AdventureTaco - turbodb's build and adventures

The Re-Tour Day 2: Macgruder, Paradise, and ...Seriously, Mike?
August 25, 2018.

It was a peaceful night in the valley along the Nez Perce Trail. A bit chilly maybe, but not too bad and the relatively narrow valley meant there was no pressing need to get up early for sunrise - something I missed, but could also get used to...the extra couple hours of warm sleep a nice change!

Eventually of course, I roused myself and exited the tent to check out camp and the morning light. Definitely interesting to see our different truck setups as well.

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Given the location, camp was pretty underwhelming so I immediately set out to explore the surrounding area. There was a fish hatchery just downstream which we'd explored a bit the night before, but I could see a bridge further down the road, which I thought might afford me a nice view of the creek for some photos. So I headed that direction.

To my surprise, as I neared the bridge, I could see a small cabin up a faint side road and decided to check it out. Turns out it was the Mary Reed cabin, and an old (I assume) gold mine that had been bored into the side of the mountain. Both appeared to be in reasonable shape, and it looked liked I probably could have explored into the mine shaft a bit if I'd wanted - there was definitely "squeeze-through" space along the edges of the grate covering the entrance.

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But, I wasn't in any mood for a shaft collapse while I was in there, so after poking around a bit and admiring the full-sized-logs holding the sides of the mountain back, I headed back out to the main road, past some mining remnants, clearly newer than the original cabin and mine shaft.

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I arrived back in camp just as Mike @Digiratus was out of his tent and snapping a photo or two, and I figured there was no better time to make my first gourmet breakfast than the present. You see, I'd changed my cooking setup for this trip - previously I've used a Weber Q grill for all my cooking needs - it's great for the actual grilling/cooking - but I've found it to be bulky and hard to pack, so I broke down and got a Coleman Classic propane stove and a Lodge cast iron grill. It was time to give both a try!

Oh, and I had my new prototype fold-down table on my swing-out to try as well.

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The table, stove, and grill worked well, though I'm sure I'll improve them over time, and breakfast came out as tastily as ever...with the caveat that I was only able to salvage this morning's strawberries from the entire pack - the rest had started rotting already on day 1! :frown:

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As was our "usual" pace, we ate breakfast and got out of camp relatively leisurely - it was 10:00am by the time we were doing our radio checks and heading down the road towards our next destination: Elk City. And, as is "usual" for us, it wasn't long before Mike and I were on the CB saying that we wanted to stop and take some photos.

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Whether he was used to it or not, Dan @drr is easy going and was fine with this - he simply continued on up the trail a way, exploring on his own while Mike and I took in the still-a-bit-smokey views.

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Our photo bug momentarily satisfied, we all met back up just a little way down the road as we wound our way down the mountain towards Elk City. Not actually a true city, this unincorporated census-designated place has a tiny population - only 202 residents - and was originally founded as part of a gold strike in June 1861 as displaced California gold prospectors used the southern Nez Perce Indian trail for easy access to the area. By 1862, the "big strike" had moved on, but Elk City remained the hub for supplying the needs of pioneers scratching out a living from the wilderness. By the 1870s, the easy gold was gone and Chinese miners leased the claims to work the hard pay - but they were eventually driven out by mistreatment. By the time the fire of 1930 consumed most of town, the boom days were over.

Dan needed a bit of ice for his cooler, so we pulled into town and eventually to the general store.

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The store was amazing - especially for a town with 200 residents - reasonable prices and a good selection. This was the clearly place I should have gotten my strawberries! Dan's cooler restocked, we chatted with some locals for a bit - our trucks always magnets to passers-by - and then headed out of town toward the Macgruder corridor.

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I'd hoped to run the Nez Perce Trail through the Macgruder Corridor earlier in the year when @mrs.turbodb and I went to Montana for Memorial Day, but snow kept us off the route. That was not a problem at this point in the year - the sun was out and the road was clear. It was a beautiful morning, and we stopped a few times to soak it in.

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Eventually we made our way into a large burn - still beautiful, though in a different kind of way - as wildflowers pushed through the fallen trees, bringing color to the scared landscape. Of course, it was another opportunity to get out and look around, which we couldn't pass up.

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Dan also noticed that he had a hitch-hiker; one of the first of many he'd find throughout the trip.

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Grills cleared, we pointed our trucks further down the road - lunch now on our minds. The burn continued for quite some time, though we eventually came to it's edge, just as we neared a short detour that Mike offered as a possible lunch spot: Burnt Knob Lookout.

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While the main trail was in really good shape, the offshoot to the lookout was definitely a road that benefited from 4WD. While it'd turn out to be tame compared to some of what we'd experience the rest of the trip, it was nice to hit some bumps as we climbed 1000 feet in just over a mile, cresting the tree line and the views opening up around us; the lookout still above, ahead.

