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Yall go to some beautiful spots .... thanks for sharing!

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thanks f.i.d.!
one last trip up the mountains for '015
mt macfarlane, looks soft but the roads are just about sheer ice, still under outflows, mid 20's
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wife got me one of them cheap mediasonic dash cams, works surprisingly good, but it was getting weird glare off the ice and snow, but for $40, does not bad
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the border peaks
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road in aint too bad, lots of deep potholes & ruts from open diff guys clawing their way up. pretty slick too, was sliding around a bit, but the BF's were working good today...
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almost thought dawg was going to get a hare, until it cranked up the speed & showed diesel how old he is...:lol:
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good way to spend the day, and the REAL reason we came up here...bumper ski
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back down at the river, could'nt belive how many trees actually came down during last months storm. hit a one mile long stretch of debris, realistically about 15-20 loads, & the bridge across the river is only a mile away.
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hiking up the river, just some random shots
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WOW ,that was beautiful.

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We used to call it "Hooky Bobbing" In Montana. That's how we got everywhere, great mode of transportation!!:metal:

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Not technically camping, more road trip/short side trip..... with pic's!

This was the shake down trip after a protracted build. 600 mile round trip from the Wairarapa valley up to Taupo and return, with my daughter in tow.
North on the 27th, South on the 30th. Stunning weather while on the road as well.
Vinegar Hill lookout, first veiw of Mt Raupehu/Ngauruhoe.
Blue skies heading North!
And in Taupo at the North end of the lake

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Had a great time in Taupo with friends from Canada/New Zealand.
Heading south was another stunning day with high cloud. There is a private ski field on the east slope of Mt Ruapehu. Now I have the appropriate vehicle it seemed to good an opportunity to miss. Who doesn't want to hoon around a volcano?!
The run from the highway on the very eastern side of the valley, up to the base of the ski hill is less than ten miles, but the drive/scenery is spectacular. Some real moonscape stuff.
First pic is just meters off the highway looking west.
Oh, yeah, apparently our biggest army base is in the neighborhood.....
Heading west
South side of Ngauruhoe
Sign said Danger something something, No Entry something something, Laser something something! Coool! Laser tag?!

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Heading up

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Where you leave the highway is about 3500', and the ski lodges are at 5500'. A good first test for putting it in 4WD. Actually the road is pretty good most of the way. If any cares, if you put -39.2967 175.7404 into Google earth/maps it's where the road leaves the highway.
That first shot, the road in comes from the far side of the valley right above her head, and then up the ridge on the left.
At the top of the road.
Looking north, the lake directly above her head, about 50 miles to where we were parked on the (north) lake edge.
Heading back down.
Well I had a great time. Truck rides like a 3/4 ton, leaf sprung, solid axle truck!
Who knew! It actually ran great the whole time, (a little hot maybe), so pretty thankful on a motor with an unknown history, and only a lick of paint to pretty it up!

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some beautiful country Billhilly!
with the ground like that are they active volcano's? i guess your in your summer weather, we just got another couple inches snow...:waah:

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Nice pictures!

Yeah they had one erupt not too long ago

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Thanks Diesel! Yeah, Ruapehu, and Tongariro are active. Both erupting on a smaller scale in the last decade. I had a great couple of hours up there. Such a difference from my local bush clad mountains. The moonscape was pretty cool.
I'm jealous looking at your photo's. Nearly eleven years since I was in BC.... I'm not happy! Funny thing about the snow. I spent three years east of Kelowna in the late eighties/early nineties. I'd like to come back and try another winter. Not sure what my (older) body will think though.

Thanks, I had a ball up there!

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well, hope they stay small! i remember when St Helens blew in '80....my dad flew over it in a small plane afterwards, incredible pictures of utter devastation...
and snow is fun when your young....we been hit with a unseasonably warm & dry jan & the snow is back where it belongs- on the mountains lookin' pretty!

took dawg to the fraser river today, but went for a quick spin up Elk View to get some fog pics, but it was dissapating by the time i got up there
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thats elk mt there, it's a fairly easy drive/hike, about 2500 ft less than Cheam mt
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the wind was sure swirling the snow off the peaks of Cheam & Lady
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3 planes & a chopper flying along the river. one plane took the north arm & the chopper was too high for a decent pic, but i got these two. heard later some guy's boat was found empty.....:(
wonder if the guy in the yellow plane was related, he was barely skimming the water...
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well, if "anything" came floatin' past us, dawg is a good water retriever....
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was pretty quiet peaceful at the river tonite other than the plane flyby
Deroche & Nicomen mts
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river is low, this is just tributaries, main channel is 'bout 1/2 mile away
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Isolillock peak
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was a nice nite, sky was lighting up in some nice colors
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AZ desert bighorn sheep project. Not my truck but the guy who owns it has been using it at least for the last 20 years that I've known him, probably a lot longer.

