Tacomarin’s Chubby Unicorn Build

Jesus, $4k is a steal

 

I know you're dreading building out your OVRLND camper. You could just do this instead!

 

Back on the grind...

The Tradesman and the drawers now have happy new homes and Chubbs is looking lean!

I spent pretty much all of Saturday wiring and re-wiring the bed in preparation for the new camper. Trying to think through where we'll need outlets and with what power source. I ended up running 10 gauge hot and ground from the starter battery to both back corners of the bed, and also ran 12 gauge hot and ground from the back passenger corner of the bed all the way into the cab and into the center console to a 12V outlet at the back of the console. This will be the power source for our fridge, which will stay in the cab, from the "solar generator" that will live in the bed to power the camper. And of course I already decided to change where it's going into the bed to take advantage of the passenger side cubby. Annnd I wired in the S1 lights in the rear bumper from some existing wiring that I was using for my reverse lights on the top of the Tradesman. But I didn't take any pictures because it's just fucking wiring and I hated every second of it.

Sunday @RangerComa and I added a leaf to my Dakar HD leaf pack. Probably a band aid for a while until I can justify Deavers and HD shackles. The leaf packs are flat, if not W'd, but I've got like a 6" lift now so ??? One of these days I need to go for a ride with someone with Deavers to see if I can feel a difference. Regardless, Chubbs is super stink buggy now! Picking up the new to me Drifter on Friday!

 

I vote for a name change

 

Dude... I kid you not, Jessie said the same thing last night. She said we need to name it after some kind of cool beetle. Y'all had a mind meld going on!

 

Scarab…

 

The Drifter is on and it's awesome! Super happy with it. It's in great condition, very well spec'd and looks great on Chubbs. The additional leaf in the leaf pack is handling the weight perfectly and I'm sitting with about a 2 inch rake dry, which seems like it will be perfect when it's fully loaded.



I've been putting in lots of work to get things set up. It's a great baseline but it's going to take a lot to get everything situated just right. After 5 years with our previous configuration, everything was so dialed and now we're starting from scratch. So I took the opportunity to clean up some wiring, seal up the rear cubbies as best I could, and put new tail gate seals in. I also traded the install fee of the Drifter for the previous owner's Mountain Hatch tailgate table, which is wayyyy nicer on the knees.



Dust sealing the cubbies. I ended up using gorilla tape to seal up the slots (bottom and top), and weather stripping behind the cubby and in the doors. I did the same on both sides.


I redid the wiring for the bed as well. The driver side rear is wired for the on board water (switch is now on top of the cabinet rail... need a pic of that). The passenger side is pre-wired for solar and the camper lights/outlets with the intent that it is used with a power station. So I'm going to park my goal zero in the corner, which means I got to run wiring from the back cubby into the cab center console for the fridge.


Lots more to come. I need to do a better job taking pictures too...

 

Been spending quite a bit of time organizing our bin cabinets and getting things situated.

First thing I did is cut a window to access the goal zero interface panel.



I put in quick release water hook ups that are attached to the previous quick release hook ups in the bed side. This will allow us to easily pull the cabinets out when needed. I wired up the switch to the small strip behind the cabinet.


I put in plywood dividers in both cabinets that I just mounted to the bed floor plywood using 5x7” right angle brackets. The driver side bin will have all our camp and recovery gear. The huge passenger side bin will have our clothes.



I found a truck organizer on Amazon that fits our open cabinet really well. So that will have all our every day cook things. The stove is strapped to the top of the cabinet which fits really well.


Underneath the cook caddy is a removable panel. Under that is where our big camp pot and less commonly used camp cooking things. Usually only needed for camp fire cooking.



And under that panel is where our goal zero and makita charger will live. They are both strapped to the plywood bed floor.

It’s all coming together. I’m really impressed with how much storage we have back here now.

 

It was a bit of a bummer when I realized the awning mounts that are installed on the camper weren’t going to work with our OVS 270 awning.


