Who paid to build a new, useless bridge?
Do people go hiking out there?
Martin
Do people go hiking out there?
Martin
CK5
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The Story Of A Cummins Suburban (Lots Of Pics)
- Thread starter mosesburb
- Start date
Thanks!!
You did. I did. All of us taxpayers did.... I don't know if anyone hikes out that far. I would imagine someone probably does, but I can't say for sure.
I guess it doesn't bother me, it just seems odd. I wonder who spearheaded that project.
Martin
Martin
That cactus is funny, it even has one leg up like he's trying to do a climbing manuever or something...
So it looks like the destination this summer is Northern California. Looking for suggestions/recommendations of things to see and or not see. I am thinking we will come into Yosemite from 395 and back out that way to avoid traffic in the valley, then Bodie, Tahoe, over to the coast/redwoods. Maybe back through Lassen NP and possibly through some of Nevada.
Anyone who has followed along with this thread knows we run with little to no plans and what little plans we do have often get changed/abandoned as well. We have never been in this area before so any suggestions/recommendations of things/trails/people/areas to see and or avoid would be appreciated.
Anyone who has followed along with this thread knows we run with little to no plans and what little plans we do have often get changed/abandoned as well. We have never been in this area before so any suggestions/recommendations of things/trails/people/areas to see and or avoid would be appreciated.
I don't know Northern California well, but if you are willing to go just a little further north across the border Crater Lake National Park is definitely worth seeing, you could take some amazing pictures with Crater Lake as the background.
Yosemite is definitely worth it as well so don't skip that one. Oh, and if you decide to hike up to Upper Yosemite falls, make sure to take more than 12 oz of water per person, or you will regret it.
ekajkrats
1/2 ton status
When you say coastal redwoods, are you talking about down by Santa Cruz/Monterey or up closer to me like Muir Woods, or even farther north like up by Humboldt?
On the way over to Yosemite, Mono Lake is cool, Devil's post pile outside Mammoth lakes is neat. Just outside Bishop you can drive up White Mountain and see the Ancient Bristle Cone Pine Forest. You can drive up to about 10k feet. To make it to the peak you would have to walk the last 3k feet of elevation.
I really enjoyed Calaveras Big trees, north-ish of Yosemite. It's an amazing grove of giant Redwoods. But doesn't take much time to see it.
If you are heading North of SF on Highway 1 I can make some more recommendations. Let me know. Some great places up the 101 as well and even up I-5 by Lassen.
-Jacob
On the way over to Yosemite, Mono Lake is cool, Devil's post pile outside Mammoth lakes is neat. Just outside Bishop you can drive up White Mountain and see the Ancient Bristle Cone Pine Forest. You can drive up to about 10k feet. To make it to the peak you would have to walk the last 3k feet of elevation.
I really enjoyed Calaveras Big trees, north-ish of Yosemite. It's an amazing grove of giant Redwoods. But doesn't take much time to see it.
If you are heading North of SF on Highway 1 I can make some more recommendations. Let me know. Some great places up the 101 as well and even up I-5 by Lassen.
-Jacob
Crater Lake is a definite possibility depending on how far we get and when we get there. It is something I would really like to see.
Honestly, the only ones I knew of were the ones way up north by Humboldt. Are there any inland areas of redwoods?? We've never been in the north part of the state, so what little I know is coming from looking at maps and using the googles.
I was looking at some of that area as a possible stopping point on day two.
Well, this might be an answer to a previous question I had... Could these be a substitute for the ones north of Humboldt or are those worth the added miles etc??
Lassen is an intended stop, but it is far enough into the trip, there is no telling what will be going on by then. Is Lassen a good stop or not really worth it??
ekajkrats
1/2 ton status
It tough to sell that Calaveras would be a substitute for Humboldt. The coastal area is really quite beautiful. Aside from just the Redwoods, you have the Lost Coast up there where the mountains were too steep to build a highway along the coast, so highway 1 had to go inland. Not to mention, if you are trying to escape any heat, it's generally so much cooler up there. If any one gets car sick (which would be ironic being how often you are on road trips), highway one and the roads to get out there are not the ones you want to be on. For me Calaveras was just so cool because it was such a small grove with such huge trees...and I was stuck in Angels Camp for 4 days. White Mountain also had me in awe, that you get to see some of the oldest trees in the world in this moon-like landscape roughly 9k feet up, just amazing.
