After visiting the Mojave National Preserve in December 2018 to run the historic Mojave Road, and test out the new rear shocks I'd installed, we ended up having remove the shocks after less than a mile and the run the entire trip with no shocks on the rear of the Tacoma. We needed to redeem ourselves. Plus, I knew I needed to get back to explore this vast wonderland more than a single road could ever allow. With nearly two weeks over Christmas and New Years reserved on the calendar, our initial goal was to explore everything. Like as in…
Leave a CommentTrip Date: 2019
Epic journeys and unfinished business.
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. 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. With too much planned for the time we had allotted (as always), we had an amazing time (again, as always), even as we confined ourselves to a small corner of the park - Eureka and Saline Valleys.…
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The Alvord Playa (and Alvord Desert around it) has become one of our favorite sort-of-nearby-places to visit. Remote, beautiful, and full of seldom-explored wonders, we've been back several times and I'm sure will return for years to come. Our trip this time however, was with a purpose - we have unfinished business to attend to in the region, and I'm not the type of person who likes to leave any sort of adventure, unfinished. Summiting Steens Mountain. It's been over three years now since we first laid eyes on this beauty, and with the highest road in Oregon, we needed…
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The plan for our trip to Colorado was simple: tour the state, taking in as many of the high mountain roads and views as we possibly could. After all, this was my first time really exploring the state in any real capacity, and we had a local Coloradoian with us, so we might as well take advantage of that. We met up in Wyoming and spent a couple days making our way south - hitting peaks along the Continental Divide - before diving across the border with 14,000 foot peaks in our sights. Through Medicine Bow - Routt National Forest…
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Well, it's not every day that I get to go camping with my dad, and it's not that often that I camp in the same spot for more than one night. I mean, I guess we camped in the same spot two nights in a row on the Idaho BDR when a brake caliper seized up, but that was clearly an exceptional situation! Plus, after last year's adventure - my first time experiencing one of Pops favorite spots in the Sierras - I knew this was a place that I wanted to return. Likely, for years to come. It really…
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I'll probably say this for many trips to come, but I have found it extremely difficult to find trails to run in Canada. I don't know if it's just that Canadians do a better job of keeping their trails "secret," or if there really isn't as much info to find online about them, but I'd love to do more trips into the land of our northern neighbors. So it was with the Whipsaw Trail. One of the few trails that information exists for, the Whipsaw has a little bit of everything for everybody. There's mud if you want it, some…
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We hadn't been back from our adventure on the Idaho Backcountry Discovery Route (IDBDR) long when we decided that we should really get out with the child. After all, we had this nice 4Runner for her to sleep in and the last time we'd gone had been - to our surprise - the "best day of [her] life," according to her.
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If you’ve ever wanted to travel endless twisty mountain roads, the Idaho BDR will throw corners at you for days on end. You also won’t get many digital interruptions because your cell phone won’t have reception on much of this route. It’s a true off- the-grid ride with plenty to see along the way! Starting in the historic town of Jarbidge, NV the route crosses range lands and then heads into the Boise National Forest and treats riders with views of Andersen reservoir and epic alpine camping at Trinity lakes. Tiny towns and treasures like Burgdorf Hot Springs make this…
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Every year, during the month of October, a really great thing happens at Microsoft. Teams of all sizes - from just a few folks, to organizations thousands strong - rally around a common cause. Every year, that rallying cry gets stronger - millions of dollars stronger than just the year before. And every one of those millions is matched by the company - dollar for dollar, as high as it can go. Last year, over $163 million dollars and 760,000 volunteer hours were donated to various charities and causes that employees cared about. That is the power of the Microsoft…
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In what has become a two-year tradition, the 4th of July weekend found us back in Idaho with Ben and Kirsten, exploring around the central part of the state. This year, we made our way to a few places we'd been before - namely Railroad Ridge (the highest road in Idaho), and the creeptastic Livingston Mine. But, we also visited several places that were new - often the best part of any trip - Deadwood Reservoir, Dagger Falls, Washington Basin, the Old Custer Motorway, and Twin Peaks. In the process, we crossed avalanche- and scree-fields, explored lost mines, and found…
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In what would become nearly a month in the state of Idaho, we left for our first trip as the calendar ticked over to July. On the schedule were two places I'd had on my list for a while - Indian Hot Springs and Idaho's City of Rocks State Park. Both of these turned out to be everything I'd imagined - Indian Hot Springs was rugged and remote, the old bridge across the river impassable*; City of Rocks was as unique a sight as we could see in Idaho, the granite outcroppings rising up out of the valleys and reaching…
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...a little over 4 miles after we'd started, we crested the ridge holding back the lake to a view that's worth every minute of the climb. (And - if your knees don't kill you on the way down - descent!)
