AdventureTaco - turbodb's build and adventures

No worries at all! If you ever find yourself in the Seattle area, just give a shout and I'm sure we can work something out

 

Nice job Dan! I still have to clean up the inside of my frame from my plates its definitely on a high priority. That sand blaster seems legit. I will have to see if home deeps rents em or if I can get my hands on one.

 

Big Sky and Green Hills - Montana in May 2018
May 24, 2018. Eastward to Adventure!

We were packed and ready to go by 8:00am Thursday, having been looking forward to a Memorial Day trip with Mike (@Digiratus), Monte (@Blackdawg) and Devin (@MissBlackdawg) for the better part of a month. Still early in the season, we weren't sure what we'd find from a snow perspective, but we had a couple extra days to explore before everyone else showed up, and we had plenty of routes and re-routes to keep us busy!

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The drive east was mostly uneventful and one of our easiest to date - get on I-90 and keep driving. With only a few pit stops for fuel and food, we found ourselves in Montana soon enough, and even then we only ran into a single delay - a 30 minute stop on the freeway near Tarkio, waiting for an accident to clear several miles up the road.

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With good weather and plenty of CB traffic to listen too (CB channel 17 and 19 are fun to listen in on) the delay wasn't bad and we were soon on our way - our destination the Lewis and Clark National Forest near Great Falls. So, it was in Missoula that we exited I-90 for MT-200 towards Lincoln, where we planned to pit stop for the evening in the Flathead National Forrest.

For history buffs out there (like @mrs.turbodb), Lincoln is a pretty interesting place - it's where the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski holed up in a remote cabin without electricity or running water until he was ultimately captured by the FBI. For us, it was a great place to get a glimpse of the great outdoors and our first sunset!

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As the sun was setting, we hit our first dirt, looking for camp. It was a bit of a crap shoot into the woods, and when we finally reached the end of the road (or rather, the road block that created the end of the road), it was on the edge of the previous years burn and soupy-thick with mosquitoes! Definitely not a place we wanted to stay, but without a plan, I wasn't sure we'd find anything better.

Not to be deterred (or bitten), @mrs.turbodb insisted that we head back to town, fill up on gas, and look for another place - so that's what we did. Ultimately, after following a few more roads that promised "National Forest Access," we found our spot. It wasn't in the forest, and it was just off the road - but it was on the edge of a beautiful valley; green grass rolling on (and on and on).

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As the last of the sunlight faded away, we setup the tent and broke out the grill - it was homemade cheesburgers for dinner. Delicious! And then, after a long day of driving, we crawled into the sack. Little did we know that sleep would be fitful - the valley home to some of the noisiest sand hill cranes, elk, cows, coyotes, and Canada geese that you could imagine. Oh, and the nearly full moon shining right into our tent!

@mrs.turbodb broke out her earplugs and sleep mask. And I set my alarm for 5:00am, hoping to catch a spectacular sunrise.

May 25, 2018. We Never Expected to Make It

Western Montana being just at the edge of the Mountain time zone, a 5:00am alarm meant that I could catch the orange horizon and enjoy the entire sunrise. Of course, the fact that it sounded like a wild circus outside the tent meant that I'd been awake for 30-minutes anyway by the time my alarm went off.

I was immediately not disappointed. The orange horizon. The lush green meadow. The distant, snow-covered mountains. And the windmill.

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I set out into the meadow, a cool crisp night having left the grass covered in a heavy dew, towards the windmill. To my surprise, just over a crest, two old log buildings and a creek - jewels in the morning, just as the sky was starting to light up!

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From there, it felt like I couldn't snap pictures quickly enough. I found myself running through the meadow - from the windmill to the truck - several times, sure that the light now was better than it had been just a few minutes before. This continued for an hour or more until @mrs.turbodb climbed down from the tent.

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Even then, as we walked through the fields again, the early morning sun was working it's magic, sparkling through the dew on the grass, lighting up the trees and windmill.

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Cereal with fresh strawberries, and we decided we'd continue up the road to see what we could see - which turned out to be a few more good camp spots, and a trailhead into the forest, all along the route that Lewis and Clark had traveled many years earlier.

