Spring Break Trip 2014 March 23 - 27, New Mexico Expo

[CO_Hunter]

Another Spring Break trip becomes a fine memory.



Day 1 - We were a day late as my daughter was recovering from a week long fever and needed one more day to rest up before the trip. The delay resulted in a cold snowy and icy departure. I will let Eric fill in on his start to the trip. We left my place at about 9:30 am Sunday morning. The drive down was relatively uneventful except for a stop at Walmart in Albuquerque for some grated cheese, Girl Scout cookies, and some cheap sunglasses (later found my pair buried in my gear bag..doh). My CEL light came on just north of Socorro and we found an open Autozone and one of the guys (a Toyota fan who really liked our rigs and M416 trailers) pulled the code. It was a P0401 (EGR system) and since it was not critical we pressed on to our first camp. It was a nice free FS primitive campground and only one other person was camped there so we felt like we had the place to ourselves. I gave Nate a primitive fire starting lesson and he got a little more that he bargained for when the jute tinder ball erupted in a fireball in his hands, close to his face as he was blowing into it. He was not hurt, just a tad startled by it and I felt a bit bad about that. I am sure he won’t forget that anytime soon!

Getting ready for Spring Break 2014, departure morning

Camp 1


Day 2 - After a nice restful night in the RTT (these things are awesome!) we headed out for the start of the Gila NF leg of our trip. We stopped for gas in the small town of Datil and it was a blast from the past. Nice small general store, the gas pumps did not take credit cards and no pay before you pump, hardly ever see that kind of trust anymore. We drove down to our turnoff and started on about a 100 mile off road leg. Nothing challenging but definitely scenic. There were side roads everywhere, someone could spend weeks exploring down there. What was nice is there were very few people out there, not just this area, but the entire trip. You really got the feeling of being remote. Somewhere along the route we came across an ATV parked in the middle of the road with a sign that said “please help.” We then noticed a guy running out of the woods waving. Apparently they had a dead battery in their diesel truck and couldn’t jump it with ATVs. I will let Eric fill in some the odd/amusing details of the jump start. After eating lunch at a spot with great views, we continued to our camp which was down next to a creek. This was another free primitive FS campground and we had the place to ourselves right a the water.

Lunch day 2

Camp 2

 

[CO_Hunter]

Day 3- After yet another restful night in the RTTs (these things are awesome!) we set out to finish the 100 mile leg of the Gila NF. There was a lot of recent flash flood damage and repair as we made our way along the route. Part of this stretch contained some bad wash boards and it would not be until or lunch stop when we would learn just how bad it was. Lunch was at a great overlook at Emory Pass. Here you could see the aftermath of the huge fire (Whitewater Baldy Fire Complex) that burned 300,000 acres in 2012. Luckily most of that fire was classified as low burn severity. During the lunch stop I noticed something hanging down under the trailer, it was my right shock. The upper shock mount bolts had torn through the frame. Could have used some welding rod!!!. I just took the shock off and tried to take it a bit easy as best i could the rest of the trip. We gassed up in Truth or Consequences (yes, named after the game show) and drove to the start of Monticello Canyon. This was one coolest trails to drive. You go through a lot of private land (see pic) and cross the river many times and a few of those times you are driving in the river bed itself for a while. We were advised not to stop in the river bed due to the risk of sinking in quick sand in spots, more a novelty than a real danger. I decided to let my 15 year old daughter do a little driving and Eric obliged his daughter soon after. The girls wound up finishing out the trail and the end of the box canyon. We came out first and were waiting for Eric’s family to come out. I notice a lot of bouncing as they came out and then Eric’s trailer must have hit a rock and it went up to a 45 degree angle, on one wheel and hung there, I thought it was going over. After hanging there for what seemed like a long time, it flopped down on both wheels. I will let Eric fill in more but apparently he had no idea that had happened until we talked. That pretty much ended the driving lessons for the day. We continued up toward our next camp in the Cibola NF forest and on the way we encountered some elk crossing the road. I also spotted a badger running across the road. Eric and I gave chase in hopes of getting a photo op or trip to the hospital once we caught up to the critter, which we did not. Probably a good thing! Down the road more elk and a nice bull later on closer to camp. Camp was another free primitive FS campground that we had to ourselves. We got in late and were all tired. But I had an electrical problem with my fridge (intermittent power) and fixed it with a piece of toilet paper as it was getting dark.

