AdventureTaco - turbodb's build and adventures

If you head up that way Zane, I want to tag along. (I’m not to proud to self invite)

 

Loved the most recent trip.

Can I ask ya: when planning a trip route, what level of detail do you write out? What resource do you use to map the trails, and do you try to roughly plan out where you'll end up every night? I've mostly done destination camping and I've been really wanting to try your trip style. Any other tips welcome. Thanks!

 

Thanks, glad you're enjoying. Still a couple more days of this trip to go, so stay tuned!

RE trip planning - it's a great question and was initially (and sometimes still is) the most daunting part of any trip for me, but like anything there is a learning curve and you get better at it over time. Give me a few days and I'll try to put together a post on my process, 'cause it's probably more than just I can do justice to in a reply here (and I want to get the rest of the trip report written so that doesn't drag out)!

 

Beautiful pics! Awesome report!

 

Love reading your trip reports! It inspires me to make better ones of my own. Then I remember I'm not great with a camera and forget to take pics. excited to see the rest of the trip report your working on.

 

Thanks both! Here comes the next installment...

 

And Then There Were Three - Montana in May (part 3)
May 27, 2018.

By the next morning the storm had passed and the sun was trying to punch through the clouds on the horizon. That meant there was no beautiful sunrise, but that didn't keep me from rolling out of the tent to capture the first daylight shots of our three trucks in camp.

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@mrs.turbodb and Mike (@Digiratus) were the next two out of bed and as Mike made his morning cup of coffee, he looked out at the mountains across the meadow and voiced his approval of the site - the Redhead obviously right at home.

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Not long after, Monte and Devin (@Blackdawg, @MissBlackdawg) were our of their tent as well, and we all enjoyed our respective breakfasts and discussed the plan for the day. Whereas previous trips had been filled to the max with driving and technical terrain, our plan for the next two days - our first two together of the season - was to take it easy exploring, and maximize campfire time. So we packed up the tents and headed north, along the Smith River Backcountry Route.

As we rolled along, chatting on the CB about everything and yet nothing in particular, we all got a good laugh when Monte said, "It sure is strange having the least built truck on the trip."

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It wasn't long before our leisurely pace slowed down even more - at least for a short time - due to "dinner on the road." Of course, we'd all packed meals already so there was no need to take one of these home - which the cowboys on ATVs, herding their cows along the highway, probably appreciated.

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We hit dirt - or at least gravel - shortly thereafter and made a few stops to enjoy our surroundings and snap a few photos. Eventually we found ourselves next to a babbling brook and fortuitously turned off our engines. As we headed down to the creek for photos we got to talking about the fleeting beauty around us - hills that were golden or brown for most of the year were in full display; wildflowers blooming. And there was an amazing tree, chewed most of the way through by a beaver, but still standing tall.

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It was at this point that Mike started telling us how he and his sister had gone mushroom hunting for morels, and how he'd never see them until he was right on top of them, his sister better at sniffing them out as it were. As he told the story, Monte and Devin had wondered off - some 50 feet away and were busy ducking down into the tall grass, seemingly picking something off the ground. As the rest of us headed over, it became clear - they'd found a stash of morel mushrooms!

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We spent the next half hour picking morels - filling a bag with nearly two pounds of the tasty buggers - unsure how we'd cook them, but happy to have that problem in the first place! And then we were back on the road, enjoying our way toward lunch. Up and over low hills, through valleys green with spring.

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We'd stop here and there to marvel at the surroundings, but all-in-all we had a faster pace than normal - it was hard not to on such nicely graded roads!

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As lunch time neared, we settled on a shady area near the Smith River that locals used to put in their rafts and and float down the river. Of course, the vehicles used for this were generally large vans or other more "street appropriate" modes of transportation. So, as we pulled in and assembled our lunches on our tailgates, a small crowd of folks gathered around the rigs - curious where we'd been, where we were going, and what those "big black things" on the back were.

Eventually though, we got our lunches made and eaten - at a picnic table in the shade - and decided after an hour or so that we should probably head out. Our next destination was in Great Falls - actually it was one of the Great Falls! Mike had scoped it out before the trip and assured us that though it was in-town, it would be well worth our time!

