DVD
Adventurer
Thirty-one years ago, we spent some time in the San Juans for our honeymoon.
Thirty-one yrs ago
For our anniversary this year, we returned to the San Juan mountains for 8 days of camping / exploring.
Incredible that the same sign is still in place: "Men in Mining"
"Women in Mining" too
Thirty-one years later, at least we have a better camera.
Here's some background to the trip:
By the numbers
1 great anniversary trip
6 nights camping (sleeping in back of LR3)
2 nights in a hotel
9 days and nights travelling to someplace new and sleeping in different place than the night before.
7 days driving on trails
2 days highway travel (approx 1000 highway miles total)
The approach
We didn't want to spend all day driving but rather allow time to stop and explore and hike and get out into environment. There's a quote from Edward Abbey: "A man on foot, on horseback or on a bicycle will see more, feel more, enjoy more in one mile than the motorized tourists can in a hundred miles."
I think that slowly driving an offroad trail with the windows open is more toward the walk/bike end of the continuum, but we also wanted to allow plenty of time outside the vehicle.
The platform
Given that this was an anniversary trip, I tried to make sure I had all reasonable accommodations planned (and then some). The camping/overlanding aspect seemed like a culmination of lots of previous experience, previous gear purchases, and some good new ideas.
Here is our typical camping set up.
Sleep in back of LR3. While planning, I sent my wife some links about the area, and she read about recent "problem bear" warnings and said she didn't want to sleep in the tent. That's legit, so we determined to sleep in the LR3. This was one of the deciding factors for getting an LR3. The back quickly and easily folds completely flat and can accommodate a full double air mattress. Because we'd be on the move every day, We came up with the idea of the "insta-bed" (pat pending), which consists of laying down a liner (an old comforter), then an air-mattress, sleeping bags, and pillows, then rolling-up the whole mess for travelling configuration.
Insta-bed in travelling configuration
Then when it's time to make camp, unroll the "system," blow up the air mattress (I have a high-power blower intended for a boat dingy that connects directly to the battery), and in under 5 min, sleeping mode is ready:
Insta-bed in sleeping configuration
I tried to keep in mind LandCruiser Phil's "5 minute rule": No individual task should take longer than 5 min when setting up camp. When we were out there doing it, however, I wasn't checking my watch, but rather celebrating the end of a great day, enjoying the scenery, and trying to find my beer.
Day tent for changing room, keeping things dry, etc. I bought this tent on CL a few years ago and hadn't used it much. It is by no means a heavy-duty tent, but it's really cool and designed for the LR3, and it worked perfectly for this trip.
Here's the LR3 with tent attached. (We lowered the vehicle to "access" height to make it easier to get in and out while camping.)
Here's copy-paste from my wife's description of the tent to somebody else:
"It's so cool! It's like 10 ft tall, has been awesome in the rain, attaches to the back of the LR3. It doesn't have a floor so we put a mat down, and because I was freaked about bears, we slept in the back of the LR3 anyway. The three sides not opening to the truck have full screens...it's just an awesome day tent."
Happy wife, ....
Mr. Buddy heater. I threw this in because my wife is a cold wienie. Temps were pretty moderate, but it was nice to fire up the heater in the tent in the morning while getting dressed and ready.
12v fridge. The fridge was a big hit too. This was my most recent hobby purchase, and this was its first long trip. At the time of purchase, my wife was not convinced that $400 for a used Engel fridge was a wise investment, but she's a believer now. No worries about running out of ice, no sloshing noise on the trail, no soggy food.
Roof rack. I put the recovery stuff (hi-lift, traction mats, and 4-gal gas) down first and attached these individually (thankfully, didn't ever need them). Then I'd throw the daily-use stuff (chairs, rolled-up mat, tent, water-proof duffel bag, and folding table) on top. Attach stratch-its, and it's a 5 min task to get stuff up/off the roof.
