That’s comforting, not sure how well they’d do though for sure I’d get a hard shell!
Well.... when the tent initially got damaged in Moab, the tent was literally collapsing down on top of me, I wish I had the pictures inside the tent, I sent some to the wife, I couldn't help but laugh and I didn't sleep at all that night. The picture above, I left the fly off so I could see the stars. I didn't take into account the moon was almost full and I also didn't sleep. The tent walls moving all over, the poles moving on the ground shrinking my sleeping space foot print.... I was up all night.
That’s the perspective you need on life right thereWell.... when the tent initially got damaged in Moab, the tent was literally collapsing down on top of me, I wish I had the pictures inside the tent, I sent some to the wife, I couldn't help but laugh and I didn't sleep at all that night. The picture above, I left the fly off so I could see the stars. I didn't take into account the moon was almost full and I also didn't sleep. The tent walls moving all over, the poles moving on the ground shrinking my sleeping space foot print.... I was up all night.
All said and done and now through it, I'm not mad, I made the best of the trip and laugh about the bad times, no one died and worse things have happened to me in life.
The annual Moab Made Me Do It, in 2023!
Recently arrived back home from the final camping trip of the year, boy was it cold and windy! The trip was planned to take on Hurrah Pass, Lockhart Basin, Arch Canyon, and Mulley Point. Plans don't always work out the way you expect though. In our confirmed group of 9, we had one cancellation for a work emergency the day before and weren't able to fill the final spot on such short notice, we still made the best of it and it was overall, a great time. We had a JKUR, two Tacoma's, two 4Runners, a Land Cruiser, a Lexus, and my JLUR. It was a nice mix of vehicles and a great group of friends. If you're spending your precious time looking at this, I hope at least one thing in here puts a smile on your face, if not, I'll do better next time, tell me what sucked.
After our caravan through Colorado and into Utah, we arrived around dusk at our first camp site in Utah, up Hurrah Pass towards Chicken Corners. If you've ever been out this way, you'll know there is a ton of open camping on the gravel. Unfortunately, I don't have a RTT, YET. After the Utah winds destroyed my tent even more, I've decided that I'll be going to look at RTT's today as Freespirit Recreation is having a pretty good 30% off sale right now! So anyway, we started our blustery night chasing my tent. After my buddy caught it, I threw three rocks in it to which he promptly stated, that's not going to keep it there, he was right. Eventually, I found a giant rock and tied off to that rock. It was a beautiful night in camp, even with the insane winds all night long keeping me up.
We woke up and packed up to a beautiful morning sky! Starting the day off, we had the most technical part of the trip, Lockhard Basin to Hamburger Rock. The most difficult part of this was all within the first mile of Lockhard Basin. I'm happy to report that the two Jeeps had zero issues getting through anything while all the other vehicles were required to be winched at the final major obstacle, the Two Boulders obstacle. Everyone took a couple shots at it but by the last 3 in our group, they made fewer attempts and were just ready with the winches. This was by far our longest day, I think 14 hours on trail and arrived at Hamburger Rock campground at night.
Of course the best color in the world is blue and we had two blue Jeeps. So, I aptly named us the BJ Boys, the other driver was not amused. For one part, we decided to have one Jeep lead and one Jeep tail. Of course I got on the radio and said, "We've got the BJ boys herding all the guys between us, making sure we show them how to do it properly and no one gets left behind without finishing!" You can guess what was the running joke through the trip..... I'm basically a child in a grown mans body and no that's not a political statement.
Within around .2 of a mile, we arrived at our first obstacle, of course the BJ Boys went first to show, it's not that scary guys, just do what we do.
One by one we all made it up safe and sound, thankfully we're able to hold the vehicles upright from rolling off the cliff....
After our first obstacle, we quickly arrived at the second and the BJ boys quickly made short work. Look at my Jeep, so strong, flexing! rawr! The flex definitely looked better from behind.
Our Final large obstacle of the day was the Two Boulders obstacle. Every vehicle but the BJ Boys (and the giant Land Cruiser you see) had to winch themselves. Jeep went up, someone winched to them, they were then the anchor point for the next vehicle. This took us about 3 hours, 30 minutes of waiting on four dirt bikers to stack rocks and get ahead of us. This burned a lot of daylight.
After that obstacle, still a lot of slow rough driving but great views!
Aaaaaaand below is my favorite picture of the trip. I'm missing our blue Taco who was just around the bend in front of us but it looks pretty cool to me. All these storms were just blowing around us this day, that was interesting to see and a bit nerve wracking as if you've ever been on a Utah trail in heavy rain, you know it's not fun, even if you have mud tires!
We finally came to the end of Lockhard Basin/Lockhard Canyon and the road smoothed out. Some small stuff but we were able to make up some time as we were VERY far behind schedule. It's an adventure though!
The sun's getting real low big guy.......
Now it was time for the night part of our trip! I was very excited to use my @Diode Dynamics Elite Max headlights on the trail. I had one concern that I'd be blinding the guy in front of me. That concern was quickly dismissed after I saw appropriate overlanding off roading lighting on ALL the other rigs.... WOW! I felt like I had my halogens back!
I missed some really awesome shots at night with all the lights on the rock walls. I'm too slow and I've learned that an iPhone camera is a pile of garbage, I'll be investing in a better camera.