Emory pass

Broken Shock (see holes in frame)

Warning sign (which is it?)

Eric in Monticello Canyon

Somewhere in the Canyon

 

[CO_Hunter]

Day 3 continued

exiting canyon (trailer settled down)

elk (near badger sighting)

Camp 3

next morning was icy cold

 

[CO_Hunter]

Day 4 - After yet another restful night in the RTTs (these things are awesome!) we awoke to our coldest morning on any of our spring break trips (see pic). i don’t know how cold it was but I had a 1/4 full water bottle left out that froze solid. We got going and went to the VLA which was very cool!! (thanks for the intel Andrew). We got there and the wind was howling. After touring the visitor center, we did the self guided tour. We started out to see one of the large dishes (82 ft dia) and thought we were seeing a tour group out there. Turns out it was a Hollywood film crew shooting a pilot for a TV series. We chatted with the assistant to the assistant director (hey, we all have to start somewhere) who was really nice. We couldn’t go to the dish as they were actively filming but our guy asked his boss if we could go in during break to get closer, which we did. After taking some pictures, we were shooed away but told not to go far as they were filming a scene with the giant dish turning. This was very cool as not many people get to see those things turn while standing practically next to them. After that we huddled in some picnic table shelter and ate a quick lunch. We then drove to Albuquerque and camped in the Sandia NF, this time dispersed camped in the recreation area and camped near one other person (very restricted to where you could camp). There was a lot of wind, even in the trees and we really took a beating starting at about 11:30 at night. The wind did die down at some point.

One of the VLA dish lines

Close up of dish

Hollywood

Camp 4

 

[CO_Hunter]

Day 5 - After restless night in the RTTs (nothing is comfortable in that wind!) we broke camp and headed to the Rio Puerco area west of Albuquerque to look for a fossil area I had found out about. It was kind of fun exploring back in there but I was very frustrated that I couldn’t get us into the area with the fossils. Since we were hauling the trailers we were a bit more conservative than we would normally be. Even so, we found ourselves having to back and turn the trailers more often that we wanted — it was a maze of trails back there. As the crow flies, we got within a half mile but at that point we ate lunch and left defeated. It was a windy drive back to the Springs and we got back about 10:30. I am sure Eric will post up some pics as well. I did not get any in Rio Puerco area.



We logged about 1500 miles in total. Thanks to Eric and his family for coming out and joining us, good times!

 

[EricG]

Great writeup Leon ... I'm still trying to figure out how attach pics on this new forum. File uploads aren't working for me. More later.

 

[EricG]

apparently I can't make dropbox links work either??

 

[Fitzgerald]

Looks like a great time, sorry we missed it. About halfway through last week, Kira asked me, "Aren't we going camping this week?"

Glad to hear the RTT worked so well for you guys. You guys look like real "overlanders" with those rigs... if I would have joined you with my mall cruiser, you would have lost all street cred.

 

[CO_Hunter]

Poor little Kira, how could you do that to her

We would have still let the mall cruiser come along and risked losing our cred Funny how it turned into a RTT only run.


Here is the APRS track. I probably could have gotten a signal out better if I had turned up the power a bit in the more remote areas. Remember APRS sends data (position in this case) in real time.

Eric, after you upload you have to click on full size or thumbnail option to insert it. I used full sized (those have still been shrunk to upload here)

 

[Springs505]

It looks like the NM trip was a success! The water crossing/travel pictures are great and I'm glad you liked the VLA...Maybe they were filming "Contact II"

 

[nuclearlemon]

glad you're loving the new rtt! sounds like it was an awesome trip!

