The DeTour Trip Report - As Told by Blackdawg

[keane]

Amazing camp site. Always look forward to your trip reports.

 

[Blackdawg]

Amazing camp site. Always look forward to your trip reports.

Still one of the best ever for me. Pretty remarkable.

Thanks for reading them!

 

[Sierra Valley]

Great installment. That camp spot is very nice. What trail is that if you dont mind me asking?

 

[Blackdawg]

Great installment. That camp spot is very nice. What trail is that if you dont mind me asking?

Thanks for reading!

Its Dome Plateau. Lots of ways to get there, tons of weird roads back there.

 

[ntg1988]

Awesome report as usual! With amazing pictures to really bring the trip telling together. I always look forward to your trip reports. Thanks for sharing!

 

[ntg1988]

Its pretty obvious you're a seasoned overlander by all the work you do to your rigs and trip reports you've posted but do you ever find your self saying ah ha! I should have packed that or I want to buy that for the next trip! If so what is that item?

Thanks again man!

 

[Blackdawg]

Its pretty obvious you're a seasoned overlander by all the work you do to your rigs and trip reports you've posted but do you ever find your self saying ah ha! I should have packed that or I want to buy that for the next trip! If so what is that item?

Thanks again man!

Thanks man! Thanks for reading.

I've been doing this now for...******** idk. 6 years? Been banging around in trucks for most my life but doing longer trips about 6 years now I think.

I will say that I know people all the time go "I just have to do ____ and then I'll be done with the build!" its total BS. Why? two reasons. One) Packing. That ALWAYS changes. How to pack more efficiently. How to trim the fat from the crap you don't need. That's really hard these days as "overlanding" has become a big thing now. Exploded in popularity so theres constantly new cool gadgets and things to try and get you to buy them. Most of it is crap and not needed. Hell most the stuff people do to their trucks isn't need even when it comes down to it. But I digress. Packing is a constant thing that has changed literally almost every trip I've done. I have a big core way of doing it now though as it's getting more refined. What comes with that is hopefully a lighter easier to live with rig. But not always. Weight constantly changing though changes how the truck drives/behaves on the road. Which brings us to reason Two) suspension. Always gonna be tweaking that. You'll go from wanting to drive as fast as possible, to wanting a smooth simple plush ride everywhere. Suspension components (springs) are a wear item so you kind of get a chance to change it up every two-three years.

With that said.

Some things I've added the last few times that have been helpful:

Muk Boots - Live in the truck now. A lot of trips I do now have mud/snow in them. These are super helpful to keep in the back seat and easily slip on and off as needed. Plus work great in water situations. Like this last trip went into a long bog and found a log across it at the end. Just slipped on the Muks and got out into the deepish water to move it. In this trip I wore them...a lot. Several of the guys on this trip took note and now carry their own.

Chain Saw - This is not something Id say everyone need. BUT within the group, someone should bring one. Several of the people I wheel with have one and we always coordinate who's going to pack it. Has been very helpful in several trips. And while it should be something a lot of people think about, I think it gets overlooked a lot. So figured I'd mention it. We try to always have one and have for the last 4 or more years.

Camera storage - something to keep the camera safe and accessible as well as lenses. This of course, probably not a big deal for most, but for us we love photos(as you can tell from reading these reports). Having the camera within arms reach at all times is good to have and figuring that out in your rig can be a challenge especially if you have a passenger.

Mud flap - Bear with me on this. No I don't mean mud flaps on your truck. I mean a giant trucker mud flap. You can get them pretty big or really just some 1/4'' rubber that is big. This is handy to stand on, lay on, sit on while repairing anything in ******** conditions. Can be helpful in bad places. Or just nice as a matt to the ladder of the RTT.

