TR: Sept. in Utah, Idaho, Nevada, & Eastern Sierra

[profdant139]

We spent September in Utah, Idaho, Northern Nevada, and the Eastern Sierra -- a month of mostly boondocking and dry camping. Here are links to the five blog posts, with a few sample photos from each area to whet your appetite.

I hope you enjoy this -- there are lots of photos in the blog! And it's easy to skip all the boring text and click through the photos -- I would not be offended. 😉


Part I: Utah's Uintas

That’s Bald Mtn. on the left and Reid’s Peak on the right:


Click For Full-Size Image.


Part II: Idaho's Boulder Mountains

It’s kind of hard to see the trailer, but it’s in the bottom center of this shot, and yes, that is a storm coming in over the mountains:


Click For Full-Size Image.


Part III: Idaho's Salmon Valley (the Sawtooth area)


The Salmon River is in the foreground of both of these shots, which were taken from our campsite:


Click For Full-Size Image.


Click For Full-Size Image.

Part IV: Great Basin National Park, Nevada

That’s Wheeler Peak on the right, and that’s a fresh dusting of snow:


Click For Full-Size Image.


Part V: Eastern Sierra

This is Duck Lake, south of Mammoth:


Click For Full-Size Image.

[profdant139]

Rule of thumb: if a road is so bad that there are folks lined up on the side to watch anyone brave enough to attempt it, don't! 😉

According to a friend of mine who is an EMT with the local fire department, the most frequent "famous last words" are "Hey, guys, watch this!"

[pnichols]

cewillis wrote:
I drove my old '97 GMC 1500 (empty) up that road as far as 'the wall',

FWIW, I still have my '95 GMC Z71 4X4 pickup (with oversize tires and Rancho 10-way adjustables) ... and NO WAY would I attempt that solid rock gully stretch showing in your photo. I wouldn't even take an Earthroamer up that - unless it was owned by the company and for an advertising stunt!

[cewillis]

pnichols wrote:
Cal (cewillis),
I just checked out your website and your trip through the Charouleau Gap in 2004 looked like quite the trip!! Looking at the photos ... it appeared that it would take a very aggressive TC to travel this area if one wanted to camp way back in there instead of just day-tripping on a cycle or in a Jeep.

It would also have to be a very, very small TC. I drove my old '97 GMC 1500 (empty) up that road as far as 'the wall', but I wasn't about to try going up that by myself. I'm sure you've heard of 'Arizona pin stripping' -- it was invented on this trail.
'the wall'


By the way, the above part of the trail is no more -- just got to be too dangerous, so now there is a somewhat easier go-around.

Starting from the Oracle end of the trail, there are many excellent, very remote boondocking spots accessible by a well equipped TC.

[profdant139]

Phil, you would be passing me like a streak of lightning -- unless we are smooth gravel (in which case I could push it up to 20), we are usually towing at about 3 mph. DW can easily walk faster than I can drive on some of those rocky forest roads.

[pnichols]

Cal (cewillis),

I just checked out your website and your trip through the Charouleau Gap in 2004 looked like quite the trip!! Looking at the photos ... it appeared that it would take a very aggressive TC to travel this area if one wanted to camp way back in there instead of just day-tripping on a cycle or in a Jeep.

We've taken our small Class C 7-10 MPH very carefully on a rocky 4X4 road in Death Valley to a boondocking campsite and 7-10 MPH on a miserable road 25 mi each way into an Oregon Outback campsite - but both trips were nothing compared to traversing the Charouleau Gap.

[profdant139]

Sometimes, when we are hiking in rough country, the trail will cross a jeep road. And often, there are huge rocks with deep scratches from folks who have "dragged the pumpkin." That could get real expensive, real quick.

We saw a few primitive forest roads in the Uintas where they had posted signs: "No trailers beyond this point." They were right, too -- there are some places we can't go without a TC.

[cewillis]

profdant139 wrote:
a really rocky road can be "smooth" enough not to create axle-damaging clearance problems,

I actually did hang up my rear differential on that particular 'road'. Good thing the case is extremely strong, and that I was going veeerrrry slow. Had to get out the bottle jack and some blocks.

[profdant139]

Cal, that is some bad volcanic rock in that shot -- ouch! We discovered on this trip that even though a really rocky road can be "smooth" enough not to create axle-damaging clearance problems, it can be so rough that we just had to crawl over the bumps, sometimes in "four wheel low."

The good news is that the trailer was able to tag along for the ride, albeit very slowly and carefully. There were times that DW had to walk ahead, making sure that there was nothing so major that we could not handle it. We had to back up and turn around once, which is a lot of fun on a narrow forest road, especially with a squirrely single axle trailer.

[cewillis]

Wow, Dan -- your adventures and photography are amazing. That's a lot of incredible country. I like the 'moon rise over the river' picture.
And I know what you mean about pictures of a rocky road being much less impressive than driving them.
Here's 1 or 2 mph road. (maybe)

[Busskipper]

profdant139 wrote:
We spent September in Utah, Idaho, Northern Nevada, and the Eastern Sierra -- a month of mostly boondocking and dry camping. Here are links to the five blog posts, with a few sample photos from each area to whet your appetite.

I hope you enjoy this -- there are lots of photos in the blog! And it's easy to skip all the boring text and click through the photos -- I would not be offended. 😉


Part I: Utah's Uintas

That’s Bald Mtn. on the left and Reid’s Peak on the right:


Click For Full-Size Image.


Part II: Idaho's Boulder Mountains

It’s kind of hard to see the trailer, but it’s in the bottom center of this shot, and yes, that is a storm coming in over the mountains:


Click For Full-Size Image.


Part III: Idaho's Salmon Valley (the Sawtooth area)


The Salmon River is in the foreground of both of these shots, which were taken from our campsite:


Click For Full-Size Image.


Click For Full-Size Image.

Part IV: Great Basin National Park, Nevada

That’s Wheeler Peak on the right, and that’s a fresh dusting of snow:


Click For Full-Size Image.


Part V: Eastern Sierra

This is Duck Lake, south of Mammoth:


Click For Full-Size Image.

As always Thanks again for Sharing your adventures with such beautiful Photo's of places few ever see.

Some people grow old..... some seem to just keep getting younger.

As always enjoy following your adventures,

[ORbiker]

Nice shots. I looked through your blogs. You are having too much fun too.
I rode my motorcycle in CA, NV, UT, ID, MT and WA back to Oregon. So much great scenery. The Stanley area is great.

[Two_Hands]

Those are some beautiful photos! Thanks for posting.

[profdant139]

I just discovered that if you click on the "click for full size image" and then click again on the picture that comes up, it will enlarge quite a bit more. (Everyone else probably already knew that, but I didn't.)