Diet Taco... trying to keep things light

Speechless

 

So much win OP!

 

Sounds great Ken! Love your pics. I look forward to hearing your report on the AP aluminum bumper.

 

I need to spend a few days writing updates now, I'm even more behind with trip reports and mod reports!

A quick update until then:

• Did a Memorial Day weekend trip with the family to the higher elevations around Owens and Panamint Valleys. Was a nice trip but I ended up driving way too much as we hopped from one mountain range to another avoiding the heat of the valleys. Needed better planning!
• The All Pro aluminum rear bumper came in, was powder coated the next day and put on the truck the day after that. Took me about three hours to do the swap with my wife helping for a few minutes three times to hold one end of awkward parts as first/last bolts went in/out. Way more rear clearance. Full report coming (soon hopefully).
• I did a solo trip to part of the Inyos for a single night just this week. My Flexilla hose failed! Fortunately right as I was about to turn the compressor off anyway. It is 300 psi rated and the compressor switches off at about 180 psi. I think that the very thin gauge jumper wires that connect the compressor to the battery were in contact with the part of the hose that failed and so it was a heat related failure. Not confidence inspiring...
• I nearly ripped one of the support arms off the roof of the Flip-Pac while passing under a tree branch. These fold onto the roof and are held by a hinge on the rear end and a spring clip on the front end when stored. So a branch can grab them and either flip or bend them to the back of the truck. In my case everything stayed attached to the truck and the arm flipped to the rear without damaging the hinge but the arm bent slightly in the process. Still all works as is. I'll be replacing this setup with a stainless instead of plastic deck hinge that has a removable hinge pin so I can just store the arms in the truck rather than having them ride on the roof waiting to get caught on something.
• For some reason I can't for the life of me remember to put valve stem covers back on. I lost all four when airing down, had three spare in the truck and then lost one more when I was airing back up! I have bought a pack of 100 valve stem covers from Amazon for $5 which will hopefully last me a few years...

Can't have an update without a photo. Here's my campsite from a few nights ago. I like campsites with views...

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Very awesome campsite view!!

 

That is one heck of a view!!!!

Will be around for full report as always

 

Death Valley
April 2016

Work interfered with some of the prime camping months earlier in the spring and so I wanted to try and get a last trip or two in before things got too hot. For this trip I was going to take a friend from work on a tour of some of my favorite parts of Death Valley, specifically the northwest portions of the park. He was driving in to CA from AZ to visit another friend of his and then we were going to meet in Ridgecrest where he would leave his vehicle while we did our trip.

Since I had someone else along and did not want to torture him with too much photography this trip report will include a mixture of old and new photos. I'm also going to pack it all into one post as I am way behind on trip reports!

We met in Ridgecrest around noon and as this would be a big loop on remote roads I filled up my jerry can for the first time. This appears to seal quite well. It is stored horizontal under the raised floor and did not leak at all for this trip. We did some last bits of grocery and supplies shopping in Ridgecrest though I had most of what we needed already. From there we headed east out of town. First stop was Trona Pinnacles which has been shown more than once in this thread already. Next we had a very late lunch at Panamint Springs Resort in some very pleasant afternoon temps on their shady patio. Also topped off the tank here. Then we headed west up the 190 and stopped at Father Crowley Point where we were buzzed by an F-18 as is typical there.

Onward to Saline Valley Road and aired down the tires for the drive up to Hunter Mountain. As we headed towards Lee Flat we passed a 2016 Tacoma that it turns out was driven by TW member @forty2 though we didn't know that at the time! Driving across the top of Hunter Mountain we ran into a collection of girls in a rented Jeep who weren't quite sure where they were and were concerned they were off track. Turned out they were following their rather poorly marked up map just fine and had underestimated how long their day would take. Were happy to hear they were getting closer to pavement. Finally we reached our turn to the north to take us along the ridge north of Hunter Mountain.

At the end of this road there is a short hike/scramble to a nice viewpoint of Racetrack Valley with Saline Valley behind. Along the way I took a shot back at the truck where it was perched at the end of this old mining road. The low sun angle and patchy clouds made for dramatic light.

