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

Back to civilization… for a minute.


After doing a lot of climbing and spending a bunch of time in the Vancouver, British Columbia area, I decided it was time to head south since there was a lot to see and the winter was coming soon. I crossed back into the US later in the evening to avoid any huge traffic jams. Now that I was back here it was time for some maintenance on the truck and a general check over. The first day in Washington, I got half a day before it decided to rain. It rained throughout the day, into the night and was still going in the morning. So that’s what the PNW rain is like!

I met up with some friends in Seattle and was able to spend some time in the big city. The first surprise… there are hills just like San Francisco, some of them seem just as steep as SF. The first day we checked out a lot of the tourist things that were pretty cool to see.

The Space Needle; there was a run up the stairs that day and none of us thought it would be fun to join so we enjoyed the view from the bottom.
21001171239_HDR copy by Brandon M, on Flickr

The gum wall. Not sure what the history is on this gem. But as you might suspect, the alley is covered in chewy goodness. Pro tip… the gum on the wall usually already lost its taste, so just leave it there.
21001171335_HDR copy by Brandon M, on Flickr

The famous market which included the fish shops where they throw the fish back and forth over the counters. I wasn’t able to get any good pictures of them in action but everyone was gathering around and cheering them on.

21001171337a copy by Brandon M, on Flickr

Onto the piers overlooking the sound.
21001171359_HDR copy by Brandon M, on Flickr

Did you know that the main area of downtown that is near the water actually has a ‘basement’ of sorts? Because of some bad planning, the original city was built a bit too close to the water and after the big fire, they rebuilt the city on top of the old city, leaving the first floors as a basement, and building the roads where the second floor would be. This was in the ‘basement’ and was an original crapper. It was originally at ground level, but due to the location to the water, when the tide would come in, it would pressurize the sewer pipes and when you flushed the toilet, you could get a very uninvited poo volcano. So they lifted them a few feet to try and solve that problem.

21001171557a_HDR copy by Brandon M, on Flickr

Something about the Seattle area and poop. This spot is named Poo Poo Point, I can guess why it might be. I watched a ton of these people lifting off and flying around. It was a little too windy for some, but they all looked to be having a blast after they were able to lift off.

21003171536b_HDR copy by Brandon M, on Flickr

On my second day exploring Seattle I took the train and then rented the orange or green bikes. They made quick work of most of the getting around the city. Remember that part about San Francisco type hills. Yeah, I found them! You would think all is well when you are going downhill, but not so much when you are on a bike that seems to have wooden brake pads. I did survive the day, but got quite a workout. If you are in the city, they are a great way to see it. Both have apps that are easy to use and if you are new, they usually give you a few free 30 minute or under rides. If you see a hill and don't feel up to it. Park the bike, hike up and hopefully there's another at the top. Oh yeah, and the green bikes have a LOT more gears than the orange bikes. I learned that too late.

Art feature at a park with the Space Needle in the distance.
21004171100_HDR copy by Brandon M, on Flickr

North of downtown Seattle and across the river is an old gas refinery that has been turned into a park.
21004171201_HDR copy by Brandon M, on Flickr

In my search for weird things, the Fremont Troll definitely needed to be a stop on my list. For scale, under its left hand is a full size VW Bug…
21004171223a_HDR copy by Brandon M, on Flickr

After my feet were tired of exploring and I was ready to leave traffic behind, I took I-90 east and began to explore forest roads. I checked out quite a bit before deciding the top of Snowshoe Butte would be a great place to see, and hopefully camp. I got up there when it was already dark, saw a cow elk just before I got to the top. It was cold and windy, but it would work. I snapped a nice picture before going to bed. The best part of this picture is what you can't see… multiple elk bugling in the distance.

21005171947b copy by Brandon M, on Flickr

I explored a bunch more forest roads, it stayed dry for the most part until I got to some random area that I decided to camp at. It was near freezing, very windy and raining. It continued that through the night and into the morning. I was east of Mt Rainier and since it is a lone mountain that juts up over 14,000 feet, it makes its own weather. So as soon as I got out of its weather pattern, it was a sunny day.

21007170830_HDR copy by Brandon M, on Flickr

21007170919_HDR copy by Brandon M, on Flickr

I drove through Mt Rainier National Park which cuts through on the south side of the mountain. I was hoping to see it but it stayed completely covered by the clouds that were dumping down snow.
21007171250b_HDR copy by Brandon M, on Flickr

 

Trail Time

I finally got back out on the trails for the first time since Morrison Trail. At least the first time with another rig.

I joined up with another contributor to Trailsoffroad.com who was planning a run near Mt Ranier. I met up with the group at the location, and there were a lot more rigs than I expected. A good variety of makes and models, Jeeps (including XJs and a new Cherokee), Land Cruisers, Land Rover, Xterra. We made our way to the trailhead and aired down. It was a short trail up to Surprise Lake, which is mostly an easy trail with a few more difficult areas.
21008171023 copy - Copy by Brandon M, on Flickr

We started up the trail, bouncing around, through one small step obstacle and stopped to scope out a larger obstacle. After we stopped, a Wrangler jumped into drive and bumped into the one in front. The tow hook on the bumper grabbed onto the rear bumper of the one in front and took about 30 minutes of lifting and maneuvering for them to break free.

The rigs that wanted to try the obstacle began working the way up and then we were met with the next hiccup of the day, a bent rim and blown tire against a rock. Thankfully there was a spare rim that fit, and we slowly made our way to the top.
21008171230a copy by Brandon M, on Flickr


21008171237e copy by Brandon M, on Flickr


21008171246a copy - Copy by Brandon M, on Flickr

After we made it through the obstacle it was smooth sailing to the top, other than very overgrown trails.

