With little wind - or with our position sheltered from the worst of it - at the mouth of , sleep came easily and was welcome after the sandy miles we'd put on our personal odometers the previous day. As with every other morning, my internal alarm kicked in a few minutes before the electronic one, and soon enough I was climbing the hillside behind camp in order to get a shot of our surroundings. Camped on the edge of wilderness. Table Mountain in the distance, bathed in morning glow. Being that we were in no real rush at this…
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Having drifted off to sleep to the pleasant pitter-patter of rain, it was extra nice to wake up just before sunrise to clear skies and a completely dry tent. Letting @mrs.turbodb bank a few more minutes of shut-eye, I headed to a nearby ridge to watch the sun crest the horizon. Surrounded by mountain fingers, any westerly winds had been kept at bay through the night. Half an hour later, my whistle - carried across the sandy slopes on a cool breeze - was answered in kind as @mrs.turbodb started her morning routine while I retraced my steps back to…
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We didn't plan to go to the Mojave. In fact, I've felt as though - over the last year - I've spent too much time in California, and I've had an urge to find myself back in places like Utah and Colorado. Alas, with a fantastic trip planned to hike the canyons of the Grand Gulch and Cedar Mesa, the weather did not cooperate. Snow - and lots of it - blanketed southeast Utah; rain spread across much of the lowland south. And so, at the last minute, I whipped up an itinerary to the only place I could find with clear skies: the…
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Uncomfortably hunkered down in the passenger seat of the Tacoma with a towel covering my legs for warmth, I spent the first few hours of the night transferring photos to my computer and doing a bit of reading. By 9:00pm, winds were strong enough that waves of sand where being thrown against the side of the truck as it rocked relentlessly with each 60mph gust. It wasn't until nearly midnight - after falling asleep for a few hours - that I decided I really ought to point the nose into the wind. ...HIGH WIND WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 4…
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Boy was I lucky. My night at 5380 feet on the top of Eureka Peak was a little cool - not a problem given my doubled-up down comforters - with just the slightest breeze to keep air moving through the tent. It was a far cry from the wind event that was bearing down on the region - and that I'd suffer through over the remainder of my visit - but I woke up well-rested and looking forward to a beautiful day! A little alpenglow on San Gorgonio Mountain just before the sun crested the horizon. A bit of sun…
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After a very pleasant night - temps in the low 40s °F, only a slight breeze - on the southern edge of Pinto Basin, I was up bright and early to make the 12-mile drive back to the intersection of Pinto Basin, Old Dale, and Black Eagle Mine Roads. I'd gotten out of camp just before sunset, knowing that I had a full day ahead, and knowing - even if I didn't admit it to myself - that each of my dozen or so stops would take longer than I imagined. As I sped across Pinto Valley, the sun crested…
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Nestled into the canyon at the Golden Egg Mine, I'd either gotten the truck leveled just right or I was extra tired from the previous day's mine hopping. Whatever the reason, I slept fantastically until about three minutes before my alarm went off. I love nights like that. What a place to wake up. As if I'm the only one in the entire mining district! Exploring into mine adits, shafts, etc. is not safe. I joke around about that a bit in this story, but I just want to be clear: Stay out, stay alive. Still bummed that I'd failed…
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From Rainbow Canyon, I'd planned to drive a couple hours east - through the darkness - to a fantastic petroglyph site that I could enjoy when the sun crested the horizon the following morning. But, as is often the case, I was easily distracted as I set up the navigation system and noticed that my route would take me right by Cathedral Gorge State Park. We'd briefly stopped at Cathedral Gorge for breakfast on a previous trip south to explore the eastern Mojave, but we hadn't spent much time there and I knew that what we'd seen at Miller's Point…
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My night on a concrete floor in Panamint City was the worst camping experience of my adult life. Really, there was nothing redeeming about any aspect of it, so entertain me while I complain momentarily, completely aware that this is all my own fault! The sleeping bag was a disaster. In fairness to @mrs.turbodb - who warned me of this when I borrowed the bag from her - the fact that I could barely fit my shoulders into the bag, much less adjust my body at all once I was mummified, was super uncomfortable. Add to the fact that it…
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It was shortly after 2:00pm when I arrived at the trailhead for my next destination. Literally parked along the shoulder of CA-190, anyone driving by might surely wonder, "why is a person parked here?" I know I was wondering why a white Tacoma was parked in the same spot, almost exactly one year earlier. Like the time of day, to the casual observer, there's nothing remotely remarkable about this place - though with a little knowledge, both the time and place become noteworthy. The time, because I had only a little over two hours - before sunset - to complete…