End of the Road
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We soon reached the viewpoint and stood in some increasingly chilly wind to take it all in. All of the campsites along this road are very exposed and so it was looking like it might shape up to be a noisy and windy night once we made camp. It wasn't clear that descending to one of the valleys would be much better though. The clouds, lighting and haze were not particularly favorable for a photo and actually this would be a much better morning shot to take some day. Besides which, I already have a sunset shot from this spot from years back:

Racetrack and Saline Valleys (old photo)
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We drove back just a little to a campsite with an amazing view but quickly holed up in the FlipPac as the wind was getting quite strong. We cooked dinner in the FlipPac and practically had to yell to have any sort of conversation. One of the pluses of the FlipPac is that it holds up to extreme wind very well and is nice and sheltered inside. The big minus being the tent gets extremely noisy in the wind and since it is on top of the truck it really sticks out into the wind compared to a ground tent. The wind stuck around until almost 3AM and did not make for very restful sleep. The payoff came in the morning when we were treated to an amazing sunrise view.

Campsite of the Gods
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It was surprisingly cold this morning given it was April. Perhaps all that wind was associated with a cold front. After breakfast we continued our trip down the east side of Hunter Mountain and through Hidden Valley. We stopped and explored Lost Burro Mine.

Mill and Cabin at Lost Burro Mine




Shaft at Lost Burro Mine
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Hiking to the ridge above Lost Burro Mine leads to another nice viewpoint over Racetrack Playa. This day it was cloudy and cool in the morning. It really felt like a December morning as we climbed up to the ridge. I didn't bother with a photo since I already had an older one from this spot on a sunnier morning.

Grandstand on Racetrack Playa
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We continued our drive towards Teakettle Junction and made a quick stop by a short canyon with some nice steep walls, a dryfall and some small windows in the rocks. Given it was late spring we weren't surprised to find a large haul of teakettles adorning the sign at the junction. We continued towards Racetrack Playa and stopped at the Ubehebe Mine along the way. Finally reaching the playa we walked out and explored The Grandstand. After that we contemplated tackling the trail to Ubehebe Peak. We were both fatigued from poor sleep in the wind the night before and neither of us felt up to the climb so we saved it for another day and proceed to the south end of the playa to see the moving rocks.

Racetrack Playa of course features the famous "moving rocks" and their trails in the playa. There were a number of recent movements (meaning less than a few years old, some definitely moved back around January 2015 when there was finally video evidence of a movement event recorded). Mid-day is not the best time to visit or photograph the rocks and their trails but it is always an amazing and surreal spot to visit. I didn't bother taking any photos in the flat midday light, but I've got plenty of photos from past visits.

Moving Rock (old photo)
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It was about noon but we decided to wait and have lunch at the bottom of Lippincott Road. My friend had never been on a road as rough and with as much exposure as Lippincott so that was an eyeopener for him. The descent was uneventful and of course the Diet Taco had no problems at all with it. I had thought to stop for lunch at a viewpoint along the way but the two best places to pull out weren't quite as good for a lunch spot as I remembered so we just stopped at the bottom where there was a nice flat spot to deploy the shade awning and look down the length of Saline Valley. It was getting quite a bit warmer rapidly now!

I put the gas in the jerry can into the tank at this point. I try to get fuel in the tank as soon as there is space as I don't like carrying spare fuel in cans. I used the super siphon for this which worked wonderfully except for the fact that with the FlipPac there really is no good place to set the can while siphoning. This made it very much a two man job and was even awkward then. Once done you still have a bit of gas the siphon tube couldn't quite reach meaning you still need to pour into the tank somehow. So after this experience I'll be acquiring a non-CARB spout for the can as I think that will work better when solo. The siphon clearly would work great if you had an open bed to set the can in while siphoning.

From here we rejoined Saline Valley Road and stopped by the Salt Lake and took a look at the famous Salt Tram towers. With binoculars we followed their insane path up the steep side of the Inyos to the station eight thousand feet above.

