Saddletramp
GOLD Star
While attending the campfire one evening this fox decide to check out ol’ Saddletramp. First picture is at 9pm and the fox walked through just after 7:30pm. Darkness never comes that far north.
Events/Trails Saddletramp's 2019 Summer Adventure (7 Viewers)
- Thread starter medtro
- Start date
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Saddletramp
GOLD Star
We were told to camp at Lake Muncho but we were not that hearty yet. Lake was still frozen over
Saddletramp
GOLD Star
Bears were everywhere, never thought I would get tired of taking pictures of them but by the end of the first week we had quit stopping.
Unless they got close
Unless they got close
Saddletramp
GOLD Star
The north slope up to Prudhoe Bay was very sparse with few trees and only musk ox and caribou to see.
Nice pics looks like a great time!
Saddletramp
GOLD Star
Prudhoe Bay was cold like 28 degrees and wind gusting to 50, and the farthest point north in the US you can drive. The ocean was still frozen and camping there was out of the question. My friend and neighbor who drive his red Jeep, Eddie had to stay in the Jeep. Oil town and little else
Saddletramp
GOLD Star
‘Desperado waiting for a train’
Saddletramp
GOLD Star
I witnessed this sequence at least 35 times as Eddie was assisted up the stairs to the tent. Some nights he was ready to go and ran right up, others he needed a lot of persuasion
What equipment worked well and not so well on your trip?
Saddletramp
GOLD Star
If the eagles were around, Eddie had no interest in getting out of the tent. This is a 60# dog who instinctively knew there was danger
This dog also got used to sleeping on the exped mattress in the tent so he decided hotel beds were his too.
This dog also got used to sleeping on the exped mattress in the tent so he decided hotel beds were his too.
Saddletramp
GOLD Star
Equipment wise, everything worked. We over packed and could have gotten by with far less. It is a well known fact that I carry too much s#|+ but I knew my neighbor might forget stuff . Jim’s failures were tires and the cover for his bike and a Yeti type ice chest that got fresh ice every 2 or three days, 2bags or more at a time and water needs to be drained which requires pulling the ice chest out of the Jeep. At least $150 spent on ice maybe more
My failure was in not recognizing where the exhaust was going to hit trailer wiring on my rear rack.
. This is more than 14 inches from the exhaust but it fried the wires and shorted blowing several fuses. When the brake light fuse blew it locks the transmission shifter. I discovered this whil stopped for road construction outside of Kanab UT, I shut the truck off in park, restarted the truck but could not shift in to gear. I had to force the shifter since there were a lot of impatient drivers (more than 30) behind me. @medtro was my lifeline, after I replaced the fuses in the dash, there were still problems, Jackson reminded me about the fuses under the hood. Replaced the blown fuses and reset via the Scan Gauge.
I will add a few other things in a few categories
My failure was in not recognizing where the exhaust was going to hit trailer wiring on my rear rack.
I will add a few other things in a few categories
Saddletramp
GOLD Star
Weather:
Light rain or heavy rain make great sound on the tent and allows sound sleep. Rain in the morning sucks because you and all your gear are wet.
Rain and wind suck even more, open windows on the tent when taking down allows water to enter.
Lots of rain and lots of wind really suck because everything flutters and you cannot set up awnings to get out of the rain.
Temperatures in the 30’s and below coupled with lots of rain, lots of wind and mud suck the most of all. It takes a lot of energy to take everything down and it stays wet until the next sunny day. One good thing about these days was the mosquito population was almost non existent......almost.
Clothing, things that dry quickly like light pants were great. My rain shell worked perfectly. Layers of clothing were key, stripping off or adding layers were frequent daily.
Take a crappy extra jacket (mine was an old Bugaboo I found hanging in the woods of the Bob Marshall wilderness) because muddy trucks transfer mud to you. Changing tires or getting on the ground for anything meant mud. This was a critical item that allowed me to not worry about getting everything dirty in the truck or tent, just strip it off and put it in a plastic grocery bag, wash it with you clothes at the next laundry facility.
Shoes : it was great to have TopSiders, they deal with wet and clean easily and double has the slippers for getting up and down the ladder. Rubber boots were helpful but I could have gotten by without the, I just needed to be careful walking around the lakes, streams and bogs. Tennis shoes were a staple, walking more than 5 miles each day or more would have been less comfortable in boots. Boots requires more cleaning and tended to stay wet longer. I would have skipped the boots and the sandals, they just weren’t necessary.
