Car Camping / Trip Reports / Photos / Buildouts / “Overland” / Expedition Rigs Area (homeless?)

July 21, 2019.

...[Well on our way, we soon arrived at] the Manning Bridge. A "half" suspension bridge, it was put into service in June 2018, replacing an earlier model that was built in 1934. Just as interesting as the bridge itself - at least in my opinion - is a rock on the north side of the river, which was ground down with some circular grinder - its face polished and gray, a stark contrast to the natural rock around it.

Check it out (and a lot more) in IDBDR Pt. 5 - (No More) Gold in Them There Hills

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[part 1] [part 2] [part 3] [part 4] [part 5]​

 

July 22, 2019.

Lookouts - little did we know at this moment - would be the highlight of the day, helping to break up the long trail, and providing surprises that we'd never imagine. From it's colorful start to it's thundering end, our time on the Macgruder was a day to remember, for sure!

Check it all out in IDBDR Pt. 6 - Macgruder Corridor and Hell's Half-Acre​

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[part 1] [part 2] [part 3] [part 4] [part 5] [part 6]​

 

July 23, 2019.

...I figured I should check the temps of the brakes - you know, just to see if there was any extra friction. And boy, was there ever. A bit of water sprayed on the passenger side rotor just spilled off onto the ground, while on the driver side - it immediately boiled upon hitting the hot metal. This was clearly not good.

It was a day unlike any other, and the progress we were making on the route came to a screeching stop. Read it all in
IDBDR Pt. 7 - The Curse of the Lolo Motorway







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[part 1] [part 2] [part 3] [part 4] [part 5] [part 6] [part 7]​

 

July 24, 2019.

...Armed with the absolutely beautiful book Backcountry Roads--Idaho, by Lynna Howard, we had a few extra waypoints along the Lolo - in addition to the couple provided by the BDR creators - that we decided to check out. They were of course slight detours off of the route, but even a day behind schedule, we were happy to take the time to experience the area fully.

See what the Lolo has to offer in IDBDR Pt. 8 - Driving the Lolo Motorway

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[part 1] [part 2] [part 3] [part 4] [part 5] [part 6] [part 7] [part 8]​

 

July 25, 2019.

...From Avery, the IDBDR splits. Not for long - the two possible routes are separated only by the St. Joe River that runs between them - but each route has it's highlights. To the west, the road follows the old rail line through several tunnels. To the east, the road follows another rail line over several trestles.
We chose the west - and will forever wonder if we made the right call! The tunnels though were cool, and I'm sure either route is equally intriguing.

But tunnels aren't all we saw. See it all, including the moose, in IDBDR Pt. 9 - Move Over, Moose!

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[part 1] [part 2] [part 3] [part 4] [part 5] [part 6] [part 7] [part 8] [part 9]​

 

July 26, 2019.

...Our answers were of course mundane. We were from Washington, but had just traveled on dirt roads all the way from Nevada to Canada - can you believe it? We had no guns, alcohol, or tobacco...much less $10,000 in cash. And we were going to be in Canada for about five minutes.

And that, apparently, was a problem. "You mean you're just going to turn around the office and head back to the United States?" The border service officer asked.

"Yep." I responded.

And with that, he held on to our passports and asked us to park the truck, letting us know that if we'd just wait a few minutes, our passports would be returned to us. Awesome.

Read the last installment - IDBDR Pt. 10 - Where Are the Nice Canadians?

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Hope you enjoyed our adventure on the Idaho Backcountry Discovery Route. Now get out there and make your own adventure!

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[part 1] [part 2] [part 3] [part 4] [part 5] [part 6] [part 7] [part 8] [part 9] [part 10] [rig review]​

 

Saturday night we were set up in a vineyard next to the irrigation pond....the bathrooms were in a building about 100 yards away and they kept them unlocked all night. They were scheduled to start harvesting Monday morning so we were in right before the chaos began.

 

Camping is different with a toddler, turned into glamping real quick

 

Most of the trips I do require a full day - or more - of freeway driving just to reach the trailhead, so you can imagine my delight when we decided to do a trip on the west coast. Sort-of. At least, our meeting location was only four hours away - in the tiny little community of Mazama, WA. From there, we'd head north - to British Columbia, Canada - where we planned to run The Whipsaw Trail and then make our way north and west to Molybdenite Peak - before turning south again for the United States.

Check out the rest of part 1 here and get ready for another fun adventure:
Whipsaw Trail 1 - Finally Four, We Venture North​

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August 28, 2019.

...All lined up, he [Dan] took it slow - careful to pick the correct line to keep his truck out of the hole that'd been dug at the bottom of the ledge. Gravity unfortunately was having none of it and as he inched his way up, it sucked him down. Still, looked pretty bad-ass if you ask me!