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And below us - Burnt Knob Lakes - beautiful and clear. A great place to hike in to and camp, I'm sure.

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As we reached the top, Dan pulled his truck into the perfect position - a true "camp on the edge of a cliff" if we'd been stopped for the day - and we knew this was a great place for lunch and exploration; we did both, starting with exploration.

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As we ventured up to the lookout, we braced ourselves against the wind and took in the surroundings - both far and near.

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The 1930's era lookout too beckoned for exploration, and naturally we obliged. This was clearly a lookout that was no longer in use, and it had fallen into disrepair since it was abandoned in the early 1960's. Still, it obviously had a constant stream of visitors - many of them likely respectful to the space, but some had carved their names in the structure as witness to their visit.

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Eventually we realized that if we were to make camp before dark, it was important that we restrain ourselves and get lunch taken care of. So we broke our our sandwiches and chairs and enjoyed ourselves in the afternoon sun. That is, until we glanced over at Mike's truck and noticed something awry.

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There was CV grease everywhere - a huge bummer given that Mike and I had just recently installed the OEM CV in place of his CVJ rebuild that had developed a tear in both rubber boots. Mike's theory - likely correct - was that in the years he'd had his OEM CV's stored as spares, the rubber on the boots had deteriorated from lack of use, this first trip being too much for them to handle.

We discussed what to do, and ultimately Mike decided he was running the rest of the trip with a torn boot - "These can run for a long time with no grease." - his response to Dan's question about rebuilding the CV on the trail. And with that, we left Burnt Knob Lookout and headed back down the hill.

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With that, we were back on the Magruder Corridor Road, making our way towards the evening's camp. We continued to enjoy the wildflowers - spring in full force in late August at 7000+ feet elevations.

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Of course, the road itself was fun as well - cutting across the hillsides, some stretches allowing for high speed travel, others urging us to slow down and soak in the views.

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And then, Mike came over the CB radio to say that I should stop and check out a sign on the side of the road. You see, the Magruder Corridor Road was named for Lloyd Magruder, whose October 1863 pack train carrying gold through the wilderness was killed when his own hired hands robbed and murdered them along the trail. Definitely cool history to experience first hand. The corridor now sits between the Selway-Bitterroot National Forest to the north and the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness to the south.

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Not too much later we once again turned off the main road, this time making our way to camp - presumably at Paradise Campground. Unfortunately as we arrived it was clear that if we were stay in Paradise, we weren't going to be alone. We'd get a site near the creek, but we'd have folks on both sides - something we generally try to avoid.

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So we turned around and backtracked to a site we'd passed along the Selway River - big enough for our three trucks and with a hammock site to die for. And Dan was quick to setup his hammock and take advantage of the spot, Kindle in tow.

A romance novel, perhaps? I'm sure he'd say no, but we'll never know for sure, will we?

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As we relaxed a bit, I noticed that my fridge had come unplugged (likely at lunch) and was at a let's-get-it-back-down-to-something-more-reasonable temperature of 42ºF. No biggie, I thought - I'd just plug it back in and everything would cool down. Except that when I plugged it in, it immediately went into error mode - the battery voltage too low to power it.

A bit concerned, I turned on the truck and ran the engine for an hour - charging the battery and powering the fridge - in the end, everything OK for the remainder of the trip.

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Of course, our next order of business was getting the fire going and with my chainsaw and Dan's axe, we made slow work of what turned out to be a semi-dry tree near our site. In the end, while the chopping was harder than if it'd been nicely dried wood, we enjoyed ourselves around another great camp fire.

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It was during this lovely evening that someone mentioned nonchalantly:

...Well, as you can imagine given our history from The De-Tour a year ago, weather is a touchy topic! Dan and I were both quick to point out that such a topic should never be raised - doing so sure to result in a turn for the worse.

But alas, it was too late. After the campfire eventually came to a close, and a few hours after we climbed into our tents, the pitter-patter of raindrops mixed with the babbling of the Selway - the first rain of the trip upon us...

 

I'm bringing a switch to adjust behavior next trip. Any talk of weather gets you percussive education.

 

I'll never tell!

Actually I think it was the Red Rising series by Pierce Brown.

But then Mike will threaten to withhold the salsa!

 

What I like most about this is that you've said, "I'm bringing...next trip." which I take to mean you're coming on the next trip. And that's good given you skipped our last one! I guess it'll be the LC on 35's by then, ehh?

LOL, sure it was. Now I'm even more sure it was a romance novel. How do you like the Red Rising series? Been thinking about reading that myself.

And yeah, we definitely can't put the salsa at risk.

 

I might have already ordered shocks, springs, and a bumper kit

 

It was good, especially if you enjoy science fiction. It would make an awesome movie series.

so much for the "daily" lol

 

Fuck it, it'll still pull daily duty but I've got another car for backup now. Gonna wheel in comfort haha and I'll have lockers for the first time ever.