Love this!!! take the ladies next time.. would love a trip like this. I am thinking of switching to a gladiator and putting a topperlift on it.The annual Moab Made Me Do It, in 2023!
Recently arrived back home from the final camping trip of the year, boy was it cold and windy! The trip was planned to take on Hurrah Pass, Lockhart Basin, Arch Canyon, and Mulley Point. Plans don't always work out the way you expect though. In our confirmed group of 9, we had one cancellation for a work emergency the day before and weren't able to fill the final spot on such short notice, we still made the best of it and it was overall, a great time. We had a JKUR, two Tacoma's, two 4Runners, a Land Cruiser, a Lexus, and my JLUR. It was a nice mix of vehicles and a great group of friends. If you're spending your precious time looking at this, I hope at least one thing in here puts a smile on your face, if not, I'll do better next time, tell me what sucked.
After our caravan through Colorado and into Utah, we arrived around dusk at our first camp site in Utah, up Hurrah Pass towards Chicken Corners. If you've ever been out this way, you'll know there is a ton of open camping on the gravel. Unfortunately, I don't have a RTT, YET. After the Utah winds destroyed my tent even more, I've decided that I'll be going to look at RTT's today as Freespirit Recreation is having a pretty good 30% off sale right now! So anyway, we started our blustery night chasing my tent. After my buddy caught it, I threw three rocks in it to which he promptly stated, that's not going to keep it there, he was right. Eventually, I found a giant rock and tied off to that rock. It was a beautiful night in camp, even with the insane winds all night long keeping me up.
We woke up and packed up to a beautiful morning sky! Starting the day off, we had the most technical part of the trip, Lockhard Basin to Hamburger Rock. The most difficult part of this was all within the first mile of Lockhard Basin. I'm happy to report that the two Jeeps had zero issues getting through anything while all the other vehicles were required to be winched at the final major obstacle, the Two Boulders obstacle. Everyone took a couple shots at it but by the last 3 in our group, they made fewer attempts and were just ready with the winches. This was by far our longest day, I think 14 hours on trail and arrived at Hamburger Rock campground at night.
Of course the best color in the world is blue and we had two blue Jeeps. So, I aptly named us the BJ Boys, the other driver was not amused. For one part, we decided to have one Jeep lead and one Jeep tail. Of course I got on the radio and said, "We've got the BJ boys herding all the guys between us, making sure we show them how to do it properly and no one gets left behind without finishing!" You can guess what was the running joke through the trip..... I'm basically a child in a grown mans body and no that's not a political statement.
Within around .2 of a mile, we arrived at our first obstacle, of course the BJ Boys went first to show, it's not that scary guys, just do what we do.
One by one we all made it up safe and sound, thankfully we're able to hold the vehicles upright from rolling off the cliff....
After our first obstacle, we quickly arrived at the second and the BJ boys quickly made short work. Look at my Jeep, so strong, flexing! rawr! The flex definitely looked better from behind.
Our Final large obstacle of the day was the Two Boulders obstacle. Every vehicle but the BJ Boys (and the giant Land Cruiser you see) had to winch themselves. Jeep went up, someone winched to them, they were then the anchor point for the next vehicle. This took us about 3 hours, 30 minutes of waiting on four dirt bikers to stack rocks and get ahead of us. This burned a lot of daylight.
After that obstacle, still a lot of slow rough driving but great views!
Aaaaaaand below is my favorite picture of the trip. I'm missing our blue Taco who was just around the bend in front of us but it looks pretty cool to me. All these storms were just blowing around us this day, that was interesting to see and a bit nerve wracking as if you've ever been on a Utah trail in heavy rain, you know it's not fun, even if you have mud tires!
We finally came to the end of Lockhard Basin/Lockhard Canyon and the road smoothed out. Some small stuff but we were able to make up some time as we were VERY far behind schedule. It's an adventure though!
The sun's getting real low big guy.......
Now it was time for the night part of our trip! I was very excited to use my @Diode Dynamics Elite Max headlights on the trail. I had one concern that I'd be blinding the guy in front of me. That concern was quickly dismissed after I saw appropriate overlanding off roading lighting on ALL the other rigs.... WOW! I felt like I had my halogens back!
I missed some really awesome shots at night with all the lights on the rock walls. I'm too slow and I've learned that an iPhone camera is a pile of garbage, I'll be investing in a better camera.
I can still grunt out a few days on the ground. But in my old age I prefer a bed a bathroom and a kitchen, or even better, restaurant. When I was horse camping, we just slept on the ground, no tent. Just a canvas bedroll with a sleeping bag in it.Well.... when the tent initially got damaged in Moab, the tent was literally collapsing down on top of me, I wish I had the pictures inside the tent, I sent some to the wife, I couldn't help but laugh and I didn't sleep at all that night. The picture above, I left the fly off so I could see the stars. I didn't take into account the moon was almost full and I also didn't sleep. The tent walls moving all over, the poles moving on the ground shrinking my sleeping space foot print.... I was up all night.
All said and done and now through it, I'm not mad, I made the best of the trip and laugh about the bad times, no one died and worse things have happened to me in life.
I think the Gladiator is the perfect base overlanding vehicle.
