Normally it's the usual stink-eye I get in the thing since it looks like a rolling meth lab, but this dude actually looked interested. I had the world's greatest BLT and the missus said her BBQ sammich was very good as well, then as we were leaving he finally couldn't take it and had to come ask about it. I popped the hood and showed him the sights, nothing too interesting since its bone stock, but he told me about his son's Cummins and we got to talking about why I was there.
Upon hearing I was there to camp for the first time, he told me about all the nearby camp sites and how to get to them. He really recommended Cranberry or Big Rock, so we headed out to see what was what. At this point, I hit my first ever fire road.
We cruised along for a bit, the roads were very well maintained but with the amount of rain they had been exposed to the last couple nights there was the occasional rut and washout. First thing we saw was a scenic picnic area, so I turned down to see what it was. Nothing too crazy, but there was a nice creek and some trails to walk out to it. We used the facilities, mine had a mouse nest in the corner, and I grabbed the first pic of the trip.
Yes, it really does look like a meth lab. 5.9, VE Cummins/727/NP241/D60/D70. Axles are 3.08 geared, Detroit rear and Spartan front lockers, wheels are Level 8 ZX 17x9, tires are Nitto Terra Grappler G2 35/12.5/17
load range E.
We finally found Big Rock campground, it was right next to this angry fellow.
Burnt some time cruising around since it was too early to set up any sort of camp, then cruised back when we were tired of being in the truck. Still being too early to set up anything, we threw some chairs out on the river bank and she read while I drank a beer and watched the water go by. This poor guy must have been sucked in somewhere upstream. You could tell he regretted being in there, luckily right across from us was an up-current he got into and managed to crawl out. He was pretty tired because it didn't even bother trying to hide, just laid down and stared at us.
At this point an extremely nice lady park ranger came cruising by in her truck. She was posting signs that the site further upriver, the Cranberry place the fellow mentioned earlier, was shut down due to flooding. She asked what our plans were and we pointed across the road at our plot, prompting her to mention that even though she wasn't closing that site and we could camp there if we want, it probably wouldn't be smart with the new rains coming in.
She very kindly gave us a map of the place and we packed up and headed for higher ground. This is the higher ground, Bishop Knob.
That pile of fire wood was brought up by those two guys at the diner, apparently one of them has a cabin about 1/2 way between Big Rock and Bishop Knob so they were cruising around to make sure we found everything alright. Being from Ohio, I know they're weird about transporting wood between states because of the Ash Bore, so I didn't bring any. They were nice enough to bring more than enough for us to cook hotdogs, along with some "Boyscout Fluid"(50/50 mix of diesel and lighter fluid) to get it going even as wet as everything was. That first night was made 100000x better because of them and I really appreciate it. Thanks, Scotty and Dave, if you ever read this I'll be dropping off your refilled Boyscout Fluid at the diner next time I go through.
It didn't rain too badly that night, but the Ranger told us about the falls and glades back on 39/20 and the missus wanted to see them, so away we went. Since we were heading back that way, we stopped at the diner again for breakfast(2 BLTs this time) and grabbed a couple of foam mats to put on the floor of the RC. Speaking of, here was our typical cooking and sleeping arrangements.
Sleeping wasn't bad at all, the door could completely close with me fully stretched out. The bags are just thrown in for this pic.
The Falls of Hills, or something like that, were very cool. A long hike to see them, and you could barely see the first through the trees, but the second and third totally made up for it. Not much to scale from in this pic, but this is like a sixty three foot tall waterfall.
Next stop was the Cranberry Glades, a very cool spot but not something you could really appreciate in a picture. It's some kind of natural bog that's way further south than it should be.
After the Glades we shot into Hillsboro for some lunch, then back to the Highland Scenic Highway. They're not kidding, that puppy is up there. At this point, we finally hit the Overland fellow's route so we bailed off and hit some more fire roads. I don't know if it was all the rains or what, but you literally couldn't drive twenty feet without seeing some babbling brook that you usually only see on a calendar. I started taking pics of them but eventually gave up as we'd have never gotten off that road.
Once again needing, but dreading, the facilities, we pulled into Day Run campground. In it was the most amazing bathroom I had, or have, experienced in that forest. I may make the trip again just to use that bathroom.
