WideFetish Forum
General Category => Trip Reports => Topic started by: T Hock on June 29, 2019, 06:45:11 pm
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So the wife and I put the TADMO BL thru it's longest road trip to date,
26 days, 5051 miles, 17 National Parks/Monuments in the west.
We both had a great time despite having to deal with the hoards of tourons that flock like lemmings to the
popular parks this time of year.
The wife had never visited these NP's before and my last time was in 77 while on a motorcycle trip with a buddy, so we were due.
I'm 62 so I purchased the Federal Lands Senior Lifetime Pass ($80) for free admission and 1/2 price camping, it pais for itself after the 3rd NP. :)
I purposely avoided camping in the NP CG's by boondocking (our favorites for privacy and scenery) or using NF or BLM CG's adjacent to the NP's .
We only stayed in motels 3 times for the purposes of showering, doing laundry and filling the cooler with their ice. ;)
I also avoided interstates as much as possible and took scenic byways instead.
The van and conversion systems worked flawlessly the whole trip including at elevations over 10K.
On day 1 we headed south from Redding and instead of taking I-5 went down the eastside of the Sierra on Hwy. 395 and stayed in Tuff CG just south of Mammoth Lakes the first night.
Dinner is ready, to be continued...
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Day 2 we continued down the E-side and passed thru Bishop just before the Mule Days parade was going to start, didn't stay for it though.
We stopped at Manzanar and checked it out, Whitney wasn't visible due to clouds but the rest of the range looked great draped in snow. :)
Continued down 395 into the urban sprawl of SoCal and spent 2 days with brother Chad in Oceanside and
2 days with bro Ned in Riverside to attend his daughters HS Graduation.
After the Bro time in SoCal we headed east on I-40 and boondocked for the night on NF land 10 miles before
Grand Canyon NP South Rim entrance.
Got up early and spent the next morning/afternoon at GC South Rim visitors center, viewpoint trails and
gift shops. (I hate em, but do it fer Mo)
Mo was actually moved to tears when seeing the GC for the first time. :)
We then headed towards Jacob Lake where we got a CG for the night before hitting the North Rim the next morning.
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Cool trip Tad!
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Lookin good Tad
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Thanks Ron n Russ,
back to the trip...
TR's gunna be way too wordy so I'm gunna cut back on the jabber and just post up pics of where and what we saw.
After a day each a both rims of the GC we next headed to Zion NP.
We wanted to hike The Narrows but it was still closed due to high water runoff.
I spotted a couple of climbers on Moonlight Buttress, zoom in on the 3rd pic down, bottom 3rd of the buttress.
Fuk, guess I can't post pics taken vertical.
I flipped them in my album before posting here but they load here in landscape mode,
and yeah I'm an idiot so there's that. :)
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👍🏽
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After 2 days in the Zion area we headed to Cedar Breaks NM which was still closed due to snow,
so we then continued on to Bryce Canyon NP.
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Next up was Grand Staircase Escalante NM
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Next we headed to Capital Reef NP.
BVB, The American Legend has some routes here,
RIP Bob
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We then moved on to Glen Canyon NRA and Natural Bridges NM.
If ya haven't figured it out yet I took a buttload of rock pics. :)
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Then it was up to the Moab area for a few days at Arches and Canyonlands NP's.
Arches NP.
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Good lookin trip!
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Sounds like a lot of fun it's been so long since I've gotten out I'm jealous
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Thanks guys.
Canyonlands NP.
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Awesome trip report and photos.
Clicking on (“viewing”) the sideways pics correctly oriented (and enlarged) them on my iPad.
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After our time in the Moab area we headed into Denver to visit an old high school buddy of mine and spent a night there before heading up to Boulder, Boulder Canyon, Longs Peak and Rocky Mountain NP.
Trail Ridge Road in RMNP had opened 2 days before we got there so we took it thru the park and boondocked north of Steamboat Springs.
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We next had a long drive day up to Riverton Wyoming where we got a motel 6 for showers, laundry and refilled the cooler with their ice.
Next morning we headed to Grand Tetons NP, secured a FSCG just before the park entrance then went down to Jackson Hole for dinner, beers, elk and bison burgers at The Million Dollar Cowboy Bar.
Spent the next day in the park doin the routine, visitors center, shops, viewpoint trails and many
photos before returning to camp.
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Spent the next 2 days in Yellowstone NP doin the routine and dealing with fukwad tourons that
would slow our roll by stopping in the road up to 30 min. for photo ops of bears, bison and other indigenous creatures, the rules apply to everyone but them I guess. :(
Watched a famous geyser blow it's load, visited the stinky places with boiling water, the canyon,
waterfalls, lake etc.
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Nice trip Tad! TFPU
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Cool looking trip Tad ! Say hi next time you’re in Moablandia!
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TADMO kicks ass!
You just outlined my retirement trip! (The wife’s retirement, that is). Next year!
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Yep fucking awesome thanks for sharing
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^^^
Thanks guys, but we ain't done yet. :)
After the 2 days in Yellowstone we drove to Idaho Falls to visit Donna, an old friend of Mo's and spent the night at her place before heading to Craters Of The Moon NM where we did the routine then headed up to spend the night
boondocked on FS land north of Ketchum.
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Next day was Sawtooth NRA, Stanley Id. then spent the night in a FSCG on the S. Fork of the Peyette River, lotsa rafters and kayakers there.
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Next day was a long drive day to Bend Or. for the night before heading south to Crater Lake NP for the routine,
believe it or not we had never visited this park before despite the fact we live 3 hrs. away.
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So the original plan was to head home after Crater Lake but the Redding forecast was for temps over 100 so we
decided to extend the trip a few days and spent that night in a FSCG on the Umpqua River before hitting the Oregon coast, Bandon area for a night then down to Redwoods NP for a night at our Orick area boondock site.
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All good things must eventually come to an end, the sun setting on our adventure,
we headed home to the Redding oven the next day. :(
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Nice job thanks
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Good job Tad! Quite the trip!
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I like it. We're a little over a year away from having no kids in the house. And we plan on getting a similar van and doing month long road trips, just like you.
Nice report and very encouraging.
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Awesome which was your favorite park? Did you get any climbing in? Thanks for the picks, looked like you had a great time.
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Super cool tad! more picks of the van!!! does it have a name? you mentioned buying ice for the cooler? don't you have a fridge? I put a 60l fridge in my rig. tons of room and keeps my seltzers sooooo cold :)
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Looking forward to your first post Covid Trip report Tad
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Thanks guys.
Big K; No favorite park really,
but I will say that we enjoyed the dispersed boondock camping on Forest Service or BLM land more than staying in
developed campgrounds.
Trip was basically sightseeing as the wife had never been to most of these parks before.
No roped climbing, didn't take gear just shoes, did some ez bouldering and mild 3rd classing.
Nick; Van is named the TADMOBL, my first name + the wifes nickname Mo + BL as in mobile.
Yeah I have a 12 volt frig/freezer that we keep perishable food in but we carry a cooler for Beer, wine, iced tea, milk etc.
Frosty; trust me we both are as well. We had planned a trip for the pacific northwest to northern plains states (Ore., Wash., Idaho, Mont. Dakotas) but will see when restrictions get lifted?