The EXPO TRON Build

Haha! I was just watching a tv show about making the 797... Whoa

 

Mount Graham - Safford, AZ September 2016

Dzil Nchaa Si An (Big Seated Mountain) is one of the most sacred locations known to the Apache Native Americans. Ga’an, the guardian spirits of the Apache, watch over them from atop the largest summit in Southern Arizona at just over 10,000 feet. The University of Arizona and believe it or not, the Vatican own and operate massive telescopes planted right on top of this sacred mountain more commonly known as, Mount Graham. After all the cool stories about and researching Mount Graham, my dad had me convinced this is where we would plan our weekend camp trip. I was pretty excited to camp with just my dad just like we used to when I was growing up, and once we hit about 7,000 feet the intense smell of pine and thick clouds started to make me feel like a little kid all over again!


We literally picked the perfect time to go, right after a week long rain from a tropical storm. The clouds were thick and heavy but would soon clear out. Once we rose above the cloud cover it was pretty majestic. The road turned to dirt around 8,500 feet and it seemed like every switchback continuing up had a massive river flowing underneath. This was just the first...and we could actually fish from it for trout!




Then a couple more miles later we find ourselves jaw dropping in awe. Now I do have to remind you guys, I'm born and raised in AZ so anything related to water is like finding a unicorn! My dad was born in Ohio, but this has allowed him to truly appreciate AZ and the hidden wonders it has to offer. Back to the story, we drove up to and parked at Post Creek. I'll just let the pictures do the rest....



Obviously TRON needed some glamour shots in front of a freaking waterfall in AZ! Overland and Bound #1325





The Old Growth up there was fantastic! Had to keep reminding myself we were still in AZ


...and my money shot!


So the San Carlos Apache Reservation did succeed in keeping a vast majority of the mountain protected. All it took was alittle convincing they had an endangered species...I laughed when we got up there and found literally hundreds of these "endangered" little red squirrels everywhere!


Finding our camp was another surprise in itself. With the lack of info floating around it was hard to pinpoint good areas to camp on the mountain outside of the established camping grounds with fees. I honestly cant stand camping grounds, to me it's not camping and way to civilized! Luckily after some serious digging, I found some info on an area off the main road to camp. All I had going in were some coordinates, which were not 100% accurate, but put me close enough to find this old camp someone setup awhile back. Once we got there my dad had that look of curiosity to keep searching and after all, we were literally the only ones on the mountain except for a couple forest service officers and the observatory employees. Under the leaves and some overgrowth moss we found a small two-track that continued on from that camp. Absolutely no tire tracks on it, and with all the recent rain it was covered in mud and huge ponds of water. We drove further back and were amazed at the beauty. All the different types of trees with fresh rain water dripping off, THEN...we got to a small fork in the two-track which encouraged a right turn over small hill. I'll explain why as we go, but what we strolled up on was hands down the best camp site of all time! My dad and I were speechless at first, but once we actually did speak, all we could say was "Really?!"



We knew immediately it was time to set camp and enjoy this gorgeous spot. Also should note back home in Tucson it was roughly 94 degrees, while we were getting slight chills in the 55 degree crisp mountain air

Before

After




Someone had spent a ton of time here before us, even cut out sections and leveled them out for ground tents (not just one, but many)! My dad and I couldn't figure out if the rain had washed out all the debris on the ground or if the people before us also swept it out. Either way they were kind enough to leave us plenty of firewood to start, already cut and stacked....just too much awesome to comprehend!




Now if you remember, I said I would explain why this was the best camp spot of all time...notice the small hill just passed our camp in previous pictures. A small 30 second hike up that hill just beyond our camp led to this!!


I felt blessed to be able to enjoy this awesome surprise with my Dad! After all, he is the reason why I am the adventure seeker that I've become. We walked around on the hilltop and explored abit, all in silence, just taking in the scenery and chill breeze.



Headed back up for a glimpse of the sunset but just missed it! It was still an amazing view as the clouds were rolling in over the mountain tops.

and our fire to end the night....or so we thought...........


