RE: Inside Shower vs Outside Shower
We have a Northstar TC 800 pop-up and made the decision not to get the indoor shower to have more room to stretch out. A pop-up / any smaller camper I think can get tight over time. We like the more open space. We use the outdoor shower with the "OEM made for it curtain", when it is inconvenient, we sponge bath in the camper. Intimate? Yes. We do like each other, so no problems.
RE: Pop up verses hard sided truck campers
IMHO popups for offroad, because of less height, hard side otherwise because of not having to pop up. Yes hardside can do off road, but some of the areas I go, they would not fit. Popups are more compact. Yes, Popups can be used in a campground, but I think the hardside gives you a little more secure feeling of privacy.
Outfitter, Hallmark, Northstar are fine campers with really nice comfortable beds. 4 wheelers are light weight and not as luxurious, but lighter and the bed is thinner. Your 350 will carry most any camper.
RE: What mistakes have you made that might help others...?
Go slow, take your time, look, look, look. Whenever I have felt pressure to load my camper I have done something stupid. Didn't hook up the electricity, bumped the camper with the truck bed, put the camper on off kilter.
When leaving the campsite, take your time, look, look, look. Whenever I rush I do something stupid. Left our trash can, left a cool ladder, dragged a lowered jack, left the skylight open and it busted while driving on the highway, left the drain cap off and wondered what that banging sound was.
When I first got the camper, I was driving it like I used to drive my small toyota pickup with a cap. fast. On that first trip I busted a several hundred dollar running board on a rock and smacked a rear jack going against a tree going around a corner on a trail. I was driving this bigger truck and camper like I used to drive the smaller truck. fast. Big trucks and camper do better driven slow off road.
I am sure I have done other things I refuse to remember!
Need a little help in finding sunroof
Hi Ya'll,
While putting away my Northstar truck camper after our last trip I noticed our sunroof over the camper-bed was busted. I think it opened itself while we were driving. (It has done this before.
What I would like to do is just replace the plastic bubble part that broke instead of pulling the whole thing off the roof. It's frame can be pulled out. I get I will need to buy the whole thing.
I am having trouble finding one to replace it. I cannot find the manufacturer name on the piece, although I am sure I would recognize the piece if I saw it.
However.... I have been googling and not finding anything close. I have been using " rv sunroof" Is it called something else?
Any other suggestions or do you know of a company that sells these?
Thanks,
RE: Anza Borrego Video Trip Report
Very nice slide show of your trip of Anza Borrego, what soft ware program did you use?
iMovie! I used a seperate video camera. Cool huh!
But man, does it look cold out there!
Yeah in that picture, late afternoon. During the day, not so bad. light jacket hiking.
Glad for that camper heater! DW loves having that!
ah....my old stomping grounds. Lived and worked 22 years in Borrego Springs. Many, many days spent in Coyote Canyon. I helped to build many of the trails...me and my trusty horses
Thanks for doing that! We meet an older fella on a very nice horse when we first arrived. He was training a ranger to ride those trails. He knew the area well and let us know the lower willows trail had been cleared. As you can see from the pictures, we hiked the LWT and it was perfect. It's very cool to see horses on those trails. We love that area too. Great flower displays.
Anza Borrego Video Trip Report
Here is a trip report video of our recent trip to Anza Borrego, Coyote Canyon. I am thinking one of the best sites in the park this time of year. What made it so nice was the running water behind the camper and the abundance and diversity of desert life in the area. This spot may not be so good during the spring when the flowers are blooming, unless you like to watch the 4wd parade! Which can be fun... Coyote Canyon is a very popular spot in the spring as much of it is accessible and the flower display is great. There is also a great 4wd section a little past where we were camped that a lot of four wheelers like to do. Camping there in the winter was great because we only saw a few people and no other campers. I have also added a few other camper pictures!
Clicky to video!
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RE: The Last Whazoo-Thanksgiving continued
Awesome reporting and trips. Trips that have moved and inspired us. I hope that the bug bites you again and you write. Good writing never goes out of style, nor shall yours. We will miss your absence and hope for your return. Happy trails...
RE: Whazoo's Thanksgiving at the Cosmic Ashtray/Golden Cathedral
You should see my smile.... :) .... It's bigger than my head. You find a spot on google earth, figure out a way to get there, do it, with wife and puppy, cull the pictures and tell a story... You are in a class by yourself. Ditto what everyone before me has said.