After an email to vagabond confirmed they do make awning brackets for bigger awnings, but didn't have any in stock nor an eta on when they would, I decided to make my own. I talked with some friends that have OVRLND campers and got some information about their awning mounts to use for inspiration. I got some 2x2x.25” aluminum U Channel and cut out a small section so that it would be able to be mounted to the existing awning holes and not hit the side of the camper where it angles out. I definitely didn’t need to remove that much material but it has plenty of clearance. I kept a biggish radius on the cut out piece and decided to mount the brackets pointing down so that the awning wouldn’t be trying to rip off the cut off section. After getting all the holes drilled I cleaned them up and rattle canned them black.


I mounted them through the camper wall using the existing holes and some M8 hardware I already had for the awning with some RTV around all the holes for weather proofing. New holes were needed for the third bracket between the existing ones.


My preference would have been to have them spaced out a little more but since the holes were already there, I elected not to put any more in.

I also had to move the side mounted latch to the back of the camper. Similarly, I decided not to move the passenger side latch. I used RTV under the latch and rivets here as well.


Finally the awning was ready to mount. We wrangled it up there, then had to take it off and reposition it and wrangle it up there again. What fun!


Everything feels super solid and the hatch still opens almost all the way, so I’m pleased!




First voyage will be in about a week! A couple more things to button up but we are looking pretty good!

 

Getting lots of little things done in preparation for our upcoming adventures. We've decided to both leave our jobs for a while and go travel around this beautiful country. So we're trying to button up our setup in time for a departure at the beginning of August.

Kinda shitty pics, but I finally fully deleted the rear driver seat to get the fridge positioned better. I took the path of mounting the bottom plywood to the forward seat brackets, and removing the plastics to replace with plywood. I used 3/4” plywood all around, but it basically rests on the floor so I’m confident it could be 1/2” plywood if needed. Roughly 20” wide for the bottom with some notches to clear the back rear brackets. I did it out of a 48” long piece of plywood which worked fine. The bottom piece is about 26” long but doesn’t quite reach the back piece, but it’s long enough to fully support the fridge. I sprayed bed liner on it instead of carpeting and attached foam sound deadened on the back rest piece.

I’m so happy with this little project. It's not the best build quality, maybe not up to my typical standards but it's totally fine. We have had our fridge on the back of our folded down seat for years and it’s kept us from being able to position the driver seat ideally and from being able to fully open the fridge. I can’t believe this took me so long to do!


Here's how it was positioned before for reference. It's a CFX55.

 

I mounted up a 5lb propane mount from BAMF to the swing out. Jerry also fabbed up this sweet new bike hitch mount to put the bike on the swing out instead of in the hitch. I mounted it to the tire side, because surprisingly it's about the same weight or even lighter than the Jerry can side when fully loaded (80lb wheel and tire + tire mount vs 80lbs of water + jerry can holder + propane tank). It's definitely a lot of weight to have on the swing out so time will tell if I run into any issues. In my mind, it's not all that different than the Rig'd Ultraswing setup that people also run with bike racks so hopefully I won't have any issues either!








I also installed these new swingout bump stops that Jerry made to keep the swing outs from rattling around. They're awesome and work really well. I also replaced the latches because one of them wasn't reliably catching anymore. With everything working just right now I really am enjoying this bumper!

 

Waaaaaay overdue for an update. Where to begin?

With the help of a good friend, we built and installed some drawers in the back bed. The kitchen bin was a fine temporary solution, but it was just a pain to get in and out of. The drawers don't have as much storage, but they are way more user friendly and by far the best drawers I have ever had in this truck, no thanks to me! I used bottom mount drawer slides for the first time, mostly because they attach pretty easily to 80/20 but they're also really nice. The slam latches I got off of Amazon and they are surprisingly really nice. I ended up staining them all satin black with a urethane stain, and it came out okay, but maybe in the future I'll raptor line the faces too.



Side note, I will also say that 80/20 builds are a pain to modify. They are great for weight saving, but it took FOREVER to re-work the framing to accomodate these drawers, and they are way less space efficient because you lose an inch on all sides every time you look at it. I think if I were building this from scratch I'd be hard pressed not to do it all out of wood, just for the ease of assembly and modification.