 

Loving this trip report @turbodb . Your color processing on your photos is absolute perfection. Can't wait to see what else you've got in store.

 

Thanks man, glad you're enjoying. This set of photos I think came out well, but maybe a little dark. I generally shoot on the under-exposed side because it's easier to recover shadows, but I think this entire trip could have been processed a little brighter. Some really fun shots over the course of it though, for sure!

I've got to say that I feel exceptionally lucky myself to have been included on the first trip (De-Tour) last year, and then to have fit in well enough to be invited again. Keep an eye out - sometimes they get opened up to the forum. That's what I did. There's pretty much always a rig limit too of course - to keep thing manageable from a logistics and camping perspective.

 

Great so far!

Color is really balanced well but I'd agree. Id probably bump the exporsure a bit on just about everything personally.

I uploaded photos last night and as I was posting here I kept thinking...damn..should have brought that one back up more..damn..that one too..damn..hahaha

 

Yeah, I think I processed most of these in the evenings and so they looked brighter at the time. I only realized it when I was basically done processing everything. Made a concerted effort on the next trip to brighten everything up. Came out even better, I think.

Fun and interesting to see how I'm learning to post-process over time.

 

Oh yeah. Its super interesting to look back on old edits haha

Also I find that my style even changes by the day. Or as I go i'll end up somewhere so the next batch is different or my eyes got tired or I was lazy by the end of one batch. Humorous for sure. Annoying too lol Not consistent as Id like to be. Oh well.

I can't wait to do next trips purely because my lenses actually worked

 

Great Trip, Fantastic Pictures.

 

you forgot the main key is 1st gen...

 

That helps.

But is not a requirement

 

The Re-Tour Day 3: Monte's "Right On Time"
August 26, 2018.

We were up early, even for me. Mike @Digiratus apparently rolled out of his tent at 5:30am, and Dan @drr and I followed not long after around 6:00am. We had a long day ahead of us to reach Cooke City by our agreed upon rally time of 6:00pm, and we knew that Zane @Speedytech7 was already there, having arrived the previous evening - now bored out of his mind.

Being up early also meant that we got to put our tents away wet from the overnight rain - it wasn't much, but that's of little consequence when the sun's not up and there are still clouds in the sky. Not that it wasn't a beautiful spot to have camped along the Selway River.

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It didn't take us long to be ready to hit the road.

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As we headed south from Paradise to the Magruder Corridor, our speed picked up - a silver lining of the previous night's rain being less dust than we'd had the previous day. Still, that didn't keep me from falling behind - a perpetual problem as I soaked in the sights along the way.

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My pace is always something I'm aware of however, and one of the benefits of being last (or at least not first) is that I can go fast without worrying about oncoming traffic - or at least, I'll hear about any oncoming over the CB so I can be aware of it. And so, by the time we hit pavement again, I'd caught up to Dan and Mike and we broke out our equipment to air up.

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While airing up - and still before 7:30am - a USFS Ranger pulled into the lot where we'd stopped and started chatting us up. Clearly interested in our rigs and what we were up to, it turned out he was from Montana and was familiar with many of the places we were headed over the coming week. We talked for a good 15 minutes before he hopped back in his truck to continue on his way; clearly a bit jealous of the trip we'd embarked on.

We too pulled out a few minutes later and headed on our way. Within a mile or two, the pavement turned back to dirt - a point that Mike and Dan (having driven the road before) conveniently remembered after airing up!

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Though dirt, the road was very nicely graded and we made good time, reaching speeds of 60mph with ease, eventually finding ourselves back on pavement and on our way to Wisdom, MT.

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As we fueled up in Wisdom, we had a decision to make - we could head south, along the route Mike had planned from the start, or we could head north - via freeway to Butte and then east along I-90 to meet up with Monte and Zane.

Zane was bored and texted that he was heading north towards Red Lodge; Monte had texted to let us know that rain and snow were expected in Cooke City that evening and into the next day, and so ultimately we made the decision to forego the scenic route and head north to Butte - saving two hours in the process and hopefully meaning we would all be headed the same direction - perhaps to rendezvous in a warmer, drier location than Cooke City.

We were most definitely off to an ominous start of the Re-Tour.

Travelling north under cloudy skies, the scenery was still beautiful, the air crisp and smelling cleaner than it had just 24 hours earlier. We slowed only once along the way, careful of the horses being cowboyed along the highway.

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A sit-down lunch in Butte at the MacKenzie River Grill was I think fancier than any of us expected, but quite tasty as well - a reminder of the civilized world we'd be leaving behind for the rest of the trip. And then it was back into the trucks to head east - to Bozeman for our next pit stop: Go Fast Campers (GFC) global headquarters.

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OK, it's their only location.

