Another Around the World Tacoma

Beautiful photos. Clear and I can zoom in and they are still sharp, which is great.

I love that you had a young admirer asking about your rig and you got a chance to share all the details with a fellow enthusiast who was truly interested. Those are always great moments.

The scenery is beautiful. It's fun you have some water (rivers/creeks/lakes) to see, drink from, and play in (floating the creek/river like you did would be awesome.)

The red tailed hawk photo - you got all of one wing so that makes the photo still GREAT! Not being able to see the tip of the other wing just kind of enhances the pic by saying "hey, this thing is big!" It is a wonderful picture.

Sidewall puncture is a downer. Glad it happened in an area you could easily swap it out. I'm surprised you are only replacing the one tire. The new tire will have a larger diameter than the other three (that have 26,000 miles of wear on them.) Is that not of concern, especially if it is a rear tire (i.e., differential will have to 'slip' constantly to keep adjusting for unequal rotation of each tire?) I was under the impression that a 4-wheel drive needed to have all tires matching in diameter to put the least stress on the drivetrain. At the least - keep a diameter match on each axle (meaning TWO new tires on front or rear) so 2WD running was stress free on drivetrain. Maybe that's an old wives tales/not true? I ask 'cause you're an engineer and I'm genuinely learning here.

Love your trip reports. You are living the dream.

 

Frog,

I appreciate that. I too enjoyed talking with him, and listening to his siblings talk about the fish they caught in the river. The parents seemed happy too, as I was distracting their kids while they were loading the rafts into their truck bed and strapping them down. Haha

Thank you. Yeah, the water is incredible. The Snake River is breathtaking as well. Massive, and fast flowing. Though I will say, the mosquitos are not our favorite things, but we are managing.

Speaking of Red-Tailed Hawks, check out my next post. Still not perfect, but definitely exciting.

I had the same thoughts about different diameter tires too, back in the day. I had a discussion with a guy here on TW and he shared some info explaining how it isn't that big a deal actually, the differential can handle those small variations in diameter without issue. Plus, this new tire will be the spare, and will be mounted to the back door. The tire I put on the truck on the bridge is actually the same age as its opposite, just a few thousand miles less wear. This is because I have two matching new tires up front, as I swapped my unused spare onto the truck to match the new tire I got back when I had the dual punctures in Ensenada, Baja. So we are all good there.

Some folks even go so far as to say that you can have two different tire sizes (within reason) and still not be doing any damage, but I won't be taking it that far. Haha

Thank you. I really appreciate hearing that!

 

I totally called it.

But first, another Light Morph of the ever popular Red-Tailed Hawk. The books I read say that if you see a bird of prey, chances are it is a Red-Tailed Hawk.

Perched atop a tree. I saw it land while having my morning tea, and quickly scurried over to the truck to grab my camera.

Absolutely magnificent.

Red-Tailed Hawk - Light Morph Sitting by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

Surveying the landscape

Red-Tailed Hawk - Light Morph Head Turned by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

Perched just long enough for me to get those two shots, it quickly took off. With the camera on Aperture priority (though I do have a function button set to Shutter priority, 1/4000th, I just forgot to finger it) this was the best I captured as it flew away.

Red-Tailed Hawk - Light Morph In Flight by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

I totally called it, like I said. I could just feel it.

Not even 24 hours in to our stay, here the absolute beast of a creature was.

I was cleaning out a water bottle while talking to Stacy, and I heard a noise. My response was so instantaneous I can't even believe it thinking back on it now. It was that type of response that comes when the apex predator suddenly realizes it may not be so apex in this very moment.

Not even 80 ft from the truck, thankfully minding its own business, without a single care about us, was a Grizzly!

Stacy had the bear mace at the ready, but this Grizzly (Ursus arctos horriblis) was slowly sauntering along away from us.

Check out those ears!

Grizzly - Ears by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

And the telltale prominent shoulder hump

Grizzly - Shoulder Hump by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

Meandering away

Grizzly - Back by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

Grizzly - Rump by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

Even at that distance, through the grass and the trees, one could tell that this was a large, powerful creature.

I have been hyper vigilant ever since.

Though I have to say, I cannot wait to see another one (from the same safe vantage point of course, i.e. being just two feet from a metal box that I can get inside of!).

