The Getaway...Crom's build and adventures

Thanks for sharing that part of the country with us. Amazing pictures!! I need to go west someday.

 

How do you carry the rocks with out issues? Im space constrained....lol

 

We've done a couple of 2 weekers there. One car camping/backpacking and one wheeling. Heaven. This year was a two weeker in SoWest CO. Heaven too.

We call our Big Buddy our smokeless, adjustable, economical, campfire. We use it indoors and out.

 

Details?

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=big...ericamovil-us&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8



Only drag was at 10,000 feet we had a problem lighting it due to low O2 levels.

 

The rocks stay in the round steel pit, and the whole thing fits into a sturdy canvas carry bag. As long as you don't flip it over there is zero drama. I bought mine after reading about Crom's, and I love it. Enough wood for 3 or 4 days on the trail weighs a ton.

 

Sold! lol

 

You're welcome!

Exactly what Bruce wrote, it's a canvas / nylon heavy bag that comes with the pit. The legs fold under and it's fairly low profile about 6" tall. I always carry an assortment of hoses and adapters that are inside the bag for convenience.



I strap it down like pictured above.

On family trips, I put it up and outta the way on the roof rack. Pictured below it has some 1lb propane bottles tossed into the bag, hence the larger profile.

Oh hell yeah! Love the Mr. Heater products.

I have the smaller version of that, and we love ours. Wifey jokes that we stay warmer in the tent on camping trips, than at home.
We use it in our tent on all trips but in the summer. I would go so far as to say that, without it, we may not be able to do what we do. Great product, and great company behind it. I've warranty claims for reasons I don't need to go to into, but when I called, I talked to an American in Cleveland Ohio, who immediately took care of me and made sure I was very happy with the result. I love it when a company stands by their products.



I hook the heater up to an 11-lb or 20-lb bottle with hose and I never have to worry about running out.

The Mr. Heater green hose ( it's not green color, rather it's free of plasticizer at manufacture time). If you don't use the green hose, you have to run a filter on the heater. Therefore I recommend the green hose. Tip #1. When using hoses with bottles, always open the the valve slow, or you'll trip the valves leak sensor, and valve will not work. Tip #2 Use slip-joint pliers to tighten to the hose to the heater or it will not work. All the hoses have little valves to keep stuff pressurized and when connecting the heater to the hose, more torque is required than a hand tight connection to engage the valve in the hose. Maybe they've changed things since I've bought mine 3-years ago, but that's how mine works.

I've not been able to quantify it, but I think you can get about 6-7 hours run time with a 1-pound bottle on the low heater setting.




The debate about running these heaters in tents rages on and will never end, but common sense and basic precautions are mandatory in my book. We vent the tent properly (9 sq inches according to manufacture specs.) and we use a stand alone CO alarm / detector, and we have never, ever had an issue. The heater has a tip sensor, and low oxygen cut off sensor. I've tested both and they work as designed. The Mr. Heater product is awesome for our tent. It does have issues in an outdoor environment with wind though, because it uses a pilot light.

For outdoor space heater I like this model Mr. Heater:

(and for the record, this one will kill you if you use it indoors, so don't do that )



I backpacked that thing into the Grand Canyon, and almost everyone on trail asked me WTF was that dish on my pack. lol


Death Valley, 2009

Thanks!

 

I have a 10 yr old Mr Heater that I absolutely love. never heard of the Green hose until now. I need to check into that.

Sounds like a great idea. Can you help me out with specs/sourcing on this?

Thanks Crom... I'm stealing your ideas left and right.

 

Sure, that's what discussion forums are for.

Amazon to the rescue:

• $28 Mr. Heater Buddy Series Hose Assembly - 10-ft., Model# F273704
  Mr. Heater Buddy Series Hose Assembly - 10-ft., Model# F273704 $26.53
• $28 Kidde Carbon Monoxide Detector, AA Battery Powered CO Alarm with LEDs, Test-Reset Button, Low Battery Indicator, Portable
  Kidde KN-COPP-B-LPM Battery-Operated Carbon Monoxide Alarm with Digital Display $24.97

My wife calls the Mr. Heater, "The Bunsen burner" lol Dunno why but funny to me.

