It seems that after several very cold nights, we were both starting to get used to the temperature and though it was cold, we were both cozy under the covers for the duration of the night. And, having gone to bed with a few clouds in the sky, I set my alarm early in hopes that a few would stick around until morning when they'd once again be illuminated by a sun that seemed to hug the horizon through the entirety of the day. And sure enough, the long rays of the winter put on quite the show - even…
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All the trips - because every trip is an adventure!
Our location at the Kelso Dunes was the first where I thought there'd be a chance of a nice sunrise, so I'd set my alarm for 6:00am to try and catch the orange on the horizon. It was of course quite chilly at 6:00am, and so I had the bright idea to just take a photo with my phone out the door of the tent, rather than climbing down the ladder to fetch the Canon 80D - that I shoot with - from the truck. Well, the photo came out so poorly - compared to what I'm now used to - that…
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The night was chilly, but by using some Little Hotties inside our socks while we slept, we were able to stay nice and toasty in the tent. Still in the shade since we'd parked reasonably close to the hillside to shelter us from the wind, we walked out into the desert to enjoy our breakfast and soak in the long rays of the sun as it peaked over the southeastern horizon. By the time we were done, the sun was just starting to hit the tent, and as @mrs.turbodb got the kitchen put away, I stowed the tent for our days activities.…
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Camped in a casino parking lot, it was a noisy night - at least comparatively. But, by the time we woke up the rain had stopped, a light breeze was blowing, and the skies to the west - where we were headed - were mostly sunny! The tent still needed a little drying, so I set about that task as @mrs.turbodb got breakfast ready to go. We ate while admiring the long line of cars still backed up on I-15, and then turned on the heater as we slotted ourselves into the line of traffic. Luckily, we only had a…
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This trip is going to be EPIC. In fact, once we complete our 8 days in the Mojave National Preserve, we'll probably be done exploring the area - we'll hit all the important bits, and will have no reason to go back - except to show of the coolest areas to our friends.Famous last words! Spoiler: I need to go back. Just look at all the cool places we'll go (in blue). The First Day (Christmas) It was Christmas day, and for us, that meant we were kicking off our next adventure by starting the two-day trek from the Seattle…
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Unlike most nights, where the temps seem to drop to their lowest point just before sunrise, our night high in the Inyo Mountains turned out to be just the opposite. At some point, I was so warm that I even removed one of the comforters in order to maintain a reasonably-cozy-and-not-all-sweaty body temp. Even @mrs.turbodb commented on it in the morning, as we enjoyed our breakfast. That of course was after I'd gotten out of bed in order to capture what might have been an amazing sunrise. See, as we'd arrived the previous evening, one of the things we'd noticed was that…
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The night air was warm - probably 15°F warmer than it'd been in Eureka Valley - as the stars spun in the clear sky above. It was a great night, tucked away in our quiet, secluded corner of Saline Valley. Once again having gone to bed early, it was no trouble getting up a little before sunrise. I wasn't sure we'd really get anything with cloudless skies and our position relative to the Inyo Mountains and Panamint Ranges. And in the end, there wasn't much except a bit of color in the sky, but even that was extremely pleasant as…
Leave a Comment![Old Roads and Star Trails - In Search of Overlooks [2]](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49082756533_26e5373a5b_h.jpg)
One benefit of going to bed at 7:30pm is that even waking up as the sun crested the Last Chance Range at 6:30am, I got a full night sleep...and then some. And that was a good thing - because even in my attempt to plan reasonable-length days before heading out on this adventure, I knew I'd failed for this day - we had a lot to do. I'll get a bit ahead of myself here, but our goal was to make it out of Eureka Valley, explore some vast swaths of Saline Valley, conquer two multi-mile hikes, and eventually backtrack quite a…
2 Comments![In Search of Overlooks - A Fall Trip to Western Death Valley [P1]](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49072602511_82aa16d541_h.jpg)
Death Valley is not nearby, and yet - it continues to call time after time, urging us to make the 20 hour journey south to explore its wonders. And it's hard to say no. That's how - on a Wednesday morning - we found ourselves packed up in the truck and heading towards southern California, excited for the three-and-a-half days we'd have to explore. I promised myself that this trip would be different. We wouldn't attempt to squeeze everything in; I wouldn't over-schedule our time; it wouldn't be like it always is - a mad dash to not miss a…
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The night wasn't quite as cold as the previous had been, but it was still well below freezing when I looked out the tent door to see an amazing glow on the horizon. Whether I liked it or not, I knew I was going to spend at least a few minutes out there as the light started to spread across the Alvord Playa - before hoping I wouldn't be in too much trouble for climbing back into bed to warm up again. The cold had gotten to everyone overnight, which meant that they were either driven out of their tent…