Salt Tram Tower (old photo)
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Since it was getting warmer and warmer we decided we should find a cool camp spot and end the day a bit early. From previous visits I thought that Beveridge Canyon would be a good choice so we made the short drive north of the Salt Lake and climbed the alluvial fan into the mouth of the canyon. There are big flat spots to park here as well as a lot of old mining equipment and a few buildings. I don't spend nights in desert cabins these days as I have no desire to experience Hanta Virus. We found a spot to park and deploy the FlipPac and then made the short hike further up canyon to a flowing waterfall where deep shade and mist from the falls make for a comfortable snack and resting spot. Well cooled we then headed back to camp where things were a bit buggy due to the proximity of water. Another advantage of the FlipPac is that it provides plenty of bug free resting and living space. We cooked dinner again and had a pleasant wind free night of sleep.

Camp in Beveridge Canyon
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Come morning we could tell it would be a warm day in the valley so we got an early start to our explorations and planned to spend the middle of the day at higher elevations. We sought out and found some petroglyphs nearby to Hunter Canyon just south of us. After that we headed north again to hike up McElvoy Canyon.

McElvoy Canyon has been hit by multiple flash floods and mudflows in the past few years. I've visited it a few times over the years and the changes wrought there have been mind boggling.

In the early 2000's it was extensively choked with brush and large trees that must have taken a few decades to grow undisturbed.

Around summer of 2012 thunderstorms caused floods and in spring of 2013 when I hiked I discovered the mouth of the canyon and the first fall not too different from the past, but above the first fall was utter destruction I've never seen the likes of. A full half mile of the canyon was filled to significant depth with mud flow debris that included massive cottonwood trunks and branches. It appeared the massive flow had been dammed just above the first fall by a landslide from the north wall of the canyon. The second fall which previously had been preceded down canyon by lush growth and surrounded by trees now was stripped bare of all vegetation and approached over a muddy desolation that even enveloped the lower part of the second falls.

Soon though there were even more extensive floods and upon visiting in the fall of 2013 the landscape had completely changed again. The warning was all the way down on Saline Valley Road where cottonwood trunks were laying near the road. The mouth of the canyon was completely scoured clean now. The first fall was a good twenty feet higher than before and previously had flown over rocks and talus now cascaded down bare rock. Hanging gardens at the first fall that you previously walked right past now hung 15 to 20 feet above your head.

And so we visited again. Growth was coming back to the mouth of the canyon and some bushwhacking was in order. The first fall was still impassible with the hanging gardens still well above our heads. It was getting to be a warm hike up and standing by the falls was very comfortable. We enjoyed this almost unbelievable oasis for about half an hour before we headed back down canyon to the truck.

From here we headed by the Saline Valley Hot Springs. This is a time of year I would never visit. It is too warm, risks bugs and is way too crowded to my taste. But we stopped to look all the same since my friend had never seen them before. As is typical of visiting the springs when crowded and the weather warm we left wishing we had packed eye bleach.

We continued up the road towards Steel Pass. It is a long haul but a classic desert drive. Along the way we saw a few F-18s and a B-1 flyover. As we climbed higher the temps got more comfortable. Just north of the pass we stopped for a long lazy lunch to enjoy the cooler breezes up at around 5000 ft. While eating we got an impressive flyover from a C-17 that seemed to barely clear the ridge to the north as it headed towards us. After a bit we decided we should make for Eureka Valley if we were going to climb the dunes with any light.

And so we headed down Dedeckera Canyon, the most notorious part of Steel Pass Road. I was glad to have someone along for spotting since the dryfalls there are difficult to negotiate and the Tacoma is just a bit wider than my previous truck. I did manage to acquire one scar, the stupid trailer connector that hangs down got a little crushed. Had been meaning to move it for a long time but never bothered since a new bumper was coming eventually anyway. Exiting Dedeckera Canyon is always inspiring since after a long drive and then a tight negotiation of the dryfalls you are met with the towering Eureka Dunes blazing in the sunlight while you are still in the shade of the canyon.