Around 2am I woke up pretty quick to my Dad yelling at the top of his lungs, HEY! He did it a couple times before I realized something was messing with our small trash bag in between our tents. I'll be honest, we both were thinking worst case scenario since there are bears up there. As soon as I folded the window down on my roof top tent I almost started laughing. There he was, little asshole skunk with absolutely no shits given. He was taking what he wanted, an empty can of chili beans we made for dinner. Despite our yelling and banging random things to make noise, he buried his head in that can and ignored us. I was pissed, even if I fired a warning shot I was afraid he would spray the camp before leaving. So I crawled out of bed into the cold with my flashlight and S&W .40....stomping on the ground and still making tons of noise, he was not giving up that can. It wasn't until I pointed the flashlight at myself and jumped up and down before he saw me, which only resulted in a stand off. He didn't even turn around just stared right back at me and accepted the challenge...oh man I was livid! My dad kept yelling don't shoot it! This lasted for a good 5 minutes before the skunk finally gave up and slowly walked away. Once he was far enough, I fired 2 rounds really close to him to be sure he'd think twice about coming back...little bastard!


Later that morning we rolled out of bed and made breakfast to prep for a hike. While researching campsites I found quite a few hiking trails, but one in particular stuck out. Of course I couldn't miss this opportunity to show how much my dad loves his Survivorman shows If you've seen it you'll understand haha

We packed up my RTT and drove to the trailhead no more than 20 minutes away off the main road we drove in on.

My dad caught me too as we were headed up. It wasn't a far hike, just 1.7 miles but it was all uphill and starting at roughly 9,300 ft elevation! My lungs were on fire


Alas, we made it! Webb Peak Lookout







So how do you top an awesome first day?...well of course by hiking to a lookout tower and then climbing to the top of said tower right?.....RIGHT!


Yea it was awesome! 360 degree views and a beautiful clear day. This lookout tower is open to anyone willing to make the hike. We actually took the easiest route up there and enjoyed the views for quite some time. You can see the massive UofA observatory on the summit of Mount Graham.

Looking toward Tucson we could barely see the Catalinas on the horizon

From recent pics I was expecting to see the map located in the center of the tower, but it appeared someone tore it out We did show off our guns tho

Looking down


My dad and I agreed we would be back with the rest of the family to explore more of the area. It was too awesome for us to share alone! We made our way back down to Tron and carried on with our last day camping.


Love this camp! My dad's setup was pretty awesome too






This time I wasn't going to miss the sunset!




Got some video from this too but couldn't upload it


And finally the last morning. It was sad to leave camp, but we had one last hidden gem to check out.


Where the road ends at Riggs Lake


Papa Schmidt signing off from his blog haha

 

Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Looks like an awesome trip!!

 

Did Rinzlers ghost make it onto Yahoo front page today?????

 

I still see that thing everywhere!!!!!!

 

Great pics Stefen... WOW!

 

That's awesome! haha I showed my fiancée, since she's in that too

 

Yeah I saw her in the tent looking all cute and shit and I thought "yep..that's the Rinzler"

 

Dude, I'm trippin out a little bit right now.

I'm almost positive you camped in the spot I asked my wife to marry me! This was way before the age of digital cameras and I had to go find a pic to snap a shot of. I can't find the pictures of us on that same outlook over the little hill, but I swear it's the spot, and have pics someplace.



If you have coordinates or directions I'd love to get them from you! We've never been back since, but always wanted to.

 

Damn @KevinK that would be pretty crazy if it was the exact spot, but I have no doubt it's a great one for the occasion! My dad made me promise to keep it exclusive, but we can discuss it at the upcoming Tundra's meet

 

Dude, i think i saw a picture of TRON catching some air on IG.

 

Yep

 

Looked pretty damn cool man!!!!!!!




Hows the wedding planning going?

 

Hey dude, do you still have the factory struts from your tundra? I got a buddy that's wanting a pair

 

I already sold em to a guy in Tucson, and whenever I get new rear shocks he has first dibs on those as well

 

Text inbound

 

You were so quick to find my update haha

For those interested I added my freakishly expensive list of 2017 goals for TRON in the OP

 

BOOSTTTTTT!!!!!!