What a cool geography that "ash tray". Ya don't see so many of those.
b
RE: Whazoo and Dadwolf's Excellent Adventure
Wow, Wow, Wow! :) I waannnnnnaaaa go back! Having just been near there, you have brought the feelings and sensations back. I love the pictures with the colorful trees, the pond, the vertical walls! You both did some fine exploring!. Love the pictures of both campers in with no one else around. I can't believe you were walking in Teva's. That water is cold!. Nice that you had sunny weather. And yeah, very punny...... Really nice to see your pics. Gotta show these to Kare. B
RE: Bryce Zion Trip Report
Thanks everyone for your kind comments.
Also did you got there from your listed location and how long did it take you to get there?
What was the brand camera that you used?.
It took about 9 hours to Bryce. I believe Zion from SD would be 7 ish. Camera is a Nikon D5100
Where did you rent the boots and bibs from?
Just outside of the campground there is an outfitter within walking distance. I was going to be very macho and not rent any gear and just do it. Then I saw some stud-ly guys getting equipped and I thought, ok. Very glad we did as the water was COLD and so was the air. We went in comfort and it was great. Hiked about 4-5 hours, no problem.
Question: the baba and wild beers? Interesting!
We like to try local beers. These beers are Utah beers. Unita. They were great. We were mixing Black and Tan's!
Bryce Zion Trip Report
Bryce / Zion October 2012 trip report. Finally!!! I got a new camera for this trip and took over 800 pictures! Whew.... Took a bit to go through to pick the best ones for ya!
We had planned to go camping in the Bryce and Zion area of southern Utah, thinking we would visit the NP’s and do some backcountry camping. Once we started to do some research, we found there was not much boondocking near the Bryce and Zion NP’s. A lot of backcountry camping seemed to be found more near Escalante and south near the Grand Cyn. We did not want to spend much time driving, as we did camping and hiking, so we decided to stay and explore only in the NP’s.
This turned out to be pretty good, because we were able to take the time to explore these NP’s that are really quite extraordinary. We had about 3 days at each. We typically like to be off the beaten path. Yet, a good experience in a NP is fun too. It helps to be camping this time of year as it is not yet too cold and the crowds are much less. We left during the week of halloween!
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Our first stop was Bryce Canyon National park in Southern Utah.
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We pulled in around 2pm and it was quiet and slightly overcast. This time of year Bryce is first come, first served for the campgrounds. Only North campground was open. Most of the sites accommodate RV and truck camper type vehicles. The signs are easy to read as to what type of vehicle can camp where. After driving around and finding lots of open space, we landed at this campsite on the B-loop. A nice site, tucked back, under some trees. This site was near the rim of the amphitheater which made it cool to walk over at night. Most of the campsites are pull though vs. Back into. This was nice and made for easy exploring and returning.
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Bryce is beautiful. Red rock in the formations called “Hoodoo’s” showing many layers, millions of years of time. There is a great rim hike that meanders around the amphitheater of the hoodoo’s bowl. There are also hikes into the hoodoo’s which were a blast. We hiked the English Gardens trails to the Navajo trails and the trail to China Wall. We also drove around the rim.
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We then left for Zion National Park, which is about an hour south. A beautiful drive between the 2 parks.
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We were still able to make reservations at the Watchman Campground, which we did, several months before the trip. A basic NP campground. The washrooms were under construction so we were really glad to have our camper. One of the things I liked about this campground was that each site has electric. This way, no generators are run and the campground is quiet. Our site was an easy back in site.
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And of course we had our staples, beer, vita-water and p-nut butter.
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We hiked the Kyenta trail to the emerald pools, weeping rock and “The Narrows”.
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“The Narrows” hike was a very cool through the slot canyon and through the running water. As the water was pretty cold and so was the air temperature, we rented special neoprene shoes and a dry bib to keep us warm. We hiked upstream about 2 hours. Very fun hike.
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A beautiful National Park experience. I could really see taking time to explore this side of Utah.
Some other pictures....
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please note, maximum photo WIDTH=640
RE: Trip report: Yosemite in the snow Nov 2012
Nice Pictures! I love camping at Yosemite. NIce to have a light dusting. It doesn't look crowded either. Looks like you had the campground to yourselves. Did you make a reservation or just show up?
RE: Anticipation....
We cannot go for more two weeks without using the TC. Why would you deny yourself for months? .
ugh... Not retired yet and have other addictions. ;)
