Tundy, house and beetle build thread...and exploring.

If you can make it back from Russia, Really disappointed I finally have the money to go but next 2 places are about the last places on earth I want to visit given crap they do.

 

Qatar is gunna gobble dick, especially with the time of year.
As long as you dont act a fool too hard in Russia, you should be okay.. I'll be lowkey, only thing representing the USA is my passport.

 

Likely later in August.

 

Dometic cfx 65dzus

The wind started blowing and i got a tiny bit of service. No seriously.

 

Russia and...

 

Qatar

 

Many Forms of Water


Last week I crossed into Montana for the first time on the trip and found a beautiful location to camp. After I broke camp that morning, I drove east along the Beartooth Scenic Byway. I only made it halfway downt that route before turning onto the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway that would point me in a southeast direction towards Cody, WY. I figured it would be a larger city where I could finally get my tire properly patched from the inside to replace the plugs I put in it a few weeks back. Along the route I stopped at the top of Dead Indian Mountain for lunch as well as being able to upload last week’s update since there happened to be cell service up there. Only after I descended, and got a way down the pavement did I realize that I could’ve seen the Morrison Trail from the top of the mountain where I was hangning out.


In Cody, I got the tire patched, swung by the FS office who confirmed that the Morrison Trail would not be opening on time due to snow. After running around I continued east to the Bighorn National Forest. Once there I ended up driving until dark looking for a camp site, found one and fell asleep quickly. The next day I did a bit of hiking to two waterfalls, Bucking Mule and Porcupine. The water at Porcupine was very refreshing, I was tempted to get in which I did not, but I did try my hand at panning for gold on my second hike out to the waterfall that day. I brought the drone along to get some video of it. I wanted to get a video of Bucking Mule Falls, but the 5 mile round trip hike didn’t seem as tempting the second time around.


Bucking Mule Falls




Porcupine Falls







After all of my hiking that day (coupled with working out during the hikes) I was pretty beat but still wanted to see the Medicine Wheel. On my way to the wheel I spotted a flock of sheep.





And the sheep dog. I think he could use a haircut as well.




This particular Medicine Wheel is claimed to be one of the most sacred Medicine Wheels in the area out of nearly 100 that have been discovered. Indians still make pilgrimages to the site and hang offerings on the fences. It was a very great opportunity to go there, I hung around until sunset since I knew it would make great pictures. After visiting the Medicine Wheel, I confirmed (since I always forgot in the past) that I have ancestors who were part of the Ponca Tribe from Nebraska.

 

Many Forms of Water Continued


I headed towards Billings since I was somewhat in the area and wanted to build a PVC shower water tube for the roof. I stopped along the way to check out the Big Ice Cave near Big Pryor Mountain. Its 32 degree temperature was a welcomed change to the 90 degree temperatures outside. As I continued into Billings, the temperatures reached triple digits, and I kenw I had to scurry west to find higher elevations and lower temperatures. I found myself in the Helena-Lewis and Clark NF where I would do some ‘chores’ all of the following day. I built and mounted the PVC water tube on the roof (6-7 extra gallons of water), did a bunch of laundry, organized the truck a little bit, and it was a full day. At 1am that morning I heard a strange sound coming from outside of the truck. I was next to the stream so I could not hear exactly what it was. I heard the noises again and realized that there were animals under the hood. That was the last thing I wanted to deal with when it was pitch black outisde. There were two kangaroo rats that were under the cowl that I had to remove to get them out of there. One fled, the other one I ended up playing cat and mouse games with for the next hour and a half. I left the campground since I did not want them coming back in a few hours and ended up spending the rest of the night along the road.


Current mess on the roof




Leaving the water connected, I have a valve at the rear of the tube to shut it off when needed




Glacier NP was the next on my list, and its location and popularity was a bit of a headache to find a spot to camp. On the east side, it is bordered by the Blackfeet Indian Reservation which means no NF sites to camp in. On the west side all of the camping areas are a good hour or so drive to the hiking spots. All of the camp sites inside the park were booked as well. But I found a beautiful spot 50 feet from the river, 40 miles south of Canada that I called home for a few days. I spent the first day playing in the river on the paddleboard. Being my third time on the board; which is deemed ‘advanced’ for my height and weight, I did pretty well coping with the challenges that the moving river provided. I hiked upriver with the paddleboard and stayed within a 200 foot section of the river. Thanks to the wind, I was able to paddle (sometimes didnt even need to paddle) against the current up the river. The combination of the gusty winds, small wavy areas and the current, I got a very good workout and now I’m ready to take on Class IV rapids on this thing! Ok, maybe not.


