We were already halfway through our day, so we hoped to make quick work of the pavement between Terrace, British Columbia and Hyder, Alaska. We would be in the 49th state for only a few minutes - our actual destination was back in maple leaf territory - but it'd be the first time either of us had ever been to the largest state in the Union, so we were both looking forward to the opportunity to visit. First though, we had to get there. And getting there on BC-113 turned out to be more eventful than we'd bargained for! Right…
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We started from what was, essentially, the furthest north we'd ever been in British Columbia, and it still took us 10 more hours to reach the trailhead for Telkwa Pass. Having left our camp below Perkins Peak a bit before noon, it was dark as we positioned the Tacoma along the banks of the Telkwa River and at the terminus of a dead-end road. We were half a day behind schedule, and while that wouldn't normally be a problem, we'd been shooting for a reasonably small weather window when we'd planned our journey along what was rumored to be one…
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2026 in the Pacific Northwest has been a summer of smoke. With fires raging in eastern Washington, all of Oregon, and much of southern British Columbia, all the places we usually enjoy exploring during the summer have suddenly become... unpleasant. In fact, while we'd previously thought that a beginning-of-July timeframe for the Montana BDR was too early, it's now looking like the smartest move we could have made. And our escape to Bella Coola for a few days - while a little hazy from fire - turned out to be genius. And so, itching to explore - while being able…
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July 31, 2026. It's been a couple years since my last Gear Roundup. I can make all sorts of excuses for the long delay - the Tacoma living in Las Vegas during the winter, an overall setup that works so well that there haven't been many changes, the fact that we're spending more time on trips - but we all know the real reason: laziness. Still, I think it's important to take stock now and then, both to ensure that I'm purposeful about how we're camping and to share my experience on what works and what doesn't, for those who…
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While on our last trip to British Columbia, we happened to stumble upon a few petroglyphs, created by the First Nations, hundreds or thousands of years ago. They were so different than those that we've seen in the lower 48, and reminded me a bit of the style that found in Hawaii. Upon returning home though, I think it may have been the surfaces - ground-level rocks with petroglyphs on various faces - more than the actual figures, that seemed similar. We arrived at the stie on our way from one place to another. Getting there meant an enjoyable, short…
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Bella Coola is not the most accessible town in British Columbia. Our ten-hour ferry ride aside, there are - technically - roads that lead to this stunning valley, but that hasn't always been the case. Before the road, the only way in or out of the Valley was by boat, seaplane, foot, or horseback. A trip from Anahim Lake for supplies took three days and nights. Residents kept asking for a road, but the government said the grade was too steep. A road would be too expensive. It couldn't be done. On September 14, 1952, the Bella Coola Board of…
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After returning from Purgatory - not a statement one can make on a regular basis - it was time to consider our next move. There were three things that were competing for our attention: The weather. We'd been planning to spend at least three nights in the area, but in the week preceding our departure, the weather guessers suggested that four days of rain would start somewhere in the middle of our visit. Rain wouldn't be the end of the world - dark skies can make for some dramatic photos - but we wanted to get as many "big views"…
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We were both tired and stir-crazy when we finally got to Bella Coola, a full thirty-one hours after leaving home. The plan - given that it was already 6:30pm by the time we disembarked - was to head up a nearby Forest Service Road (FSR) to find camp. But then, as I maneuvered the Tacoma into position for a final shot of the Northern Sea Wolf, another truck - fresh off the same boat - headed up the same road! This immediately gave us pause - we're not generally keen to share the end of the road with other folks…
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Every summer, I look forward to having the truck at home, so we can head north - across the border - to explore some of the most amazing landscapes in the entirety of North America. In all those travels to Canada, the Kootenays - in eastern British Columbia - have continued to capture my attention, with soaring peaks, glaciers, and brilliant lakes that make any hike worth the effort. But this time, I'd gotten wind of another place. Further north and on the other side of the province, the Central Coast seemed to offer some fantastic landscape of its own.…
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After completing the Montana Backcountry Discovery Route, we're up to ten BDRs since we started running them in 2017. Through the running of each one, @mrs.turbodb and I are - as you can imagine - regularly comparing the current BDR to the past ones. Now that I've been writing down these thoughts for the last five or so, it seems like a good tradition to continue into the future. TL;DR - The Montana BDR had the absolute best Stage 1 of any BDR we've run. Working through the ridgelines of the Gravelly Mountains - especially early in the season when…
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Welcome to Libby. As we pulled into Libby, the sign welcoming us to town was fantastic. Unlike the other small towns we'd been through in northwestern Montana, there was no WordArt here. Surely a sign doesn't say much about the people in a place - Lincoln, Seeley Lake and Thompson Falls had all been quite nice - but it was cool to see something a little more permanent as we transitioned onto the eighth stage of the Montana Backcountry Discovery Route. We weren't planning to spend any time in Libby - we had plenty of fuel to take us through…
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Having both very much enjoyed the dam at Thompson Falls more than I thought we would - and having already completed two stages of the Montana Backcountry Discovery Route over the course of the day - we had no aspirations to make it deep into Stage 7 before settling down for the night. Rather, our only hope was getting out of town. If we found a nice spot with a view, that would be icing on the cake. Headed out of Thompson Falls, into the Cabinet Mountains. As they'd been earlier in the day, the roads started out smooth. Pavement…
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Having made the decision to eat lunch at the top-rated restaurant in town - technically, the Conoco gas station - we glanced at each other as we entered the establishment to a sign notifying us that the wait time was upwards of twenty minutes. Sure that this must be the time for to-go orders - as opposed to priority customers that opted to eat there - we grabbed a table and quickly homed in on the special - Huck's Burgers. Top tier St. Regis eatery. Placing our order, we were sure that our starving stomachs would be imminently satisfied, but…
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Rolling into Seeley Lake at 6:31am on the Fourth of July, we'd be forgiven if we'd thought it much later in the day. The town was bustling with activity in preparation for what was surely going to be a huge celebration. Perhaps this was - as their slogan insisted - The Middle of Everywhere. With a couple of errands to run - we needed to pick up some milk for breakfast, some small chocolates to offer as gifts to future fire lookout occupants, and something else I don't entirely recall - we cruised down the main drag, the entirety of…
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Where the first three stages of the Montana Backcountry Discovery Route (MTBDR) were more than 125 miles in length, Stage 4 was a mere 72 miles and contained no expert alternate routes that would - at least in concept - suck up more trail time. What it did contain, however, were a couple of BDR-suggested attractions that were high on our list to see. The first of those was just outside of Lincoln, so before even really getting underway, we were out of the truck and traipsing into the Sculpture in the Wild. Once so ubiquitous in Montana and the…
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I'm not sure "on Earth" is really true, and there isn't really a hill, anymore, but we'll get to that in a moment. Butte was by far the largest city - or town, if you ask @mrs.turbodb - that we'd pass through on the Montana Backcountry Discovery Route (MTBDR). Being the hub between Stage 2 and Stage 3 was nice, as it meant that anyone who had run into trouble on the first couple of stages could pop into a local auto parts store or shop to get those issues addressed, before tackling the final six stages. And the three…
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Virginia City - a self-described ghost town; full of living people. After surviving the sloppy descent into Virginia City, we wasted no time in fueling up and getting back on the road. We'd covered significantly less ground than we'd planned to on the first day of the Montana Backcountry Discovery Route (MTBDR), and @mrs.turbodb had informed me that we would need to cover 200 miles per day from here on out if we were going to complete the route in the time we'd allotted. That's a tall order - even for us - but we hoped that the long mid-summer…
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It's summer, and that means it's time for our annual run at another BDR (Backcountry Discovery Route). We've been doing these for a decade now, and - at least for the western states' routes - we're starting to run out of options! Luckily, the good folks over at RideBDR must have a sixth sense about these kinds of things, because just a few weeks before our departure, they released what they called the "final link in the Western BDR system," a 900-mile route from the southern border between Idaho and Montana to the Canadian border. Getting There As always, the…
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I have been sorely lacking in my rig reviews as of late. In fact, it's been nine months since my last look at what's been working well - and not so well - with the Tacoma, and so rather than just a few trips between this and the previous review, there are 14 trips! Three quarters of a year is a long time for things to get a little wonky out in the wild, and there were a few things that definitely needed some attention, though as usual there were no real major problems; the Tacoma continues to be an…
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Our tent is old. That's a good thing, I think. We've had it since we started this whole adventure thing, now almost exactly a decade ago. It's performed well during that time, and though I've often lusted after something GFC-ish, I can't say that the tent has ever let us down in any way that a much more expensive camper would have solved. In fact, there are really only three features I've found myself "missing" - if one can miss something they've never had - in well over 1,000 nights sleeping above the bed of the truck. A hardshell wedge…
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