07 Off The Leash Adventure Xterra

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Our plan was to make a quick run to Lolo, Montana, hook up with some friends, then convoy south by southeast with Ouray, Colorado as our mid-stop destination. From there we would head east over Engineer Pass and on towards Colorado Springs where we were meeting up with around 15 of our good buddies to spend 5 days relaxing and catching up in a rented house. My Wife and I (and the 2 mutts) would then spend the next week and a few days meandering north by northwest back to BC and the real world. Our only "via point" that we agreed was must-see, was to go experience Devils Tower. Aside from that we were going to just drive and see where we ended up. We weren't setting out for a 100% overland-offroad adventure, but more of a globally minded road trip with some adventure, off-roading, overland style travel, and dispersed camping strewn into the mix. I love a good road trip, always have. I feel at home with wheels turning underneath me. My Wife and I have travelledthousands of miles on motorcycle, and I grew up getting stuffed into the back of whatever land yaght my Father purchased and hauled off to see what laid down the end of that road. This entire 2 1/2 week road trip-adventure-experiance was certainly one I'll never forget. We covered 6000km, drove through 7 States (some of them multiple times), and aside from the 5 days at our rental house, we only spent one night in a motel (man must shower occasionally). The sights we saw (both man-made and born from mother nature) were breathtaking, and even now that I have been re-assimilated into the work-borg my memories are pulling me back to my recent vacation.

 

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"We don't allow those here". We left our house after work on a Thursday afternoon and made it to the Couer D'alene area before darkness and exhaustion form the work day caught up with us. As we were in unfamiliar territory and as it was now pitch black we decided to head for the closest campground for the evening. We located an "RV resort" and upon trying to check in were unceremoniously informed that our rooftop tent equipped 4x4 was not allowed in their fancy-schmancy resort. Undaunted, we continued on and located a beautiful little friendly campground along I90 at Wolf Creek, where we bedded down for the night. (sorry , no pictures yet)
Friday morning we brewed a mandatory coffee and got back on the road, aiming for our friends house in Lolo. We arrived around lunch, had some great big group hugs with our fantastic friends, saddled back up and headed south towards Salmon Idaho and beyond. At Salmon, we took the desolate Hwy28 and found a fantastic dispersed campsite area above the ghost town of Gilmore. We camped at around 9000 ft, and when we awoke we were presented with a breakfast of fresh biscuits and gravy from our good friends. Let me tell you, as a Canuck I am quite unfamiliar with biscuits and gravy. My only previous experience had been to attempt to try some gelatinous snotty looking concoction boiling in a crock pot at a motel continental breakfast. That disgusting abomination kept me from ever even attempting to try biscuits and gravy until our good friend Rebekah prepared them for us in the morning shadows of some fantastic Idaho mountains. To say the dish was excellent would be an understatement.

 

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Enough of talking of breakfast, time to push off and head towards Utah. More to come.

 

[vonguido]

Just went through your build, great stuff, very well thought out. I hope you have safe travels back home, it certainly looks like it's going to be a lot of fun thats for sure

 

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Amazing how life gets in the way, and you neglect the more important things in life.....like posting more pictures of your 2017 summer adventure.

 

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Our next overnight stop was at Starvation Lake, Utah. We found a nice off the grid place to camp out, got our roofttop tents all cozy, made burritos and sat down and enjoyed the evening



In the morning we headed out early as we wanted to make it to Ouray that afternoon. We stuck with a somewhat direct route, hitting a highway or two for awhile then taking some beautiful secondary mountain roads once we crossed into Colorado. We stopped at the summit of Douglass Pass to enjoy the views, and welcome ourselves to Colorado then pushed for Ouray from there.



Try as I did, I could not drop this stalker in the FJ



We made it to Ouray, and tried looking for a local campsite to no avail, we then started looking for a motel room, but as we decided to push into Ouray on the July 4th long weekend, there was barely spare space to walk on the sidewalk, never mind spare accommodations anywhere in town. This turned out to a blessing in disguise, as we simple decided to head for The Alpine Loop and figured on finding a suitable overnight spot somewhere "up there".

 

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We decided to take the Mineral Creek Trail section of the Alpine Loop, up to meet with Engineer Pass. It had rained earlier, and the lower trail rocky uphill sections were slick as doggy poop. The Xterra slid off one off-camber uphill track a few feet towards a ledge (which certainly gave the co-pilot a quick fright) though she stuck her ground and all was ok. The FJ's trailer also managed to get a little stuck on one rocky technical section, so we winched it up and over without too much issue at all. I have ot say, the Mineral Creek Trail was something else, and my buddy was able to pull his trailer up without any aggravation or real issues at all.

