post up your camping pics

[splehigh]

Another pic. Of course I forgot to take a pic while we were all set up. Just remembered as we were pulling out. Oh well.

[Mustard72]

Annual family men's fishing weekend at Nancy Lake in NW Wisconsin. Blue Bell, the rusty old 87 K20, pulled the 1953 Lone Star boat and my nephews and I slept in the 60s vintage Hetrick tent. That's my Dad's posterior in the pic as he helped me set it up. He did away with sleeping in tents years ago and he and my brother were in his camper trailer.

[Zoomad75]

Been tracking your entire run on Spot since you left. Just zooming in on the sat map
had some great views, I can only imagine what some of your latest shots look like. Waiting patiently for the trip report!

[Red Beard]

This is one of the coolest threads. I wish I had some pictures of my family when we were camping, when I was growing up. We always took my dad's 73 GMC, with the canopy we only put on for camping. I'm sure my mom has a bunch of pictures in her storage, but it's going to be a while before all that gets sorted out.

[dieseldawg142]

i like it!
in fact we're going out today. prob last time for the season, plates run out next month & camper will be stored.
just taking the quads & going local, down to the river for the weekend

[72MARIO]

Well its not a 4x4 but it hauls the trailer great.

[dieseldawg142]

Originally Posted by 72MARIO

Well its not a 4x4 but it hauls the trailer great.

2, 4 who cares, just being in the great outdoors all that matters.
nice sub!

[fun in dirt]

Originally Posted by 72MARIO

Well its not a 4x4 but it hauls the trailer great.

Whole rig is very cool...alum camper, dropped patina burb & a canoe...I'd be flippin out if saw this coming down the road!!!

[DirtyLarry]

Here are a few from this weekend’s trip with Zoomad, his son, my buddy Bill and my neighbor Pete. The weather was near perfect and the fall trees were spectacular! Probably the prettiest trip I’ve ever done in my home state. Perfect 2 night/3 day fall trip.


Forgot the deflators at home in the Suburban. Had to improvise with an ink pin


We took Tin Cup Pass to Mirror Lake and spent the first night. Fishing here always yields at least a couple fish but their usually pretty small. Pretty place though! Too bad for the crappy cell phone pic


The view on the crawl up Taylor Pass


Before long the trail and the creek become one with a nasty boulder wall to climb up at the other end


Coloradobill


We’ve been over this pass 3 or 4 times in the past 10 years and this is the worst we’ve seen this spot yet. Seems to be getting more boney with each passing season. Sure kick myself for forgetting the GoPro at home along with those damn tire deflators!


Looking down from the top


Fished at Taylor Lake for a bit and caught dinner!


Looking back at the lake on the crawl up to the summit


Cool poser shot looking back at the lake


This is just as you crest the summit and start the long haul down to Aspen





Second night campsite


Amazing!





Very pretty place to air up


We found a roof basket lying on the side of the trail so we threw it up on top of the K5 for a poser shot….then took it home to for mounting later.


Even have a bonus video too! This is Taylor Pass that runs from Taylor Park area over to Aspen. It was a great ride! The guys on the motorcycles didn’t think any of us could craw up this mess. I thought we might be able to use the rear winch but all 3 climbed up without too much drama.

Taylor Pass

I can't ever remember how to post videos on forum and the site help area is SO helpful

Zoomad should be here soon with his version of the weekend

[vk_chevy]

Originally Posted by 72MARIO

Well its not a 4x4 but it hauls the trailer great.

That's an awesome combo! love it

[DirtyLarry]

Originally Posted by dieseldawg142

i like it!
in fact we're going out today. prob last time for the season, plates run out next month & camper will be stored.
just taking the quads & going local, down to the river for the weekend

Cool! We have one, possibly two, more trips coming up as well. Fishing is good this time of year once it starts getting colder in the high country. Less people in the mountains too as most city folk stay home after Labor Day, especially after it starts getting cold

[dieseldawg142]

