AdventureTaco - turbodb's build and adventures

And @Diode Dynamics is on TW? Now I need to buy some DD lights....my budget ditch lights that came with my ditch brackets are pure garbage.

 

yeah have been for a while.

Id look at the SS3 C2 or even the C1 for ditch lights. Low profile. Should work great. The pros will out do the SS3 cube sports. Pretty impressive small profile lights.

 

You just missed a sale. If you can wait, they're usually 15% off.

 

I might have used a code from labor day but I think Snowbound4TR has one.

 

I think one of the best things about the DD SS3 Pros is their use of a 4,000 kelvin emitter. Much, much better light than the common 6,000+ kelvin LEDs most light manufacturers use.

 

You should be able to drive down the highway and not have a face full of light coming from oncoming traffic. Most of this comes from poorly designed or installed aftermarket lights. It really screws up your night vision as well. It's the same as the super bright incandescent lamps.

 

I think he's referring to the color of the lamps. By using a warmer white LED chip (4000K) and a lighter yellow optic, the DD fog lamps have a much warmer, golden yellow light. Other manufacturers tend to use the same 6000K base emitters with a darker yellow lens to correct it. This gives it a more hyper/highlighter greenish yellow.

The pattern control you're describing is important for legality and courtesy on the road. Fog lamps that are SAE J583 compliant have a specified pattern that is high intensity, but low and wide with a tight horizonal cutoff. This is important for illuminating the road under the fog instead of reflecting off of it. The cutoff is also important so that they don't glare into oncoming traffic. Allowable colors are white and selective yellow, but the color is not as important as pattern control.

 

The interesting thing is that the 4000K emitters are an option, and you only get them "by default" if you get the selective yellow lenses as well. With the clear lenses, you get a 6000K emitter (again, by default). I'm with you 100% on the value of the 4000K emitter; when I found out that was an option, I was immediately sure I wanted it, regardless of the lens I put in front of it.

You can also reach out to @memario1214 who sells the @Diode Dynamics stuff and has great deals quite often.

 

Yes, this is exactly it.

I realize that DD's intended use for that emitter was with the fogs (and the selective yellow lenses) but swapping on a set of clear SAE driving pattern lenses onto them gives a great set of high bean supplement lights at the perfect color temperature.

I am pretty sure that isn't what the instalanders are doing. They prefer to drive around with the pretty yellow colored lights showing all of the time.

 

He is referring to color temperature as am I but we are not talking about the same thing. I am talking about poorly installed lights that practically blind oncoming traffic. Whether it's alignment or LED replacement kits, 80/100 bulbs or something else--you shouldn't have to face a poorly installed lighting system.

 

Nice fog lights Dan!

The tires on my truck are rated to carry 3750 lbs each. It says it right on the sidewall, and this number was chosen very carefully by the manufacturer of the tire – not as a sales gimmick.

I have five of these tires attached to my truck in one way or another. By the accepted logic of most vehicle LED lighting products sold today, my truck’s weight rating is therefore 18,750 pounds.

And if trucks were sold under the market practices of today’s aftermarket vehicle lighting products, you would find a dozen similar-looking, 5-star reviewed trucks on Amazon, with counterfeit tires and a 40,000 pound rating, for a fraction of the price of my truck. And then you’d find a promoted one with 50,000 pounds of rating, and even more 5-star ratings, for just a couple bucks more.

Of course, nobody could get away with that in the automotive sector. But in the consumer electronics sector, companies are consistently rewarded for blatantly abusing well-defined and meaningful engineering metrics, for the express purpose of misleading the public, even when those metrics have little to do with actual product performance. How many products are sold daily based on inanely superlative claims of lumens, watts, amps, etc.?

I’m not a fan of government regulation, but sometimes I like to imagine a world wherein retailers were at least held accountable for the claims of the products they sold, all the way down to the cheapest and most mundane items.

What if, when 3rd party testing reveals that a top-selling “15,000 lumen” LED light bar emits 2200 lumens at best, then BOOM, Amazon has to refund every cent to every last person who bought that product?

Sure, it’s laughable to think this could ever happen, practically much less politically.

