The Getaway...Crom's build and adventures

Good. I bet they will, check out the quote/pic below by 1MK.

 

Desert View Tower, Boulder Park, Jacumba Mountain Wilderness, Part 1 of 2

I let my oldest kid pick where she wanted us to go for a one night camp this last weekend. She said she wanted to go to the Desert Tower. We packed leisurely Saturday morning after breakfast, loaded some food in the ARB fridge and strapped our camping gear in and we headed East. One hour later we arrived at our destination.



I think I've reported before on the tower, so I won't go into the history of it. If you're interested in the history, you can read here.

I've been visiting here since I was my kids age and it's fun to keep the custom alive. The tower has a ground floor plus four more levels to explore. Admission is $3.50 and and includes exploration of boulder park.

Looking out from one of the windows. The elevation here is 3,000' and this view is to the NE.



A section of old highway 80 which was replaced by interstate 8, completed in 1967. This location is very close to the Mountain Springs Stagecoach Trail which I reported previously on.


Truck pictured from above.


Inside the tower, my kids had a blast. We stayed in the tower for longer than I thought we would. My oldest kid likes to love on one of the owners German Shepard dogs. I think it was one of the highlights for her on this mini trip. I let my kids pick out a souvenir toy and I picked out a new book and a cold root beer soda before going to the back of the truck where we ate our lunches on the Tacoma tailgate.



We ate our lunches while I aired down the tires. Post lunch we took a short walk over to the entrance of Boulder Park.

Before we entered, we used the nice clean restrooms in a stone outbuilding. We used the water from the faucet to cool ourselves down as it was about 90* on this day. There was plenty of wind though.

In this vicinity, my kids noted some chickens and roosters running around. The roosters were quite boisterous. lol One of my kids exclaimed "Look a Turkey!". And sure enough, there was a big turkey under a wooden deck. All of these animals belong to the current owners of the tower.

The turkey was quite still. I showed my kids how to "call" to the turkey making the gobble-gobble sound. It worked. The animal slowly got much closer to us and then it called to us, scaring my kids a little! lol

My youngest kid circled around behind me because animals that are as large as her or bigger scare her. I had to tell my oldest to not try and touch the bird. She kept wanting to try. lol


After we had our fill of birds, we walked up some stone steps into Boulder Park.


These rock carving were made by a man named Merle Ratcliff, an out of work engineer during the great depression.

My kids are old enough now where they are remembering names of places between trips, and significant features. We were last here in April 2016.






We found a large clean well lit cave with lots of ventilation for the strong wind outside to come in. The floor had a mild sloped incline of rock. It had a low ceiling in some parts and was absolutely perfect for me to lay down at a slight incline and put my feet up. Ahhhh so nice; natures recliner! Little did I know we'd spend nearly half an hour in this one cave alone. I rested my back in this nice cool place while my kids pretended to be wild animals.

Crazy cave formations of the decomposing rock.


My two wild animals.




After resting we returned to the tower to see the owners dog one more time (kid insisted she said good bye), and we spent another 40 minutes in there. lol

Finally we said our good byes and got in the truck to drive under I-8 and enter the BLM's Jacumba Mountain Wilderness for a one night camp.

 

Desert View Tower, Boulder Park, Jacumba Mountain Wilderness, Part 2 of 2

Wind can be ferocious out here. Today it was more windy than I hoped for. We have a site on the side of the mountain that we like, but that's not a good place when it's windy!



I knew of nice spot nestled into some boulders that would offer some protection of the wind. To get there we would have to backtrack a little bit, and descend down the real rough rocky trail to get in the boulders.

I love this terrain. It's challenging and fun, and not too long of a trail.


Our destination lie in to the east of these boulders.


After a few wrong turns we arrived! Kids were cold 'cause they are small and it was windy. Rather than buy them expensive performance clothing which they quickly grow out of, I just wrap them in a blanket.

They explored the boulders while I setup the tent.


Campsite view






Our tent next to the truck and the night sky.