Food prep - Prepping food before leaving. Massively awesome thing to do. Im a big fan of Hobo Meals. At least thats what I call them. Throw some meat, veggies, potatoes in it and then throw it on the fire.
Goose Lake 2018-28.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Super handy for a few reasons. 1) you don't have to go through a lot of effort to make dinner at camp 2) you never have to leave the fire, just hang out all night there 3) NO DISHES!! Hell yeah
Only down side is if you don't have a fire...doesn't work so good. However, in case of bad weather or fire ban, you can easily unpack it and toss it in a pan and stir fry it up! Still pretty easy to do. Also prepping some breakfast food is awesome. Doing some combination of Eggs/cheese/bacon/sausage/onion/peppers whatever you want type thing and pouring it in muffin tins is gloriously handy in the morning. Then making your lunch, at least the sandwich, before setting off in the morning can be very helpful too.

Fire blower - I haven't posted about this...but I should. Its a cool trick. I took a big knitting needle, about 3/8'' diameter? Biggest one from my grandma anyways, and cut just the tip off a bit so a small pin hole is left. I use this to blow on fire coals. Its very easy to use and I can be further away from the fire to do so and really freaking works good.



I know thats not a normal list at all by any means..I could talk about all sorts of weird things like that for a LONG time that help out. There have been lots of those moments though, even the standard ones like the fridge, suspension componets, armor ect, or simple obvious ones like always have a headlamp...and a powerful flashlight not just one or the other. Ultimately though packing the truck and learning how to do it the best and easiest has been a long thing and we are always changing how we do that.


Idk, sorry. I think I took that in a different direction that what you were asking! haha but hopefully its still helpful.

 

[ntg1988]

No, that is a great answer! Thanks for taking the time to actually think about it and reply! Maybe one of these days I'll have to meet up with you out west! Safe travels!

 

[Blackdawg]

Chapter 13: Full Circle
​

The Sun blasted through my tent early in the morning. But not enough to get me out of bed. The view from the tent window was epic enough I just stayed in.


Dan of course didn’t. At least for a bit and crawled out even earlier as was normal to capture the first light.


2017-09-30 - 00004 - The De-Tour - Day 14 by Dan, on Flickr

2017-09-30 - 00001 - The De-Tour - Day 14 by Dan, on Flickr

2017-09-30 - 00002 - The De-Tour - Day 14 by Dan, on Flickr

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2017-09-30 - 00005 - The De-Tour - Day 14 by Dan, on Flickr


It was an amazing sunrise to say the least.


2017-09-30 - 00006 - The De-Tour - Day 14 by Dan, on Flickr

2017-09-30 - 00007 - The De-Tour - Day 14 by Dan, on Flickr


Eventually the light lured us all out and we enjoyed the morning.


The DeTour.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

IMG_4241x by mike digirat, on Flickr

2017-09-30 - 00008 - The De-Tour - Day 14 by Dan, on Flickr

The DeTour-2.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

The DeTour-3.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


Dan got one hell of a view during his morning stroll I’m sure.


The DeTour-4.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

2017-09-30 - 00011 - The De-Tour - Day 14 by Dan, on Flickr

2017-09-30 - 00009 - The De-Tour - Day 14 by Dan, on Flickr

2017-09-30 - 00010 - The De-Tour - Day 14 by Dan, on Flickr

The DeTour-5.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

 

[Blackdawg]

The pure cool factor of the site captured our attention yet again. Not a lot of places you can camp on a cliff with a view like this!


The DeTour-6.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

2017-09-30 - 00012 - The De-Tour - Day 14 by Dan, on Flickr

The DeTour-7.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


It was this kind of morning:


2017-09-30 - 00014 - The De-Tour - Day 14 by Dan, on Flickr


Sit back and take it all in.


2017-09-30 - 00015 - The De-Tour - Day 14 by Dan, on Flickr

2017-09-30 - 00016 - The De-Tour - Day 14 by Dan, on Flickr

2017-09-30 - 00017 - The De-Tour - Day 14 by Dan, on Flickr

2017-09-30 - 00018 - The De-Tour - Day 14 by Dan, on Flickr

2017-09-30 - 00019 - The De-Tour - Day 14 by Dan, on Flickr


There was only one thing missing.