21008171425_HDR copy by Brandon M, on Flickr

Just slightly narrow. Thankfully I have pinstripes all over the truck already.
21008171440 copy by Brandon M, on Flickr

But the view was well worth it. The clouds even cleared for a view of Mt Rainier! We had a BBQ at the lake before we began to head down.

21008171457_HDR copy by Brandon M, on Flickr

21008171644_HDR copy by Brandon M, on Flickr

Back down the obstacle
21008171706 copy by Brandon M, on Flickr

When we got to the bottom, we thought all would be well. Not so much. First, the Land Rover had a flat tire that was sliced open. It ended up falling off the jack onto the rim. But luckily it did not chew up the threads of the lug studs! I was airing up and looked back at my truck to see smoke coming out from the bed. That’s strange because I turned off my smoke machine. I took stuff out of the bed thinking something like a plastic bag fell onto the air compressor and melted. But as I got the stuff off of the top of the divider I saw an orange flicker from where the air compressor was. I took out the divider and saw a fire on the wiring! It took a half a second burst from the extinguisher to put it out.

I quickly saw that the issue was the wiring from the fuse panel in the bed to the compressor wore away the protective coating and arced. I got the wire at an audio shop and clearly it was not up to the job of what it was made for. It wasn’t tight, nor on a sharp corner, but ran from the bottom of the bed around the curve for the wheel well. It was at that section that it wore away the protective covering. I replaced the wires with something better and it works just like new. So it's always a good idea to check over everything once in awhile! The wiring has only been routed like that for six months or so. Thankfully that was the only area I used that particular wire at.

 

That's it for now... laptop battery is dead. Had three snowmobiles cruise by a little while ago. They've been the only people I've seen all day. I'm thinking I'll keep relaxing, make a nice early dinner and wait for the sunset and maybe some astrophotography tonight.

 

An update wouldn't be legit without a pic for @Gramps

#placescrocsgo

 

Wicked adventure you're on. I live right around the corner from the troll, welcome to the neighborhood, safe trails.

 

Thanks! That thing is neat. After that I got one of those bikes, went across the bridge by Google and climbed up and over to the other side... That almost killed me.

 

Since I've got service...

Tonight I just hung out in the same spot i was all day so i could get some cool sunset and night pictures.

Cooking up an early dinner of chili and cornbread, about a minute or two after i put the cornbread on the stove, someone comes hiking down the trail out of breath.

He said he started down the trail and was checking if there was somewhere to turn around. Indeed there was by my truck, i told him i could move if he needed more room when he got down. He comes down in a Subaru Forester, turns around with a little sliding and starts to head up the trail.

The trail is decently steep, it got 12-16" of fresh snow yesterday and has just been heating up and melting today. I was the only vehicle on it, three snowmobiles rode on it earlier.

Needless to say, he made it 500 feet, i look up the trail and he's hella sideways on a trail that is pretty narrow. Rear drivers tire was basically over the edge.



Since I just started cooking, I wasn't about to waste food since i knew it would take a minute to get him out. So i shared my dinner with him before going up to help.

Got the winch through a snatch block that was up the steep slippery hill.


Aired down and Maxtrax'ed front tires so they would not slip towards the edge. Had him slowly accelerate to get the rears to spin a little as i winched the rear sideways.



After I got the rear as far over as I felt comfortable with i aired the rears down, the Maxtrax gave him momentum and he was able to keep it up all the way to the top. I followed him down to the gravel and aired him up.

I made it back to my camp spot.. the trail is getting more and more sketchy and will be real bad in the morning when it's complete ice. Missed the sunset but got some decent star pictures i think.

 

There might have been a lot of deep snow when you're currently at 112 miles and getting close to the gas light. Typically it's 280.

 

It was a long day.

The trail will be fine they said...



The headaches were mostly in the last section...



Dug in deep in that heavy nasty crap and what don't you see.. yeah, dirt or rocks.

 

When you wish you had a rear winch...

 

Hi lift worked well. Also gave me a chance to realize that i don't have the bottom plate for it.

I searched the truck after I got off the trail, nowhere to be found. It's mounted on the roof and if it fell off, it would've fell right near the edge of the topper and cap. There's no room for it to go anywhere (i think the crossbars are too low as well as the side rails i know are). And it would've made a ton of noise up there. No signs of damage or scratches.

So either it somehow did launch off the truck or was stolen. Both make no sense. So I ordered a replacement and I'll have that in a few days. Just when you thought the hi lift wasn't dangerous enough!

 

You on the run to Mexico now?

 

I've been trying to figure it out... Going to the Oregon coast today, then south a little. And need to decide if I want to come back to CO to work on the next gig instead of continuing on... For now.

 

Gotcha, Well Mexico is cheap, like really, really cheap and Baja full of places to hang out. Negative is the military/ police checkpoints they have.

Well at least you knocked half of it out.

 

Yeah, not so much worried about having money now, just not trying to do stuff in the middle of winter. And for the most part, putting an RV on property is frowned upon which I find complete BS for having acreage.

If I come back to do construction which is the plan, I'll be getting a full size, Tacoma can't cut the mustard for that. So lots to ponder and since the Tacoma is still a work rig, it's on a deadline to get sold instead of dropping more on taxes.

 

Original plan was another Tacoma, but that won't work. And Tundra is too far behind the competition to even consider.

 

So when ya gonna join the Chevy forumz?
So much Toyota hate, unsubbed.

 

Calm down fella the Tacoma isn't a truck meant for towing and hauling... I figured that out by trial and error.

 

If i get property, the business will certainly need to buy some machinery to build things.