And boy, was he right. As Devin and Monte (well, all of us really) took in the history of Ryan Dam and the Great Falls at one of the many info boards, we all marveled at the dam, the falls, and mostly the amazing quantity of water flowing through the entire apparatus. As it turns out, this one hydroelectric dam provides nearly all the power needed by the greater Great Falls area through four turbines housed in the dam. All the water you can see here is not processed by those turbines, it's all extra!!!

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After taking in the sight of such vast quantities of water, we headed back to our trucks and turned southwest towards Helena. Though we traveled this stretch of the trip on the interstate, there was no shortage of spectacular spring views, even if we didn't capture it on film. "Winner of the prettiest stretch of interstate." was Monte's opinion.

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Eventually though, we made it to Helena where we refueled and continued west out of town on dirt - looking for a camp site, but not really in any rush - it was still only mid-afternoon! It was at this point that we decided we'd finally air down - the road still wasn't bad, but our plan was to be on dirt the rest of the day and most of the next, so we figured we should ride in comfort.

Of course, Mike was already running his load-E tires at low(er) pressures on the road for comfort, but that didn't stop him from dropping them even further. And all of us in the other trucks were ready to get our load-E's a little flexier as well.

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Once we did, the dirt miles passed quickly and comfortably. We followed a track Monte had put together and as we climbed, wondered how far we'd make it before we were blocked by snow. As it turned out, the snow level was around 7200 feet and we only got stopped once - though there was an obvious re-route that was clear and rejoined our track on the other side of the snow drift.

Around 7:00pm we started looking earnestly for a place to camp. We weren't at any risk of reaching camp before dark - after all, the sun didn't set until nearly 10:00pm, but we still found a site within about 15 minutes that was perfect - room for three trucks, a babbling stream nearby, and best of all - very few mosquitoes!

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To say it was more our speed than the pay camping at the nearby Park Lake campground would be an understatement.

Soon, we were all setup and with a group effort had a fire going. @mrs.turbodb and I provided the wood, Monte made and stoked the fire, and Mike volunteered his truck (and deployed tent) as the wind screen.

We spent two hours around that fire before any of us realized a moment had passed. We chatted about what we'd seen that day, about what had happened since our last trip together, and many other topics - but trucks were not one, a rarity for us.

As the light started to fade, we all realized that it'd be easier to make dinner with a bit of that precious resource still around so we all got to cooking - @mrs.turbodb and I whipping up some tacos, Devin cooking some of the morels for everyone to enjoy, and Mike and Monte roasting hot dogs over the campfire.

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Of course, dinner wasn't the end of our evening and we chatted around the fire late into the night. The warm weather, great company, and the knowledge that we had another day of adventure making for a great time. But, we finally called it a night, heading to our respective tents for a great night's sleep - or so we hoped.

- - - - -
Catch up on the beginning of the story [part 1] [part 2]

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Appropriate music:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEaR_5R3R3c&list=PLkZkuBSbe_CkoSZHs3egBcRZDP9TilBQJ&index=12&t=0s

 

I wanted to subb'd this thread anyway, and say to @turbodb how much I have really enjoyed: builds/photos/trips—I know this is way back on pg.42—I am late to the party and just catching up— couldn't resist sharing one photo of my good fortune.

I had just came off The 5 (at interstate speeds) and was 1/2 mile from home, going around an outside corner literally 15-20 mph. Quite the unnerving feeling to have your front-end drop out from under you.

My 1995 first gen taco, I drove that rig for 22 years and 200k+ mi, before trading up for a 2015 TRDoffroad. You can see the skid marks for 20 yds. on the blacktop where I coasted to a stop—I knew better than to put the breaks on as I looked for a landing, an try to figure out what the hell had just happened listing heavily to starboard. In the end—no further damage everything intact: breakline, tire, UBJ, wheel well, frame. Only needed to get a tow and replace the LBJ. (I just packed out all my tools finishing up a contracting job, and was loaded to the gills.)

