July 2011
2 posts
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June 2011
13 posts
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SFO - PHX - PRC
Christian took us out for a great breakfast at Squat & Gobble before loaning us a car for the day. Armed with a few pointers on the best options for our San-Francisco-in-an-hour tour, we managed to squeeze in a drive around downtown, a walk from the Embarcadero down to Fisherman’s Wharf, and a bike-taxi ride back to the car before our flight to Arizona.
Naturally, arriving at the...
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Crossing the Sierras
A late morning in the canyon, the sun finally hit us around 09:30. With clear skies and plenty of time we wandered our way north along the Walker river towards Monitor Pass in search of some fresh coffee.
We found our coffee at the Woodsford General Store, along with gigantic tablespoon-sized packets of powered brown sugar. Woodsford was once a way station of the Pony Express, and is the...
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Racing Snow
The maps of this route show a deceptively straight line. We left our camp overlooking Black Lake this morning expecting to drop quickly into the open plains around Mono Lake. Instead, we’ve been winding through beautifully thick pine forest and jagged mountain vistas for the last twenty miles.
Mono Lake is almost exactly as I remember it: beautiful, strange, windy, and green (the water)....
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Death Valley to Black Lake
Morning blasted through the open window, brighter and earlier than any civilized day ever should. At least, that was Danielle’s feeling on the matter.
Moments later she had figured out how to work the blinds and gone back to sleep. Meanwhile, I took a pre-breakfast hike to explore the abandoned RV park we pulled into not 5 hours earlier. I’m not sure what it is that makes me this...
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May 2011
16 posts
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Prescott to Death Valley
My first “assignment” in my new position with the Journal is to move a Bigfoot up to San Francisco. A Bigfoot is a well-insulated, 3,000-pound “cabin” that sits in the back of a pickup truck, in this case a GMC 2500 Diesel. It needs to be there by the morning of June 3rd.
Dani has joined me on this 1,200-mile test drive so we can evaluate the pros and cons of an...
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Cherum Peak
Here’s a few photos from our hike up to Cherum Peak in the Cerbat Mountains earlier this month. The Cerbats aren’t terrifically tall, but they do best most of the surrounding mountains by a thousand feet. Cherum Peak rises to just under 7,000 feet, high enough to see over Nevada into California and enjoy panoramic views in every direction.
The first 3,000 feet of climbing is done...
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Mixing Business with Pleasure
It’s been a few months since I wrote an “on the road” entry. That’s the downside (and upside) to rural living: you can do a 100+ mile wilderness trek and be home for dinner, but you get far less of that long highway to ponder life like you do on a multi-day excursion. Yes, I actually enjoy those long highway hours…
Today I find myself climbing up the hill to the...
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O hai Tumblr!
It’s about time. This is possibly the worst e-move I’ve had to do. Every single post had to be ported manually from WordPress. There are a few scripts out there, but be forewarned: they all end in disaster! In the end I suppose it was a good thing, several unworthy articles were dropped on the way, and it forced me to do some much needed editing of both code and content.
Why leave...
April 2011
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Note to Self: Write a WordPress-to-Tumblr migration script, this manual import is almost as tedious as cleaning up the mess the auto-importer made. :-/
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WatchRemember Chronos? I had almost forgotten about it. This was IMAX back when it was greatness, circa 1985. There were only three such screens in existence, a handful of capable cameras, and every film “worthy” of being shown on one simply must be an epic documentary. I was just watching the opening scenes – it’s cool to be able to look back at something like this, from when I was...
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Cerbat Mountains
I should be used to this by now. After all, the past 3 years have been exactly the same. In 2008 they claimed it was a “freak occurance”, in 2009 they pondered the odds, in 2010 “a record breaking storm”, and this year they finally admit that “weather extremes” are the new norm. Snow, in the Mojave, in April? Sweet!
The forecast called for a warm and sunny...
March 2011
3 posts
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Warm Springs Wilderness
Dani and I headed out today to pick up where I left off in my exploration of the Warm Springs Wilderness area. Once again, things did not go as expected. What looked to be a short day trip around Black Mesa turned into several longer jaunts into the interior.
Wilderness often means a very different thing here in Arizona than I’m used to: instead of locked gates and big red signs standing...