Dedeckera Canyon and Eureka Dunes
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Finally we came to the dunes around 5 pm only to discover rapidly rising wind. Sand was blowing on the dunes and the playa out on the floor of Eureka Valley was churning up sizeable dust clouds. It did not take much thought to decide that hiking the dunes would not be pleasant and spending a night in roaring wind in the FlipPac would not be restful. Our original agenda had us leaving the next morning anyway so we decided to just bailout early. It was a long drive to be sure, but we stopped at Pizza Factory in Lone Pine for a late dinner and I dropped my friend off in Ridgecrest for the night. He'd head back to AZ the next day but I pressed on to my own bed back in Pasadena. A bit before midnight I made it home.

Despite the wind it was a great trip. I never tire of northwestern Death Valley and am always happy to share the wonder with someone who hasn't experienced it before. This kind of long, multi-day off-road trek is what the truck was made for and once again it performed admirably. Though a higher clearance rear bumper will be welcome...

 

Great report and your usual superior photography. In hindsight, would the descent through Dedeckera Canyon been manageable by yourself? I would like to do a similar trip solo.

 

A solo drive thru there is enjoyable.

 

I want to pet that dog in your profile pic

 

I think it would be fine solo, with the usual caveats about being prepared in case you get stuck solo (i.e. plenty of food and water, someone who knows your itinerary and can be relied upon to contact park if you are overdue). The only place you might want a spotter is the two dryfalls in Dedeckera but if you are familiar with your rig and walk/study the lines before attempting I don't think it would be an issue solo. The approach I take in those cases is to carefully plan a route for my front right wheel and rear right wheel which I can see from the driver's seat. You know a Tacoma gets through there so mostly it is just about picking a line as far to the right as you can and holding it. The most you risk here is light body damage - not getting stuck.

EDIT: I'll add that often at those falls some very light road building helps. Move a few rocks/boulders to create a smoother path for your particular wheelbase. Will control rocking that might otherwise result in a dent.

 

Thanks Ken.

 

Nice read, thanks for the write-up. As I live in LA you've listed plenty of places to explore.

 

Owens Valley and the Inyo Mountains
May 2016

Well Memorial Day weekend once again meant another day without daycare so it was time to go camping! This trip report will be short as there wasn't too much truck worthy to report other than it once again being a great expedition platform. In the end I did a somewhat sucky job planning because I consider this area almost my backyard but forgot that my backyard is really, really big so we ended up driving too much!

We got out of town earlier than ever on Saturday, left well before 9AM and headed over the San Gabriels to the high desert. On the way up a slow vehicle mostly pulled to the side to let me pass, which I did slightly crossing the double yellow only to pull right up to a friendly CHP officer. Informed me I had crossed the line, I agreed and said other vehicle had pulled off to allow passing but didn't pull entirely off the road and I could see well ahead. He said yep, but still shouldn't cross the line and it was a maximum enforcement weekend so don't do it again and be aware the mountains are crawling with CHP today. I said thanks and we continued on our way soon catching up with the car we passed...

Breakfast in Lancaster and then stopped a bit before noon at Red Rock for a little exploring. It was already getting a bit warm but was good to take a break and poke around. Light way too harsh for decent photos. From there we plodded on north and stopped at Fossil Falls in the southern Owens Valley. We had a late lunch here, the shade awning was very welcome as temperatures were climbing higher. My daughter enjoyed climbing around the top of the dry falls but about 1/3 of the way down it was impractical to continue with her.

Camp was planned to be somewhere higher and close to Darwin Falls which we might try to hike in the morning. Lee Flat was my first choice and we headed over there. Thunderstorms were huddled on the Inyos and I was hoping they wouldn't head our way - I still haven't seam sealed the fly for the Flip Pac! We relaxed through the late afternoon, had a simple dinner and then finally crashed for the night.