The Lassen area is beautiful. I was in Redding for a few years, and really liked the area west of it (Whiskey Town Lake and the Trinity Alps area), which you could pass through if you were driving from Humboldt, east towards Lassen. Lassen has some cool places to see too. I really liked the Burney Falls trail. Most of my time camping was spent south of the area though near Graeagle, at Plumas Eureka. Off of Graeagle is the Gold Lakes Basin which is beautiful short stretch of highway and you can choose your adventure. This ranges from driving on pavement up to a lake, to off roading to get to them, to hiking the Pacific Crest Trail in the area.
As I am sure you've experienced there are probably too many points of interest and not enough time.
The Lassen area is beautiful. I was in Redding for a few years, and really liked the area west of it (Whiskey Town Lake and the Trinity Alps area), which you could pass through if you were driving from Humboldt, east towards Lassen. Lassen has some cool places to see too. I really liked the Burney Falls trail. Most of my time camping was spent south of the area though near Graeagle, at Plumas Eureka. Off of Graeagle is the Gold Lakes Basin which is beautiful short stretch of highway and you can choose your adventure. This ranges from driving on pavement up to a lake, to off roading to get to them, to hiking the Pacific Crest Trail in the area.
As I am sure you've experienced there are probably too many points of interest and not enough time.
Gotta second the recommendation for calaveras big trees state park. Though it's been 26 years since I was there, I do remember it was really cool!
ekajkrats
1/2 ton status
I also have used and really enjoyed this book, Backcountry Adventures Northern California: The Ultimate Guide to the Backcountry for Anyone with a Sport Utility Vehicle, by Jeanne Wilson and Peter Massey.
Most places it sels for $50 for a used-like new copy but here is the cheapest I could find it on the web, in fair shape: http://goo.gl/BVrMkQ
If there is a specific place you are trying to explore when you've begun to nail down your route, let me know and I can get you information (maps, trail info, reviews, pictures, etc.) out of the book. Also, if you decide to make it over to the Bay Area to head up 101 or Highway 1 let me know. I would do what I could to personally show you around Marin and Sonoma counties and you're more than welcome to use my house as your watering hole.
-Jacob
Most places it sels for $50 for a used-like new copy but here is the cheapest I could find it on the web, in fair shape: http://goo.gl/BVrMkQ
If there is a specific place you are trying to explore when you've begun to nail down your route, let me know and I can get you information (maps, trail info, reviews, pictures, etc.) out of the book. Also, if you decide to make it over to the Bay Area to head up 101 or Highway 1 let me know. I would do what I could to personally show you around Marin and Sonoma counties and you're more than welcome to use my house as your watering hole.
-Jacob
Thanks for the offer!! We were already a few days into our trip when this was posted and I wasn't checking here as often as I should have. The free wifi many places offer usually isn't worth the price and cell service is usually crappy when I can actually use my phone (not driving etc). We did see quite a bit though. We got back yesterday. It was a great trip and I wanted to thank everyone for their input and suggestions. We followed some and I unfortunately forgot some others. A quick, non-detailed, non-photographic rundown would be something like this:
Henderson/Vegas, Mammoth, Bodie, Yosemite, Sonora, Hwy 49, Placerville, Williams, Clearlake Oaks, Fortuna, Avenue of the Giants, Klamath, Crescent City, Grants Pass, Crater Lake, Klamath Falls, Weed, Redding, Lassen NP, Reno, Virginia City, Tonopah, Henderson, Hoover Dam, Home. Now, not every point mentioned was necessarily a stopping point (most were to some extent), but more to give an idea of a route taken because there are so many ways to get from one point to another up there and plans changed on the fly several(!!) times. My plans were hobbled a bit by the fact that the rest of my family had just gotten back from an airplane vacation a few days before we left on this one, so I knew from past experience that we had better jam in as much as we can and keep the travel times reasonable or road fatigue would set in and the word "home" would start popping up during normal conversation. I staved that off longer than I thought, but eventually it was pretty obvious that we had better point the truck toward home. But even at that, we still stopped at Hoover Dam and took one of the tours on our last day, so it wasn't bad at all.
The only truck casualty was a lost hubcap somewhere between Oasis and Dyer, so if you find a 12" Chevy hubcap out there, keep it as a souvenir of the big orange Suburban. The only other issue was a rental motorhome that smashed the driver side mirror when passing by. No damage to the mirror, but I did have to readjust it.