Putting the drawers there meant moving the battery. That was actually a good thing as it was kind of a pain to access and interact with. So it moved up into the cubby, and I added another vertical divider to store taller items (cutting board, collapsible sink and bucket, plates) that didn't fit in the drawers. The Bedouri has now been demoted to a special occasion cooking appliance since we got these great pans off amazon that have a removable handle.

Pots and Pans with Removable Handle, Cookware Set with Ceramic Nonstick Coating, Suitble for Camping | RV, Dishwasher Safe | Ovens Safe | PFAS Free | PFOA Free, Orange

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09DKC5QVM?ie=UTF8&th=1



I needed something better than that cam strap to hold everything in place, so I commissioned our friend to make a mesh velcro panel. Some double sided velcro on the frame holds it in place, and it works great!



A while back when I first got the camper, I swung by Mom's place and we started scheming on bug screens and windoor covers. She whipped these up in the meantime. They use magnets to attach to the window seal, which has a steel inner layer. Thank goodness since pretty much everything else on the camper is plastic or aluminum!



We also upgraded the shitty VO mattress to a Hest mattress. The hype is real, this is soooo much more comfortable. Yeah it's pretty damn expensive but we absolutely love it and sleep so much better. And it actually folds up really well, better than the VO one in fact because it just rolls up instead of having to fold in half.



What else... lots of other small modifications that I don't have pictures of at the moment. But we did get away for 3 weeks up north, with the ultimate destination being Vancouver Island. We had a blast! A couple of ferry rides with the truck, amazing coast lines and forests, and warm fresh water lakes. An absolute dream!



It was a great shakedown run with fortunately not a lot of big changes coming out of it. I knocked out a couple smaller projects when we got back. First was insulating the front wall of the camper. I used 1" foam board and some leftover outdoor carpeting. It came out super good enough if I do say so myself. I also had ordered some insulated window and fan covers from Strawfoot, and they are really exceptional. I'm a huge fan! www.strawfoothandmade.com



The biggest change was the decision to upgrade the Goal Zero Yeti 500x to a big ol' Bluetti AC180. It has more than 1,000 Watt hours and can charge at 1,000W from an AC outlet or 500W from DC. The Goal Zero was fine for weekend trips, especially with good sun, but in the dense forests of the PNW it was just a lot to manage. So the bigger battery will be nice, and the Bluetti is really nice because not only is it a great pricepoint, but it uses LiFePO4 which can endure about 3,500+ cycles vs the Goal Zero's Li ion which can take maybe 500. So here's hoping it works out!

In preparation for our next leg in our journey, I also test ran the portable diesel heater setup I got off a friend. It fits perfectly in this Rigid tool bin, which keeps the truck from stinking like diesel! I've got a long vent tube for it that we port in through the rear window of the tent. I don't think we'll end up running this that much, but it's going to be nice when we do need it!



The last update, which was pretty low on the list, was adding some molle panels to the insides of the camper doors. I found some generic seatback panels that are aluminum, and were way cheaper than any other aluminum panels I could find. And they almost fit out of the box. I had to open up the four closest mounting holes, and then swapped out the factory hardware for some 35mm long button heads and added 3/4" spacers to the back. But they are a great addition and will definitely be helpful to have some quick access storage.


I think that's it for now. We're mostly packed up and heading out tomorrow. The plan is to be gone for ~6 months, traveling across the country seeing beautiful places and beautiful faces! I'll be posting to the Instagram page so follow along there if you're curious. Thanks for reading, or skimming, or whatever. Cheers!

 

Great novel!

 

Well it's been a hot minute since I've updated this.

We got back on May 1, 2024 from our Wonderquest. Almost 9 months on the road, 27 states, 2 countries, and a ton of National Parks, Monuments, Forests, Historic Sites, and just flat out cool stuff. We pinched ourselves probably daily, asking if this was real. It was an incredible experience, and we are truly fortunate to have had the opportunity.