My darling Wifey, is very "sensitive" of heights, and decided to get out and walk the one ledge on Mineral Creek Trail.

 

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We ended up finding an epic little spot to overnight, just as dusk was approaching. It was simply amazing and i can still hardly find the words to describe it. In my opinion, this is exactly what "overlanding" is to me. To travel and explore the road less travelled and happen upon random small slices of heaven to pop your tent for the evening, to sit back with good friends, share some laughs, have a beer, recount the days adventure, and plan for the next days travels.

 

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The next morning we packed up and continued on our upwardly trajectory. We hitched onto the Engineer Pass main road and followed it uphill to the summit. It was truly spectacular, because of our primo overnight location we were rewarded with having Engineer Pass trail entirely to ourselves. The track was certainly muddy, slippery, and greasy in spots (which made it felt more precarious than it actually was). I had never driven up to such an elevation and now that I'm sitting here at work typing I an envious of my summer adventure self for the experience. We even happened upon a fancy State supplied toilet (who would have figured, pottie break at 9000ft)...you have to love Colorado.

 

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Once we crested the Summit, we took the time to definitely take it all in. The top of the world sure is a beautiful place. This was one of the "bucket list" spots we had talked about for the year prior to embarking on our 6000km adventure and I sure am glad I was able to satisfy crossing it off the list. As we had a scheduled engagement in Colorado Springs that evening, we packed up, pointed our trusty rigs down the other side and kept on truckin', waving a tearful goodbye (though temporary I'm sure) to the majesty of the mountains that surround Ouray.

 

[bigskypylot]

Once we crested the Summit, we took the time to definitely take it all in. The top of the world sure is a beautiful place. This was one of the "bucket list" spots we had talked about for the year prior to embarking on our 6000km adventure and I sure am glad I was able to satisfy crossing it off the list. As we had a scheduled engagement in Colorado Springs that evening, we packed up, pointed our trusty rigs down the other side and kept on truckin', waving a tearful goodbye (though temporary I'm sure) to the majesty of the mountains that surround Ouray)

Great trip! Just curious what storage rack setup you are using above the wet box? I have a CVT Summit Series tent and using a drop-in roof tray to mount my tent on. I'd like more storage for extra gas/water cans over the wet box if I can. Thanks!

 

[MNCarl]

Wow , excellent thread, I just found it.
I was wondering what you had for a vehicle, You have commented on my thread a couple of time (thanks by the way)
Question...I have been wanting to mount a tablet for maps / navigation in the same location you have yours....right over the top of the stock stereo head unit.
Can you describe how you mounted your tablet like that ? I was going to try to fabricate something myself.... Did you purchase some sort of RAM mount ? Make some thing on your own?
Thanks in advance.
-Carl

 

[07BlackSpecV]

What a great adventure. My wife and I are heading to Colorado this summer around the same time and are at least going between Ouray and Telluride. Hope to get some amazing pictures like you did. Looks unbelievable.

 

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Great trip! Just curious what storage rack setup you are using above the wet box? I have a CVT Summit Series tent and using a drop-in roof tray to mount my tent on. I'd like more storage for extra gas/water cans over the wet box if I can. Thanks!

I bought a $49 hitch cargo rack and modified it to fit on my oem roof rack. I removed the lid of the wet box and used some long leaf spring type clamps to hold it to the rails. That's about it. It does the job just fine.

Sent from the Mountains

 

[Trikebubble]

Wow , excellent thread, I just found it.
I was wondering what you had for a vehicle, You have commented on my thread a couple of time (thanks by the way)
Question...I have been wanting to mount a tablet for maps / navigation in the same location you have yours....right over the top of the stock stereo head unit.
Can you describe how you mounted your tablet like that ? I was going to try to fabricate something myself.... Did you purchase some sort of RAM mount ? Make some thing on your own?
Thanks in advance.
-Carl

I bought a tablet mount that fits into the cd slot. In hind sight it was not a great idea. It held the tablet fine, but messed up my cd player. I will probably look into a better Ram style mount, and secure it better somehow, probably with a Ram mount into the dash somehow. I sure like having the tablet for navigating off road though, it works great.

Sent from the Mountains