Awning on the truck was great to get out of the rain so we could cook dinner or breakfast. Wind was our enemy, decided to always take down the awning every night no matter what. It was a total pain to take down in the rain and wind.
Clothes:
Most days we wore long sleeves t-shirts with long sleeved outer shirts then a sweater or sweatshirt and maybe a rain jacket. Kuhl pants dry fast and wash easily. Wool socks and cotton socks depending on the temperature but change socks daily, your feet and your neighbors will thank you. Same goes for underwear. I used a lot of ExOfficio underwear and while it dries quickly, it would have been more comfortable to wear cotton. A wool shirt-jacket gifted to me by @Pitch was most useful and my favorite- thank you Eric.
Sleeping in silky type material meant no binding up as you rolled over at night, I slept with a cotton fitted sheet over my Exped and a top sheet then one fleece blanket and two other wool blankets. Temperatures ranged from the low 20’s to the 40’s at night, I was only cold once and that was camping In Canada during a rainy windy night. My fault for not putting on my thermals.
Hats:
You need several, wool or synthetic stocking caps as they do get wet. Ball caps help keep rain off of your glasses. A wide brimmed hat keeps the sun off your face, neck and ears.
Light rain or heavy rain make great sound on the tent and allows sound sleep. Rain in the morning sucks because you and all your gear are wet.
Rain and wind suck even more, open windows on the tent when taking down allows water to enter.
Lots of rain and lots of wind really suck because everything flutters and you cannot set up awnings to get out of the rain.
Temperatures in the 30’s and below coupled with lots of rain, lots of wind and mud suck the most of all. It takes a lot of energy to take everything down and it stays wet until the next sunny day. One good thing about these days was the mosquito population was almost non existent......almost.
Clothing, things that dry quickly like light pants were great. My rain shell worked perfectly. Layers of clothing were key, stripping off or adding layers were frequent daily.
Take a crappy extra jacket (mine was an old Bugaboo I found hanging in the woods of the Bob Marshall wilderness) because muddy trucks transfer mud to you. Changing tires or getting on the ground for anything meant mud. This was a critical item that allowed me to not worry about getting everything dirty in the truck or tent, just strip it off and put it in a plastic grocery bag, wash it with you clothes at the next laundry facility.
Shoes : it was great to have TopSiders, they deal with wet and clean easily and double has the slippers for getting up and down the ladder. Rubber boots were helpful but I could have gotten by without the, I just needed to be careful walking around the lakes, streams and bogs. Tennis shoes were a staple, walking more than 5 miles each day or more would have been less comfortable in boots. Boots requires more cleaning and tended to stay wet longer. I would have skipped the boots and the sandals, they just weren’t necessary.
Awning on the truck was great to get out of the rain so we could cook dinner or breakfast. Wind was our enemy, decided to always take down the awning every night no matter what. It was a total pain to take down in the rain and wind.
Clothes:
Most days we wore long sleeves t-shirts with long sleeved outer shirts then a sweater or sweatshirt and maybe a rain jacket. Kuhl pants dry fast and wash easily. Wool socks and cotton socks depending on the temperature but change socks daily, your feet and your neighbors will thank you. Same goes for underwear. I used a lot of ExOfficio underwear and while it dries quickly, it would have been more comfortable to wear cotton. A wool shirt-jacket gifted to me by @Pitch was most useful and my favorite- thank you Eric.
Sleeping in silky type material meant no binding up as you rolled over at night, I slept with a cotton fitted sheet over my Exped and a top sheet then one fleece blanket and two other wool blankets. Temperatures ranged from the low 20’s to the 40’s at night, I was only cold once and that was camping In Canada during a rainy windy night. My fault for not putting on my thermals.
Hats:
You need several, wool or synthetic stocking caps as they do get wet. Ball caps help keep rain off of your glasses. A wide brimmed hat keeps the sun off your face, neck and ears.
Saddletramp
GOLD Star
Food and storage:
A fridge is priceless. My now 7 year old Waeco fridge was flawless, never drained my battery even after two and a half days of not running the truck. Fresh food, salad and fruit are staples. One can camp for a few days or even a week with freeze dried stuff but beyond that you crave real food. Having a salad with dinner was a real treat, we tried to have it every other day. These items last in a fridge but turn to crap in a ice chest, but we who have converted already know this.