 

I've lent a fair number of gear out over the years to good friends, and I used to be stunned when they hand it back to me broken with a smile, and no offer for recompense. I've learned now that if I load something out, I should not expect it back at all, or in working condition. Most times, I just say no, and point them to REI, or Sports Authority, Etc.

Good to hear!

I had to look, my pack is a Gregory Baltoro 65L from 2008... Great pack!

 

LOL - Zoom and I were saying something along the same lines... when we got home from DV (lows of 19) we thought our home was colder than our tent!

Regarding the hose, I guess, I'm either a cheap bastard or stupid - Somehow I think there is a filter salesman making posts. We've used ours for years with zero problems and I've never used anything but the standard hoses for a 20 or 11 lbs tank. Maybe you are that sales guy. You may be able to convince me.

I don't know if you use one, but I carry a luggage scale to keep tabs of the amount of propane and CO₂ on board. I picked it up for about $6 and is amazingly accurate for what I need.

 

And if we talk about safety... We've used heaters for six years in our RTT. The first time we did it, I have to say I had a few worries of not waking up.

We have never had a problem and trust the O₂ sensor in the Big Buddy. I have NEVER had any headache or anything although I do feel dumber nearly every year I live!

The worst thing that ever happened was on a DV Christmas trip I had a Black Cat that hung from the center bar from the hose, bust loose and drop right on Z's chest - THANK GOD I put a wool blanket on top of our down double wide bag!!! I jumped up and wrestled the wild propane snake our of the tent, scooped her up and we slept without the heater for the rest of the trip. Now I run the Buddy in the changing room or in our spring bar tent with absolutely 100% confidence.

 

I've had mixed experience but I can say my newest Dromo bag was from a guy that borrowed a pack and bladder - and the bladder died when he had it. It was over 10 years old and he did not need to replace it!

 

Nice. Getting ideas for rack storage, especially propane and gas on longer trips.

Ouch. Waaaay back in kollij I lent my old Mountainsmith back pack to a chick who was going to Europe. It came back with a big varmint hole. I said, why don't you keep that and buy me a new backpack. I never loaned anyone any of my gear again, unless it was backup/extra. I got a TNF Snow Leopard to replace the MS, and wore the thing out over 2 decades or so.

A few years ago I got a Gregory Baltoro 65. Love it.

Final trip of the Snow Leopard over Forester pass on the way to Whitney:


The Baltoro on it's inaugural trip to Humphrey's Basin ( I think).


I don't use Camelbacks anymore. I used to lug a 100L. That was just stupid. Depending on known H2O availability en route, I use 2 1-qt platypus bags, one with a hydration hose. Usually one is water, and the other is Nuun electrolyte. And my Katadyn pump.

 

I've used several big buddies with battery CO detectors when our central heating broke in -30 F weather. This is the first time I've seen the dual use heater/cooktop version, looks good.

 

Death Valley Day 4, part 2

I aired up at Zabriskie Point to 36 PSI, I topped off fuel in Furnace Creek and headed North on CA-190, I decided to return to Chloride Cliff.

I took CA-190 to the Beatty cutoff, then to Daylight pass and finally after about 15 miles I was trail side and aired down to 20 PSI.

I had visited this place a year prior, but could not explore, and was turned around by emergency tire repair (had two holes in the tires!).

The trail to Chloride Cliff has some fun 4-LO sections, and the views are astonishing and near the cliffs, they will take your breath away.



Looking into Nevada

Got twisted up on this fun little section of trail.



Trail took every inch of travel out of the rear suspension.

All drooped out

And stuffed

My Dakar spring pack going negative, looks like some torsion in there too.

Good shot of the front IFS doing it's thing and lol at the Amargosa river water that dried white on the truck from the day prior.