But even if this somehow became law tomorrow, remember, we could still buy the exact same products, for the exact same prices as today. We just wouldn’t be inundated with overtly false performance metrics when comparing products. Lumens alone would still be a poor metric for choosing a lighting product, but at least you could compare your options on a factual basis.

And in the absence of misinformation, I’d like to imagine that the manufacturers of better products might devise new, testable metrics that properly characterize their products’ advantages. There’s no incentive to do that today, because knock-offs can claim whatever they want without consequence.

Of course we’d still face the onslaught of fake product reviews and increasingly pervasive advertising. And let’s not forget the unprecedented proliferation of mass-scale, individually targeted psychological manipulation—err, I mean social media. But I can’t begin to imagine a way out of that, so for now, I’m content daydreaming of a world where we can at least preserve the sanctity of lumens, watts, amps, and other currencies of physical reality.

 

I think we're all in agreement here. I think I was just confused about your response, as the color isn't the main cause of concern for glaring at oncoming traffic.

 

As far as I know, they only offer 6000K white and 3000K yellow as standard ordering options. If you want the 4000K lights you'll have to talk to them directly about a custom order, or purchase the extra lenses and perform the swap yourself.

 

Ill toss this in the hat, PO had a cheap ebay 20in light bar on the truck when I bought it, I took that off and put a pair of baja designs S1s on my truck. Obviously with a single emitter in a spot beam they dont do as well as in the flood category, but they are noticeably brighter, throws light further, and just more useable. The color of the BD is significantly better, doesnt white everything out.

 

Thats actually something Ive always wanted to try. I've had rigid pods for a long time and always wanted to compare them sitting flush in the bumper vs being recessed. As it is mine are only ~1" recessed on the outside portion (1" outwards vs 3" or so on the inboard side). But I do still feel like they cut off quite a bit of the peripheral light.

But mine are also NOT "SAE/DOT" foglights as those didnt really come out till a few years after I already had my rigids (same thats the main reason I had rigids...these other companies werent out yet)

Random info...538 LUX is equivalent to a 2 cell incandescent bulb flashlight held 1 foot away....its also one of the Navy's inspections requirements for cleanliness inspections. Hence why I'll never forget it lol.

 

For anyone needing more info on headlights, fogs, or auxiliary driving lights @crashnburn80 has several very informative threads on the subject.

 

Into Canada and Up to Lavina Lookout - Rady #1
Part of the Rady Can't Wait trip.

For the last two years, I've been itching to get back into Canada. Covid-19 has - as we all know - had other plans for the world.

Any other time, it wouldn't have been a bit deal, but recently a buddy Mike @POSTacoMike shared a trip he'd taken to Rady Creek - a trail that was scheduled to be deactivated (and made inaccessible to wheeled travel) by British Columbia's forestry ministry. Originally scheduled for deactivation on Aug. 1, 2021, I learned that a nearby fire had postponed the work until spring 2022, but of course, it wouldn't be long until snow make the area inaccessible anyway.

And so, if I was ever going to experience the Rady Creek - called Foggy Day and Silver Cup Ridge by the locals - it was going to have to be now - like right now. Luckily for me, the Canadian border had just reopened (for fully vaccinated travelers with a negative Covid test in the prior 72 hours).

With much help from Mike - off-road trail information about Canada is extremely limited online as far as I can tell - I set about planning. Of course, nothing ever really goes to plan. And this time was definitely no exception. But I am - as is often the case - getting ahead of myself.

Heading east over the Columbia River, the sunlight orange, and the air smelling of wildfires burning in California.​

It was just before 2:00pm when I arrived at the USA-Canada border crossing at Nelway. I'd filled out my ArriveCan profile and was sure to have my vaccination card and less-than-72-hour-old Covid test results handy. I rolled up to the border agent with the shortest line I've ever experienced - there were exactly zero vehicles in front of me!

Clean bill of health!​

My conversation with the border agent was smooth as any I've had when in the Tacoma. I'm sure that the traffic volume meant that he was under a bit less stress than normal, and he worked his way through standard questions for the first few minutes - where was I going? How long would I be there? Did I have any firearms/bear spray/pepper spray/weapons. That kind of thing. Then, he hit me with his doozy - you know, the one that trips up Americans.