So once I get everything together and settled back in, I will update the thread with pictures and stories. It won't be right away as my wife's truck decided to barf a compressor today, so I have to do another SD7H15 retrofit and get that thing back on the road. Ugh, welcome back....
Thanks for the thread, Truck is pretty awesome as are the road trips. Want to get to exploring when I'm done building on mine.
In along here somewhere I decided on a latch to secure the swingout tube to the fixed bumper. That is a standard cooler it is sitting on:
I know this was a while back - but where did you get that latch?
Thanks, I highly recommend it!!
It came from a company called Jergens. That particular one had something like a 7000lb rating. They offered a bunch of different ones though.
So, I am way behind on posting anything of our travels and/or vehicle mods/repairs form the last year or so. I am real tempted to post recent things, but if I do that, I know myself well enough to know I'm not going to go back and post the skipped stuff. So instead of regaling you with pics of our trip last month, you are getting stale pictures from a little over a year ago. Not much either of us can do about it, so let's see if we can enjoy the ride. We had a fantastic time, hopefully you will enjoy the Readers Digest version.
As usual, the only plan for sure was I had a cabin paid for the next night (Sunday). Other than that, it's on-the-fly navigation. So we departed on a Saturday late morning for points north of us. Before we got to Flagstaff, I am reminded why I hate traveling on weekends. [SOAPBOX] Weekend warriors with their minimally maintained equipment that they are not familiar with handling-wise, driving like they have to get to the forest or lake before it closes. Safety is of no concern whatsoever. It's one thing if it is what you do regularly and know how your equipment reacts in specific situations, but to throw a trailer on and hit the left lane with the hammer down is extraordinarily dangerous--to you, your vehicle occupants, people around you, first responders who have to come deal with your situation, and highway patrol who have to deal with the rest of the drivers on the road trying to keep them away from you. I'm not trying to sound holier than thou, I'm not perfect, but I also know to respect the limits of my equipment. I try to do a thorough pre-trip before moving each day, if not possible, I will do a solid walk around at a minimum. The safety of my passengers and equipment is worth the few minutes that it takes. Oftentimes, when we hit a coffee shop for my wife, I'll do a pre-trip while she's getting her coffee. Works out well. I see the results of poor equipment maintenance (smoked wheel bearings on the trailer on the side of the road), I see the results of driver inexperience (driving like the trailer is set up for 1g turns and road track style braking by following way too close), I've seen the results of combinations of that, plus others, all too often. It saddens me when I see it as I can empathize with the occupants because I have the same goal--go somewhere and have fun. A few minutes ago they were not thinking about being in a tow truck heading to some strange town for repairs (best case scenario) or a helicopter heading to some distant trauma center hoping to survive. Things can go wrong in an instant. SOMETIMES there is no preventing them. By keeping equipment maintained and using it in a reasonable manner can give you the best chance of minimizing the possibility or at least minimize the effects of things going wrong. I really hate seeing things like this:
Did an overloaded tire blow out?? Did the vehicle ahead of it stop too quickly to react?? Did some other weekend highway hot rodder cut him off?? I don't know. The ONLY things I do know is they are not in their vehicle heading to their fun weekend destination anymore and seeing their gear spread out on the side of the road saddens me enough to include all of this in MY travel thread hoping to help prevent someone else from going through a scenario like this. [/SOAPBOX]
So my boy had lamented to me a couple times recently that he had never seen the Grand Canyon. There's a reason he hadn't seen it. I really don't like going there (to the south rim). That got me to thinking of a possible solution to his problem. The north rim would be a great solution. None of us had been there before, it is much higher in elevation, and it is reportedly much more scenic than the south rim. Win, win, win. Here we go!!