Check out the whole story, including all the other trucks and obstacles we ran into:
Whipsaw Trail 2 - Some Winching Necessary​

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Big Sur, CA over the weekend with the lady. Amazing views.

 

August 29, 2019.

...It turns out, we were at a spot in the trail where a spring kept the trail wet, and spinning tires on a clay-rich wet road kept the trail dug out and flexy. A spot where every last one of us would three-wheel it as we attempted to make it through...

Check out the full story and a great day of colorful photos in: Whipsaw Trail 3 - Four, Three Wheeling Tacomas

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Where Igor attempts...


Redhead succeeds...





And check out the full story:
[part 1] [part 2] [part 3]

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Dude.

Hell yeah!

 

August 30, 2019.

...And then, a trip-changing discovery. As we were wrapping up photos in this exact location - and frankly, as Mike was likely wondering how he could get around us so that he didn't have to put up with our shenanigans - I happened to glance down between the spokes of my rear driver-side wheel... and what I saw took the air out of my sails.

Read the full story in Whipsaw Trail 4 - My Trip-Ending Discovery

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And check out the full story:
[part 1] [part 2] [part 3] [part 4]

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...I don't know how useful this post will be, but it's not uncommon that people ask me some version of how I got comfortable going off into the great outdoors as much as I do. Sometimes it's about how I got started; sometimes it's about how I am able to do so many trips; other times it's about how I developed the ability to feel confident in dealing with anything that comes up on the trail.

So I wrote a thing. It seems good, or at least seems like me.

How I Got Started with Offroad Adventuring

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Well, it's not every day that I get to go camping with my dad, and it's not that often that I camp in the same spot for more than one night. I mean, I guess we camped in the same spot two nights in a row on the Idaho BDR when a brake caliper seized up, but that was clearly an exceptional situation! Plus, after last year's adventure - my first time experiencing one of Pops favorite spots in the Sierras - I knew this was a place that I wanted to return. Likely, for years to come. It really is a special place.

So, early in the summer, we arranged a week where we could get together and just go enjoy the outdoors. I forget exactly when that was going to be, but as seems to happen in life, life got in the way and we had to cancel. It was a bummer to say the least, so it was awesome that a few months later we were each able to squeak several days into our schedule to pop down to ************* for a few days.

Read the first part of the story and see all the photos:
Into the Sierra Wilderness





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...Ready for our hike, we ran into a bit of a pickle - neither one of us had brought a pack...

One might say luckily - but anyone who knows me knows that it's just due to a lack of fashion - I was wearing my camo cargo shorts, and I was able to stash my water bottle in one pocket, my sandwich in another, and still have a couple open for camera stuff. Pops, much more fashionably dressed - in some khaki cargo pants (lol) - did something similar. And we set off!

Check out the full story, and what I discovered at Lost Knife Knoll - in Into the Sierra Wilderness - We Set Out On Foot

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It was 2:00pm when I parted ways with Pops in eastern California - our relaxing trip into the Sierras just the start of a 3 week journey for me. The next two weeks would be adventuring to - and then through - Wyoming and Colorado with some of the normal folks - Mike and Monte (and his dad Steve), and also a new face to me - Brett.

I've been wanting to meet Brett for quite some time now, so I was definitely looking forward to the opportunity. But here I am getting ahead of myself already - first, I needed to make my way east. I'd save myself 18 hours or so by leaving from California vs. going home before heading east - but it was still an 18-hour drive to our rendezvous in Rawlins, WY.

With 24 hours to get there, I figured I would be just fine. Plus, the first leg of the journey would be amazing - I was driving through Yosemite National Park!

My route through Yosemite took me up and over Tioga Pass - one of the most scenic drives in the park if you ask me - and shortly after starting the climb, I was rewarded with a spectacular view. There, in the distance - El Capitan and Half Dome. Wow.

Check out the whole story (or at least the first part for now) in
Exploring Colorado Becomes Redhead Down - Part 1​

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With frequent stops, and another longer stop for lunch, it took us several hours before we finally set off on our final approach to Blackhall Mountain. In the end, it was another long climb - the summit, at 10,974 ft - just missing the mark we'd achieved earlier in the day.

But the craziest part of the day had already happened. You can read all about it in
Redhead Down #2: WTF, There's a Bat in My Tent!










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[part 1] [part 2]


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September 18, 2019.

Too soon, we were through these distracting, colorful, Alders. Luckily it wouldn't be our last encounter with these beautiful trees, and besides, we were making our way up and around what we hoped would be another cool peak to add to our list of places we'd driven to the top of: Hahn's Peak. Visible at the top, an old lookout - no longer staffed - called to us to visit, and we made our way around the base of the mountain as we looked for a way up.

Read all about it in Redhead Down #3: We Cross into Colorado







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[part 1] [part 2] [part 3]​