We bought groceries everywhere, cooking almost all dinners. We seldom ate lunch (like maybe twice) but snacked on fruit or crackers/chips and nuts during the day. Too much salt in canned food and freeze dried can make one feel crappy.
In many picture you see us cooking in cast iron, it holds heat even in the rain and wind and we cooked steaks, chicken, fish, pork and potatoes in the skillet. While my non stick works, it would not hold heat once the burner was turned off. Most of the time we cooked eggs and hash browns in the nonstick. I am going to start carrying my cast iron skillet for longer trips.
Zatarains brand cheesy rice is awesome so is the Knorr brand cheesy rice and these are great sides for every meat. We also cooked pasta, added either red sauce or white sauce from jars. We preferred the white sauce most of the time. We cooked fresh mushrooms and onions plus bell pepper to make a tasty one plate meal
Having dedicated food boxes for cans and jars reduced rattling and made finding things easy. A separate box for dried goods and bread was also helpful.
The Partner Steel stove was flawless. I went through 3 full propane (1# each) plus a bit from a fourth. Buy it here, I saw prices in some places exceeding $7 per bottle. The cheapest was still more than you pay in the Lower 48.
JetBoil. My go to coffee each day was my Aeropress with either McCafe or Peet’s and water bound in the Jetboil. Jimfinally gave in to the fact that I could complete both of our coffees and clean up before his water boiled in his pot on the stove. Buy your fuel in the lower 48, isobutane was $16.99 for 8 oz canisters at Denali. Other areas it was between 8 and 10 bucks for the 8oz.
Water:
I carried 5 one gallon water jugs plus two water bricks and two water bags. While many camp sites had water via a hand pump, none recommended drinking it without boiling it for more than two minutes this includes washing your dishes. We always filled the water jugs, we used it for drinking, drowning campfires, washing mud fron latches and cooking. Good water makes great coffee, most well water had too many minerals that made the taste funky/metallic. Same goes for boiled pasta. In short we always had about 20 gal. of fresh water and at one point we were down to 3 fresh gallons remaining but never a real concern. Without the dog we could have gotten by with less
A fridge is priceless. My now 7 year old Waeco fridge was flawless, never drained my battery even after two and a half days of not running the truck. Fresh food, salad and fruit are staples. One can camp for a few days or even a week with freeze dried stuff but beyond that you crave real food. Having a salad with dinner was a real treat, we tried to have it every other day. These items last in a fridge but turn to crap in a ice chest, but we who have converted already know this.
We bought groceries everywhere, cooking almost all dinners. We seldom ate lunch (like maybe twice) but snacked on fruit or crackers/chips and nuts during the day. Too much salt in canned food and freeze dried can make one feel crappy.
In many picture you see us cooking in cast iron, it holds heat even in the rain and wind and we cooked steaks, chicken, fish, pork and potatoes in the skillet. While my non stick works, it would not hold heat once the burner was turned off. Most of the time we cooked eggs and hash browns in the nonstick. I am going to start carrying my cast iron skillet for longer trips.
Zatarains brand cheesy rice is awesome so is the Knorr brand cheesy rice and these are great sides for every meat. We also cooked pasta, added either red sauce or white sauce from jars. We preferred the white sauce most of the time. We cooked fresh mushrooms and onions plus bell pepper to make a tasty one plate meal
Having dedicated food boxes for cans and jars reduced rattling and made finding things easy. A separate box for dried goods and bread was also helpful.
The Partner Steel stove was flawless. I went through 3 full propane (1# each) plus a bit from a fourth. Buy it here, I saw prices in some places exceeding $7 per bottle. The cheapest was still more than you pay in the Lower 48.
JetBoil. My go to coffee each day was my Aeropress with either McCafe or Peet’s and water bound in the Jetboil. Jimfinally gave in to the fact that I could complete both of our coffees and clean up before his water boiled in his pot on the stove. Buy your fuel in the lower 48, isobutane was $16.99 for 8 oz canisters at Denali. Other areas it was between 8 and 10 bucks for the 8oz.
Water:
I carried 5 one gallon water jugs plus two water bricks and two water bags. While many camp sites had water via a hand pump, none recommended drinking it without boiling it for more than two minutes this includes washing your dishes. We always filled the water jugs, we used it for drinking, drowning campfires, washing mud fron latches and cooking. Good water makes great coffee, most well water had too many minerals that made the taste funky/metallic. Same goes for boiled pasta. In short we always had about 20 gal. of fresh water and at one point we were down to 3 fresh gallons remaining but never a real concern. Without the dog we could have gotten by with less
Saddletramp
GOLD Star
Mosquitos:
Everyday you talk about them, they are always around. In some places it was maddening but two or three things made a huge difference.