Camp spot




I went hiking the following day in Glacier National Park. It is starting to be a common occurance; I plan on doing a short hike and end up doing a crazy long hike. I planned on doing maybe 5 miles and ended up logging over 15 miles over 5 hours with a half a mile of elevation gain. Not bad for someone who is pretty ‘new’ to hiking; since I used to spend all my time on the mountain bike. During the hike I was able to get to an overlook of the Grinnell Glacier, which theres not much left and I’m sure it’ll be gone soon. There were two different locations where the bighorn sheep decided to graze along the hiking trail and you had to wait until they were finished so you could pass. The first was a ram, the second was an ewe and a yearling. Glacier NP has free shuttles which make the hiking experience much easier. If I did it again, I would stay in the park (if the campgrounds were not all full) and use the shuttles to get around. I slept well that night back at my location along the river.


Grinnell Glacier




Ram




Highline Trail

 

Sounds good! Looking forward to it man!

 

Great photos Brandon!

 

Thanks, still mostly using the phone. Havent been motivated to stay up past midnight to get any star pictures. The skies are light from 4:30a-10:30p!

 

I noticed that too when I was in that area. Seemed like it never really gets dark.

It's impressive the quality photos a cell phone can take. I'm waiting for some decent lens attachments to hit the market.

Does your phone have manual exposure and ISO adjustments?

 

You will have plenty of time in winter. Get us some good Baja milky way shots.

 

It does, but these are all (mostly) taken in the auto wide angle mode.

 

Just curious how it may compare to my s7 for night shots

 

The wide angle does real well at low light. The regular mode will be dark, I can flip it to wide angle and it lights it all up. Not sure exactly how it works, but it takes in a lot more light.

I dont have a tripod for a phone anymore so I've never tried to see what it can do for long exposure. And dont think I have whatever app made it fully manual on the phone anymore.

 

Vehicle Changes/updates since I started

• Lightened the load by one more bin of stuff, clothes, some camping stuff.
• When sleeping, I usually pop out the glove box for more feet room. I’ve exclusively been sleeping inside the cab so far. Only set the tent up once to hold the Teton camp site.

• Indel B TB51 Fridge/Freezer is being swapped out for a Dometic CFX-65DZUS http://amzn.to/2tna49Y I wanted to be able to freeze meat and veggies for better food. The Indel B served me well for the past two years, but is only a fridge OR freezer. Need to head to Home Depot, maybe today after working out and getting these updates posted to expand the fridge platform for the larger Dometic footprint.

• Built a suspension workout system out of paracord for under $15. Also picked up a set of elastic bands. No need for a gym!
  
  
• Added 6-7 gallons of water on the roof for shower purposes and ditched the propane water heater. It worked great, but being that I am trying to conserve water, the solar tube on the roof works well enough for me.

As far as on the road needs, I have used this site to find water to fill the tanks. I dont use much, but try to fill up if I’ll be passing through somewhere with free potable water. http://www.sanidumps.com/sanidumps_usa.php?id=64 For trash, I just use small grocery bags and throw them out when I fill up with gas.


I’ve also found this site to be interesting for finding random stuff along the route. http://www.atlasobscura.com/ (If you know of other similar sites, let me know!) I also have this one bookmarked https://www.thealaskalife.com/lifestyle/historic-abandoned-alaska-road-trip/ for Alaska as well as a few others that @CO MTN Steve has posted up.


And for free camping areas, https://freecampsites.net/ is great for locating camp areas in and out of national forests.


Still loving the purchase of the paddleboard. If you’re thinking of one, I have no complaints. And the price is right! http://amzn.to/2vsrm6Y

OK, gym time.

 

So... What are you doing with the Indel B?

 

Strapping it to the roof. #expopointslikeamofo




Charley wants it i reckon. As long as the TW Express is running.

 

Well if that falls through I'm interested. I've been hoping to get one soon.