We started our trip with a 3 week trip up to the PNW. We spent time with family near Bend and Seattle, before exploring the southern tip of Vancouver Island, then jamming down the coast back home. We learned a lot on the trip about how we want to travel, what we needed to prepare for, and what was important to us. The biggest thing we learned was that we needed to give ourselves more time, and limit how much we drive in a day. We decided to adopt my parents' 3/3/3 rule: 3 days at each spot, 3 hour drive between spots, and arrive by 3 pm.

It was a great shake down test with fortunately few surprises and changes that we felt we needed to make before starting the big trip. So at the beginning of September, we finalized our setup, finished getting our house ready to Air BnB, then headed out on the grand adventure.

I did my best to document our trip on our Instagram page, though I still owe some final updates. In total we drove about 17,000 miles, including a massive back-track from Az to Tx for the eclipse. We excountered all different types of weather: wind, rain, snow, heat. There were some low points, and lots of highs. We spent about 80% of our time camping in our truck, and peppered in some Air BnB's in some cities we wanted to explore, or stayed with friends and family in various places all over the country.

We started off in Yosemite, camping on the north side of the park with my folks, before heading across the Sierras into Nevada and eventually Great Basin NP. This park is a real gem, highly recommended!



Our original plan was to make our way to Yellowstone, Grand Teton, and Glacier, then continue across the north to the east coast. But it was already snowy and cold by the time we got to Yellowstone, and though we have a diesel heater, a setup like this is really best suited for 3 seasons. So we pivoted south and chased Fall for as long as possible.



We headed down to Dinosaur National Monument which is actually really awesome. The fossil excavations are incredible, but there are also stunning petroglyphs, and dynamic sandstone canyons. The different scales of time that you can experience in a relatively small area was really powerful.



We crossed the Rockies via Rocky Mountain NP, helped some friends build a chicken coop, then continued south to Great Sand Dunes NP.



Then we headed across Kansas for a date with some Buffalo, and to spend time with some more friends.


We spent about two weeks in Arkansas, which is one of my favorite states we visited. I mountain biked in Bentonville, then we spent several days relaxing in along the rivers of the Ozarks before heading to Petit Jean for a couple of nights. We passed through Hot Springs NP, which was 10/10 for weirdest national park.



Into Memphis, where we ate and got cultured. I used to go to Memphis quite a bit for work and have some family there, so it was nice revisit the area. We headed up to Nashville for a few nights, spent some of our coldest nights of the trip at a rainy camp outside of town, ate more food, and caught some actually good music at The Station Inn.



Up into Kentucky for a few nights exploring Mammoth Caves NP, and a quick stop in Louisville for some bourbon before staying with some friends outside of Indy.



We shot across Ohio and stayed at Hocking Hills SP, which was actually quite cool. Then we headed into West Virginia, which was my other surprise favorite state of the trip. Rugged, expansive, and a bit wild. New River Gorge NP was really cool to experience, but probably 1,000x better in the summer. It was mid November and getting cold, so we booked a cabin for a few nights in Black Water Falls SP while we explored Dolly Sods Wilderness.



Then we headed to Shenandoah NP in regular Virginia for a couple nights before heading to a friend's place outside of Charlottesville for Thanksgiving. We visited Monticello, then finally, after 3 months on the road, we made it to the Atlantic Ocean at Virginia Beach.


That's my 50 upload limit for 1 post... stay tuned for part 2 of ?? many.

 

For some reason it didn't upload our route map. So here it is for reference.

 

Onward! So we touched the Atlantic Ocean. Now it was time to get weird with it... So we headed down the coast to the Outer Banks. 10/10 for places that shouldn't be as developed as they are. But here we were. We checked out the Wright Brother's First in Flight monument, and spent several nights camping on the outer banks, and basically had the camp grounds to ourselves. If I ever go back with our truck, I would want to take the ferry out to Cape Lookout and camp out there, but we had had our fill for this trip. So we ferried back to the mainland, and headed to the Research Triangle for the holidays with my mother in law.