1- never camp in the shade, the mosquitoes are not out in force with direct sunlight. Since water is everywhere and it rained.....a lot no sense in avoiding lakes and streams but steer clear of big puddles of standing water or backwaters.
2- start a campfire shortly after you have set up camp. Campfire smoke is the very best mosquitoe deterrence. Coupled wth 40% deet spray.
3- we used the Thermocell product, I strongly endorse it as it worked well for us every time we used it. While it didn’t get rid of every mosquito it did reduce the number enough to cook and eat. We also placed these in our tents with everything closed about 20 minutes before bed, this worked wonders, dropped like flies. Just open to the screens and allow a bit of air to flow trough. I do not recommend sleeping with this on or sleeping with the tent closed up right after. If it kills mosquitoes I’m sure it will make you sick.
The better covered up you are the fewer bites, hats, long sleeves and socks all help. I always sprayed my socks with repellent.
Everyday you talk about them, they are always around. In some places it was maddening but two or three things made a huge difference.
1- never camp in the shade, the mosquitoes are not out in force with direct sunlight. Since water is everywhere and it rained.....a lot no sense in avoiding lakes and streams but steer clear of big puddles of standing water or backwaters.
2- start a campfire shortly after you have set up camp. Campfire smoke is the very best mosquitoe deterrence. Coupled wth 40% deet spray.
3- we used the Thermocell product, I strongly endorse it as it worked well for us every time we used it. While it didn’t get rid of every mosquito it did reduce the number enough to cook and eat. We also placed these in our tents with everything closed about 20 minutes before bed, this worked wonders, dropped like flies. Just open to the screens and allow a bit of air to flow trough. I do not recommend sleeping with this on or sleeping with the tent closed up right after. If it kills mosquitoes I’m sure it will make you sick.
The better covered up you are the fewer bites, hats, long sleeves and socks all help. I always sprayed my socks with repellent.
Saddletramp
GOLD Star
Crap I wouldn’t take:
Lantern and extra lights , it just was never dark- like ever. Once we were north of Jasper you could see well 24 hours a day. My tent walls were not dark enough do I pulled the beanie over my eyes to help me sleep.
ARB awning room, we just never set it up. Too windy or not necessary or not worth the trouble. I like the product but should not have taken it as it occupied a lot of space.
Fan 12volt. Didn’t need it but had it gotten hot it could have been very handy.
PETT toilet and room. There were toilets in every campground and evety rest stop (the places in Canada were beautiful and never smelled.
Portable Solar panel- not necessary and took up valuable space
Lantern and extra lights , it just was never dark- like ever. Once we were north of Jasper you could see well 24 hours a day. My tent walls were not dark enough do I pulled the beanie over my eyes to help me sleep.
ARB awning room, we just never set it up. Too windy or not necessary or not worth the trouble. I like the product but should not have taken it as it occupied a lot of space.
Fan 12volt. Didn’t need it but had it gotten hot it could have been very handy.
PETT toilet and room. There were toilets in every campground and evety rest stop (the places in Canada were beautiful and never smelled.
Portable Solar panel- not necessary and took up valuable space
Saddletramp
GOLD Star
Stuff I added at the last minute and glad I did:
Axe- I always Cary an axe but usually a small forest axe or hatchet. At the last minute I switched out the small axe for the American Felling Axe and was very glad I did. In Canada you get free wood included in your campground fee. The fee was usually $12CAD which is about $9US and since the Canadians really try to discourage camping remotely in the Yukon or Northwest Territories and having a campfire if not in a campground this was a no brained. The wood was full log rounds in covered sheds dispersed,through the campground. You had to have an axe to split wood, a big axe.
Split firewood
Saw, made cutting up some wood lengths in Alaska very easy. Better than the axe. Silky saw from @Cruddz was handy and made short work of cutting kindling.
Firewood canvass carrier- Jim threw this in at the last minute, made carrying logs so much easier. A real luxury, we would see people struggling to carry a few logs and their clothes were covered in dirt and soot from the wood.
Individual packs of laundry detergent and Bounce. While most laundromats sold soap and softener it was not always quality nor was it cheap.