We ate dinner in the tent which consisted of yummy burritos, quesadilla, beans and cheese. On this trip I forgot to bring headlamps and I was thrilled to learn my oldest packed two flashlights!

She also setup the interior of the tent and filled the air mattresses with a little help. My youngest helped carry food in the tent and setup our dining table which consisted of an overturned blanket tote box.

After our yummy dinner, we cleaned up and read bedtime books.

I got to spend 12 hours resting. It was awesome!

Daytime shot of our campsite. lol at the round boulder next to us!


Daytime! It took me 1 hour to pack everything back in the truck and we were rolling outta there. I very much again enjoyed the very rough trail out to the pavement.

I love this place, and consider it my home away from home.


I aired the tires back up at pavement and we hit I-8 West and stopped at the Golden Acorn Casino where we had our pancake breakfast. As fate would have it, we were seated right next the UPS driver who delivers to us. He recognized my kids and came over to say hi. He was with a Harley group out for a ride on Sunday. Small world! lol

It was a short, very enjoyable trip, and I got to test the truck post-ES-cab mount / body bushing install.

I forgot to mention in my prior post that I was solo with my kids on this trip. My wife had a very serious family matter to attend to on the east cost, so she has been gone for a week. And holy crap, it's hard to do everything by myself! I have been very blessed in that my kids have been really excellent to each other during their mothers absence, and have picked up the slack, helping out wherever they can.

 

Excellent work as always Nick. Looks like your girls are getting the explorer bug from you. (Packed two flashlights ) Growing up is funny. When we were kids everything is normal to us and even though we might find things fun or interesting it's not until we get older that we realize just how special these memories will be in the future. The same way you went out there as a child, I'm sure your little ones will be repeating that to someone else when they are older. "Dad used to bring us out here when we were kids..."

 

Thanks. I often ask them what they liked best about a particular camping trip. Usually the answer is "the tent!" They love that thing. It's funny to set it up and they can't wait to go in there, and then I finally let them in, and they cut loose running around and bouncing off the walls laughing hysterically. lol They also seem to be very interested in animals which I like. I do hope that they continue the tradition of exploring their outside world.

As an aside, the current tower owner, Ben Schultz, bought the tower it in 2002. He first toured the tower when he was 4 years old. I'm guessing he is about 60 now. Being private property he could shut out tourists, and raze it to the ground. But he doesn't. He keeps the tradition alive. Pretty cool. I told him I'd buy the tower from him if I could, maybe in my retirement!

Also forgot to mention that on the rough trail out there, someone lost a muffler in the rocks! lol Someone took it and placed it on a pronounced boulder that bisected the trail. So funny!

On Saturday while traveling to our campsite, we encountered a family friendly group of 3 built JKU jeeps touring around the trails, looked like 3 families. Good trail manners from this group.

 

Nick, sorry to go off topic but when it comes to wiring and coming through the firewall have you had any issues fitting more through the main wiring trunk grommet? How/where have you added more to that. I've already ran wires for some fogs through the little auxiliary port, can we just slice through the rubber and squeeze more.
My next little project will be wiring up a

$338 ARB CKMA12 On-Board Air Compressor High Performance 12 Volt for Air Locker Differentials and Tire Inflation

ARB CKMA12 pump under the hood but the loom has a some decent thickness to it.
I'm wondering how you faced this problem with your attention to detail I figured you may have some insite I'm not thinking of.

 

Sure. I know of two ways without drilling new holes.

Get some shears and snip this nub off. It used to live where the wire coat hanger is pictured down below.







That's one way.


And for the second way is probably what you already spoke to.

Here is anyway,

Inside engine bay, Pull that plug the green arrow is pointing at, drill it out, and pass wire through and reinstall the plug.




Close up view of the plug


Another view.


The hole in firewall is behind the carpet. I used a coat hanger to go though the carpet then enlarged the hole for my wire.


Finished passing wire though.


Hope that helps.