... to be continued

 

Spending a month and half with in laws may sound like torture to some, but I truly adore mine. We don't get to see them enough, so having time to spend with each other without the pressure of trying to maximize every second was really special. Plus, my MIL is a fantastic cook and spoiled us rotten. Her family has lived in Apex, NC for literally hundreds of years. Roads, neighborhoods, and whole towns are named for their relatives. They were farmers and homesteaders, and watching their history and memories get swallowed up by tract housing developments is, well, something. It's not all bad. It comes with a lot of pluses in an area that would otherwise be forgotten or overlooked, and they've done well to profit from land that until recently was deemed worthless. But it's a big change for sure.


We took advantage of the time to take care of some personal and vehicular maintenance as well. Three months on the road had already taken its toll on us, and we had learned a lot. One big lesson: we had too much crap! We had switched our single sleeping bags out for double sleeping bag (Northface Dolomite - highly recommended) and been lugging around our singles since Utah. Plus we had a bunch of books we had finished reading, and a bunch of other stuff we just knew we wouldn't need. So we boxed it all up, and left it at my MIL's to deal with later. I also picked up some Front Runner Wolf Pack boxes to add to the roof rack to clear out some additional space. I moved all our recovery gear and our awning wall from inside the camper cabinets to the roof, which made a lot more room for stuff we used on a more frequent basis. The boxes are really nice, but I don't love the look, and didn't love having a bunch of additional weight on the roof. But it was functional, if ugly. I also replaced our bungee cord and hanging grocery bag with a Blue Ridge Overland gear attic to hold our jackets, rain gear, and other things we needed quick access to. I'd say it's a 10/10 for quality, but a 6/10 for functionality. Maybe I'm doing something wrong, but stuff tends to eject out of it, especially off road. Toyota gets a 0/10 for not just putting in handles above the front doors so you could have a normal gear attic.



We took advantage of our time and proximity and headed over to Asheville for a week in the mountains. Asheville is a nice town, and definitely resonated with us. Great Smoky Mountain NP was beautiful and crisp, and the Smokies definitely lived up to their name. And we were able to revisit some classic hikes and sites from the summers of my MIL's youth.



Back at home, we got the oil changed in the truck at a dealership - terrible idea because they managed to spill oil EVERYWHERE - and got the tires rotated. Maintenance on the road is less than idea, but we were keeping things together. We knocked out a couple of house projects for my MIL, including rebuilding an old Charleston bench, ate our New Year's meal, then headed down to SC.



We spent a night in Myrtle Beach to catch up with some cousins, then continued down to Charleston for a couple of weeks with my FIL and bonus MIL. It had been years since I was in Charleston, so it was nice to revisit some of the sites - Angel Oak, Botany Bay, Cypress Gardens - catch up with family, and eat our fill in fried oysters. My FIL, his wife, and two massive dogs will soon be moving to Madeira, Portugal, so who knows when we will find ourselves back in Charleston.



On down the coast to Savannah. A cool town, full of history. I know there's a rivalry between Charleston and Savannah, and I like both, but I'd move to Savannah. It feels less... upity to me. We camped at Skidaway Island just outside of town, checked out Fort Pulaski (18 years to build, $30M dollars, lasted 30 hours in battle), got in some good hikes, and toured all 22 of the city squares just because. I ate a macaron that I had dropped on the street, and regretted that for the next week.


The Okefenokee Swamp was high on our list of places we had to visit. Bizarre, I know. But we came to love swamps on this trip. The ecology is so wild there, and it's so unique for us living in the dry West. Plus, the Okefenokee Swamp played a huge role in my wife's childhood, where countless adventures of Tallahassee and Tallasippi, an alligator and pirate rattlesnake, were spun out of my FIL's imagination into bedtime stories. Unfortunately, we got there during a cold snap. A proper cold snap. Let me tell you, 20 degrees before wind chill in a swamp is bitterly cold, and we were grateful for our diesel heater and down blankets! Sadly, all 13,000 alligators in the swamp were ruminating, so we saw exactly zero. But we did get to explore the swamp by boat and admire the river otters, herons, and ibises.