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Eager to get on our way, we backtracked to MT-200 towards Great Falls. As we ticked off the final miles, we knew it was a special time in Montana. Much like our trip a couple years earlier to Owyhee Canyonlands in Oregon, we'd hit Montana at just the right time for everything to be green, and it was breathtaking. We stopped, and we took it all in.

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By mid-morning, we'd passed through Great Falls to fill up with fuel and propane and we headed south towards the Lewis and Clark National Forest. Having called the local ranger station just a couple days prior, our plan was to simply to explore a few roads as far as we could make it - I'd been assured that every trail I wanted to run was impassable at higher elevations due to snow.

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But that didn't detract from the beauty. As we crossed over and passed through creeks, we continued to climb - up and up - past the elevations where I'd been told the roads were closed. Onto roads where ours were the only tracks. Through high mountain meadows teaming with wildflowers.

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And then, to our surprise, we made it to Monument Peak Lookout. At an elevation of 7,395 feet, we'd left the ranger-reported snow line of 6000 feet in the rear view mirror, and we had the lookout all to ourselves. Excited, we set about opening the shutters so we could look inside.

It turns out that the lookout is rentable on a nightly basis - a cool experience if you can get it, I'm sure! Over the winter, with noone around, the mice had gotten in and had found the paper towels. The first visitor with a key is going to have some cleaning to do!

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Still early in the afternoon, we were at a loss for what to do - see, we'd never expected to make it this far, but we were clearly in one of the better (if not the best) camp sites we were likely to come upon. Ultimately we decided that closing up the lookout, a bit of exploring, and an afternoon nap would solve the timing issue.

So, we opened up the tent and snoozed in the warm Montana breezes. We need to do that more - it seems that we're always in a rush to see more and get where we're going - but really, a nap in the wild is worth every second.

When we awoke, two things were different: first, it was no longer sunny - thunder clouds were rolling in; second, we were hungry - it was dinner time. So we moved the truck into our camp-for-the-night position along the ridge and set about making dinner, hoping that the rain and lightning would pass to the north, given our exposure at 7,395 feet!

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A dinner of steak, mashed potatoes, and grilled asparagus hit the spot just as the first drops of rain started falling, and as the sun started going down. As we packed everything back in the truck to keep it dry(er) in the rain, I hoped that the sun would break below the clouds just as it hit the horizon - if it did, it was likely to be an amazing show!

We were not disappointed.

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As the last of the light left the sky and clouds took over the evening, we watched the lightning in the distance, hoping that with any luck, it'd remain distant through the night. We read our books and reveled in the day we'd just had - out on an adventure, in a place we'd never been before.

At some point we climbed into the tent and continued to read - but only for a short time until we fell asleep, excited for what and who the next day would bring. Assuming we weren't struck dead by lightning...

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Beautimus my friend! But I've been creeping on your photos already, they link to a forbidden page now tho

 

Right through my neck of the woods. Looks like an awesome trip you guys had

 

guess this means i better get photos edited..haha

 

Thanks man. Surprised you could get to the photos, they were supposed to be private before I shared them!

Was great fun, and nice to get out in the green window that's going on right now. Got even more fun in future days when we weren't travelling alone!

No rush man, no rush. Work on last year's story first

 

Did you change the shared settings after the fact. I only opened one photo and then just clicked next arrow. I can't get back now haha

 

Dunno. Ctrl+F5? They should all be public now, and the arrows seem to work for me when I'm not authed to flickr...

 

Great pics,and I know several of those places.The Sluiceboxes park overlook and then down into logging creek to get to lookout. I took 90yota up to lookout last year.

 

Awesome, awesome photography man. I'm surprised you can remember what you saw thru the viewfinder.

I love the pace too. Stop to smell the flowers and take a nap...

 

Definitely beautiful places, especially this time of year when it's all green!

Thanks buddy. The pace this trip was fun for sure!

And .

I find that both suit me at different times - sometimes there's so much to see/cover that I want to go fast, but other times it's nice to take a break - would be nice to have unlimited time so you could explore everything at whatever pace you wanted!

 

It's called retirement!

 

Absolutely amazing build and adventures!! Keep on rocking!
Cheers

 

Snow, Sun, and Storms - Montana in May
May 26, 2018.

