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Overland trip: CK5 wheels the UP 2016 (trip report and pictures going up!)
- Thread starter Blue85
- Start date
Nice!
Thanks to both of you for capturing some of the action. Cool to see the truck from outside the cab.
Thanks Ethan, I'll be in contact with you. I'd like to drive up and check out the fall colors and if you have time to go along then I could follow you.It was an awesome success, and I'm confident it will happen again. I understand not trusting your truck yet, my preferred camping rig is still in pieces. Maybe next year I won't need a tent.
Bring the truck next year. Or hit me up whenever you get it done. None of these locations is more than an evening's drive from my house, we head up there whenever we're in an exploratory mood.
Yes, I can walk you through the route if you wanna duplicate the trip.
Looking forward to it.
You guys too. This trip needs more than 3 rigs, IMO.
I'll pm you, I need to figure out what the best time to drive up to observe the colors.
Early colors are already starting, so I'd aim for the first week in October (maybe even the last week of September?). Normally I would say aim for the second week in October, but things are happening a little quickly this year.
Where are you located? Also, many of the places we went to could be reached by passenger car if you skip the logging trails and take the roads. Overlanding is optional, you don't hafta wait until your truck is pieced together.
Overall, the trip went pretty well. Here's my synopsis.
The good:
Overall, I love doing this sort of thing and had a great time!
The good:
- We all made it through with no bad stucks and no real damage
- Although it didn't have a lot of road miles previously, the Iron Maiden ate up the hundreds of miles without problems
- Farm truck was able to momentum through almost everything
- Spirits stayed high even when the weather turned bad
- We improvised some stops and made some itinerary changes along the way without big mishaps
- The tiny overlander traveled and camped well all week, despite the constant reminders of bumpstops
- After running out of gas (presumed broken) in the middle of the woods we only lost like a couple of hours, which is kind of amazing.
- There were a couple sections of trail I hadn't scouted. One of them (Caledonia) was actually really cool (and most importantly: actually went through, as you'll read about below).
- The new route up from Ontonagon was much wetter than when scouted and I worried the clay wouldn't let us climb out of the river, but we all made it through un-harmed. I tried spotting Dave, but learned that it doesn't really matter what line he takes because 39.5s and lockers just go (he took the line I was trying to avoid). So the only point would be to keep him out of trees. Farm truck had to get winched, but he made it over this log (higher than his axles) with just a couple rocks stacked.
- Our official start was Thursday, but there we all were on Wednesday, so we had another camp to find and itinerary to change. So we did some extra driving around the Porkies, looking for camp, gas, etc. In other words, that part of the trip was not well organized.
- Stupid gates! The West UP is growing more gates than trees now, it seems. State and Federal "Forest Highways" closed to the public makes me angry. So we got to do a lot of backtracking, wasting time and gas. Exploring is fun, but mostly when you can find actual routes.
- Rain! Oh well, such is life. We did have some nice days, but also some wet ones. The storm on Lake Superior re-arranged our campsite in the night. My table and privacy shelter tipped over and blew into the trees. The EZ-up walked about 6' and started humping the truck so I had to go out in the rain about 3am and fold it up. It's common to get a whole week of perfect weather in August, so don't be scared.
- Technology issues. The last night my tablet died and we made some wrong turns, adding maybe an hour of driving to get to camp. Also, having everybody on a CB would have been nice. We had some good chats on the trails and Dave was just in the dark on all of it.
- Driver's meetings. I didn't do a good job of this. I wanted to explain the actual route each day and things we'd see along the way, but it's actually pretty hard to even find a lot of the trails in the map books. And my tablet is almost worthless out in the sun. It would be nice if I could have the routes printed out on a map or something like that.
Overall, I love doing this sort of thing and had a great time!
Seems like I came home with a lot of work.
- The clunking I was hearing on the big bumps was the rear bottom corner of my fender slapping the body, since that mount had ripped loose (I've already welded this back together). (I think I remember hearing that noise as much as a year ago!)
- This is also why the paint got chewed on the front edge of the door and caused the rubber molding to lift off. This took some of the paint with it, so I have that to fix as well.