Agent: So [if you don't have any guns,] what are you doing for self-defense?

Me: (Pause, trying to parse the question.) Uhh, I have a very disarming smile?

Agent: (Incredulously.) You don't have anything to protect yourself?

This, I suppose, is where any proper resident of the United States would blurt out that - of course - they had a weapon for self-defense. Because seriously, if you aren't armed, then you're probably going to die.

Me: I guess not. I always find that the people I run into out on my adventures are pretty like-minded and totally awesome. I've never really felt any need to violently protect myself, have you?

Agent: (Handing me back my documentation with a bit of a sly smile.) Have a great trip!

I loved this Welcome (to the best place on earth) sign. Ehh.​

If my border crossing had been a smashing success of navigation and route planning, that's where my deft skills ended on this trip. Of course, I'd done all the "normal" things to prep for the trip - building routes, downloading offline maps, and making sure I knew where I'd have the ability to get fuel - but I'd failed to verify the downloaded maps before setting out.

You see, the Accuterra (Neotreks Land Use) maps that I've loved so much in the US - since they include all the roads, as well as public land boundaries - were total crap for anything north of the border. There were no labels whatsoever - on roads, towns, etc., no designation of any geographical features - like lakes and rivers, and even the tracks I'd plotted - and verified in Google Earth - didn't overlay any roads on the tablet. It was a complete cluster.

The maps I had with me (left) vs. some actually useful maps I should have downloaded (right). ​

We live and learn, and while I knew that it wouldn't be ideal, I had verified the routes in Google Earth prior to leaving, so I knew I could "drive-by-braille" and just follow my tracks, even if there was no background map at all, so that's what I resolved to do. After-all, I hear people used to go off without GPS tracks at all - imagine that!

Anyway, the first several hours of my trip were on pavement anyway, and I'd decided that I'd make a slight detour - onto BC-3 and BC-3A - so that I could experience something that we totally don't have in the states - free ferries!

Much of my first portion of the trip was travelling north along the smoky eastern shore of Kootenay Lake.​

​

The remnants of the 18,752 acre Cultus Creek - MR fire.​

Known as the Inland Ferry system, there are 14 ferries that operate under private contract with the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure. All inland ferries are free of charge to users, and the Kootenay Lake Ferry is the longest, travelling 35km between Kootenay Bay and Balfour.

I was a little worried that I'd be waiting in line a long time, but the ferry was still running on the summer schedule and we were loading up in less than 15 minutes of my arrival.​

Ready to go, one jerry can conspicuously absent on the rear bumper.​

It turns out that you're only allowed a single, up-to-25L jerry can on the inland ferries, which I misunderstood as a single full jerry can when I'd read the web site. Luckily for me - and as would be true throughout the trip - Canadians are awesome and the friendly ferry loader quickly and easily found another rider who was happy to carry my second (empty) can.

Here we go!​

Sailing into the smoke.​

After landing, I found a bit of fuel to top off my tank and fill up my jerry can - regardless of the high prices. This would become a common practice over the next few days, since I didn't really know my surroundings and wanted to make sure I was topped up in case my next fill-up was far away.

And with that, I headed north on BC-31 towards the little town of Meadow Creek in the West Koots.

It was just after 6:00pm when I turned off the highway and headed across the Duncan River towards my first trail up to Lavina Lookout. With an hour of sunlight left, I knew that I probably wouldn't make it before dark, but I hoped that it'd be a good spot to camp, and an even better spot to wake up in the morning to a fantastic view.

Water in Canada always seems to look better than in the US. Where do all the cool hues go?​

Blasting along the nicely graded road, the mile markers were flying by nearly twice as fast as it seemed I was going. Then, I remembered they were kilometer markers, and got a good laugh out of that.​

Turning off the main road toward Lavina Lookout. This is where I hoped things would get interesting.​

I mean, the sign was promising.​

Initially, the climb up the mountain wound its way through the a reasonably dense forest. I expected this - logging is big industry in Canada - but it did make for relatively few views for the first several miles. Now and then, however, the road would pass a logging platform and I could see... a little further.