We survived the night, the lightning storm and associated rain passing both east and west of our perch atop Monument Peak. As has become a habit, I was up early - I knew our location and the clouds in the sky could make for a spectacular morning.

The sun did not disappoint.

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As high as we were, it wasn't long before the sun was over the horizon and illuminating the truck and lookout; the storm obviously a thing of the past, a beautiful day in the works for our adventure.

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We ate breakfast and enjoyed our surroundings - a couple of curious but skittish deer entertaining us throughout the morning, but it wasn't long before we were ready to be on our way. We were unsure what the day would hold, but we were hopeful as we dropped in elevation that it would once again be snow-free, despite the local ranger's warning.

And it was, for a while. Mostly. We did hit one small drift still on the road, and jumped out to snap a poser shot.

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Ironically, not five minutes and a couple turns later, we hit a drift several feet deep across the road; we were done on this trail - our path completely blocked.

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Luckily, a muddy re-route was easily accessible and we were underway in short order - once again taking in the amazing spring green that was all around.

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Our re-route eventually wound it's way east past an open field with a couple old cabins and we decided to check them out - after all, we had no real set goal for the trip - it was simply meant to explore and enjoy whatever we came upon. So we set out across what ended up being a very marshy meadow. The cabins were dilapidated but cool - especially the corners and connections between intermediate walls which were constructed of log-sized dovetails! Imagine cutting those with an axe.

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Eventually we pulled ourselves away and continued east towards US-89, a north-south route through Lewis and Clark National Forest, and a good "out" for any routes we found impassable. Which was good, because shortly after crossing US-89 to our next trail, we were stopped in our tracks. The sign posted at the head of the trail read "No Wheeled Vehicles," but the Motor Vehicle Use Map clearly listed it as a highway legal trail. In the end, it didn't matter - 50 feet in, the snow was impassable. We turned around an headed south on US-89 to find another way in.

And find another way we did - a few miles down the road, we headed east up into the hills - the well-graded gravel road snow-free and plentiful camp sites starting to fill up with trailers and ATVs. Of course, the further we got from the highway, the less-traveled the road became, until we hit the top of the ridge where we were greeted by patchy drifts of snow. The wind must have blown these drifts deep throughout the winter, because here on the ridge - in the sun all day - they were still close to 18-24-inches deep on the road.

Unsure if we'd make it, but sure that it'd be awesome if we did, I engaged 4wd and the lockers and plowed ahead. Literally.

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We didn't make it far - maybe 45 feet into the snow.

No big deal, I'd expected as much, so popped out to take a look further up the trail to see what the conditions were like. Much the same it seemed, our elevation near 8,000 feet - probably a good idea to just turn around and head back, despite our desire to continue on.

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As I returned to the truck and put it in reverse, I looked at @mrs.turbodb and said, "Wish us luck!" I knew that having sat in the snow for 10 minutes or so, there was a good chance that the truck had sunk slightly, and that the already wet snow under the tires had likely melted even more. I hoped that the lockers were enough to get us the traction we needed to back out.

They weren't, of course. With all four wheels spinning, the skid plates holding the truck high in the snow, and no Maxtrax in sight, there was only one thing I could do: ask @mrs.turbodb to take some pictures while I dug out the truck.

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Luckily the weather was great and digging snow is way easier than dirt, and after a short time I had enough snow cleared that we were able to ease our way back. We'd made it further than anyone else on the trail this year, but we'd been stopped in our tracks.

As we headed back towards US-89, it was only 10:30am but we were hungry - it'd already been a full morning!

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But before lunch, we decided we'd try one more trail on our list - another spur off of US-89 that headed northwest and appeared to re-join (after about 20 miles) the same track we'd taken on our way down from Monument Peak. And I'm sure it would have, had we not been distracted by a sign that pointed west and read "forest boundary - 7 miles" some 14 miles up the trail.

On an adventure, we headed west through what turned out to be some of the most beautiful country of the trip. Forests gave way to fields, and fields to forests. Along the way, we discovered and explored more old log structures - somehow still guarding the lands they were built on, all these years later - a testament to construction of the day.

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And we saw elk, deer, and antelope in numbers too great to count. And butterflies. So many Green Comma butterflies.