On our way there, we pass the south end of Vermillion Cliffs National Monument overlooking House Rock Valley:
So we arrive up on the Kaibab Plateau and navigate our way out to an area where we set up camp right on the edge of the canyon. Seriously. Don't take too many steps out of the truck or you will experience a rapid loss of altitude. We set up camp and then rode our bikes around for awhile before dinner:
The aforementioned altitude difference; 8300' (+/-) lends itself to much colder (not cooler, colder...) temps. The first thing I realized is when I was packing and sweating my ass off in 105F+ temperatures earlier that day, I forgot to pack a jacket. It is an easy thing to do while pouring sweat and it isn't the first time I've done it. Ugh. Easy enough. Wear a blanket while sitting in front of the fire. So we ate dinner and headed into the truck for our first night on some new sleep pads I had recently gotten. It wasn't long after getting in the truck that we realized its getting colder and more uncomfortable. No worries. I grabbed the Webasto heater key fob and hit the heat button and in just a couple minutes we had a nice warm breeze filling the truck. We all slept well and the new sleep pads passed the test very well.
We rode the bikes some more the next morning. Fantastic views are everywhere:
After riding a while we loaded up in the truck and started wandering a bit further. Gratuitous truck shot:
We entered Grand Canyon National Park in the middle of nowhere. There was no attendant to take our money at this entrance:
We wandered around the area a bit and then headed out of the area with the North Rim Visitor Center as our destination. I had reserved a cabin for the night figuring it would be a good second night stop to see the developed north rim area and camp in one of the old CCC cabins. The cabin was neat, but the bed was junk. I woke up at about 0200 and was tempted to travel all the way out to the truck to retrieve my sleep pads to sleep on the floor. I didn't, but I should have.... A funny side note; the cabins are not near the parking area. There is a golf cart shuttle service that you can use to haul your stuff to the cabins or vice versa. On our trip to the truck the kid that was driving was regaling us with the story of how he has had three concussions (he might have been 20 y/o??). One was an impressive fall, another was a beating he took for his brother and then something else for the third one. Good stuff. Better than the typical "where are you heading" BS. So we got to the truck and he parked the cart close to the truck and a normal swingout would have hit it. He was going to move the cart but I stopped him and showed him the foldable swingout and how it would clear with plenty of room. He was impressed and proclaimed to my boy that I was a genius. Ever since then I have reminded my boy that I am a genius on multiple occasions because Kid Concussion said so. Fun times.
There are some great views to be had from the trails around the lodge as well:
We even went out to check out the sunset that evening:
So that concludes our second day of travel and our only scheduled stop for the trip. The only other item to be scheduled is meeting up with someone somewhere sometime. I know who we're meeting, but we have no idea when or where. Stay tuned for more adventure. There may be delays in posting along the way. Feel free to throw electronic stones my way if you feel they are not being posted quickly enough. It may speed things up, then again, I may catch them and throw them back. One never knows. One thing I do know is some good times are in store.
As usual, the only plan for sure was I had a cabin paid for the next night (Sunday). Other than that, it's on-the-fly navigation. So we departed on a Saturday late morning for points north of us. Before we got to Flagstaff, I am reminded why I hate traveling on weekends. [SOAPBOX] Weekend warriors with their minimally maintained equipment that they are not familiar with handling-wise, driving like they have to get to the forest or lake before it closes. Safety is of no concern whatsoever. It's one thing if it is what you do regularly and know how your equipment reacts in specific situations, but to throw a trailer on and hit the left lane with the hammer down is extraordinarily dangerous--to you, your vehicle occupants, people around you, first responders who have to come deal with your situation, and highway patrol who have to deal with the rest of the drivers on the road trying to keep them away from you. I'm not trying to sound holier than thou, I'm not perfect, but I also know to respect the limits of my equipment. I try to do a thorough pre-trip before moving each day, if not possible, I will do a solid walk around at a minimum. The safety of my passengers and equipment is worth the few minutes that it takes. Oftentimes, when we hit a coffee shop for my wife, I'll do a pre-trip while she's getting her coffee. Works out well. I see the results of poor equipment maintenance (smoked wheel bearings on the trailer on the side of the road), I see the results of driver inexperience (driving like the trailer is set up for 1g turns and road track style braking by following way too close), I've seen the results of combinations of that, plus others, all too often. It saddens me when I see it as I can empathize with the occupants because I have the same goal--go somewhere and have fun. A few minutes ago they were not thinking about being in a tow truck heading to some strange town for repairs (best case scenario) or a helicopter heading to some distant trauma center hoping to survive. Things can go wrong in an instant. SOMETIMES there is no preventing them. By keeping equipment maintained and using it in a reasonable manner can give you the best chance of minimizing the possibility or at least minimize the effects of things going wrong. I really hate seeing things like this:
Did an overloaded tire blow out?? Did the vehicle ahead of it stop too quickly to react?? Did some other weekend highway hot rodder cut him off?? I don't know. The ONLY things I do know is they are not in their vehicle heading to their fun weekend destination anymore and seeing their gear spread out on the side of the road saddens me enough to include all of this in MY travel thread hoping to help prevent someone else from going through a scenario like this. [/SOAPBOX]
So my boy had lamented to me a couple times recently that he had never seen the Grand Canyon. There's a reason he hadn't seen it. I really don't like going there (to the south rim). That got me to thinking of a possible solution to his problem. The north rim would be a great solution. None of us had been there before, it is much higher in elevation, and it is reportedly much more scenic than the south rim. Win, win, win. Here we go!!
