Sleeping - at an elevation of 8,000 feet - below the summit of Merritt Mountain was the most pleasant night of sleep we've had in a long time, even nicer than the previous night, perched on the canyon edge, overlooking the South Fork Owyhee River. And, like the previous night, I'd set my alarm for a time of day no one should be awake, ensuring that - at the very least - I'd capture the Earth's shadow as the sun climbed into the sky behind us. It was fabulous to watch the Belt of Venus fade across the horizon, the…
13 CommentsCategory: Epic
Everything on AdventureTaco is Epic, but only posts in this category will be sent via email to those who have subscribed to be notified of new content. A post with this category should always be included in at least one other category as well.
With a late sunset, it'd been 11:00pm by the time the last of the light faded from the sky and we finally fell asleep, but not before I'd set my alarm for 4:45am so I could catch what I hoped would be a dramatic sunrise on the edge of the serpentine canyon carved by the Owyhee River. Wishing that the darkness had lasted just a little longer, I pulled on my clothes and climbed out of the tent, grabbing every bit of camera gear I could muster. My hope was that that I'd timed the light perfectly - allowing me…
8 Comments
We've been going to the Owyhee for ages. Or at least, "ages" when taken in context of the time that we've been adventuring around the western United States (and Canada). In fact, our very first trip was to Owyhee, a trip that @mrs.turbodb planned on the same weekend in May, nine years ago. In that time - as we've traversed many thousands of miles of road - we've learned much about this wonderland in southeast Oregon, including the fact that it's not limited to Oregon! The Owyhee extend into southwest Idaho and even into northern Nevada. For the first time,…
6 Comments
In the first part of this series, I outlined the components necessary for adding a 12v house electrical system to a Tacoma (or any other vehicle). This time, we'll walk through the specifics on how to do the actual installation of those components in a way that will stand up to the abuse of truck used for adventure. Just a Bit of Background This is my second take at a house electrical battery system installation in the Tacoma. My first system was based around a 12v AGM battery and worked well for more than 6 years. In fact, it worked…
Leave a Comment
Six years ago, when I initially installed my house battery, it allowed me an entirely new sense of calm when I was in camp at night. No longer did I need to worry about my fridge - or the other small electronics I might turn on or charge - draining my starting battery overnight, thus leaving me stranded. Plus, the whole system of linking the two Northstar AGM 24F using a Blue Sea Systems ML-ACR (automatic charging relay) meant that I could easily - either manually or automatically - link my two batteries for charging or more power, and unlink…
Leave a Comment
It's hard to believe that another several months have passed since the last rig review! Since then, there've been several more trips, including a couple that were more hiking than driving and one that was our first time backpacking, for 5 days, through Upper Grand Gulch. That trip spawned a whole new kind of "rig" (equipment) review, so if you haven't had a chance to check those out and are curious, please do: The remainder of the trips were of the more traditional type, exercising the Tacoma in addition to our legs, and putting the gear we use to the…
2 Comments
Racing east at speeds that'd rival those we'd hit on the highway, Monte @Blackdawg and I left Capitol Reef in our rear-view mirrors as we set our sights on the San Rafael Swell. We were pretty sure that by now - nearly an hour after we'd heard that Ben @m3bassman had a flat on the van - there wouldn't be any need for our help, but we kept our eyes peeled for the big silver beast as we covered the wide-open ground. Cedar Mountain filled our view as we wound our way through the badlands. Climbing out of a wash,…
8 Comments
Even with a big breakfast to make, no one was up early to get started on their contribution to the group breakfast. I'm not complaining at all - I hadn't brought anything to contribute except my growling stomach - simply noting the anomaly. Perhaps on this trip - one where we spent more time in camp than ever before - it was to be expected that we would get a slow start on our last morning together. Whatever the reason, I took a few minutes to backup the photos I'd take so far onto my laptop, and snap a few…
8 Comments
The pitter patter of rain continued on and off throughout the night as we slept along the edge of a mesa overlooking Capitol Reef and the Henry Mountains. We'd found this spot - a wide area that was once an old mining road clinging to the rocky slopes - the previous afternoon, but after a long day of driving, we hadn't investigated the road at all. Perched on the eastern edge of the site - as opposed to being nestled into the trees - sun hit my tent as soon as it crested the horizon. Knowing that I'd still have…
8 Comments