Originally Posted by DirtyLarry

Cool! We have one, possibly two, more trips coming up as well. Fishing is good this time of year once it starts getting colder in the high country. Less people in the mountains too as most city folk stay home after Labor Day, especially after it starts getting cold

yeah it bites putting it away for the winter. lucky dawg if you got a couple more trips, weather has been so awesome might try grab one more weekend myself. my son & me are taking just the boat up to Murphy lakes next weekend, try snag a couple rainbows 'fore it all freezes over.

had a good couple days at the river. check out the sky! what can i say, weather was outstanding, low 80's.


nite was just as awesome. was a little nippy, not enough to climb out from under the blankets & turn on the furnace though


even the moon came down for a visit

[dieseldawg142]

river is a great place to ride after hi-water. terrain always changes, & legendary mud! my son found one of them holes, then my wife, like a newbie rolls right up on him just as he guns it. perfect angle, right velocity, perfect trajectory, could prob. never do it again, he not only nailed her quad but filled her helmet. funny as s**t! she said if i posted pics of her, my manhood might not make it threw the night, why chance it....
her quad anyways.


these people in the toy hauler behind my truck showed up second day, they seemed pretty normal till that nite. then the 4 of them blew off about $300 of roman candles, SHOOTING EACH OTHER! we sat on the camper roof & had a good lite show as well as laughing our asses off!
then the next morning i expected them to pull a couple atv's or a Razor out of the hauler-nope, no.#13 neon, & he drove that thing, better than some of the trucks down there.

[Zoomad75]

Originally Posted by DirtyLarry

Cool! We have one, possibly two, more trips coming up as well. Fishing is good this time of year once it starts getting colder in the high country. Less people in the mountains too as most city folk stay home after Labor Day, especially after it starts getting cold

Totally looking forward to this coming weekend. Two days away from the rat race, off the grid, unplugged. Power is only 12v, sound system is provided by a worn out small block on headers with cobbled up exhaust. Entertainment by day is completely analog, waiting for the slight tug on the fishing line to react too. Night entertainment is old friends around a campfire, swapping stories and busting each others chops over frosty beverages.

I'll probably throw the keys to the K5 to my boy once we hit dirt as a surprise since he turns 18 the following week. We've not had a lot of time to hit the dirt together lately so it's his turn to drive my butt over the top of Tincup pass. Should be fun for sure.

[Zoomad75]

Great shots Larry! I'll agree that was darn near a perfect weekend outing. I'll step in with my viewpoint..

Our day started a little later than Larry's since Bill and I had to work Friday. Bill was cool enough to stop by my house and pick up my son so we didn't have to leave another vehicle in Canon City to meet me. They rolled up just in time to shut the shop down, change out of my work duds and hit the road. Outside of darn near wiping out the right side of the Blazer not seeing a car when I pulled out of the lot the ride to Salida was uneventful. Pre-trip the boy wasn't sure how the ride would be without tunes so I threw in a pair of speakers since my cheapie kicker box got swiped a while ago. Funny thing was we ended up talking the entire ride up. Good quality time and it made the ride go quick. A quick gas-n-go in Salida with one last call home before we dropped off the grid for a while too.

We turned off the highway near 9:00 at night. First wildlife sighting was about a 1/2 mile off the highway. A truck in front of us kicked on his hazards to alert us. About 30 feet off the road stud a huge buck with the largest rack I've ever seen. Sorry, no photos it was too dark. We plodded up through Mt. Princeton hot springs and then St. Elmo in the darkness. I stopped to ask Bill about airing down and we both agreed to just hit it at street pressure due to the late hour. We both regretted that about 10 minutes later. A couple of white tail and giant elk were spotted on the way up to the summit. We stopped on top for the obligatory shot in front of the summit sign, the darkness hides the sign mostly.

I had planned on letting the boy drive over Tin Cup, but the added degree of difficulty in the dark we both thought it would be safer to not do that yet. I do have to say Tin Cup is a pretty basic trail that most average 4wheel drive trucks can motor right over, but in the dark it changed a lot. That and the last few winters have changed it. More rough, more rocks and less dirt to fill in the gaps. Riding at street pressure was kidney killing. Still, it's been forever that Bill and I wheeled in the dark and it was fun. Plus the star gazing was amazing. We rolled into camp around 10:30 and threw up the tent, cracked a cold one and turned in.