We'd had enough of the cold, so we followed the snowbirds to Florida, with the primary goals of getting warm and seeing Manatees. Check. Check. Florida is so weird, but the Crystal Springs river teeming with manatees was spectacular. We bounced around a few state parks - Manatee Springs, Rainbow Springs, St. Joe Peninsula, and Big Lagoon - and got our fill of Gulf Beaches and tropical weather. We also got to get up close and personal with some armadillos, which for those of you who have these in your lives... you don't know how lucky you are!


We sadly jammed across the Gulf ends of Mississippi and Alabama, states I'd like to spend some time in, and landed in NOLA for a few nights. We arrived about a week and a half before Mardi Gras, which I had mixed feelings about. I don't know that I have it in me to deal with so many people for Mardi Gras proper, but everything leading up to the big event sounds super fun. Seeing the city get dressed up in anticipation for the big event, and talking with locals who were so excited just made us feel like we were missing out. Nevertheless, we enjoyed ourselves. Our last time in NOLA was such an exceptional experience that we were
excited to revisit and explore some more. We of course gorged ourselves on all kinds of cuisine, caught some live music, and just enjoyed the liveliness of the city.



We left NOLA and headed into Cajun country for a few days. We stopped through Lafayette for the best Po Boy I've ever had, took a swamp tour at Lake Martin where we FINALLY got to see some gators and got twinned up by a badass rig owned by a French couple on a world tour, then made our way to camp at Palmetto Island SP. More swamp time! And we just had to do the Tabasco plant tour. I definitely can't say that I love Tabasco, but it is absolutely iconic. So when in Southwest Louisiana, you've got to do it.



From there, we headed into Texas. We tried to find some dispersed camping in the National Forests, but struck out and so settled for some more campground parking. After getting dumped on at Lake Conroe, we soaked up some sunshine at Somerville Lake for a couple of days, then headed to Austin for the weekend with some friends. We got toured around, ate a mountain of tacos, and enjoyed relaxing with friends we don't see often enough.



Then we continued our journey west, toward Big Bend NP. Of course everyone knows Texas is massive. But until you drive across it, you really don't understand how massive it is. Trying to stick to our 3/3/3 rule, we broke up our drive by spending a couple nights at Seminole Canyon SP, where we got to take in the limestone canyons, admire the pictographs, and were treated to stunning sunsets.



...to be continued...

 

Onward to Big Bend NP! Finally, it started to feel like we were back in the West. Big Bend NP is kind of funny. It's a massive park, and unlike most NP's it's best explored with an off road capable vehicle. There isn't dispersed camping per se, but there are many primitive camp sites that can only be reserved in person - basically, they want to get a read on you and make sure you're going to be okay out there. They are remote, and you're close to the border, there are no services, and no cell signal. We loved it.

We spent a few days closer to the Chisos Basin side of things, camping at Pine Canyon, Robber's Roost, and Paint Gap, then ventured down Black Gap road, camping at Elephant Tusk, Mariscal Mine, and Ernst Tinaja. We hiked, explored, soaked in the hot springs along the Rio Grande, touched our feet on the Mexico side of the river, and savored our first taste of the West. It's hard to convey how good it felt to be back.



After a week in Big Bend, we headed through Marfa, camped at Fort Davis SP, then headed up to Carlsbad Caverns NP. We found a dispersed camping spot just north of the caverns, and woke up to a freezing cold, misty morning. A good day to go underground! These were now our fourth caverns we explored on the trip, and it quickly became apparent why they're so popular. They're massive, and absolutely incredible. The number and magnitude of the formations is unbelievable. And thank goodness there's an elevator at the bottom to bring you back up to the surface, because it's waaaaay down there.



We found another unremarkable dispersed camp for the evening, then made our way to Guadalupe Mountains NP. These mountains are pretty stunning, particularly for Texas, but I'd say this park is best explored by back packing or long day hikes. We did a shorter hike to the Devil's Hallway, which had a very cool staircase feature to navigate, then headed to Las Cruces, NM to camp under the Organ Mountains.