Roof rack packed for the day
The trip
Days 0 and 1. The highway travel was uneventful. The day before we left, Phoenix had a record high of 117, so we were glad to escape the heat. We stopped at 4-corners and did the tourist thing. Last time we were there was 31 years ago on the honeymoon trip. I liked it better then (free and not built up), but it's still an interesting place.
4-Corners: Laurie gets AZ and UT; I get NM and CO.
A little before Rico, CO, we hit the trails, taking Scotch Creek Trail to Hermosa Trail, planning to camp at the east end of Hermosa. It was a Saturday, and the closer we got to highway 550, the fewer vacant dispersed campsites were available. We were fortunate to find a nice campsite that was kind of obscured.
Running stream along the trail - don't see that in AZ
First San Juan campsite in a valley on the backside of Purgatory ski resort
Day 2. We drove highway 550 into Silverton, a beautiful road, and the road we would have taken 31 yrs ago. You don't necessarily have to leave pavement for awesome scenery. Something else you don't see on offroad trails: a group of 4 Lamborghinis passed us, having fun on the twisties.
View from scenic overlook south of Silverton
We walked around Silverton. It still has an authentic, small-town feel. Then it was good to get off pavement and hit the trails heading out of Silverton. The pictures tell the story.
Beautiful scenery and clouds and weather on Cement Creek Trail. This is shaping up to be a great trip!
View from Animas Forks ghost town
The same view from inside one of the buildings
Exploring the abandoned buildings
Indoor facilities
Nice bay window
Nice view of the LR3
From there it was over Hurricane Pass, and more incredible scenery.
See the trail winding through the mountains (near Cinnamon Pass)
We took a little hike on the Cinnamon Pass trailhead and certainly noticed that air is thinner over 12,000-plus feet
After Cinnamon Pass, we explored American Basin, more beautiful views, then continued a little ways further down Cinnamon trail until we found a nice campsite, along a creek, just past American Basin.
Mountain view from camp
Camp set
This stream was a stones throw from our camp, so we could hear the rushing water while going to sleep
A monsoon rolled through with some rain, then the promise of better weather
Bear-aware camping: hanging up the trash
Continued on next post.
Thirty-one yrs ago
For our anniversary this year, we returned to the San Juan mountains for 8 days of camping / exploring.
Incredible that the same sign is still in place: "Men in Mining"
"Women in Mining" too
Thirty-one years later, at least we have a better camera.
Here's some background to the trip:
By the numbers
1 great anniversary trip
6 nights camping (sleeping in back of LR3)
2 nights in a hotel
9 days and nights travelling to someplace new and sleeping in different place than the night before.
7 days driving on trails
2 days highway travel (approx 1000 highway miles total)
The approach
We didn't want to spend all day driving but rather allow time to stop and explore and hike and get out into environment. There's a quote from Edward Abbey: "A man on foot, on horseback or on a bicycle will see more, feel more, enjoy more in one mile than the motorized tourists can in a hundred miles."
I think that slowly driving an offroad trail with the windows open is more toward the walk/bike end of the continuum, but we also wanted to allow plenty of time outside the vehicle.
The platform
Given that this was an anniversary trip, I tried to make sure I had all reasonable accommodations planned (and then some). The camping/overlanding aspect seemed like a culmination of lots of previous experience, previous gear purchases, and some good new ideas.
Here is our typical camping set up.
Sleep in back of LR3. While planning, I sent my wife some links about the area, and she read about recent "problem bear" warnings and said she didn't want to sleep in the tent. That's legit, so we determined to sleep in the LR3. This was one of the deciding factors for getting an LR3. The back quickly and easily folds completely flat and can accommodate a full double air mattress. Because we'd be on the move every day, We came up with the idea of the "insta-bed" (pat pending), which consists of laying down a liner (an old comforter), then an air-mattress, sleeping bags, and pillows, then rolling-up the whole mess for travelling configuration.