Next morning didn't come fast enough for me. The tent was warm but the ground wasn't as forgiving. The boy bailed for the comfort of the back seat of the K5 early on. So naturally I was first up. But it afforded me shots like this: (mirror lake, pre-dawn)


Breakfast grub on the griddle:


Where is everybody???


Oh yeah, they were warm and comfy!

So we bail out a little later than we all thought it was, but decided to head for Taylor pass. Now the boy is behind the wheel.



The fall aspen colors were in full effect. We nailed the timing for sure!



Taylor pass starts out rocky and doesn't quit. Nothing big, but large enough to be annoying all day long. Like Larry said, we've been here before and it proved to be way different than last time I did it. Little did we know how much had changed. Plus the boy is the pilot, never driven off road in his life. I think we might have tossed him right to the wheeling wolves..



The trail is cool though. It winds in and out of a creek for a good distance. Then you must climb out of that creek.


Here's where it gets really interesting. In this shot Bill is just starting the climb. He's got to pour the coals to the 24v Cummins and he's at the bottom of the pile.



I don't have any shots driving though it in the K5 as I was a little pre-occupied with giving directions. I will say I was nervous, but the kid proved to be a natural. Calm, patient and without the tendency to hit the hammer like his Dad does, or so Larry says. Still he wheeled that section like he's been doing it for a long time. He got hung up, stalled it and had the added challenge of restarting a manual trans truck mid section, but he nailed it. I think we all got surprised by that and the moto-observers too. You see it in the video Larry posted.

We continued on to Taylor lake and completely sucked at fishing, except Larry of course. 3 casts out or so he nailed a pretty cutthroat, then got skunked like the rest of us losers.

Looking back down the valley at what we just came up.


Like I said the colors were amazing.



We camped out on the backside of Taylor pass and I found yet another spot to not sleep on. But many celebratory beers were had for the great drive we made and many tall tales spun. A good time for sure.

Morning broke to another rainstorm and we broke camp quickly and hauled tail down to the road. Keep in mind we weren't really sure where we were at. We had a general idea from a map Bill had and GPS, but we weren't positive how far out of Aspen we were. My problem was we last filled up in Salida and have had a lot of time in low range. My fuel level was now at 1/8 of a tank and falling. We aired up and scored a killer rack for Blazer 2.0 laying on the side of the trailhead. The ride into Aspen was eye opening between the colors and multi-million dollar estates I knew we were in a foreign land. Rolling into town the boy and I spotted 3 four-door Porches and a 4th pulled into the gas station with us. I chugged down as much $4.72/gallon regular as I could stomach and asked Bill which way out of this high rent district. He pointed the way we got the hell out of there.

Home came over Independence pass. I've driven over MANY paved passes in this state and I have to say that was the most sketchy of them all. The Aspen side narrows to 1 lane in spots with blind curves and you are just supposed to "shoot the gap" and go into hoping nobody else is coming. Driving a portly K5, Larry's K10 and Bill's Ram through this mess was akin to threading a needle with a firehose as the thread. We got the first section down and then some nitwit in a Wrangler tried to squeeze the next one. I got over as far as I felt safe to the guardrail and she delivered a crusty look in thanks as she missed my mirror by barely an inch.

Rest of the ride home was easy from there. Only damage sustained was one broken Blazer emblem on the right fender and the rear diff cover lip got peeled back again starting a small leak. All in all a fitting swan song to the 75 and a wonderful beginning to a new off road junkie.

Fun time, fun people and great surroundings. We Colorado boys are truly spoiled by what is right out our backyard.

[dieseldawg142]

Originally Posted by Zoomad75

We Colorado boys are truly spoiled by what is right out our backyard.

dont you know it, awesome pic's!
IF i ever had to move, Colorado would be the ONLY place for me, just have to have the mountains, could not handle living in the flatlands. we dont have as high peaks, but we sure got a lot of them....
some shots from around our place, our house is just around the corner where the river disappears

the Coquihalla

[dieseldawg142]

my son & me went up to Murphy lakes on the weekend.
stopped at silver cr on the way up, so "aqua-dawg" could get some water aerobics, if you have 3 mins to waste....

river dog - YouTube

heading up the "Coke", we will be going up a mountain behind that one later

cant belive DirtyLarry is in fall already, we have some snow on the tops, but as you can see, nothing has even turned yet


doe, a deer..... a female deer...


out in the middle of nowhere run into this rouge cow. would not move untill i gave him a blast on the air horn

[dieseldawg142]

Murphy lakes


with the heat, too much algae bloom in the water, fishing sucked. not impressed look with a 7" rainbow


decided to cut fishing short & hike up Nak peak.