On our way there, we pass the south end of Vermillion Cliffs National Monument overlooking House Rock Valley:
So we arrive up on the Kaibab Plateau and navigate our way out to an area where we set up camp right on the edge of the canyon. Seriously. Don't take too many steps out of the truck or you will experience a rapid loss of altitude. We set up camp and then rode our bikes around for awhile before dinner:
The aforementioned altitude difference; 8300' (+/-) lends itself to much colder (not cooler, colder...) temps. The first thing I realized is when I was packing and sweating my ass off in 105F+ temperatures earlier that day, I forgot to pack a jacket. It is an easy thing to do while pouring sweat and it isn't the first time I've done it. Ugh. Easy enough. Wear a blanket while sitting in front of the fire. So we ate dinner and headed into the truck for our first night on some new sleep pads I had recently gotten. It wasn't long after getting in the truck that we realized its getting colder and more uncomfortable. No worries. I grabbed the Webasto heater key fob and hit the heat button and in just a couple minutes we had a nice warm breeze filling the truck. We all slept well and the new sleep pads passed the test very well.
We rode the bikes some more the next morning. Fantastic views are everywhere:
After riding a while we loaded up in the truck and started wandering a bit further. Gratuitous truck shot:
We entered Grand Canyon National Park in the middle of nowhere. There was no attendant to take our money at this entrance:
We wandered around the area a bit and then headed out of the area with the North Rim Visitor Center as our destination. I had reserved a cabin for the night figuring it would be a good second night stop to see the developed north rim area and camp in one of the old CCC cabins. The cabin was neat, but the bed was junk. I woke up at about 0200 and was tempted to travel all the way out to the truck to retrieve my sleep pads to sleep on the floor. I didn't, but I should have.... A funny side note; the cabins are not near the parking area. There is a golf cart shuttle service that you can use to haul your stuff to the cabins or vice versa. On our trip to the truck the kid that was driving was regaling us with the story of how he has had three concussions (he might have been 20 y/o??). One was an impressive fall, another was a beating he took for his brother and then something else for the third one. Good stuff. Better than the typical "where are you heading" BS. So we got to the truck and he parked the cart close to the truck and a normal swingout would have hit it. He was going to move the cart but I stopped him and showed him the foldable swingout and how it would clear with plenty of room. He was impressed and proclaimed to my boy that I was a genius. Ever since then I have reminded my boy that I am a genius on multiple occasions because Kid Concussion said so. Fun times.
There are some great views to be had from the trails around the lodge as well:
We even went out to check out the sunset that evening:
So that concludes our second day of travel and our only scheduled stop for the trip. The only other item to be scheduled is meeting up with someone somewhere sometime. I know who we're meeting, but we have no idea when or where. Stay tuned for more adventure. There may be delays in posting along the way. Feel free to throw electronic stones my way if you feel they are not being posted quickly enough. It may speed things up, then again, I may catch them and throw them back. One never knows. One thing I do know is some good times are in store.
Hey @coloradok5 The lack of a stone throwing smiley face needs to be addressed.
I've wanted to hit the north rim for quite some time, I share your aversion to the south rim.
I've wanted to hit the north rim for quite some time, I share your aversion to the south rim.
The south rim is the most visited NP on earth...
Yay for more pictures!
@mosesburb, what is the new item on the roof of the truck? A rack? I don't remember such.
The boss changed his username to @CK5. Not sure if he responds to the old name or not.
@mosesburb, what is the new item on the roof of the truck? A rack? I don't remember such.
The boss changed his username to @CK5. Not sure if he responds to the old name or not.
How are the M55s holding up?