Insta-bed in travelling configuration
Then when it's time to make camp, unroll the "system," blow up the air mattress (I have a high-power blower intended for a boat dingy that connects directly to the battery), and in under 5 min, sleeping mode is ready:
Insta-bed in sleeping configuration
I tried to keep in mind LandCruiser Phil's "5 minute rule": No individual task should take longer than 5 min when setting up camp. When we were out there doing it, however, I wasn't checking my watch, but rather celebrating the end of a great day, enjoying the scenery, and trying to find my beer.
Day tent for changing room, keeping things dry, etc. I bought this tent on CL a few years ago and hadn't used it much. It is by no means a heavy-duty tent, but it's really cool and designed for the LR3, and it worked perfectly for this trip.
Here's the LR3 with tent attached. (We lowered the vehicle to "access" height to make it easier to get in and out while camping.)
Here's copy-paste from my wife's description of the tent to somebody else:
"It's so cool! It's like 10 ft tall, has been awesome in the rain, attaches to the back of the LR3. It doesn't have a floor so we put a mat down, and because I was freaked about bears, we slept in the back of the LR3 anyway. The three sides not opening to the truck have full screens...it's just an awesome day tent."
Happy wife, ....
Mr. Buddy heater. I threw this in because my wife is a cold wienie. Temps were pretty moderate, but it was nice to fire up the heater in the tent in the morning while getting dressed and ready.
12v fridge. The fridge was a big hit too. This was my most recent hobby purchase, and this was its first long trip. At the time of purchase, my wife was not convinced that $400 for a used Engel fridge was a wise investment, but she's a believer now. No worries about running out of ice, no sloshing noise on the trail, no soggy food.
Roof rack. I put the recovery stuff (hi-lift, traction mats, and 4-gal gas) down first and attached these individually (thankfully, didn't ever need them). Then I'd throw the daily-use stuff (chairs, rolled-up mat, tent, water-proof duffel bag, and folding table) on top. Attach stratch-its, and it's a 5 min task to get stuff up/off the roof.
Roof rack packed for the day
The trip
Days 0 and 1. The highway travel was uneventful. The day before we left, Phoenix had a record high of 117, so we were glad to escape the heat. We stopped at 4-corners and did the tourist thing. Last time we were there was 31 years ago on the honeymoon trip. I liked it better then (free and not built up), but it's still an interesting place.
4-Corners: Laurie gets AZ and UT; I get NM and CO.
A little before Rico, CO, we hit the trails, taking Scotch Creek Trail to Hermosa Trail, planning to camp at the east end of Hermosa. It was a Saturday, and the closer we got to highway 550, the fewer vacant dispersed campsites were available. We were fortunate to find a nice campsite that was kind of obscured.
Running stream along the trail - don't see that in AZ
First San Juan campsite in a valley on the backside of Purgatory ski resort
Day 2. We drove highway 550 into Silverton, a beautiful road, and the road we would have taken 31 yrs ago. You don't necessarily have to leave pavement for awesome scenery. Something else you don't see on offroad trails: a group of 4 Lamborghinis passed us, having fun on the twisties.
View from scenic overlook south of Silverton
We walked around Silverton. It still has an authentic, small-town feel. Then it was good to get off pavement and hit the trails heading out of Silverton. The pictures tell the story.
Beautiful scenery and clouds and weather on Cement Creek Trail. This is shaping up to be a great trip!
View from Animas Forks ghost town
The same view from inside one of the buildings
Exploring the abandoned buildings
Indoor facilities
Nice bay window
Nice view of the LR3
From there it was over Hurricane Pass, and more incredible scenery.
See the trail winding through the mountains (near Cinnamon Pass)
We took a little hike on the Cinnamon Pass trailhead and certainly noticed that air is thinner over 12,000-plus feet
After Cinnamon Pass, we explored American Basin, more beautiful views, then continued a little ways further down Cinnamon trail until we found a nice campsite, along a creek, just past American Basin.
Mountain view from camp
Camp set
This stream was a stones throw from our camp, so we could hear the rushing water while going to sleep
A monsoon rolled through with some rain, then the promise of better weather
Bear-aware camping: hanging up the trash
Continued on next post.
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