- The TC was "rustproofing" the underside of the truck the whole trip home, from the front output. The nut had loosened on that output, presumably from loose front drive shaft vibrations. The seal is actually fine, it was leaking around the splines. I cleaned that up, resealed and it seems fine.
- After the tire blowout, I inspected all of the tires and found another with a crack in the sidewall. So I really need 2 new Swampers. I would say that this puts me at 3 spares, but this experience showed me that a spare needs to be a good condition tire that can get me several hundred miles + wheeling. Because it's not just about getting off the trail (where a cracked sidewall would be OK) - nobody can sell me a new one anyway. So maybe I need 3 swampers.
- Still need to rebuild a front driveshaft or replace.
- Oh yeah, need a new tablet. The old one runs, but the screen only comes on once in a while.
Yeah, I found it kinda funny that he drove directly over the rocks that you had tried to move out of his way. He hardly noticed he was moving the riverbed.
On our end, things went swimmingly. Both in the everything-is-drenched sense and the everything-is-wonderful sense. We all 3 got sniffley sick over the course of the week, it rained each day until late Sunday morning (so only the 24 hours or so had sunny blue skies), and we accidentally forgot several important things at home. And it was still wonderful. Methinks that future trips will only be better as we get more diligent in cross-checking our packing list.
Our wishlist has grown a bunch this month. Aside from basic stuff (like getting the camping rig actually driveable again), you just about have us talked into softening up the suspension. So MAW is knocking on the door (resist the urge! 
). I like the navigational tablet, we'll probably have one soon. But overall this trip has increased the amount of conscientious planning that will go into building the camping truck. Next year we'll be better prepared. 
). I like the navigational tablet, we'll probably have one soon. But overall this trip has increased the amount of conscientious planning that will go into building the camping truck. Next year we'll be better prepared.
P.S. - we've seen no rain since we left the Rocket Range. We may have wound up picking the rainiest days for this trip. Weather is funny like that. 
Early colors are already starting, so I'd aim for the first week in October (maybe even the last week of September?). Normally I would say aim for the second week in October, but things are happening a little quickly this year.
Where are you located? Also, many of the places we went to could be reached by passenger car if you skip the logging trails and take the roads. Overlanding is optional, you don't hafta wait until your truck is pieced together.
I'm located in SE WI, western Racine county to be exact. I'd like to run the trails, I really need to get a truck off road this year. It's been a few years since I'm been off roading and have the itch. And the whole overlanding thing really got me thinking to get a truck finished this year.
Years ago some friends and I would explore the logging roads around Mountain WI, we'd spend the day running different trails never hitting the same one twice.
I will be in touch, I'm thinking that closer to the end of September to drive up.
Cool thing. We're not too far from Mountain, it's a beautiful area buried in the woods.
Not sure what our schedule will be, but it never takes much persuading to get us out and about.
I've been to Racine, but that entire quadrant of WI is not on my visiting list. Too many people, too much traffic, and too much stress. Life is much more relaxed up here.
Overall, the trip went pretty well. Here's my synopsis.
The good:
The bad:
- We all made it through with no bad stucks and no real damage
- Although it didn't have a lot of road miles previously, the Iron Maiden ate up the hundreds of miles without problems ....I do have some transfer case work to look into...that thing still makes the growling/rattling noises I've tried to deal with in the past...and it still has the urge to want to get into death wobble, the hydro assist surely helps manage it, but its there just wanting to happen, but overall I am very pleased with the on road manners of the Maiden, with divine intervention, the wipers even started working!
- Farm truck was able to momentum through almost everything this truck and driver amazed me, it really only had a problem with that slick clay climb out of the river...and that was very minimal. Great driving Ethan!
- Spirits stayed high even when the weather turned bad ....I gotta admit, I called it a night early Saturday because of the rain and wind, I walked under the tarp dumping water a few times too many!....we need to come up with a better group shelter.
- We improvised some stops and made some itinerary changes along the way without big mishaps
- The tiny overlander traveled and camped well all week, despite the constant reminders of bumpstops
- After running out of gas (presumed broken) in the middle of the woods we only lost like a couple of hours, which is kind of amazing. It really was...timing was almost perfect for you to reach me on my cell! If it had to happen, that was great timing.