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Hoping to catch the stars as they danced through the sky, you may recall that I'd setup the camera to take as many 30 second exposures as it could, until its battery ran out, through the cold night. As morning rolled around, I grabbed a second camera battery and popped out of the tent into the 21°F weather to take a look. ...Only to discover that my second battery was also dead - I'd forgotten to charge it before the trip! So I plugged in the my little 175W inverter and let a battery charge for an hour. As a side…
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I was stir crazy. I'd been back from our didn't-go-quite-as-planned trip to Colorado for two weeks and it was time to get out again. And this time I wanted it to be with @mrs.turbodb. Knowing that she'd be unable to resist a trip back to the Alvord Desert - and for our first time, Steens Mountain - I knew that would be our destination. It'd be a relatively short trip - four days total - but I figured that even at that, we could do a couple things we'd wanted to do for quite some time: We could get to…
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Still unsure exactly what the day would hold, we were up before 9:00am to get an early start on figuring out how to get the Redhead home. As we broke down camp, I happened to notice that if I stood in just the right place, I got a single bar of Internet on my phone, and soon enough we'd done a bunch of research that made us all feel quite a bit better. The Internet is better up here. I was able to download my 1st gen Tacoma parts list and to our surprise, shock towers were a separately orderable…
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The day started out like any other. I was up a little before sunrise looking for color, and while there wasn't much, I did get a little splash on the horizon that seemed to mimic the angle of Brett @Squeaky Penguin's GFC. While the clear skies may have minimized the colorful sunrise, they did mean that morning in camp was a rather pleasant affair, the views back towards the Collegiate Peaks a striking way to enjoy the warming sun. And then - just as we were enjoying the peace and tranquility and our trucks and tents were thawing out -…
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Having gone to bed late, and camped at the bottom of a valley between two, 13,000' peaks that kept the sun from hitting camp, everyone was up relatively late the next morning. Mostly. I just happened to wake up and look out the tent door when the sun was in that special place below the horizon and lucked out capturing what I think was probably the best - or at least most colorful - sunrise of the trip! But I was then back in the tent for another couple hours, doing my darnedest to keep warm as the cloud cover…
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Without a fire, it was another cold night and I was glad for my Little Hotties, their 8-hour life just long enough to keep my toes toasty until it was time to get up. And - at least for me - toasty toes are a key factor to the rest of my body being warm through the night, so I slept soundly as the surface of the beaver pond we'd parked by froze over night. Of course, as the sun rose to our east - it's warmth streaming down on our camp - we all ventured out of our cocoons…
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As it seems many of our nights in Colorado were, this one was a cold one. Camped at 10,400', that was probably to be expected, but I didn't expect my packaged of baby wipes to be frozen in the morning, and my morning clean-up wasn't a pleasant experience given that they were. But the elevation did make for a nice sky at sunrise - for that, I was grateful. And, with another day - or morning as it'd turn out - of clear blue skies above, it didn't take long for the sun to warm camp up enough that we all ventured…
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Everyone was up around about the usual time, our spot in the trees giving us a bit more shade than normal, but also helping to keep the frost at bay during the night. As everyone made breakfast, I headed over and asked Mike @Digiratus one of the strangest questions I think I've ever asked. Did you bring your toothbrush charger? See, for the first time ever, I brought my Sonicare toothbrush, knowing that I'd be away from home for over two weeks, and that my teeth just felt better when I used it. Anyway, it turns out that he had brought his…
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Night was chilly but not really cold, validating our move to a lower elevation camp site the evening before, and the sun quickly warmed camp in the morning as it rose over the Agnes Mountains. Happy to be a band of four again, and excited to get underway, we all set about our normal morning tasks, Mike @Digiratus now in what he'd call "good company," since Brett @Squeaky Penguin was also a coffee drinker. We also took the opportunity to add five gallons of fuel to our trucks - or at least, Monte @Blackdawg, Mike and I did - so…
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The clear Wyoming skies meant that it was a very cold night. Everything covered in frost - including our pillows and sleeping bags where we'd been breathing on them as we cozied down for warmth - even Monte @Blackdawg came out of his tent in the morning, glad for the warmer temps that the sun beamed down on camp and started to melt the frost away. As we all warmed up in the sun, we set about our usual morning routines - intermixed of course with chatter about what was on tap for the day, and what amazing things we…
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