What an experience!

 

Man, I can only imagine what it was like being that close to such a large animal in the wild that could do some damage if it really wanted to. We saw a couple of California Black Bears on our way home the last time we camped, and they seemed massive. Let alone seeing a grizzly!

Hope y'all are still enjoying the dream!

 

Oh, it was certainly something else. We will be in Yellowstone sometime early next week, and I hope to see more large predators, but there is something much different about seeing one while you're all alone, as opposed to parked on a street with hundreds of other people. Haha

Most definitely. It somehow continues to get better and better it seems, as we slowly settle into this different style of life.

Hope you are well too my friend!

 

What headlight bulbs are you running?

 

Thanks for taking the time to explain the tire situation. It's good to know a slight difference in tire circumference probably isn't a big deal in real world running of the truck. I destroyed one tire (1st gen 4wd Tacoma) on an elk hunt. Got to small town w/tire shop and just wanted one tire to replace bad one. He convinced me I'd destroy my transfer case and differential doing that so I ended up getting 4 tires (Cooper snow tires). Other than the cost, that turned out to be a great purchase as those tires were amazing in the snow and boy did we get snow (Monument, CO, 2006 to 2007 winter = 206" of snow @ our house.)

Great new hawk picture! Such amazing birds to see fly. Graceful and powerful. Can't believe you got it on 'film'. I have a bird of prey that comes to my backyard periodically but danged if he'll ever let me get a picture.

Grizzly bear in camp! Wow. That's an adrenaline dump right there. Glad he/she just walked on by & didn't come closer to sniff out what food you had to share. As you said, they are crazy strong and fast. Definitely no joke when they mean business.

Other than the skeeters (which are a damn nuisance!) you really are in beautiful country and meeting nice people is one of my favorite aspects of traveling (I use a motorcycle vs a 4x4 Tacoma). You were nice to engage the kids and listen to them while their Mom & Dad got some moments of peace to load up their vehicle.

Exploration, adventure, meeting new people - you are doing what we all want to do: getting out in the world and EXPERIENCING LIFE vs thinking about it or reading it. Thanks for taking us along your journey.

 

I put some Sylvania bulbs in from an AutoZone a couple of years ago. I think they were their top tier bulb, but the exact name of it is escaping me at the moment.

 

Haha it certainly doesn't hurt to be more safe, and I personally plan on keeping them as close as possible to the same diameter as our travels continue.

Yeah, I love watching them, so damn graceful.

It was an experience for sure, and we have done about ~50 miles of hiking in Grand Teton NP, but no more bear sightings, even though people have told us that they just saw a bear on the trail. I even talked with a local lady who is a professional bear stalker, and she says she sees at least one (black bears mostly) every time she comes to the parks.

The NP has been quite fun for us. You see so many people, since it is so busy, and we have been making friends left and right. Made a friend who is on his way to Anchorage, so we can visit him next summer. We had a dad come over to our truck when we were outside of the Jackson Lake Lodge, (having just had a semi decent dinner at the Trapper Grill) asking about the setup and how it all works, and this and that. A great conversation. And then the next afternoon, we are on top of this viewpoint in the northeast corner of the park, and who shows up? The same guy and his family. He lives where I was born, him and his wife are ME's as well, so we just clicked. It has been wonderful to talk with people.

There is this concept called 'Urban Armor' where an individual in a busy city can't engage with everyone they meet, because that would simply be too many interactions every day. This has disappeared for us, due to our lack of being around people, so I find it lovely to be so excited to chat with curious people. And the truck, especially in the NP, attracts a ludicrous amount of attention.

This goes out to everyone, if you are ever trying to camp around GTNP, skip the Shadow Mountain NF area completely (east side of the park, kinda near the southern entrance). It just isn't worth trying to sleep up there. It's a single road that goes from the park back into the park, so everyone who sets out to camp on it simply squeezes in wherever they fit, as soon as they realize that there are no empty sites left. We had people coming and going at all hours of the night, parking directly next to us, etc. There are better places for sure. That one ain't it.

 

White-crowned Sparrow

White-crowned Sparrow by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

and a White-crowned Sparrow getting after it!