After that we followed their trail back onto the Scenic Highway, then through Cass and Durbin. Cass is very cool, lots of trains there and a little past it is that big radio tower. We didn't plan for any train rides or tours so we parked at a school and finished our lunch while we stared at the tower, then sat in the Cass parking lot and watched a train roll in. Very unique locomotives they have there, the engines are transversally mounted and off to the left side, then there's a front and rear driveshaft that run to each set of wheels and turn them via bevel gears. I'd never seen such a thing before.
After Cass we went to Durbin, another train town, though not quite as extravagant. Almost more of a train junkyard, but that almost appeals more to me anyway as they had a locomotive gutted and you could see inside the boiler and stuff. At this point, the missus was getting a little grouchy. The combination of being assaulted by the RC all day and not having a shower the night before had gotten to her, so we hit 28 and fast tracked it to 33 to Seneca Rocks campground. Having gotten our showers for the night, I can't lie, I enjoyed mine as well, we cooked and went to bed.
Upon waking up, we ran down to Gateway Family Diner for breakfast and to burn some time before Seneca Rocks opened. Once back at Seneca rocks we bought (******?!) another map of the area since our Cranberry area map didn't cover it, and started the one and a half mile, one thousand foot elevation climb. This probably isn't a big deal to most of you, as proven by the older gent who not only passed us on the way up, but let us leave before him at the top and passed us on the way down too! This would also be considered our first real hike of any consequence. Nice view up there though, I even got a pic of the RC!
See it?
The missus wanted to see the Seneca Caverns, so we headed back to them and got stuck in a 50 minute wait(on a Wednesday?), so we bailed and headed for Smoke Hole Caverns instead. I figure one hole is as good as another, am I right?? They were pretty cool, lots of screaming kids in the group but that's what I came out to nature to enjoy so it was a win/win.
. She was happy so that's all that matters. Speaking of her being happy, she set the rule that she needed a shower every night, so that only left us one campground up there: Big End(Bend?). We took of for it, backroading around once again. Upon arrival we were informed that the camp overlord wasn't there and wouldn't be back for a while. We piddled around then decided to go look for a trail marked nearby on the map. After about thirty minutes of searching and not finding, I got fed up and started to head back to camp. Under the impending knowledge that the overlord wasn't going to be there anyway, I stopped before the road got really rough(the roads were way worse up north, washboarded, potholed, just nasty compared to the Cranberry area) and asked the old lady if she had had enough. I kind of wanted more but I didn't want it here, you know? We both just kinda lost steam right then and there, so I set the GPS for home and away we went. We stopped at a Texas Roadhouse in Clarksburg, I got drunk, and let her drive the rest of the way home.
As a wrap up, we will be going out again, we both really enjoyed getting away from it all and I know I enjoyed the solitude. She literally just mentioned to me that she wishes she had skipped the shower request and kept going the last night, but that'll be for the next trip.
Plans so far are:
OD trans in the RC: I've got one already, just needs cleaned up, installed, and driveshafts modified.
Suspension work: the front leafs are completely shot, 250k hard miles from my old truck before they went in this. I'll have to have a custom set done as I'm not looking for much lift and I'd like to keep the as thin or thinner than the current pack for clearance on my crossover steering. Softer ride is the main goal though.
Some rust repair: I don't care how the thing looks, never have, but I lost a body mount right before the trip started. Oddly enough, it seemed to pull away from the frame as it went instead of settling, but it still needs fixed.
Portable shower: Our premature evacuation could have been avoided with one of these, we will have one next time.
Air mattress: Not a requirement, but would be nice.
Otherwise, things were nice. We had fun, saw amazing scenery, and just enjoyed some serenity. Total fuel burned was 42.4 gallons, typically at $2.99 a gallon(Always a station at 2.78 right down the road), and total cost was around $500 counting the hotel and all the food. Later plans are a trip out west, I'm hoping to find a rust free RC out there somewhere and bring it back for a body swap. This thing is too far gone for me to bother with.
Hope it wasn't too ridiculous of a read, especially for how boring it reads, and thank you all for the inspiration!!
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