Winding my way up through the switchbacks.​

If you're searching for smoke, I've got the view for you!​

Sunset was a little after 7:00pm, and it was just after 7:30pm when I reached the ridge. It was only here that the trees started to thin - the 7,280-ft elevation right at the tree line, apparently.

Out of the trees. The lookout is just around the little hill in the summit in the distance.​

I always love arriving at lookouts, though I can't say I've ever arrived in the dark before.​

As I pulled up, I was excited to see that no one else was already camped at the summit - though I'd seen a nice spot not too far back that would have been a great backup - and that there was an actual camp site that I could call home. Being in a foreign country really had me second-guessing a lot of things I take for granted domestically.

I quickly set up the tent and tried to capture the last light in the sky.

Amazing what colors a long exposure can bring to life.​

A quick climb to the catwalk of the lookout revealed a few lights in the valley, and a few twinkly stars in the sky.​

Having driven all day, I was ready to relax - climbing up into the tent to edit a few photos, and read a couple chapters on my Kindle Paperwhite before drifting off to sleep. As I did, lights appeared on the ridge and I could have sworn it sounded like a v6 Tacoma was approaching in the distance. Half an hour later, I wrapped up my screen time and turned out the lights, still alone at the top.

I figured - that having seen my tent light - they'd stopped at the first camp site, and were waiting till morning to come up and visit. With that, I drifted off to sleep, excited for what I had in store the next day.

The Following Morning...

Not knowing exactly what time sunrise would be, I just happened to wake up to pretty colors on the horizon, and grabbed the camera to my first morning in Canada.

Pretty colors.​

Still a little smoky it seems.​

I wandered around, happy to have my tripod and a fast f/2.8 lens for my camera. As usual, some shots came out great and others were mediocre at best. Some say that practice makes perfect, but I prefer to say that if you take enough photos, some are bound to be decent.

Luckily, the Tacoma hadn't rolled down the hill overnight.​

What a great way to experience Lavina Lookout.​

Duncan Lake reflecting the colorful clouds under a blanket of smoke.​

Oh, look, there's a mountain out there!​

Finally over the horizon.​

After enjoying the sunrise, I decided that I wanted to warm back up - though it wasn't that cold, 40°F or so - more than I wanted breakfast, so I climbed back into the tent and hit the snooze button on my internal clock for another 90 minutes. That made it 8:00am when I climbed out of bed for the second time to grab a bowl of cereal and check out the lookout in a bit more detail.

I really enjoyed this max load sign at the base of the lookout stairs. Lots of adults, but only one child.​

I'd read online that just a few days before I set off on my trip, that C.J Henricks was planning to try to tackle low hanging fruit in terms of work for the tower. Some painting, brush clearing, cleaning up any garbage, etc. I don't know exactly what he did, but the place was in great shape and still reasonably clean. Kudos to folks like that who keep places like this up!

After breakfast, I got everything packed up and pointed myself down the mountain. I was a little surprised to not have seen the vehicle I'd heard the previous night, but I figured I'd pass them on my way down at the very least.

Bye bye lookout, thanks for a great spot to sleep!​

High up in the West Koots.​

The best kind of switchback. And extra fun in the dark when you arrive late. ​

Sure enough, as I approached the camp site a quarter mile from the lookout, there was a gleaming white 1st gen Tacoma, nicely outfitted, and... strangely familiar. I was of course too self-conscious to take a photo, and too shy to say anything about the wheels (which were a perfect match with mine), but had a great conversation with the folks who'd called it home the night before. Turns out, they'd just come from where I was going, and of course they were headed up to where I'd been. It was a splendid way to start the morning, and only later - after talking to Mike and asking if he knew any trucks that matched that description - did it turn out that he did. And, the reason I recognized the wheels was that they'd previously been Mikes! What a small world.

Nice truck Cody. (Photo borrowed from Cody, since I've gushed about his Tacoma.)​

Our good mornings whatnot shared, I bid them happy and safe trails, and continued down the trail, excited to see what I'd missed in the low light the evening before. It was - as you can imagine - pretty fun, and I found that I actually liked running an out-and-back trail this way, since sometimes they can seem repetitive.