White-crowned Sparrow Singing by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

Bird song soothes the soul.

This little fella was getting in on the action too

Unknown Bird by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

Captivated audience member

WY Ground Squirrel by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

And then there was this rather plump, important looking fellow.

Cedar Waxwing 5 by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

Not singing, but rather preening those colorful feathers

Cedar Waxwing 4 by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

Whipping side-to-side

Cedar Waxwing Twisted by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

Cedar Waxwing 3 by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

A little bit of red poking out

Cedar Waxwing 2 by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

All done

Cedar Waxwing 1 by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

Another one of these beautiful warblers warbling

MacGillivray's Warbler by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

MacGillivray's Warbler Warbling by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

Our campsite at one point

NF Campsite by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

Phelps Lake in GTNP. A surprisingly warm (66 F) lake became a massive swimming pool for a little bit.

Grand Teton NP Photos by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

A nighttime view of the Tetons

Grand Tetons from Camp by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

I have to include one photo with the truck, just for proof. Haha

Grand Tetons from Camp by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

Many, many hikes over the past week. We would seek out hikes that lead us to higher-up views of the Tetons

Grand Teton NP Photos by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

Pre 15-mile hike lunch stop. This place is truly beautiful.

Grand Teton Lunch Break by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

We hiked and explored every corner of the park. The only thing we have left to do is to summit the Grand Teton itself, but we need some trad climbing gear, so we will be coming back to tackle the summit next time around.

Grand Teton NP Photos by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

Grand Teton NP Photos by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

So much water flows off of the Teton Range

Grand Teton NP Photos by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

I couldn't pass up this photo opportunity. The Grand Teton (not the glacier unfortunately) with its steeply cascading stream

Tacoma with the Grand Teton by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

The NF camping around most of the GTNP is highly regulated. We even came across a random USFS volunteer today who just drives around checking out that people are using the NF appropriately. I have never experienced this before, and it makes me yearn for BLM land. So very simple.

And man, the desert is so flat by comparison. It's much trickier to get the truck leveled up out here. Haha

Campsite by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

After a long day I did opt to stay at our 3rd paid campsite since we set out in 09/2023. It was alright. The very next night we pushed into the NF behind this campground and found easy camping. 15 bucks spent for not much, but the campground host did have a grandson who was massively curious. The old man talked about him like the childish curiosity was a burden, but once again I had a great time answering all of his questions. He had little concept of personal space though, as he just climbed around on everything as he looked around. Haha

Tacoma at Hatchet CG by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

Thankfully just a black bear this time, but she did have two cubs with her. Popped out of the woods right onto the trail. Thankfully, once again, she did not have a care in the world in regards to us. Her cubs seemed interested though, but I know better to get close to them, so we just continued to walk backwards until they all finally turned off of the trail and went into the woods.

Definitely not as scary as the Grizzly, but still very exciting!

Grand Teton NP Photos by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

View from the east into the Tetons, over Jenny Lake. Apparently a very good view (as described a few times by the info signs around the park), worthy of the (short) hike. I couldn't agree more. Simply splendid.

Grand Teton NP Photos by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

Despite many comings and goings, it took me 5 days to finally get a photo with the entrance sign (entrance from the Dubois side; this is the area, albeit farther away from the main attractions in the park, that has better primitive camping).

Tacoma at Teton NP Entrance by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

More beautifully stunning flowing water. We even saw a beaver on this hike. It just sat on the trail and looked at us apparently as interested in us as we were in it!

Grand Teton NP Photos by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

Work day tomorrow, and then restocking with groceries before it's Yellowstone time! Yellowstone is even larger than GTNP (by a lot by the looks of it), and I hope we can work out as good a strategy for seeing the park and sleeping as we did with GTNP. We certainly drove a lot more than usual, but we only used about 5/8th's of a tank of gas in one week, which isn't too horrendous. The roads in the park are very flat, and the roads inside the park have a max daytime speed of 45 mph (drops to 35 mph at night for animal safety), so this helped with the mpg's, even though we drove for almost 2 hours a day for a couple days. There is a parallel road that is still inside the park boundaries, but doesn't require passing through an entrance station, that has a 55/45 mph limit day/night, fyi.