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took a 241 t-case to Kingsvale today, 'bout 2/3's the way up the Coquihalla. little bit of everything today, rain, sun, snow
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some of the sights on the way....
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snow-cat heading out to retrieve a broken down sled
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been unseasonably mild this winter, usually get 10 ft plus, only 'bout 3or 4 ft right now....although we did find one spot where it was about 5 or 6 ft deep. diesel was having a time, kept sinking to his belly....
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he also found something under the snow, would not get his head out of there...
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threw a snowball at my son, then tried to get a pic of it. was a little slow with the cam......heh heh
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stopped for a dawg pit stop, nice area. he was the only one who could go out in the field, me & the boy kept breaking threw, waist deep, need beerfortification for doing that....:lol:
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heading back, brake check at the top of the "smasher"
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and again, the Great Bear snowshed...
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It never gets old looking at your pictures of the outdoors or model trucks, Dawg. I sure like your dog too. He just looks like he has a really good disposition. We lost the last of our dogs about a month ago due to Lymphoma. Not quite sure we’re ready for another one just yet but sure been noticing more and more dogs lately. Guess, I am working up to it. I sure miss having a dog around

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thanks Larry!
yeah, it's hard when they go....my DixieLou has been gone since nov 014, i still miss her hard :( not having the big lug waiting at the door when you get home....
when your ready, go for it! i could'nt imagine NOT having a mutt kicking around...be a sad day here in the next couple yrs, 'ol dawg is getting up there, his 10th birthday was was just last week (feb 16, 06)
brighter note, another season coming up-YES!!! with this super mild winter we be having, thinking i might pull the camper out of storage earlier (march-ish)

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check out how mild it is. managed to talk the wife into going for a drive today, just local again. mt mcfarlane, quite a difference from last dec when we were bumper skiing up there
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snow is up everywhere
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still snowy on mt slesse, the tall craggy one , that an airliner crashed into
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All the cool photos on this thread makes me wish I liked to camp =)

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CG, these places are right in your back yaRd!
you should post up some pics, heck, you got the North Cascades, Ross lake, Snoqualmie & Wenatchee, Olympic, Rainier & Chelan just out your front door, & of course, Baker. living in one of the more scenic areas of the planet....:lol:
went to Skagit Valley today, was looking to get some pics of the Jamie Davis rotator (show Highway Thru Hell) for an upcoming model project.
heading out, north side of Cheam & Lady with Baby Munday in the background
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Jorgenson Peak, just outside Hope
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stopped for a puppy p break, had to keep an eye on Spike so he did`nt become this guy`s lunch...
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Jamie`s main yard is over around the side of Hope Mt
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bummer, his gate is shut today, might as well keep going up to Silver lake
The Silver Skagit is thundering along pretty good right now
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some sights on the way
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Silver lake
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like the steaming rock...
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dont know if anyone watches Highway thru Hell, but here`s an updated pic of Bruce`s old Peterbilt at JD`s other yard
not looking too good for HR50....
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here`s a rough ride, steer axle ripped out....
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Great pic's again Diesel. Still reasonably cool in your part of the world! Late summer down here with temps in the low 30's in the valley. Hot and dry!

Well after the trip in late December I had another window of opportunity open up Feb 7th to 10th. My oldest daughter is in university in Switzerland (!) and was in the country for a few weeks on mid semester break, and the youngest was starting university in Wellington on the 21st of Feb. Considering this truck was partly bought for trips with them (and I completely missed the boat with the southern hemisphere's longest build!) this was just too good an opportunity to pass up!

We ran North up to Napier the first day, taking in a big Farmers market in Hastings. The next day we headed West on the Napier-Taihape road, colloquially called the Gentle Annie. Up until recently it was still gravel, but is now seal all the way through. Only around 100 miles in length, it gets pretty steep/windy through the middle, but was a great drive and we only saw about ten cars the whole time!

The cool part is on the main divide there is a track you can run South on that offers great views on a fine day. We missed the fine day, but the drive was fun! Only six or seven miles, the track ends at a small hut. We were able to take a small side track to the west which put us right on the edge of the ridge overlooking Timahanga Station. A great place for lunch! Timahanga is around 25000 acres, and the next Station to the West, Ngamatea is 70000 acres! They were originally one block. By New Zealand (North Island) standards, big sky country!

We then ran down to Foxton and spent a couple of nights with friends, then returned home via Wellington (ish).

Another solid 600 miles, with no drama's at all. Truck ran great, a small oil leak up the front of the motor making underneath look bad, and new fans in keeping running temps spot on. Again, considering everything, a very successful trip.


Checking the oil leaks!
Kuripapango Gorge just East of the main divide
Road heading up the other side, kinda hard to get a picture of how step/windy it was
Lunch spot, Mt Ruapehu is only 40 miles west of here in the cloud over the right side of the cab.
Panoramic view of Timahanga

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Poser!

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Coming back down the track to the road
I was hoping to come across some sheep on the road to get you the iconic NZ shot of your vehicle surrounded by sheep, but this was as close as we got so I thought I better grab a pic!
Heading west the road opens up into more sheep stations.

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Instead of heading into Taihape we turned South and ran through some real country roads and came back out onto the highway at Utiku.
Found this mirror on only one corner out of how many hundred!
And a map of the loop.

Good times!

Oh, at the top of the map you can see a red cross on the blue road (?) where we had our lunch, and to the west is another cross showing where we were up the mountain in December. Clear day and you'd be able to see the mountain to the west, and back to the Hawkes Bay coast in the east.

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Beautiful country. My wife is from New Zealand I cant wait to visit even though she is no hurry to go back lol

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Been a while since i got the ol girl out for a camping trip few more things to finish up n shell be rollin again. heres one from 2012 i like to call it my redneck rv! :metal: