If there was a drawback to our primo camp site, it was that being in a valley meant that the sun didn't reach our position until sometime around 9:30am, two hours after sunrise. Of course, at that point, it was once again beautiful and warm, Dan @drr taking full advantage as he ate breakfast in front of his GFC. Within about 15 minutes I'd changed into shorts and a t-shirt, it was so pleasant. The larger the group, the harder it is to get going in the morning, and with six trucks and nine people, we finally rolled out of…
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Get out, go big, an explore. This is the stuff we live for!
Well, that's an ominous title to the day. Guess we'd better get started. As we'd become accustomed to, the night was chilly - somewhere in the high-20°Fs or so - cold enough that the fridge cooled down again overnight without ever turning on. Being our second night, we were all much more prepared for the situation, and an extra layer of clothing here and there seemed to do the trick, everyone sleeping relatively well until the sun warmed our tents in the morning. Dan @drr and I were up first, and as we ate breakfast, remarked at how quickly the…
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I should preface the title to this post with a bit of a caveat. Our perfect timing had nothing to do with when we all showed up at the camp site. In fact, only Dan @drr and Mike @Digiratus were really "on time." See, Mark @IDTrucks had coordinated a meeting with Monte @Blackdawg in Grand Junction where he'd gotten a local shop to open up on a Sunday evening in order to help swap a coil spring from one of Monte's old front shocks to replace the broken one he'd discovered less than two days before the trip started. Monte…
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This story starts a little differently than most. See, every year a core group of folks head out for a two-week-or-so excursion to a spectacular location for a bit of wheeling, a good dose of camping, and a ton of fun. But last year was different. I mean sure - we had all those things for the most part, but we had to cut the entire trip short when - within a couple hours - all three trucks ran into serious issues on the trail. It's worth reading at least that part of the story from Redhead Down, but I…
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Well, I've got to say, we could really get used to this whole, "camping in perfect weather with great views" thing that we had going on. For the third night in a row, it was somewhere in the high 50°Fs to low 60s, with only a slight breeze, clear skies, and well, Mt. Rainier in the distance. With no clouds to our east and Mt. Rainier to our west, I didn't really see any need to pull myself out of bed for the pre-sunrise time where an orange glow on the horizon can turn into a fiery sky. Instead, I…
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With a our picture-frame like view of Mt. Rainier, and a reasonably clear night, I'd setup the camera to take a series of photos that I could use to generate a time-lapse star trail. And, as a bonus, I hoped to catch the head lamps of early morning climbers on their way up to the summit. And, since I knew that I'd need more time than one battery would afford, I got up every three hours during the night to switch out batteries, using my 175W inverter to charge them while we slept. Unfortunately, my ISO settings on the camera…
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There's nothing like waking up in the morning when you hit the sack on the top of the ridge with a view of one of the largest mountains on the west coast. I hung out under the warm covers for as long as I could stand it - really only a few minutes in earth time - before climbing down the ladder to take a few shots as the sun came up over the horizon. Unlike the previous evening, the sky was cloudless, so there was no amazing overhead display - but that didn't mean the experience lacked in the…
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Do you have a recommended place to buy Toyota parts? ...I need a rear taillight and quarterpanel. ...We were camping near Greenwater and even though we had an awesome Rainier view I hatched this plan to explore a new area that may reveal some riverside spots. Only hitch was that I knew FS-19 was closed due to construction, so I figure we can take the Naches Jeep Trail to bypass the closure. ...our ambitions definitely exceeded our skill. LOLJoe When he texted me a few days before our departure, Joe had no idea that we already had upcoming trip planned…
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As we'd gone to bed the night before, it had been decided that we'd do a group breakfast the following morning. These are always extremely tasty affairs of bacon, eggs, and potatoes - this time, supplied entirely by Dan @drr. (Thanks again Dan!) By definition, these mornings are always a little more chill, since it takes time to get everything together, and no one wants to rush the eating part. By 8:00am, Mike @Digiratus was cooking up potatoes, I was waiting for the last minute to make eggs, and Dan was busy with the bacon. Zane bounced between all three…
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We were awoken early - just after 6:00am - to the sound of rock trucks speeding down the road near camp. Apparently one of the local quarries started work early, and three of the drivers were trying to make good time to their destination! Dan @drr - already an early riser - was the first out of his tent, Echo excited to get a new day underway. As they headed out on a walk, I putzed around in the tent - a little photo processing and reading - until I heard Mike @Digiratus climb down around 7:00am. The sun was…