We day tripped to White Sands NP, which though spectacular, are kind of a one trick pony. We explored Old Mesilla, famous for trying and jailing Billy the Kid, and hiked to the old sanitorium at Dripping Springs. From there, we headed up to Truth or Consequences, which to be honest, we only went to for the name, but also thoroughly enjoyed some hot springs while we were there.



From TorC, we headed up into the Gila (hee-la) Wilderness. This area immediately resonated with us - being back up in the alpine air, amongst granite and pines, it just felt so familiar and good! We explored the Gila Cliff Dwellings, which were our first cliff dwellings ever, hiked to the middle fork of the Gila River (the longest undammed river in the Southwest), and soaked in some incredible hot springs. It also got damn cold there, freezing our bathing suits solid overnight!



We headed down to Silver City, then poked our way north from there, making quick camps along the way and seeing some local attractions like the Catwalk, and Apache Creek, before landing in El Malpais National Monument. Known for its massive lava flows, and home to New Mexico's largest rock arch, we (I) also made the bold move to drive County Rd 42 around the western side of the monument toward Big Tubes, which proved to be a muddy mess. Poking our nose down the road to Big Tubes, we decided it was too muddy to try to explore any further, so camped for the night off a random side road.



Onward to Santa Fe for a couple nights. Overall, I was left feeling kind of meh about Santa Fe. The food was great, there's lots of cool crafts, but I was super into the whole vibe of the place. We did go see Meow Wolf, which was really quite awesome, and I'd highly recommend if you're into that kind of whimsical, weird, highly interactive art, with a detective twist to it.



We stayed a night at Ojo Caliente for some more hot springs time, then made our way to Chaco Canyon National Monument. This had been highly recommended, and was absolutely spectacular. I had never even heard of this place, and so it was completely eye opening. The excavation of these sites is controversial to say the least, but the education they provide is monumental. This canyon was home to thousands of people, and the buildings they have uncovered there are extraordinary. Four and five stories tall, with hundreds of rooms, and great kivas 80 feet in diameter and 15-20 feet deep. Thirty foot wide roads branch out of the canyon in all directions, connecting to many other famous archeological sites This is a remarkably special place, remote, sacred, and mystical.



After a couple days in Chaco, we continued north with a brief detour to the horribly named Aztec Ruins National Monument. Horribly named because there were no Aztecs remotely near there. Nonetheless, they have a beautiful Kiva that has been restored, which gives us an idea of how vibrant these places were in their time. From there we headed up to Mesa Verde NP, which is also absolutely incredible. The mystery of why people left sites like Chaco and moved into cliff dwellings like Mesa Verde is enchanting, and probably irrelevant to how magnificent these places are.



...to be continued...

 

Into southern Utah! We had been looking forward to this part of the trip and it did not disappoint. In fact, of all the places we went I would immediately go back there. There's so much cool stuff to see, and so much to explore.

We started our explorations in the southwest corner, first camping near Bluff, UT. The Bears Ears National Monument is massive, and spans a portion of the SW corner. It is chock full of indigenous history - artifacts, art, dwellings, and ritual sites. Looking at the map on Gaia, you see "ruin" sites everywhere. Some are well frequented, others may see a handful of folks per year. And pottery sherds are seemingly everywhere. A random camp we made down a wash was covered in them. There's no question in my mind why this area should be protected.

Petroglyphs near Bluff


Camp amongst the sandstone in Butler Wash


An unnamed dwelling site we found while exploring


Valley of the Gods was next on our list. This BLM managed area is a little cousin to the well known Monument Valley, which is managed by the Navajo Tribe. We did drive down to see some of the formations, but elected not to pay to tour the valley because of limited camp options, and instead found a great dispersed camp site under a formation in Valley of the Gods. The formations in Valley of the Gods are certainly wonderful, but less spectacular in my book than those of Monument Valley. Nonetheless, the camping was perfect, and we decided to stay put for a few days and celebrate Jessie's 40th birthday in style!