From the top of the cliffs at around 4,800' I could see about 70 miles to the West. The great eastern Sierra Nevada mountain Range.

Each mountain range pictured above, from back to front, Sierra Nevada, Inyo Mountains, and The Cottonwoods (part of the Panamints)
Decent map linked here.

Here is another view from exactly the same place I was standing when I took the zoomed shot above. In this photo below you see DV proper, and on the horizon (extreme right) you can see the snow covered Sierras.


Chloride Cliff is pretty amazing. There are spectacular views, and super narrow trails that will have your heart pounding if you take them. One section of trail, I got scared and had to back out about 100 yards. Carefully following the shelf, making sure I didn't go overboard. It was truly terrifying and all those thoughts of horror about brake lines failing/leaking come to the forefront of my mind.





There is a hill climb to the top.

Lots of pucker factor.


Top of the world, Yo!

I decided I should have a pic of myself. Took a knee to try get dead center of photo. Everything you see in the background is Nevada. It's chilly here in winter, lots of wind. Last year was colder and winder.

I signed the summit register.

One of the historic mining structures at the Chloride site.

Notice the steel rope/mesh net that the park service put over the mining shaft. This is good and is done for safety. Not all shafts are netted like that, actually very few. Only the ones that present the most obvious forms danger.

After having my fill at the Cliffs I returned to the trailhead. I passed three jeeps going in on the trail. Fortunately it was a great place to pass. I aired up, and turned East on Daylight Pass road and drove 17.6 miles to Beatty, Nevada

I topped off my fuel and went to the Denny's that is inside the casino, that was inside the hotel. I ate here last year and it was awesome.

I had this.

Then this.

Not bad for $15 plus tip!

 

LOL awesome. Whitney is in that zoomed shot of the Sierras.

Ever done Silver Creek Trail from Bristlecone down to Bishop? That was my biggest pucker on a shelf road that is VERY STEEP.
I really did not like crawling downhill toward this massive berm, hoping I didn't lose any traction.

 

Good info! Yes a scale is a great way to measure propane in a bottle. For our family camp trips, I will always bring a full bottle. I have three that I use and it helps cut down on trips to get them refilled.

Excellent!

lol

lol Great story!

Awesome sauce! It's somewhat ironic to me. You, @DoorDing, me, we all have Gregory Packs! Great minds think a like!

I really like the independent hip suspension of the Baltoro. That feature has reduced fatigue and really allowed me to high-step over obstacles when cross country on rugged terrain. Great products from a great company.

I tend to do a lot more desert backpacking then alpine, so my pack usually has 6-9 liters of water, for multi-day travel. HEAVY. My pack is usually around 50 lbs. I am on hiatus from backpacking for a while...

EDIT: I meant to add, that I have not done Whitney yet. Your pic looks awesome. One day I'll do it.

@scocar

Great pic! Yes! I've done it in 2011. It's harry! I entered from the East on Wyman Creek Road, near Deep Springs, CA, and went up the canyon and into the White Mountains. I was on a mission to see the oldest trees in the world. Very primitive report of that here: White Mountains, Inyo, National Forest, CA 2011

I'm guessing you've seen it too since you were up there.

I hiked the Methuselah trail, and I was able to lay my eyes on the oldest living thing (non-colony organism) in the world.

Methuselah is a 4,847-year-old Great Basin bristlecone pine tree growing high in the White Mountains of Inyo County in eastern California.



And I just read they discovered an older tree in 2012, of another bristlecone pine in the same area with an age of 5,065 years (germination in 3050 BC). HOLEY SHIT!!!

I guess, It's time to plan a return trip! lol

Glad to hear it!

 

The El Nino storm is really doing a number on us here in San Diego, and other parts of Cali to the North. Shit loads of flooding, and a tornado warning was issued for North County.





When this stuff happens, I drive in 4WD and hope no dumb ass drivers hit me. Really wish I had plate bumpers front and rear! lol