 

Good times!

 

hm interesting. Didn't know the 5 lugs had the same issues with LBJ.

Helps you have small tires! When mine let go it sucked the big tires under the truck and thats what ripped everything apart on mine.

 

Great write ups! I wish I wasn't working. Would have been fun to meet up with you guys while you were in the area.

 

Thanks! Glad you're enjoying. Stick around, there's one more day for this trip, and of course hopefully many more trips to come!

Yes, they were.

Thanks. That would have been fun. My guess is that we'll be back out that way in the future!

 

Great looking photos!

 

Our Longest Campfire - Montana in May (part 4)
May 28, 2018.

We slept soundly until morning - it was our first night of the trip with calm weather and little-to-no wind. That, combined with the fact that we were in a stand of tall pines are the excuse I'll use for not getting up to enjoy the sunrise! It was glorious I'm sure, given the morning hours that followed - those I did get up for, and I shot a few photos of camp, everyone else still toasty and warm in their beds after our great camp fire the night before.

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As usual, it wasn't long before everyone else started to climb out of bed and enjoy the warm morning. We explored around camp a bit - a morning tradition for us, given our usual in-the-dark-arrivals - checking out the babbling brook, nearby recently-thinned areas of the woods, and a yellow cabin on the hillside above camp. Our respective breakfasts were also eaten - the last of the strawberries for @mrs.turbodb and I, some mini sausage croissantwiches for Monte (@Blackdawg) and Devin (@MissBlackdawg), and coffee for Mike (@Digiratus).

I wonder if Mike ever eats food for breakfast?

Eager to get some more dirt miles under our tires, we packed up and headed southwest through the Bitterfoot Range of the Rocky Mountains. Having passed the "major destination" for the road the evening before, the road almost immediately got more fun - it wasn't hard or technical, but it wasn't a two-lane gravel road anymore either. Still, going was relatively easy, if a little wet.

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Early in the season, it was clear that we were the first trucks through a few sections - some smaller trees still on the road that were easily cleared by an axe or hand saw. We never did have to break out the chainsaw, the many of the larger trees having been cleared already - likely by snowmobilers over the course of the winter.

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As we slowly climbed in elevation, we wondered how far we'd get on our route - would we make it through to Deer Lodge? Would we be turned around by snow? Did our route, created using satellite imagery even exist anymore? It was at this point that Mike remarked about how little snow there was - proven once again to be a good idea as we rounded a corner to a drift.

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But it wasn't bad, and we made our way through it with little fanfare - just a few opportunistic photos to capture the moment.

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And then, much like @mrs.turbodb and my luck just two days earlier, the snow gods laughed. As we continued up the road and across the edge of a high mountain meadow, a six-foot snow drift blocked our path. We got out, took a look around and knew that was the end of the road for us. While only about 30 feet wide, the drift was impassable for sure, and there was no obvious path around in that particular location, so it was time to turn around and find a re-route.

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A re-route we found, along with two more - when we hit snow and a downed tree again. Each re-route afforded us the opportunity to shuffle positions in the caravan - a fun way to switch up the view a bit on our trip through the woods and valleys, flooded with spring runoff.

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Eventually, we headed down in elevation - away from the snow, and into what could only be called civilization - passing several houses deep in the woods, their residents out and about taking care of spring chores (perhaps, visiting for the first time since last fall). The roads in this area were a bit more maintained, but there were still plenty of places to go fast and have fun.

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Mike took this stretch a bit slower, apparently.

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Eventually, we were spit out for a short stint on I-15 near Basin - a small town "famous" for it's smelter, built by the Glass brothers in 1903. As we were pulling out of town, Monte came over the radio to let us know that Devin had discovered that the smelter ruin - which towers above the town even today - was never once used by any of the many mines in the area!

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photo by Monte Nickles on flickr​

As luck wold have it there was a dirt frontage road from Basin to our next turn into the Bitterfoots - an option that suited us much better than jumping on I-15 for five miles with our aired down tires. And it wasn't long after we were back in the woods that we took a wrong turn on our track. Rather than turning around and heading out, we decided it was the perfect opportunity to grab a quick lunch.

Quick not because we wanted to keep moving - the pace this trip was a leisurely one! - but quick because about 15 minutes after sitting down, a heavy rain shower came through, hurrying us all back into our trucks.

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It was at this point that we realized our wrong turn before lunch was due to the fact that the track we'd planned on taking no longer existed - long lost to overgrowth and the surrounding woods. So we continued on the trail, hoping it'd reconnect with the track a across the valley, few miles ahead.

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It didn't. For a while it looked hopeful, but eventually Mike - who was leading at this point - came over the CB to tell us that the road was getting very mushy and seemed to "just end." Luckily, @mrs.turbodb found a re-route while we were out of the trucks discussing next steps, so 20 minutes later and a bit of backtracking and we were once again on our way towards Deer Lodge.

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Speeds picked up again - the road from this point forward was well-maintained, and the views too were nothing to scoff at. We zoomed into town, speeds topping 65mph - and with plenty of room between our rigs to let the dust settle.

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Eventually, we hit Deer Lodge - a huge success (we'd made it almost entirely on dirt roads despite the early time of year), but also a bit sad (since we were essentially done on dirt for this trip). We found a local gas station to refuel and air up and then headed out of town on the highway, bound for Philipsburg where we'd look for a spot to camp for the night.

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And this is where things got unfortunate - not for any of us, but for an older couple in a full-sized pickup, on the way back from a Sunday BBQ. As we drove through town, this couple shuffled past our caravan several times, and we past them as traffic flowed down the street. Then, as we were leaving town, they drifted from the left lane to the right lane (right in front of Monte and Devin) and continued drifting right into a series of parked cars, boats, and trucks parked along the side of the road.

The devastation was massive - three vehicles, two boats; one of the boats even flying off the trailer and up the front walk of a nearby home - luckily no one was outside! The only injuries were the older couple - both had hit their heads during the course of the accident, and were being tended to by the paramedics who showed up shortly after the incident.

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We spent some time checking on the wellness of the couple, gave our contact info to the police in case they needed anything from us, and headed out - remarking how lucky the whole situation was: none of us were next to the truck as it started drifting, no one was in any of the parked vehicles, and no one was standing in any of the yards when the collisions happened.

By 5:30pm we'd reached Philipsburg and were headed north on the highway looking for our camp site. It was still early, but our goal for the trip was not to get as many miles under our belts as possible - it was to enjoy the time together, so it wasn't long before we identified a dirt road off the highway that looked promising and headed up into the National Forest to find a spot to spend our last evening.

As is typical for us, as the road forked, we split up to cover more ground and look for a good spot to camp - three trucks can cover a lot more ground quickly than one big caravan, and CB radios make quick work of getting everyone back together once a good spot is found.

And a good spot we did find.

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With a 270° view of the mountains around us, plenty of flat ground, and a warm breeze, there wasn't much more we could have asked for in a site. We set about making camp and getting a fire going - what would turn out to be a 6-hour campfire marathon, as we used up all the wood we'd brought and some that we scavenged from nearby deadfall.

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It was glorious, and so was the sky. We nearly missed sunset - so wrapped up in our campfire discussions - but as the blues gave way to oranges and purples, we did grab our cameras to snap a few quick photos.

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But then, it was back to the campfire - so much to talk about and so little time to get it all in. A fleeting moment in time, so it seemed, though of course we hope there will be many more.

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The next morning we were up early - all of us ready to go by 7:00am, a long drive ahead. Monte and Devin headed east, Mike, @mrs.turbodb and I caravaning west. We'd had a great time, as usual. And we were ready to do it all again!

- - - - -
Read the story from the beginning [part 1] [part 2] [part 3]

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Ah good times. Simple. But good.

 

Riveting!

 

Normally no, but that morning I couldn't pass up one of Devin's delicious savory sausage croissants.

Good times. Thanks for telling the story.

 

Glad you enjoyed!

Thanks for the great trip guys, was another fun one for sure.

 

Thanks for sharing, jealous and wanting a map of your route . . .