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CHAPTER V: A RAINBOW OVER PANAMINT INDIAN GEORGE shifted his position a little to get his back against a newly sun-warmed part of the rusty sheet-iron wall. He seemed very anxious that there should be no mis- take in the record of his experiences with the white men through his century of life in the Death Valley region. "First time," he repeated, "I'm little boy. See three men. Next time, I'm big boy. Man. Big as now." He grinned. "Bigger." George has a sense of humor. "I see five men. I watch. I not so much scared. I see they…
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We awoke on the third morning of our trip, full of anticipation. Or at least, full of something that starts with an "a." Perhaps apprehension. Whatever it was, we knew we needed to get an early start on our day, and so were down the ladder before the sun rose above the horizon. Solar panels don't do much before sunrise, buddy. (windshield) We'd gotten a good night sleep, and as @mrs.turbodb set about assembling tuna sandwiches and other lunch fixings, I stowed the tent in case there were others who visited the trailhead during the day. No need to air…
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I have to say, it was so pleasant sleeping next to the Hoh River, as it quietly rippled by through the night, bringing cooler temperatures along for the ride. Those temperatures - along with the fact that we were parked in a valley - meant that sunrise wasn't on the agenda, and it was nearly 8:00am when we finally climbed down the ladder to get our day underway. I'm usually a fan of cliff-side camp spots, but this one turned out to be great. Note: I'm kicking myself a little bit that we didn't camp *in* the river, which was so…
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Even before we entered Canada, I knew that our run on "the glacier trail" was going to be a highlight. This was a trail that Mike @Digiratus added to our itinerary, having discovered - and run - it several years earlier with Monte @Blackdog and Ben @m3bassman. There was more that made this a special place, but I'm already getting ahead of myself. First, we had to get there. As with many of the routes so far, this one started in a valley, granite peaks soaring high above. Horsethief Creek wasn't bursting at its seams, but there was no shortage…
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In all of our exploration, we've done relatively little in our home state of Washington. Partly, this is because the weather window here is relatively short each year; partly, it's due to our desire to explore lands further afield; and partly it's due to the landscape. Western Washington is so wet that finding a route that is more than simply a tunnel through trees can be challenging. Roads are quickly overrun with brush, structures rot away in the blink of an eye, and with much of the land owned or leased by logging companies - the roads gated and locked,…
Leave a CommentAfter a 16-year long process, the transfer of Humbug Valley (Tásmam Kojóm in the Maidu language), consisting of 2,325 pristine acres of meadows, year-round streams and natural springs in the Sierra Nevada wilderness, has finally been finalized and returned back to the Maidu Summit Consortium and the Mountain Maidu people. The Maidu Summit Consortium celebration honors the historic land transfer, with ceremonies taking place this Friday, Sept. 20, at the Yellow Creek Campground. Although the event is no longer open to the public, this singular event recognizes the many years of dedicated work required to convey Humbug Valley to the…
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Growing up in Northern California, I always thought of "the mountains" as The Sierra. I had no idea at the time that there was another range - one that I'd become familiar with in Washington - The Cascades. With their southern end in the Lassen National Forest, they stretch all the way into Canada. Conveniently - having recently completed the Plumas National Forest Discovery Trail - we found ourselves at the border between the Plumas NF to the south and the Lassen NF to the north. And so, with a couple days to explore, we made the decision to climb…
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The persuader.
TL;DR - While I think that Relentless armor is some of the best out there, the mounting of the skid plates could have been better and is causing me a bit of trouble over the years (because I lightly beat the truck).
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For much of my childhood, summers were spent in the Plumas National Forest. I have such fond memories of waking up in our favorite campground, earning Junior Ranger patches, and fishing in creeks recently stocked with so many fish that the stream bed was obscured by wriggling tails. And yet, when out exploring as an adult, I've spent almost no time in the Sierra, much less the Plumas National Forest. So, it was with great anticipation that we set out to wind our way through on the Plumas National Forest Backcountry Discovery Trail. Like a BDR, we figured this would…
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We didn't stick around in Ten Sleep any longer than necessary - mostly for the same reason that we scurried from Atlantic City and South Pass the day before - people. I'm sure that all these places would be super fun to wander around mid-week, but on a warm summer weekend they were just a little too crowded for our liking. It was on our way out of town that we realized why it was so crowded. Sure, the road we'd traveled into town may have been beautifully reminiscent of Utah, but it certainly hadn't warranted a quadrupling of the population.…
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