Bacon.


Which was easy to remedy! I fired up the stove and set about cooking everyone my favorite. Bacon and Eggs with some potatoes.


Wasn’t such a bad place to cook. Just watch your step!


The DeTour-8.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


As I was cooking and we were enjoying the morning, the weather started to change. It had rained just a tiny amount early that morning. But we had hoped that would be it.


Mother Nature had different plans..


The DeTour-9.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


A storm was upon us and closing in fast. As Devin packed up the rest of the truck I finished up breakfast and we all woofed down our food to finish packing before the rain hit us. Was awesome to watch it roll into the valley though.


The DeTour-10.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

2017-09-30 - 00020 - The De-Tour - Day 14 by Dan, on Flickr

2017-09-30 - 00021 - The De-Tour - Day 14 by Dan, on Flickr

IMG_4244_phone by mike digirat, on Flickr

IMG_4243 by mike digirat, on Flickr

IMG_4244 by mike digirat, on Flickr

The DeTour-11.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


I swear to god I put the tail gate up with the last of the stuff and all hell broke loose right at that moment. The heavens didn’t open up, Hell did. Water pour down so heavily it was hard to talk to Devin in the truck. The wipers barely kept up as we made our way back up the hill to the main road which was almost flooded at this point. I began to think that we would have some serious problems with flooding potentially.


When suddenly, it stopped. Just as soon as it had come.


Half the sky opened back up and there was blue sky even. The land was soaked with puddle everywhere throughout the desert ground.


2017-09-30 - 00022 - The De-Tour - Day 14 by Dan, on Flickr

The DeTour-12.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

 

[Blackdawg]

Which of course meant we were back in the mud!


The DeTour-13.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

IMG_4245 by mike digirat, on Flickr


It was nothing though compared to what it could have been, and with the sun back up we quickly found ourselves at La Bocca arch.


IMG_4246 by mike digirat, on Flickr


The arch was pretty cool honestly and much larger than I had anticipated.


The DeTour-14.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

2017-09-30 - 00024 - The De-Tour - Day 14 by Dan, on Flickr

The DeTour-15.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


The weather was still there though, and that’s where we were headed for the day too..


IMG_4247 by mike digirat, on Flickr

IMG_4248 by mike digirat, on Flickr


But we didn’t care, the sun was out right now and Devin, Dan and I climbed around the arch for a good while checking it out.


The DeTour-16.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

The DeTour-17.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

2017-09-30 - 00025 - The De-Tour - Day 14 by Dan, on Flickr

IMG_4252 by mike digirat, on Flickr

IMG_4253 by mike digirat, on Flickr

IMG_4258 by mike digirat, on Flickr


It's amazing what some wind and water will do to stone throughout time.


The DeTour-18.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


We of course had to go up and around the back side too!


2017-09-30 - 00026 - The De-Tour - Day 14 by Dan, on Flickr

IMG_4262 by mike digirat, on Flickr


Rain was in our future again..


The DeTour-19.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

IMG_4263 by mike digirat, on Flickr

 

[Blackdawg]

Makes for dramatic photos though!


The DeTour-20.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

2017-09-30 - 00027 - The De-Tour - Day 14 by Dan, on Flickr

The DeTour-21.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

The DeTour-22.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

2017-09-30 - 00028 - The De-Tour - Day 14 by Dan, on Flickr

IMG_4268 by mike digirat, on Flickr


Before the rain caught back up with us, we got back in the trucks to go check out Cave spring, whatever that was. We had no idea but it was marked on the track and decided to go check it out hoping we’d stay in the pockets of sun seen through the distance.


The DeTour-23.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

The DeTour-24.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

2017-09-30 - 00029 - The De-Tour - Day 14 by Dan, on Flickr

IMG_4267 by mike digirat, on Flickr

IMG_4271 by mike digirat, on Flickr

IMG_4272 by mike digirat, on Flickr


It’s like we were being chased by the rain, or rather the mud we all had come to hate..