We left Valley of the Gods and headed up the Moki Dugway, a steep, narrow, twisty dirt road that goes straight up out of the valley to the mesa above. We visited Natural Bridges National Monument, camped under Comb Ridge, and hiked the Comb Ridge Dugway, which we considered driving up but thought better of. Probably a good one to do with a buddy.



We were overdue for showers, so we headed up to Moab to clean up. We realized we were arriving the week before spring break started, so decided this was the best time to avoid the masses at Arches. We dispersed camped to the west of Arches, and went in the off road side door into the park. We ended up spending a couple of days exploring the park, seeing all the arches that are most accessible, and doing the Devil's Garden hike which is a bit more exciting and interesting. We also explored the 4x4 accessible arches - Tower and Whale's Eye, which were fun and a different style activity from what you usually get at National Parks. The road to Tower was not extreme by any means, but technical enough to keep a lot of folks away, and that arch in my book was 10/10.

Double Arch, Tower Arch, and Whale's Eye Arch. Chubbs posing on the trail.


The most iconic arch of all: Delicate Arch


We decided to get out of town, now that spring break was in full effect, and headed to Canyonlands National Park Needle District. Canyonlands is really cool in my book, and especially the needles district. It's a little more raw, a lot less frequented, and caters more towards the adventurous. We did some really fun and challenging hikes, took the 4x4 trail out to the Colorado River overlook, and found dispersed camping readily available right outside the park. There's plenty more technical 4x4'ing to do there, but without a buddy vehicle it wasn't in the cards for us.





Back to Moab for another shower and camp along the Colorado, then we headed towards the other side of Canyonlands NP: The Islands in the Sky District. Always a sucker for a side door, we took the the Shafer Switchbacks up to the park. The road is not technical by any means, but probably not good for folks with a fear of heights. Perched on top of the massive mesa, this felt like a completely different world from the Needles District. We visited the key points of interests, took in the views, and faired alright on a pretty rigorous hike off the mesa down to the white rim trail, and back up. I definitely would love to come back to drive the white rim trail in entirety some day.



Back down the mesa, and west we headed toward Capitol Reef. By this point we were so numbed to spectacular things that Capitol Reef was somewhat underwhelming. But the bakery was a nice treat! We stayed one night at the main campground, which was a little overwhelming with all the spring breakers, then we headed over to the eastern boundary of the park to stay at the Cedar Mesa primitive camp. We were nicely isolated there for a night, then headed out the following morning up the Burr switchbacks to explore the Muley Twist Canyon before heading on to Grand Staircase Escalante NM.



The drive into Escalante from Capitol Reef is stunning. It's hard to keep your eyes on the road with some of the most incredible landscapes you can see all around. We weren't able to take the Hell's Backbone route because of seasonal closure, but I'm not sure how it could top the main route. Grand Staircase Escalante was one of my favorite regions of the trip. It's hard to convey how much there is to do and see here. There are seemingly endless roads, canyons, and mountains to explore, in a rural, adventurous atmosphere. We were graciously educated by the owner of Escalante Outfitters (fantastic sandwiches and pizza!) on what to do in the area, and ended up camping at Lower Calf Creek and hiking to the falls before heading down Hole in the Rock Road. This famous road extends from Escalante all the way to Lake Powel, and provides access to all kinds of cool things to see. We checked out the Devil's Garden and Metate Arch, visited the Beaty Caves where two brothers who carved out a home and shop in sandstone were building a boat to explore Lake Powell, explored Spooky and Peakaboo Slot Canyons, and camped under the endless skies. After 5 days, we had had a good taste, but left plenty of meat on the bone to come back to.


We were getting pretty accustomed to 3+ days of baby wipes and bird baths, but 5, 6, 7 days... even in the dry desert things start getting un pleasant. We were heading toward Bryce Canyon NP, but were in dire need of a shower. iOverlander produced again, and pointed us to Kodachrome State Park. I don't know how I ended up not taking a picture of the shower, maybe because I was so overjoyed (and didn't want to creep anyone else out), but let me assure you these showers are 100% the best campground showers ever. And the state park was cool to explore too!



... to be continued...