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After paralleling the road for about 12 miles, Eagle Creek drains into the Salmon River - and we found ourselves at this point after passing several ATVs, UTVs, and dirt bikes, but without running into the rest of our group. Had we gone the wrong way? We were sure we hadn't - we were after-all, on the track.
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Hell's Canyon straddles the border between Oregon and Idaho, but neither allows easy access to the depths of this great gorge. Carved by the waters of the Snake River, which flows more than a mile below the canyon's west rim on the Oregon side and 7,400 feet below the peaks of Idaho's Seven Devils Mountains range to the east, then inaccessibility of this region is a major draw. Come along as we explore Buckhorn Lookout, eventually making our way through Zumwalt Prairie down into the quaint town of Inmaha. From there we venture up - to Hat Point, and then…
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With all the recent work on the 4Runner, I wasn't the only one who wanted to put it all to the test. Upon seeing the storage/sleeping platform, @mini.turbodb had declared, "We need to go camping right away!" I don't know if she's been well-trained or it was just a wrinkle in the space-time continuum, but it was music to my ears.
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We've been to the Alvord Playa - and to some extent, the Desert that surrounds it - before, but we've never really done that much exploring of the roads that wind their way through this remote section of Oregon. We planned to change that on this trip, checking out several places that we'd seen from afar on our previous trip, but that we'd never actually visited. Of course, we'd camp on the Alvord Playa - as always; if you're in this area, that's the only place to camp in our opinion. But then, we'd explore a couple of loop roads…
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I've been to Canyonlands National Park before, but only to The Maze District. This, my first trip to The Needles District would be an experience I won't soon forget. We'd spend a week roaming around Utah, running the Elephant Hill trail and making our way into Beef Basin. We'd hike to the Druid Arch - a spectacular trek through canyhttps://adventuretaco.com/tripdest/canyonlands-national-park/ons and over red rock that is worth every moment of soreness you'll feel when it's over. And then, as if everything we'd seen wasn't enough, we'd head to Natural Bridges National Monument for the full tour. I must admit, it's…
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Oh man, was this going to be fun. A trip like no other (so far). A trip with a twist. A trip that was actually two. Over the course of two weeks, we spent eight days in the park, split in half by a 10-day break where we headed back home via airplane. With so much time to explore, we covered as much of the park and surrounding area as we could, highlights including: Fonts Point - overlooking the badlands. Pumpkin Patch and the nearby Palm Oasis - outstanding for their contrast to the desert in which they're found. Calcite…
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The plan for this trip to Death Valley was to do something completely different than normal - spend the vast majority of our time out of the trucks, hiking some of the beautiful canyons that the desert has to offer. Looking back now, a little over a year since the trip took place, it was just the first of such trips - and it opened up an entirely new perspective for me when visiting the park. The best stuff is found only on foot. Sit back and enjoy as we explore Kaleidoscope Canyon, Room Canyon, the Smoke Tree Slot Canyons,…
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With Christmas vacation in full swing, we've been having a great time. There are lots of new toys to play with around the house, there are activities to keep us busy during the day, and the newly introduced household chores - and associated weekly allowance - have @mini.turbodb in high spirits. Oh, to be eight years old.
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