 

[EricG]

Ok, turns out there's a bug in the new forum software posting pics from windows via firefox. So now with 100% more pics!

First night - Water Canyon Campground west of Socorro. First night in the rooftop tent! You can see my new propane setup with the 10# tank on the right - it worked great until the last morning when I couldn't get any flow through it and had to switch back to the little coleman bottle. Haven't had a chance to look into it yet. The new stove is great - boils water in no time. My old coleman really struggled at altitude.

Yea, the ATV bit was interesting. As Leon said, we came across an ATV parked in the middle of the trail with a block of wood on the seat that said "Please Help!". Was kind of weird ... almost felt like a setup. But the guy running down the trail seemed earnest enough. They had a diesel pickup truck back there with a camper and apparently they ran the battery down and couldn't get it started again in the morning. They had sent somebody out on another ATV looking for help - it was about 1:30 in the afternoon at this point, so they had been waiting awhile! I drove up the trail a bit to the truck ... and found that they had built a fire under the engine. Apparently thought that would help get it started. Anyway, I isolated my second battery and hooked them up. Then found out that the truck had a DUI ignition interlock but it was "the other guy's truck" and the two guys there didn't really know how to work it. So every time they got it to crank but it didn't start they had to go through this whole thing with the interlock again. Anyway, finally got it started - they were extremely greatful! I suggested they move it off of that fire!

We got back on the trail and a few miles later an ATV and pickup truck came flying up toward us ... the cavalry apparently.

Stopped for lunch soon after.

Down near Beaverhead we came across the cool little walking beam pump out in a field with a single cylinder gas engine.

More pics in a bit

 

[EricG]

On the road again

Cool stone stock tank.

Leon coached Nate through a flint & steel fire ... see the smoke. This was an instant before it burst into flame in his hands - scared him pretty good but no harm done.

 

[EricG]

Campfire the 2nd night

Lots of stars

Leon working on his broken shock mount at lunch

 

[karas]

I will read this better tomorrow but looks like an awesome trip. I really like both of your set ups. Where did you guys get the trailers. I would really like to get a trailer next year sometime and maybe just in time for the next expo.

 

[EricG]

Monticello Canyon was to cool. Lost track of the water crossings, though none were very deep - maybe a foot max.

 

[EricG]

So Jackie did great driving for quite awhile. I'm still not sure what happened at the end - I think maybe she didn't have her heel on the floor to work the gas so one bigger lurch or bump and she nails the gas a little - bigger lurch, another bump, etc. Anyway, I didn't see the trailer up on one wheel the way Leon describes - I heard it come down but didn't realize the magnitude of it. All this happened at the exit of the box in the background of this pic.

Here's camp that night in Bear Trap Canyon.

 

[EricG]

VLA was very cool - was amazed how quickly those big dishes can slew.

 

[EricG]

On the last day Leon took us way out into the desert boonies NW of ABQ. Didn't find that fossil site, but it was definitely a neat area and the most technical wheeling of the trip - though we didn't push it to hard with the trailers.

Ended up being a pretty long day on Thursday. Had a great trip!

 

[EricG]

I will read this better tomorrow but looks like an awesome trip. I really like both of your set ups. Where did you guys get the trailers. I would really like to get a trailer next year sometime and maybe just in time for the next expo.

Both of our trailers started life as M416s, Leon's is almost completely stock right down to the tires - he added the lid and a bolt-on ball hitch adaptor. I got mine from a local guy who had already swapped the axle for a 6 lug toyota pattern unit and had significantly modified the pintle hitch assembly. Unfortunately, my tub was in pretty rough shape - would have been really difficult to fit a lid to it. So last summer I built my own box for it. Also put on a pair of 285-75R16 tires - same size as on the truck. So about the only thing stock on mine is the frame and suspension.