Quarters- Everything was coin operated from showers or laundry. Getting change late at night was not easy and some coin changers were out of order. Doing laundry and showering at anytime was a great convenience. I loaded up a jar with more than 100 quarters. Super handy.
Extra duffel bag- I knew I could put dirty clothes in a plastic bag but this was not tight unless you tied it making it hard to undo to add more laundry to it. By putting the plastic bag of laundry in the duffle it was easy to open and close and carry the detergent in the extra zip pocket. Well worth it. Carrying one bag to the laundry room and one bag back
Extra towel for bathing- towels don’t dry well when it is raining or cold and damp, having and extra took space but allowed time between drying and laundry.
Propane fire ring- this was in and out several times but in the end made the cut due to possible fire restrictions. When you camped on the Kenai they tended to frown on campfires in the town campground due to smoke hanging in the air (not what cruise passengers want to see we were told) plus any of the RV parks where fire were not allowed . While we only used this maybe 8 or 9 times it was great under the awning in the rain and perfect for the cool evenings in restricted campgrounds.
BBQ grate for the fire- totally unnecessary
Axe- I always Cary an axe but usually a small forest axe or hatchet. At the last minute I switched out the small axe for the American Felling Axe and was very glad I did. In Canada you get free wood included in your campground fee. The fee was usually $12CAD which is about $9US and since the Canadians really try to discourage camping remotely in the Yukon or Northwest Territories and having a campfire if not in a campground this was a no brained. The wood was full log rounds in covered sheds dispersed,through the campground. You had to have an axe to split wood, a big axe.
Split firewood
Saw, made cutting up some wood lengths in Alaska very easy. Better than the axe. Silky saw from @Cruddz was handy and made short work of cutting kindling.
Firewood canvass carrier- Jim threw this in at the last minute, made carrying logs so much easier. A real luxury, we would see people struggling to carry a few logs and their clothes were covered in dirt and soot from the wood.
Individual packs of laundry detergent and Bounce. While most laundromats sold soap and softener it was not always quality nor was it cheap.
Quarters- Everything was coin operated from showers or laundry. Getting change late at night was not easy and some coin changers were out of order. Doing laundry and showering at anytime was a great convenience. I loaded up a jar with more than 100 quarters. Super handy.
Extra duffel bag- I knew I could put dirty clothes in a plastic bag but this was not tight unless you tied it making it hard to undo to add more laundry to it. By putting the plastic bag of laundry in the duffle it was easy to open and close and carry the detergent in the extra zip pocket. Well worth it. Carrying one bag to the laundry room and one bag back
Extra towel for bathing- towels don’t dry well when it is raining or cold and damp, having and extra took space but allowed time between drying and laundry.
Propane fire ring- this was in and out several times but in the end made the cut due to possible fire restrictions. When you camped on the Kenai they tended to frown on campfires in the town campground due to smoke hanging in the air (not what cruise passengers want to see we were told) plus any of the RV parks where fire were not allowed . While we only used this maybe 8 or 9 times it was great under the awning in the rain and perfect for the cool evenings in restricted campgrounds.
BBQ grate for the fire- totally unnecessary
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Saddletramp
GOLD Star
I’m still reviewing my contents but I’m happy I had extra gas, 260 mile between gas spots was a bit long on dirt roads and you just never knew what was going to happen. Would I add anything? Maybe a extra blanket or down quilt a,d a better camera for sure (at least a newer phone with a better camera.
One thing I did covet was Jim’s ice fishing rod and small reel. This could lay on the dash so and water you stopped at you just tossed as lure on and threw a few casts. Much easier than trying to righ up the whole pole and put it away
Said pole with desired outcome. 5 casts and three rainbows.
Don’t think that picture is in a parking lot, here is our surroundings
Not sure why this was paved but it was a great camp up among the glaciers
One thing I did covet was Jim’s ice fishing rod and small reel. This could lay on the dash so and water you stopped at you just tossed as lure on and threw a few casts. Much easier than trying to righ up the whole pole and put it away
Said pole with desired outcome. 5 casts and three rainbows.
Don’t think that picture is in a parking lot, here is our surroundings
Not sure why this was paved but it was a great camp up among the glaciers
Saddletramp
GOLD Star
More to come
Any idea on the difference between Gen 1 and Gen 2? Gen 1 looks the same but <$20
Saddletramp
GOLD Star