[DirtyLarry]

Very pretty dawg! Those dogs look happier than ever to be splashing around in the water. I’ve never been to the Canadian Rockies but sure love to some time! That Coquihalla is the crazy road that is well known for its rough winter driving, no? I thought I saw something on the Discovery Channel on that.

There is another guy from Chilliwack that I talk to a lot on another forum. He has a 77 K10 with recently installed 1 ton axles and home grown canopy on the back? Do know him? I am sure you wouldn’t forget the truck if you saw it.

Hey, how did you post that video? I messed around for 30 minutes and couldn’t get it to post other than a link. Somehow I figured it out a few months ago after the desert trip but not this time. The FAQ and help area here sux at best

[1leglance]

great pics and write up from both of you guys....

Killer colors in the high country there, great time of year to be out and about.

thanks for giving me even more reason to get my crap together and get back in the dirt

[Zoomad75]

The Kelowna area was pretty hot when I hit it in the summer. A lot like home, but still dry. Probably why there is a lot of winery's up there.

Summit of Tincup is a bit over 11,000 ft and Taylor pass isn't far from that either. Both are well above timberline. I was the lone dude riding around without fuel injection. Larry's 8.1 never stumbled and obviously Bill's 24v Cummins creates it's own atmosphere with it's turbo and electric FI. My little worn out 350 and Q-jet never stumbled, farted or otherwise ran poorly at altitude. Actually, it's the best it's ever ran on a wheeling trip. I was scared to admit it for fear of Murphy slapping me in the face with a stupid failure. Even driving over Independence pass which I think was over 12,000 ft up it didn't load up. I climbed it most of the way in second. Years back that climb would have been in 1st most of the way at 3,000 rpm or more. Weird.

[MTCK]

Great pics Larry! How does the Phoenix do in the cool? Does it have something similar to the FWC thermal pack? Love the K10 with the L78's on it.

[DirtyLarry]

Originally Posted by dieseldawg142

beautiful country DirtyLarry! looks like you had some fine weather.
great way to wrap up the season. just put my camper in the boss'es barn this weekend-day trips now...

Yeah, the season’s over for me too Might do a day trip in a few weeks with the Suburban. Got all winter to lick some minor wounds to get it ready for the White Rim Trail in May 2015.

Originally Posted by MTCK

Great pics Larry! How does the Phoenix do in the cool? Does it have something similar to the FWC thermal pack? Love the K10 with the L78's on it.

Yeah, Phoenix has an Artic Pac that is standard. Between that and the heater it does great in the bitter cold. I’ve stayed in it 4 nights that were well below freezing and it stayed very comfortable inside. Interesting story about Phoenix, but the owners of Phoenix father is the founder of FWC. That said, the best parts of the FWC (aluminum frame construction, insulation, etc.) are definitely in the Phoenix campers blood.

I tell you those Q78’s are awesome for mountain trips over the wide LT315’s I run on the desert trips. The Q78’s Super Swampers keep the track narrow for the mountain Jeep trails and at 16 psi they ride great and bite like grappling hooks on everything except ice. Although, the Q78’s look kind of silly now that I put the wider flares on it. The 315’s look better with these flares.

It probably would have been warmer these nights if it would have snowed more. The wide open clear skies made it bitter cold and the wind was a killer. The bottles of water left in the cab were frozen solid by morning This was October 2011.

[Greenlee]

Beautiful pictures Larry! I really want to camp in these areas some day.

[dieseldawg142]

having camping D.T.'s....hi 20's with 30-40 mph winds, aint taking no roofs down today.
decided to take the dawg & do one of the local bench roads-'bout a 60 mile loop wandering threw the mountains. do-able in any kind of vehicle, but still a nice drive