Well now I feel dumb, my fog lights had been on like a dorkus when I talked to Cody. But hey, the views were sure nice up here.​

One nice thing about the elevation was that I was right near the top of the smoke, rather than in the thick of it down lower.​

Of course, I wasn't going to be above it for long.​

Eventually, I was back into pea soup smoke as I made my way through the tree-lined trail.​

It was 9:45am when I reached the bottom of the trail and turned the Tacoma north on the Balfour-Kaslo-Galena Bay Highway (BC-31) again. Almost immediately - and to my joyous surprise - the highway turned to well-graded dirt, alleviating any desire to air up. Dirt highways are definitely a little different than what I'm used to south of the border!

I had about 50 km (30 miles) to my next trail - and let me tell you - it was going to blow my socks off!

 

Too good!

 

Lunch with a View - American Creek - Rady #2
Part of the Rady Can't Wait trip.

It was 9:45am when I reached the bottom of the Lavina Lookout trail and turned the Tacoma north on the Balfour-Kaslo-Galena Bay Highway (BC-31) again. Almost immediately - and to my joyous surprise - the highway turned to well-graded dirt, alleviating any desire to air up. Dirt highways are definitely a little different than what I'm used to south of the border, but they sure do make travel more pleasant - at least in nice weather!

Winding my way through the woods on BC-31.​

My route took me along the banks of the Lardeau River. Along the way, a little information kiosk and trout spawning platform presented itself, and I stopped off for a quick look.

Crossing the Lardeau, you can see the kiosk on the right.​

This stretch of water marks the start of the Lardeau River and the most important spawning site in B.C. for some of the largest trout in the world: the Gerrard rainbow trout. Goat Range Provincial Park, which is managed by B.C. Parks, provides protection for not only the sensitive habitat here at Gerrard, but also nearly 79,000 hectacres of surrounding high value fish and wildlife habitat within the Park boundary.

Adult Gerrard rainbow trout reside in Kootenay Lake. They often reach sizes of 75 centimeters (30 inches) in length and 8 kilograms (18 pounds) in weight. The largest, pulled from Kootenay Lake in 1976, tipped the scales at 16 kilograms (35.5 pounds). Unlike salmon, many Gerrard rainbows make the spawning migration multiple times and can live up to 14 years. The average life span, however, is likely between six and eight years.

Photo (and catch) by Nathan Ward.​

There are many reasons for the incredible size of these fish, but the abundance of kokanee in Kootenay Lake certainly plays an important role. A large adult Gerrard rainbow trout may consume as many as six kokanee in a day. Not surprisingly, given the immense size to which these fish can grow, Kootenay Lake is a big draw for anglers, where up to 5,000 people annually spend 200,000 hours and $2.5 million pursuing Gerrard rainbows. Near the peak of the spawning run in early May, hundreds of people also visit this spawning site each day.

Adults ready to spawn migrate 65 kilometers up the Lardeau River to this site each spring in about 11 days and spend an average of seven days before turning downstream and returning to the Lake. Females dig a nest (redd) in the gravel with powerful stokes of their caudal fins (tail) before depositing eggs which are immediately fertilized by one or more males. Females then cover the eggs with gravel and the redd is complete. Females may repeat this process several times before their eggs, numbering between 5,000 and 11,000, are spent. Redds are visible over much of the spawning site as large (up to two meters across) raised mounds of gravel which are often lighter in colour than surrounding areas.

-Fish and Wildlife Branch​

Ministry of Forests, Landsand Natural Resource Operations​

​

Soon after my pit stop, my nearly-useless GPS maps indicated that I was coming up on the entrance to my next climb: American Creek. Nestled along Trout Lake in the West Kootenays, it was another trail that Mike @POSTacoMike had recommended I check out on my way to Rady Creek. Like Lavina Lookout the previous evening, I started out in the trees, winding my way up to higher elevations.

Lots of switchbacks.​

American Creek was a tad overgrown. Helps to keep the riff raff out, I suppose.​

Woo wee! The colors were bold and bright, and it was spring at higher elevations this far north.​

As I got out to take a few photos here, I noticed quite a few butterflies flitting around. Most of them looked a little worse for the wear, so they must have been at the end of a migration or something. Still, there were a few that still looked reasonably healthy, sunning themselves and taking full advantage of the buffet before them.

Warming its wings.​

This guy landed on the winch cable.​

It probably took half an hour or so for me to climb high enough to start flirting with the tree line. When I did, I'm pretty certain that an audible "wow" escaped my lips - the view opening up in front of me and revealing the snow capped Selkirk Mountains to the west. Plus, I continued to drive up through a colorfully confused landscape - some flowers just starting to bloom as the huckleberry leaves took on their fall coloring.

I'd see a lot of the Selkirk Mountains over the next couple of days.​

Driving through nature's nursery.​

Besides all the color, one of the other nice things about getting up in elevation was that - while I wasn't completely clear of it - most of the smoke was once again below me, collecting in the valleys, and cloud-dabbled blue skies shined bright above. I must have stopped five or six times over the course of a kilometer just to soak it all in from various angles.

A little creek cascaded down the fold of the mountains.​

Smoke snaked through the valley, flowing like the rivers it followed.​

I continued to climb to something a little over 2,270 meters (7,450 ft) where the road skirted the edge of the mountain and trees a rarity on the high alpine tundra. I'd crossed international borders to see these views, and they were totally worth it.

Wandering along, fresh amazement around every corner.​

Never-ending expanse as I continued to climb.​

After cresting the ridge, the trail dropped back down and wound around a bit before climbing the final few kilometers to its terminus. It was here that I found a perfect little perch with an expansive view - clearly a favorite photo spot for more than just me!

Look...​

...at that...​

...view!​

To this point on the trail, all of my views had been to the west, but the final climb took me once again to the ridgeline, and then dropped me down 50 meters on the east side of the ridge. As had been the case to the west, the views to the east were breathtaking. And there, another little perch backed a camp site with the most meticulous little fire ring I think I've ever seen.

View to the east.​

Miles (sorry, kilometers) of mountains.​

The Purcells, and Mount Templeton (I think) rising up in the very left of the frame.​

I decided that this was the perfect place to have lunch - and not just any lunch. It was so nice up here that I figured I might as well make my should-probably-be-trademarked-tacorittos and just relax for a little bit. So, I pulled out all the kitchen gear and set up my new rocking chair, and enjoyed an hour of light breeze, (relatively) clean air, and the little mountain rodents running around on the rocks.

The view from my chair.​

As I was wrapping up, a trio of motorcycles came buzzing up the trail - quite obviously having just as great a time as I was on this gorgeous day - and waved as they explored the various offshoots. Old mining roads, I'd later explore them as well - none of them leading very far before petering out.

It was 1:00pm when I decided it was time to pack everything up to start moving again. I'd seen the bikes head east over a small hill some fifteen minutes earlier, and wondered if the road was longer than I'd thought, or if they'd found something cool to look at. Whatever the case, I definitely wanted to check it out.

A pile of wood at the end of the road.​

It turns out that - like me - the motorcyclists had really just spent a bunch of time staring off over the mountains, enjoying themselves and whatever conversation they were having. As I climbed out of the truck, one of them laughingly yelled down to me from an overlook that they'd found, "That pile of wood is mine!"

"You can have as much as you can carry!" I jokingly shot back, knowing that it'd be pretty tough for him to strap even one of the burley beams to his bike.

The wood, I'm sure, was brought up here at some point for mining operations - there were a few areas that clearly looked blasted and prospected, though I couldn't find any old structures or large tailings piles. Perhaps - as is the case with many prospects - the ground just wasn't as rich as the miners had hoped.

Ten minutes later, I was on my way back up to the crest of the ridge, knowing that I had a lot more to explore today and yet not wanting to leave.

Steeper than it looks.​

At the very top, a final look east before I dropped back down the west side.​

Also steeper than it looks, as I headed back down to Trout Lake.​

As if often the case, the trip back down the mountain was significantly faster than the trip up. Gravity helps here a little, but the biggest factor - I think - is that I'm usually stopping less frequently to look around and take photos. What had taken a couple hours to climb, I descended in forty-five minutes, popping back out on BC-31 just before 2:15pm.

Perfect timing - it would turn out - for what I hoped would be the highlight of my trip. It was - at the very least - the reason I'd made the journey!