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It's been a busy month. I'd been home for less than 48 hours in the last 3 weeks, our trips to the Nevada BDR, a special place in California, and a family vacation to an amazing little place on the Sacramento River in Castella, CA. keeping me on the move. But, when Mike @Digiratus reached out to see if I wanted to go camping for a week - along with Dan @drr and Zane @Speedytech7 - I found it impossible to say no. So, less than 24 hours after returning home, I was linked up with Dan and the road…
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Stage 1 - Pahrump to Oatman Like many of the medium-sized towns along the NVBDR, Pahrump has - I assume - grown since the route was created. As such, some of the roads that were once dirt have been paved, and we found ourselves on pavement for longer than we expected as we made our way south out of town, passing cross streets and developments that weren't even on our map. Eventually though we reached dirt, and thus began one of the least enjoyable segments of the entire BDR. (How's that for a glowing endorsement for the area south of…
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Stage 2 - Gold Point to Pahrump As you may recall from the previous story, we left off in Gold Point - so far, our favorite sort-of-ghost-town of the trip, and I promised two naked ladies and a penguin in the desert. I should warn you now - I probably oversold it. But anyway, let's get started. A little before 11:00am, we pulled out of Gold Point, excited for the next segment of our adventure, and happy to be back in the truck and out of the already 94°F heat that was getting oppressive in the desert. In the distance,…
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Stage 3 - Tonopah to Gold Point As we exited Tonopah, @mrs.turbodb and I were more than a little curious about the route we'd take to Goldfield. We've driven the 27 mile stretch of US-95 more than a few times on our trips down and back from Death Valley and it just doesn't seem like there's much out there in the way of dirt roads and alternate routes. And as it turns out, we were right! For the first 10 miles or so, we simply travelled the old (but still paved) US-95 that apparently works its way south just to…
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Stage 4 - Austin to Tonopah. Our fuel tank once again topped off, we immediately climbed out of Austin and into the mountains to the south. We didn't have far to go though - just outside this historic little town is a the craziest little castle tower - Stokes Castle. Built on the mountainside overlooking the Reese River Valley, the three-story castle was built in 1897 by Anton Stokes - a wealthy mine owner and builder of the Nevada Central Railway. Constructed of native granite slabs, it was made to resemble a villa that Stokes had admired outside of Rome.…
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Stage 5 - Elko to Austin It was just after 5:00pm as we rolled out of Elko after fueling up. This, technically, had been the end of our first stage - but with several hours of daylight left and dirt roads calling our name, we felt no need to call end our adventure early! On that note - something @mrs.turbodb and I find interesting about the Backcountry Discovery Route (BDR) stages is that they all start and end in towns. This - to me - doesn't make any sense. I mean sure, it's easier to map from one town to…
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Introduction It seems that every year for the last several years, we've run a BDR - a Backcountry Discovery Route - during the summer. This year, as we were in the middle of our adventure, I wondered aloud to @mrs.turbodb - "How'd we get started with these anyway?" A bit of pondering and theorizing and we determined that it was really just dumb luck. Well, not luck so much as misfortune. See, back in 2017, we'd gone camping with my Dad and Uncle down to the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon. Actually, it was the same trip where we'd…
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With canyon walls around us, and clouds in the sky, I didn't even set my alarm when we went to bed - so sure was I that sunrise would be a non-event. But, as often happens, my internal alarm woke me at just the right time. A quick peek out the tent door, and it was apparent that somewhere - just out of sight - was orange. Though it was chilly, I climbed out of bed and realized that I might actually have a shot if I climbed to the top of the canyon wall. Time wasn't on my side…
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As the third rain shower of the night hit camp, we all decided it was time for bed, and the fire got put away as we retired to our respective perches to the pitter patter of raindrops - which, along with the nearby gurgling of the creek, lulled us to sleep. It rained on and off through the first half of the night, but by morning the rain had passed and the skies were mostly clear - a great way to start the day. In a depression and with clouds still on the eastern horizon, there was no point in…
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By some stroke of luck, our hope - that it wouldn't rain any more after we climbed into our tents - was realized and then some. A strong breeze blew all night, not only keeping the tents free of any dew, but also helping to dry out the roads - at least a smidge. This morning in camp was a reunion of sorts. For all of us obviously, since it was our first real group trip of the year (though I'd seen Ben and Kirsten in Death Valley for a single day a few months earlier) - but mainly for…
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