 

Thanks Nick, that first one you mentioned is already occupiedby my fogs, but I really like the second option you found. What side is that plug found drivers? Looks like it's above the main trunk, if so that might work out perfectly! Once again the guru comes through. much appreciated as always!

 

Welcome. Yes, drivers side.

 

I's always great to read your stories.
I grew up in Yuma, AZ and have traveled through that area countless times while traveling to San Diego. The spheroidal weathering of the granite has always fascinated me...a really beautiful area.
I can vaguely remember visiting the tower when I was young.

@ERMB I have fit many wires through the main trunk, even a 10 gauge wire. I don't have the OEM antenna on anymore so I like to use it instead of a clothes hanger as not to puncture existing wires.

 

Love the super organized cover page to your build nick. I don't have the dedication that you have to read through the whole build. Can't wait to see what you decide to do for the front and rear bumpers.

 

Thanks Sam that's a great reminder, thats what I used also when I fished my fog-light harness too. I have two new harnesses, one for my new OBA setup and one for another set of lights. I'm unsure if I'd have room to sneak either one through the main trunk but I think that plug above might be the answer I'm looking for.
@Crom as far as access from the interior did you have to dismantle any of the dash to get at that area of the rug?

 

Just do it. This is one of my fav threads on TW.

 

Jesse, you got me to take a better look at my truck and yeah the bedsides lean out, and it's quite noticeable if you're looking for it.

I also compared my tailagte gap to another 2009 which is a pavement pounder, and just eyeballing it, the gap is not 100% true from top to bottom, it bows ever so slightly at the top. Seeing that and seeing mine, it's clear mine are bowed out a few mm too much.

When I measured the metal uprights and they were square for about 12" or so, then slightly taper off. I'm guessing the TC bed stiffener pulls in the top of the upright, hence the reason they are so tall. When I use my hand to push the bedside in to try and make the gap closer, the bedside will flex (as does the shell ) (orange arrow pictured below)

I may get the TC ones but I'll have to work around the gusset on the pass side so I don't loose loading space.

Awesome!

Thank you. Reading build threads was a hobby of mine, got a way from it and trying to do it as time allows.

Nothing has to be removed.

Will do. I have days carved out from my rat-race schedule to create the outline. [/QUOTE]

 

I think I could do all of this measuring and math, but I don't need to. Why? Because Nick already did it for me. I have the exact same shock, the exact same Dakar leaf setup, the exact same DCSB. So I will go with the exact same bump stop height. Based on the pic, it appears that the bump stop is 9" tall. Is that right?

 

If you go with super bumps like I did, you'll probably be safe. In the pic I was measuring the distance from frame to bottom of the polyurethane bump stop.

The poly is attached to a metal perch that's bolted to the ubolt flip plate. Eye balling it from the photo, the poly measures 2" 3/8 tall. I don't know the total height of the assembled contraption (perch +poly).

 

Thanks Nick! This helps a lot.
I'm an idiot. I was looking at your tape measure for scale and eyeballed the total height (perch + Poly) "9" as inches, when in fact your tape measure is centimeter AND inches. So yes, by my eyeball, the poly is 2-3/8" and the perch appears to be ~ 1-3/8 to 1-1/2"

Thanks so much. Makes my life easy having you do all this math.

 

Very Cool! I googled that and its very near the Mex border. Do you see the Mexicans building the wall yet? LOL

 

I can appreciate the joke.

Yes where we camped, it was about 2,800' from the International Border USA / MX.

In many places there is no physical boundary because the land is very rugged and serves as a natural deterrent.

Check out my buddy at the apex of the shoulder, in the right side of the photo





Where the terrain is less rugged there is this, or nothing at all.


And if adventuring in this area, it's very easy to cross over by accident. It's happened to friends of mine. Got to have good maps and understanding of what is what out there.

 

Love you attention to detail Nick! Everything is really well documented and easy access to it from page 1
Hope you don't mind if I copy some ideas in the future once I get into a 4x4...