But it's GFC, and they are all the rage right now - having developed a camper system for Tacoma's that solve a lot of the problems that persist with existing setups. We had our fingers crossed that they might be open on Sunday, cranking out the large number of back-orders that they've got lined up, but alas, the gate was closed and they were enjoying a well deserved day of rest. Lots of identifiable parts in the lot though!

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Too bad really, since my money was on Dan ordering one on the spot if we'd been able to see them in person.

By now though, it was nearly 2:00pm and we had a good four-hour drive to Cooke City. We'd be right on time...assuming no traffic through Yellowstone NP and if not for the hour we'd lose to the shift into Mountain time from Pacific. Skinny pedals pushed down, we were on our way; sights we recognized passing us in the opposite direction.

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We made good time to Yellowstone, where we played tourist for a few minutes. No, strike that - I played tourist. Mike and Dan weren't impressed - or at least, they played it cool.

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But we had a date with Zane - and we were already going to be late - so before long I was left playing catch-up again. Of course, in Yellowstone, that didn't take long - since in the distance it's easy to see the wildlife: indicated by traffic stopped in both directions, in the middle of the road. Today, it was bison.

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We made our way slowly by the first few blockages with just a bit of joking about how cows on pavement could be oh-so-interesting to someone in a rental car. But by the time we hit what turned out to be the last traffic jam, we were ready to get going. Finally, I announced over the CB radio that I thought people were stopped even though there were no actual bison on the road and I was going to pull around into the oncoming lane and just slowly make my way through. "Follow me." I said.

And Mike and Dan did. And the good folks in the rental cars, who wanted their cows-on-pavement photos, cussed us out. Clearly we were wrecking their up-close experience with "nature." Sorry (not sorry) folks.

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Finally through the metropolis that was Yellowstone, it was already past 6:00pm and we rolled into Cooke City to find Zane just chillin' at the community center. We said our "hellos" and "where the F#*% have you guys beens?" and immediately headed out of town - the sun lowering itself in the sky and all of us keen to get to camp before dark.

We weren't waiting for Monte @Blackdawg. He'd texted to say that he was going to be late - as usual - and that we should go on without him, leaving our APRS on so he could find us. So we aired down and headed up Lulu Pass.

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The drive up Lulu was gorgeous. I mean, it'd been great last year in the snow, but it was great to see things we hadn't before - even if it wasn't sunny and bright. Mountains in the distance, snow patches hanging on through the summer near the peaks, and dirt roads off into the distance. Knowing what the forecast had in store, we took our time and soaked it in. Mostly. Except for our small rush to get to camp before dark.

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As we crested the top of the pass and started down into the meadow leading to Lake Abundance, we spied some switchbacks in the distance - the Henderson Mountain switchbacks Monte would later tell us, for UTV's only - but for now, they looked like a fun trail to take the Tacoma's up, if we had time the next day.

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The trail to our camp site was fun - water crossings and steep sections, rocky terrain and whoops - and the Beartooth Mountains all around us. As Mike said, "this is a special place." And Mike clearly had fun getting there.

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We got to camp just as the sun was setting - no amazing colors due to the clouds in the sky, but that didn't make the setting any less beautiful. We all setup, finding level ground to deploy our tents, and get what we hoped were the best views of our surroundings in the morning.

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Of course, it'd have been impossible to not have a great view in a place like this.

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Camp setup, the next order of business was of course to build an amazing camp fire. We weren't sure when Monte was showing up, but we knew that this could be our last huge fire of the trip - depending on how he and Dan got along from a "tending" perspective - and so it was out with the chainsaw and axe again to cut up a dry, downed tree we found nearby.

Fire raging, we made dinner and chatted around the fire for a few hours before we saw a light on the horizon. And not just any light, it looked like a small sun was cresting the pass, accompanied by the sound of a Toyota V6 making it's way down into the valley - Monte was clearly on the gas.

By the time he arrived in camp, he was right on time - it was 10:00pm, witch is 6:00pm somewhere, I'm sure.

Oh, and it was raining, and getting colder. We once again said our "hellos" and "why the f#*% does it always rain on us when we come to Montanas?" and stoked the fire with more wood. By midnight we were all soaked, but in good spirits - happy to be together once again, excited for the trip ahead.

One by one we called it a night and headed to bed, snuggling down in our tents and bags as the temperature dropped. Hoping it would stop raining (and not snow) so we could actually enjoy ourselves this time.

One can always hope, right?

--- catch up on the whole story so far ---
[day 1] [day 2] [day 3]
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Very nice!
I did part of Lulu pass this past October, when I was out there. Look very different without 3ft if snow. Only went as far as the top of the pass. The tire tracks I was following ended there.
Hope fully next time I'm out there it won't be snowing. Your picture make me jealous.

 

Wait till a few more chapters..

 

Unless he's already written it all, it might be a couple days

 

He has haha