We are now camped in an area where a couple of outfitter guides told us a huge grizzly stays all summer long. Fresh grizzly scat on the road too.

Let's see what comes across our path!

The weather has been fairly ideal around here, for those who care. High 70's during the day. Night time temps are not too cold, high 40's. The bugs suck big time, especially as a desert dweller, but we are getting more used to it.

Food inside the NP is fairly pricey, fyi. ~$50 for the two of us, lunch and dinner each. But we couldn't pass up too many opportunities to engage with the park in various ways. We enjoyed the Trapper Grill but the Chuckwagon restaurant at Dornan's left us a bit unsatisfied, but oh well.

Apart from summitting the Grand Teton itself, we feel like we have experienced the park as thoroughly as we can. Driven every road, stopped at almost every place, hiked every corner (though not every possible hike) and visited the various visitor centers around the park. Even rode our bikes for ~20 miles along the NP path. All-in-all a great place to spend some time. If you are on a time budget, hike into the canyons (Cascade or Granite) for a condensed GTNP experience.

Thanks for reading.

 

The Tetons are amazing. I only had time passing through to stop for a couple of hours.

 

Wow. Just great pictures and narration. I feel like I'm there w/you.

Your truck is very distinctive so I can see how it draws attention and curious folks want to know more about it. The fact that you like sharing the story of what is in/on your Tacoma is special; even "kids without boundaries" get a patient, thoughtful explanation. You are a wonderful ambassador for Toyota, and represent the Tacoma tribe well.

Black bear mama and cubs! That IS exciting. My fear factor shoots off the charts when I see cubs. But thankfully mama bear seems habituated to people and kept her cool, which had to be a relief. Great pictures, too, by the way. Often hard to get the camera up & focused in time after the initial adrenaline dump of seeing a bear and cubs nearby, but you captured them perfectly.

Such great shots of the cedar waxing, too! Nice. They need to use your pictures in the birding books. You got the red wing tips and yellow tail feathers and that rusty, waxy looking reddish/brown by the head - really nice, in-focus shots. I enjoy that.

The picture of the Tetons thru the trees and beyond the lake really captured the beauty of the area perfectly. And the Jenny Lake picture brought back fond memories. It is an an easy hike (as you said) and one of the very few I've done in that area. But you two have been all over GTNP in the truck & on foot. You'll have some great memories of your trip to go w/your pics.

I like that you are befriending people and really escaping the mindset of city people. You are out amongst folks that enjoy what you enjoy and getting to know their story just brings them closer to your life. I met a couple at Carlsbad Caverns over 30 years ago and we stayed in touch all this time. Getting out into the world makes you feel more a part of something bigger and better. Cities bring out our defenses. Nature allows us to relax and reconnect.

Please keep posting when you feel like it. I really enjoy your pictures and words.

 

Thank you. Responses like these are much appreciated.

I appreciate that compliment, and I will continue to do my best to be a positive representation of this lifestyle.

Unfortunately with the (3) bears, I only had my iPhone on me (an older 13, so the zoom feature is lackluster) instead of the D500, and Stacy was commenting that I should have had my real camera on me for such a sighting. I need to look into the recently released Cotton Carrier, which is a strap setup that makes carrying a bigger camera less cumbersome/taxing, but the truth likely lies in the fact that I simply haven't invested any time into figuring out a way to carry along multiple lenses and a big camera. I think I will gravitate towards this once I acquire the Z8, but I still haven't purchased it yet.

I hope to one day amass a decent portfolio of bird photos to assemble in some way. I am taking a photo of every campsite we stay at (with the truck being the main focus) to put together some sort of '300 campsites in 365 days' type piece. Just another idea I have swimming around in the ol' noggin.

Nature definitely allows us to slow down a bit, but the focused energy of cities has accomplished things such as assembling the truck I utilize as a mobile home, the device that allows me to connect to anyone on earth via the internet, etc. so I could definitely have a many hours long conversation about the pros and cons of both environments, as I see a legitimate purpose for both, but definitely too much to share via a medium that requires me to type out each word!. Haha

I most certainly will continue, thanks again Frog.

We have fulfilled our obligation to society by contributing to the workforce by being good employees, and now we can continue on along our adventure tomorrow.