The DeTour-25.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


As we wound our way through the brush a hill climb presented itself.


2017-09-30 - 00030 - The De-Tour - Day 14 by Dan, on Flickr

 

[Blackdawg]

Quick inspection showed it would not be a problem and we climbed up a hill similar to what we had descended down just yesterday.


2017-09-30 - 00031 - The De-Tour - Day 14 by Dan, on Flickr

The DeTour-26.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

The DeTour-27.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

2017-09-30 - 00032 - The De-Tour - Day 14 by Dan, on Flickr

The DeTour-28.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

The DeTour-29.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

The DeTour-30.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

The DeTour-31.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

The DeTour-32.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

The DeTour-33.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

The DeTour-34.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

The DeTour-35.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


We then found ourselves out of the twisting washes and the landscape opened up. The surrounding area dramatic with weather the rain finally catching up to us slowly sprinkling on us.


The DeTour-36.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

The DeTour-37.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

IMG_4273 by mike digirat, on Flickr

 

[Blackdawg]

As much as bad weather can be annoying, it sure is dramatic.


IMG_4275 by mike digirat, on Flickr

IMG_4276 by mike digirat, on Flickr

IMG_4277 by mike digirat, on Flickr

The DeTour-38.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

The DeTour-39.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

IMG_4279 by mike digirat, on Flickr

IMG_4281 by mike digirat, on Flickr

IMG_4284 by mike digirat, on Flickr


The rain picking up to a drizzle we head towards Cave springs.


IMG_4285 by mike digirat, on Flickr


We soon were up against a cliff and got out to walk around.


2017-09-30 - 00033 - The De-Tour - Day 14 by Dan, on Flickr

The DeTour-40.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


There were lots of cave like features here. Though none of them went very deep, still was fun to look into though.


IMG_4287 by mike digirat, on Flickr

The DeTour-41.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

The DeTour-42.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

IMG_4288 by mike digirat, on Flickr

IMG_4289 by mike digirat, on Flickr


We then made our way down to what was marked as Cave Spring. A fence clearly there to help protect it from the cattle.


The DeTour-43.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


Once inside there was another gate.


IMG_4292 by mike digirat, on Flickr

The DeTour-44.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


The actual spring was...well..nothing super special.


The DeTour-45.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

 

[Blackdawg]

Not sure why it was capped off or it they open and close it as needed for cattle. Not certain there. The cave it was in was much more interesting though.


IMG_4296 by mike digirat, on Flickr


This place with its offering of water was speacil to those passing through. Not sure who Leo was but he’d been here long ago.


2017-09-30 - 00034 - The De-Tour - Day 14 by Dan, on Flickr

The DeTour-46.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

2017-09-30 - 00035 - The De-Tour - Day 14 by Dan, on Flickr


It was nice to be out of the truck and out of the rain. But we had a long road ahead to make it back into Colorado today and headed back to the trucks.


The DeTour-47.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


Water. Ever important out here.


IMG_4298 by mike digirat, on Flickr

IMG_4302 by mike digirat, on Flickr

The DeTour-48.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

The DeTour-49.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

The DeTour-50.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


We then continued down the road which traversed the cliff side showing us more and more caves and future caves.


A couple were intriguing enough for Dan and I to jump out and go inside.


The DeTour-51.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


It was once again not a bit one. But obviously used heavily by cattle for shelter. Can’t blame them, i bet its nice and cool in here in the summer.


The DeTour-52.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

The DeTour-53.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


The cliff side had numeous places like this, but we alas had no time to fully check them all.


The DeTour-54.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

2017-09-30 - 00036 - The De-Tour - Day 14 by Dan, on Flickr

IMG_4305 by mike digirat, on Flickr

The DeTour-55.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

IMG_4309 by mike digirat, on Flickr