Lee Flat and Thunderstorms
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In the morning we concluded that it was likely to get too hot by the time we got down to Darwin Falls and so I thought maybe it would be better to stick to higher elevations. We could go over to the Panamints and see some of the sights there. We took a long time getting ready, my daughter and I went for a walk checking out Joshua trees and she enjoyed digging random holes with the recovery shovel.

Finally on our way we stopped by the Boxcar Cabin briefly (it had been occupied the night before otherwise we might have camped there). Back to the 190 and we stopped by Father Crowley Point. Being a holiday weekend there was no air traffic here, but it is an impressive view point all the same and Rainbow Canyon is quite the precipitous drop off even without planes flying down it.

Rainbow Canyon Overlook
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Descending to Panamint Springs indeed it was already getting quite warm. Across the valley and up over Towne Pass to get to Emigrant Canyon Road it finally dawns on me that this is all further than I remember it and I may have cursed us to a day with as much driving as Saturday if not more! Hoping to just get a lot of it over with we push all the way to Mahogany Flat to have lunch at high elevations - there are some sites with nice views.

Well apparently the whole world had the same idea. Mahogany Flat was ludicrously packed with vehicles in every little spot you could put one. I assume most were hiking Telescope Peak as there weren't that many people around. With nothing else for it we found the last remaining patch of ground to park a vehicle and had a quick lunch looking the "wrong" way (not into Death Valley). Note to self, stay in remote locations on holiday weekends.

We explored the Charcoal Kilns on the way back down. My daughter enjoyed going in every single one. Next we hit up the mines around Harrisburg which were fun to poke around. At the end of that road we came to Aguereberry Point which is a grand view of Death Valley itself. I pointed out the various spots we visited the last time we had been in Death Valley to my daughter and we had a snack.

Aguereberry Point
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Given the time we skipped the road to Skidoo as I wanted to be further up the Owens Valley that night which was still a long way away! Oh why did I think this was a good idea in the morning...

We rewarded my extremely patient daughter with an early dinner at McDonalds in Lone Pine when we finally got there and then headed for Independence where I hoped to camp along Mazourka Canyon Road at a higher elevation. I tried some roads to potential campsites with a view around the 4500 ft level but they were all extremely rough and rapidly closed by wilderness barriers. I did get to test out the skid plates on one road though - rock was a bit taller than I expected. Whoops.

After looking better at the topo maps it seemed we should head a bit higher where there were more substantial roads and sure enough up at 6500ft on Santa Rita Flat we found a nice spot with beautiful views of the Sierras. We rested and watched clouds play along the Sierra crest as the sun set. It was a really long day driving, but was still better than sitting at home trying to otherwise entertain my daughter.

Santa Rita Flat
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And so we finally came to Monday but before heading home we were going to the Laws Railroad Museum up by Bishop. You want to avoid Bishop like the plague on the Saturday and Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend since that is Mule Days - an insanely crowded celebration of the humble mule. Indeed driving up the 395 that morning we felt like salmon headed upstream as a mass of vehicles poured south out of Bishop.

Laws was not crowded at all fortunately. The railroad museum is actually quite awesome as it includes far more than railroad stuff and is probably the central historical repository of the Owens Valley. If you have never been to this museum and frequent the Owens Valley you really need to stop by one day. I'd visited before and my wife would have loved to look at the exhibits but of course there was an almost four year old in tow and a long drive to go. So we did a quick train ride and climbed on a steam engine before heading back south.

Drive south long but uneventful. I'd have loved to get yummies at Schat's in Bishop but it was of course an absolute mob scene so we skipped it. There was a lot of traffic south bound on 395 - more than I've ever seen but of course I usually stay off the roads on holidays.

In the end we managed to squeak in one last semi-desert trip before the real summer heat and I learned a good lesson about better road mileage planning. The truck and Flip Pac once again performed admirably, especially on this crowded holiday weekend when a small footprint campsite in the middle of nowhere was extremely desirable.

As they say, a day (or three) spent camping is better than most any other day and so by that metric the trip was a success.

 

Epic stuff in here! I'll need to go back and read from the beginning.

Truck looks great, the photography is phenomenal and the writing ties it together.