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Sunday Drive: Fail
I suppose it was bound to happen sooner or later. The inherent shortness of a “Sunday Drive” means there usually isn’t enough daylight left to check out a different area when the one you’re exploring winds up a bust. With the heavy rains (and snow) lately I was hopeful that the year-round springs in the nearby hills would be flowing strong.
Right out of the gate I noticed...
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Q-Starz Travel Recorder XT
I’ve always been a little obsessive when it comes to geo-tagging my photos. In fact, every single one of my photos on Flickr is geo-tagged, even the ones I had to scan from old prints. While I pride myself on accuracy, getting the locations right was adding days of work to my processing routine. I tried a few different apps for my mobile phone, but between battery limitations and poor...
February 2011
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Pearce Ferry
Kingman, Arizona: Nothing like scattered snow showers to bring the scenery to life. It was bright and sunny when we pulled out this morning, but within ten minutes dark clouds surrounded us. It was a small storm, but it spit every form of precipitation ever witnessed by man at our little 2-wheel-drive Ranger as we slogged through the slush.
Our destination today: the Pearce Ferry area, where...
January 2011
3 posts
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Kingman Plateaus
So what is on top of all those pillars of rock that protect Old Kingman from the modern sprawl to the north?
I ask myself that very question every time I drive up the dynamite-carved, artificial canyons of the interstate. This Sunday, after a much needed stop at Arby’s, we decided to find out. There are roads leading to the top of most of these old plateaus, some in better shape than...
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Mud, Snow, and Mud
With a Friday to burn, and bored of the usual I40 - 89 route to Prescott, we decided to cut through the forest on our way up to the ExPo meet-and-greet. No particular plan in mind, we set out at dawn knowing County 68 would eventually get us there.
County 68 / Camp Wood Road out of Bagdad was awesome. Beautiful views, a little snow, and lots of mud – or so I foolishly thought at the time (the...
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WatchBest of 2010 – As always, comments and critiques are welcome.
December 2010
3 posts
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First Snow of the Season
After five days of rain, I finally spotted snow on the HualapaiCam this morning. Knowing it would be gone by the afternoon, I quickly grabbed my ditch kit and a cup of coffee and we headed up the mountain.
With the exception of a lone Rhino-rider, we had the mountain to ourselves. The timing couldn’t have been better – we drove up through perfect fresh powder, had time to enjoy a...
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QT Rear Diff Skid Plate
At the expense of just under half-an-inch of running ground clearance, the QT rear differential skid plate provides a 1/4-inch steel approach ramp and bash plate for the vulnerable rear differential on a Discovery. The leading edge is well thought out and bolts solidly to factory-provided holes (the same ones that hold the vibration dampener in place). I’ve whacked the skid a few times now...
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I've Got Wood
Birch, that is.
I finally got started on the rear storage/sleeping platform this afternoon, and have the most difficult panel – the bottom – about 90% finished.
I’ve tinkered with building my own furniture a little, but I’ve never done anything quite so complicated before so I’m forcing myself to go slow and follow the rules: measure thrice, cut once. Thus far, it’s...
November 2010
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The Mojave Road 2010
The pictures are up from our recent trip over The Mojave Road. The Flickr set can be viewed here. The trip log can be viewed at the following links:
The Mojave Road: Day 1 The Mojave Road: Day 2 The Mojave Road: Day 3 The Mojave Road: Day 4
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The Mojave Road: Day 4
Last night I was able to hop on the Keller Repeater in time for OAUSA’s net and get a report on Soda Lake conditions from another group that had just crossed it last week: muddy, but passable (I’m really digging this HAM thing). Reassured by the good news, we packed up camp early and set out for our last day on the Mojave Road.
We were worried for a moment when a call came in...
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The Mojave Road: Day 3
Trailer thoughts: it took 20 minutes to get the canvas tarp folded just right and secure the load this morning. This is mostly because the only tarp on hand is more than twice the size it needs to be. I still like the idea of a canvas lid for The Mule, but it will definitely need to be something custom made that fits perfectly – with integrated tie-downs on the trailer.
Overland Navigator: after...
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The Mojave Road: Day 2
Note to self: never pack cases of bottled water in the trailer ever again.
We had a busy morning today, somehow managing to squeeze in Carruther’s Cabin, Rock Springs, (Bert G. Smith’s) Stone Cabin, Government Holes, a few detours, and a drive down to Mitchell Caverns in before lunch. At the caverns we were joined by Lou in a well-equipped 2001 Discovery. The Mule continues to perform...