We awoke amongst the Pinyon Pine to the barking of pups, ready for breakfast. Given that we were nearly outnumbered by the furry beasts, this wasn't surprising; in fact, they would be our alarm clock every day. Monte @Blackdawg quickly climbed down from his tent - letting them out for a bathroom break and a quick meal - before loading them back up and heading back to bed for another hour. Apparently this is their routine at home, as well! It was closer to 8:15am when the smell of coffee permeated camp, an indicator that Mike @Digiratus was up and…
1 Comment
I was two days late - at least according to Ben @m3bassman - when I rolled into the camp site they'd found just outside Capitol Reef National Park. As usual, the first order of business was a round of hellos with Mike @Digiratus and Zane @Speedytech7, followed by some good-natured ribbing. It was Zane, as I recall, that predicted my arrival time most correctly - at least according to The Price is Right rules that we all seemed to disagree on - and it was Mike who grinned a big I told you so, when I moved my truck into…
8 Comments
There are always places that get missed or left behind. Sometimes it's due to a lack of time; sometimes because of a lack of knowledge. Whatever the reason, and despite the fact that it's both normal and unavoidable, I almost always feel like I've failed in some way. Of course, it's not a failure at all; there is so much more than we can ever see. Sometimes - the best times - there's so much in a given area that it's easy to plan an entire trip. Other times, there's not quite enough. In those cases, it's always nice when…
15 Comments
Our first backpack - a somewhat crazy introduction to physically carrying all of our gear - through the Grand Gulch from Government Trail to Kane Gulch could have gone horribly wrong, but it didn't! I generally recommend getting started with whatever you already own and then buying what you discover you need when you're out on trips. But boy, if we don't look like a walking REI ad the first time out. In fact, I'd say that overall, it was a smashing success. At the very least, it was a success, and there was some smashing. Luckily, that smashing was…
12 Comments
With only 4 miles between us and a hot shower, we strolled right past the mouth of Kane Gulch on our way to check out Junction Ruin. Then, the plan was to tick off another mile - or so - of the trail out, in search of a nice slickrock camp site for the night. But oh, how plans change. High above the wash, there was no way we were going to get ourselves up to this gem of a ruin. As we approached the enormous alcove in which Junction Ruin sat, it began to rain. The storm we'd expected…
13 Comments
Even before we'd pulled our sleeping bags out of the tent, I was distracted. Just outside an alcove behind the grassy area we'd called home, I'd stumbled upon some colorful spring flowers that were also waking up to a new day. Indian Paintbrush. (left) | Evening Primrose (Oenothera). (center) | Utah Serviceberry (Amelanchier utahensis). (right) The difference between the three of us and the flowers was that the flowers hadn't been stuffed into an ultralight Marmot Superalloy 3P for the last 12 hours. Now, I shouldn't complain too much - the mosquito netting of the tent did its job fantastically…
14 Comments
Despite dozing off easily, our second night on the trail wasn't as great as the first. With all the dusty, dry conditions, I woke up in the middle of the night with a bloody nose, and our proximity to water resulted in a few mosquito bites - on the face - for @mini.turbodb. Still, we were all in reasonably good spirits when @mrs.turbodb's alarm went off, and soon, she and I were packing stuffing our backpacks - having informed the kiddo that she could stay warm in her bag - in preparation for the short walk to refill our water…
11 Comments
I wasn't sure how comfortable @mini.turbodb would be under the stars and on slickrock, but with a few strategically placed rocks - which we all placed around our pads - to alert her to a getting-too-close-to-the-edge situation, she slept great. Better than either @mrs.turbodb or me, in fact! We'd set an alarm for two minutes before sunrise, which was technically about 30 minutes later than we should have gotten going. The cool morning temperatures are much nicer to hike in, and we weren't yet familiar with how long it would take to filter our water. Regardless, we had a relatively…
11 Comments
"I want to do something epic for @mini.turbodb's spring break," @mrs.turbodb mentioned to me a few weeks ago. At the time, I think we were on our way home from a day of skiing, and I jokingly suggested that we could take @mini.turbodb on her first ever backpacking trip, through the Grand Gulch. After all, I'd recently created a goal around hiking the length of this amazing gash on the Earth's surface. Anyone who has followed along for a while will likely recall that I don't like carrying weight on my shoulders. In fact, I have a collection of variously-sized…
15 Comments
It's no surprise that - compared to the average human - I have a lot of camping gear. While I'm not one of those folks who always has to have the latest and greatest - in fact, I'll generally go for the simple, tried-and-true option - I have found that having the right gear can make camp life much more pleasant. A fridge, a nice Exped air mattress in the tent, and a down puffy have been just a few of the bits of gear that I've really come to enjoy over the years. But one thing's for sure -…
15 Comments
TL;DR - I upgraded my Canon R6 to an R5 in order to double the number of megapixels that I can claim as my own. So far, I love it.
The camera I always wanted.