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And then, after making our way out the west side of the National Forest, we saw a sign for White Sulfur Springs - our lunch destination. Just 37 miles down the (dirt) road, we figured we'd be there in no time to enjoy our sandwiches and quiche. Well, I'd enjoy a sandwich, and @mrs.turbodb, her quiche.

But then we ran into something you don't see every day in the city, much less in the backwoods of Montana - a house being moved. It was once again time for a poser shot. House tug-of-war.

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After lunch in White Sulfur Springs, we headed out on a new mission - find a camp site for the night where Mike (@Digiratus), Monte (@Blackdawg), and Devin (@MissBlackdawg) would meet us using APRS, so we could spend the next few days exploring and hanging out around the camp fire together. Afterall, that's why we were all headed to this part of the state to begin with, and we were looking forward to it immensely!

But first, we pulled over to snap a quick shot of our next mileage milestone. 90K on the truck - not bad for an 18 year old!

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Our search area was to the south along US-89 in some patches of BLM and USFS land that we'd scoped out weeks before on Google Earth, hoping that one of them would have a great view of the Bridger Range or The Crazies and be dry overnight - thunder clouds once again forming in the early afternoon. As we headed towards the first site, things looked promising, and we appeared to be in a trough of the storm, which was being split by the mountains on either side of the site.

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While our first site sported breathtaking views of the Bridger Range, it would have added a couple hours of travel for Monte, Devin, and Mike who were already scheduled to pass through Livingston between 7:00-9:00pm, so we decided to pass and search further south. As we made our way towards Wilsall, the storm clouds were building; we were definitely going to get some more weather

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More searching near the northwest corner of The Crazies commenced. Snow melt and rain resulted in a few spots that were fun to drive, but a bit wet for camping, even with our RTTs!

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And, unfortunately, the routes into the surrounding National Forest were gated and locked - still too early in the season for vehicular traffic, which likely explained the several abandoned snow mobiles parked on the side of the road, and this beast.

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Eventually though, we found a spot as evening set in. While it was just off the side of the road, it was a low traffic area and had a nice view of both The Crazies and Bridger Range. We pulled over, got comfortable, and watched as a torrential downpour headed our way across the valley.

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The downpour brought not only rain, but marble-sized hail and an electrical storm that passed directly overhead. Hunkered down in the truck, we hoped that the plethora of radio antennas didn't attract a strike and that the storm would pass before morning, making it easier to get the tent put away (dry).

Between downpours, we made dinner (chicken strip tacos - an idea we blatantly copied from Ben (@m3bassman) and Kristen who'd introduced us to them in on and earlier adventure in The Maze. Not long after, we called out to Mike on the ham radio and he responded! He was still a good hour away, but we were excited - here we were, 12 hours from home, and he'd been able to follow our APRS track to the same camp site!

So we read, watched the lightning, and waited for Mike to roll in with the Redhead. When he did, it was still raining so we switched over to the CBs and said our initial hellos. Eventually, as the rain let up for a few minutes we popped out of the trucks and greeted each other in person, smiles all around. We got our tents setup and contemplated a fire - Mike suggesting that Monte would expect one when he showed up. With the rain and time of night though we decided against it, and as the rain picked up again we repeated the greeting process with Monte and Devin - calling out on the ham radio at first, and finally in-person as they rolled into camp.

"Where the f@!# is the camp fire?" were the first words out of Monte's mouth. Of course, his face said - he was happy to see us.

Devin, much more reasonable, greeted us with a grin and a "Good to see you again!"

Already late, we called it a night shortly after they arrived, excited to see what the next few days would bring, and happy to be three trucks on an adventure together, again.

 

Great shots man. The wide angle is working good for you

 

Thanks man. Still getting used to the wide angle, but it'll be great I'm sure. Hard to beat the 18-135 though.

 

Thanks! So nice just being out there exploring. Glad you're enjoying .

 

Wow! I'm not gonna lie, the first pano brought tears to my eyes. Wish I could have seen that, when you're surrounded by dry death and aggressive succulents all day everyday you forget real beauty like this exists.

 

Thanks Zane. You'll be back soon enough. And hey, make a run up this direction for a trip - snow's starting to melt!