- There were a couple sections of trail I hadn't scouted. One of them (Caledonia) was actually really cool (and most importantly: actually went through, as you'll read about below).
- The new route up from Ontonagon was much wetter than when scouted and I worried the clay wouldn't let us climb out of the river, but we all made it through un-harmed. I tried spotting Dave, but learned that it doesn't really matter what line he takes because 39.5s and lockers just go (he took the line I was trying to avoid). So the only point would be to keep him out of trees. Farm truck had to get winched, but he made it over this log (higher than his axles) with just a couple rocks stacked. I'm still amazed at what the Maiden can do as well....I'm still pretty green when it comes to wheeling, but knowing the Maiden is built with strong parts and not having a nice body to worry about makes wheeling it much more enjoyable!
- Our official start was Thursday, but there we all were on Wednesday, so we had another camp to find and itinerary to change. So we did some extra driving around the Porkies, looking for camp, gas, etc. In other words, that part of the trip was not well organized. I usually like to give myself a day extra for arrival in case problems arise on the way....I thougth the improvising was perfect Luke..
- Stupid gates! The West UP is growing more gates than trees now, it seems. State and Federal "Forest Highways" closed to the public makes me angry. So we got to do a lot of backtracking, wasting time and gas. Exploring is fun, but mostly when you can find actual routes.
- Rain! Oh well, such is life. We did have some nice days, but also some wet ones. The storm on Lake Superior re-arranged our campsite in the night. My table and privacy shelter tipped over and blew into the trees. The EZ-up walked about 6' and started humping the truck so I had to go out in the rain about 3am and fold it up. It's common to get a whole week of perfect weather in August, so don't be scared. We got our share of rain, but I think things went pretty good considering...I felt bad for Ethan and Melody having to tent it...they were troopers when it came to dealing with the less than ideal conditions we had at times.
- Technology issues. The last night my tablet died and we made some wrong turns, adding maybe an hour of driving to get to camp. Also, having everybody on a CB would have been nice. We had some good chats on the trails and Dave was just in the dark on all of it. That will change for next year!
- Driver's meetings. I didn't do a good job of this. I wanted to explain the actual route each day and things we'd see along the way, but it's actually pretty hard to even find a lot of the trails in the map books. And my tablet is almost worthless out in the sun. It would be nice if I could have the routes printed out on a map or something like that. Drivers meetings are good, I think with our inaugural first year group it was fine though!
Overall, I love doing this sort of thing and had a great time!
I am so glad I finally committed to this Luke, I know I've said for a couple years now..."next year I'm in" but to actually put it on the calendar and commit was a great thing. I had to re-purpose the Maiden a bit, and it worked out pretty well for an inaugural trip, the list will get better and the equipment more prepared.
Thanks for taking YOUR time to make it a success Luke!
When we scouted out the river, I saw those rocks, but didn't even realize they were in the tire path when I went through....I just didn't want to cut a sidewall on them. That wet clay hill was a bit of fun, as was the wet slickrock hill we went up....we need more of that!Yeah, I found it kinda funny that he drove directly over the rocks that you had tried to move out of his way. He hardly noticed he was moving the riverbed.
This sounds cool and it gets a little closer to me. I think this might be a great option for me and my truck. I'm not 100% committed but it is something I would like to look into.
Anybody notice that all the trucks have a door open? There are a lot of pictures of open doors during this trip. Part of me is surprised that nobody picked up a hitchhiking black bear or something.
I'm not about to wash mine. The rain does a good enough job of that.
Last time I hit up that road out toward the Rocket Range the mud remnants stayed with the truck for months. Going into rainy season, I'd bet that doesn't happen this time.
I've learned to wash off as much mud as possible from the underside soon after returning. It's that much less dirt in your face when you climb underneath the next time. I figure that long-term my driveway will actually be U.P., which will make it much easier to visit.
@broflow
If you guys are serious about a color run, we're starting to get color here along the Lake Michigan shoreline. Superior is probably a touch ahead of us. The next 2 weekends will probably be gorgeous.
Lemme know if any of you wanna head up here, we should be able to make something work.