Thanks for taking the time and effort to share it all.

 

This thread reminds me of exaclty why I bought a Tacoma (and then another one 11 years later). I absolutely love exploring Arizona, Utah, and California! You and @Crom have given me so many ideas of places to go and things to do with my truck to make my travels more enjoyable...Thank you!!

 

All-Pro Aluminum Rear Bumper
June 2016

Earlier in the thread I discussed why I ended up choosing this bumper (I don't need to tow and it is really light). There was a free shipping sale around Memorial Day so that's when I ordered and it showed up shortly thereafter. I took it straight to get powder coated and installed a few days later.

Installation is pretty straight forward and well documented. I did most of it solo employing my wife for a few minutes three times - once to help hold the OEM bumper as I removed the last bolts, once to help hold the OEM receiver hitch as I removed the last bolts and one last time to help hold the All-Pro as I put the first bolts in. Unfortunately circumstances dictated I do the installation on a hot afternoon in the sun so it was a sweaty affair despite the relative ease. It took me a bit under three hours since I'm slow.

The only minor hiccup was that the guy doing the powder coating didn't notice the hardware bag had been taped inside the bumper for shipping! The oven thoroughly melted the bag but of course the hardware itself was just fine. The provided license plate lights were another story (melted) but the exact lights were available at the auto parts store for a few bucks so no big deal.

I also ordered the wrap around side pieces which attach to the bumper and also have braces which connect to the frame. The whole bumper, side pieces and brackets are just 38 lbs all together. I still need to weigh the stock bumper and receiver hitch but together I expect they weigh at least twice that. (EDIT: I've done the measurement, see later post for details, total stock weight removed is 93 lbs so this mod weighs in at negative 55 lbs)

Rear clearance is greatly improved, but unfortunately I don't have a "before" photo at the same angle for a direct comparison. Keep in mind in the photos below the spare is a 235/85/R16 pizza cutter so the fact it is visible below the bumper should give you some idea how much clearance the bumper adds. There is more space between the spare and the bumper than there is between the spare and the frame rails so I expect any spare you can fit between the frame rails will work fine with this bumper (keep in mind though if you also get the All Pro receiver hitch that significantly restricts the spare size).

The bumper is quite pricey but in the end I'm extremely happy. Exactly what I was looking for.
One of the reasons I went for a 2nd gen was the extensive after market and for rear bumpers we can choose steel, aluminum, tube, single swing gate, dual swing gate, etc. etc. etc. With such a wide selection I was able to get exactly what I wanted.

Installed with some trail dust on it already


Note improved departure angle


Attaches to frame with three bolts per side, side brace shares one bolt


Detail of side piece brace

Lots of clearance from spare to bumper (235/85/16)

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Thank you for the pictures! Bumper looks good!

 

Nice.

Please post the stock bumper and hitch weights when you can manage it.

One of these just came up for sale locally (~1.5 hr drive, so no shipping, just gas), used but like new, powder coated, no wings, no hitch, $800. I thought seriously about it, but the All-Pro hitch, which I would need to buy separately from AP, is noted as fitting only a standard size spare. This is a bit relative, and does not consider the BFH carrier mod, no doubt. My 265/75 16 is fitting in there just nicely right now, very close to the hitch and maybe a little too close to the rear diff for my liking.

But the more I investigated, access to the hitch's safety chain loops and the hitch pin itself looked difficult for daily use (swapping and dropping trailer/ball hitch and recovery shackle, etc.), and I am not a fan of vertically installing the 7-pin connector face down behind the bumper, where the cover flap is more vulnerable to water and dirt intrusion through the weak spring-loaded cover (plus it is fiddly to access also).

So in the end, I let it go.

THEREFORE, your OEM weigh-in will be helpful for me to evaluate other possible steel bumper alternatives. I'd like at least zero sum in the weight department, if not an improvement.

 

Great post. I too considered that one that came up for sale... In the end, I just couldn't be sure it would fit without modification (big Toyo underneath), and I too have the same towing concerns...