That’s cool. My point was, for example, that Tioga is closed.
Truck looks good with the camper on top! Do you have orange bars under there?
yeah, with the recent storm that hit the sierra range today, they had closed all E-W passes including Sonora, Tioga, and I believe Monitor. They are expecting a bunch of snow but will plan to reopen once they clear it. Hope you are enjoying your trip!
Guess it’s a good thing I went through to start the trip and not on the way home.
Yeah, black and orange is kind of the theme on the truck.
Yeah, that storm crossed over to Utah and I woke up to flurries. All of Utah was getting rained on so I decided to burn south after checking out Golden Spike NHP and a stop at Hill AFB which I way more scenic that most military bases.
My very first campsite Monday night was pretty but still cold.
Headed south to Grand Teton NP which like most parks up north closed for the winter so I dipped in for a few poser shots and continued south.
The next stop was Fossil Butte NM in Kemmerer, WY.
After that I headed west towards Logan, UT and the Golden Spike NHP in Corinne which was going to be the first stop in the morning so I wanted a campsite not too far away. Was able to find a spot in the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache NF overlooking Logan. There was even so cut firewood for a fire. And Belle managed to get back to her ratting roots and caught a field mouse.
4 Likes
Morning was grey and it started to spit snow but it was cool being on the edge of the slope looking over the valley
The next stop was Golden Spike NHP on Promontory Summit where the Union Pacific Railroad and Central Pacific joined their lines to create the Trans-Continental Railroad.
The weather turned and it was forecast for rain all the way South so I decided to just head home down 15.
Final Trip stats
5 days, 3260 miles, 7 states, 10 National Park Service sites, 4 cold nights camping, 1 cool new camper
13 Likes
Using some info from fuelly I checked my mpgs from the trip up to the trip back.
Tracking 12 fill-ups totaling 2058 miles using 165.6 gallons gives me about 12.4 mpg on the trip to pick it up. Most of those miles were at highway speeds with some random slower dirt stuff.
Post pickup I have tracked 9 fill-ups totaling 1619 miles using 122.99 gallons for about 13.1 mpg with the GFC installed. I’d say less than 15 miles of that was highway stuff so I wouldn’t go so far as to say my mileage has increased but it seems to have stayed in the same neighborhood.
When you run the Mr buddy, do you have it in the bed of the truck underneath your bed? or in the tent? I’m going to be sleeping my girlfriend, my husky, and I, or maybe dog in the cab, in the full size bed the tacoma has and I want to be able to use the tent for snowboard parking lot camping. I have a Mr buddy that I use in my ground tent and its great. Knowing what has worked best for you would be much appreciated!
I’ve done both. One time it was snowing so my guy friend didnt want to sleep in his ground tent. So it was him ( a 6’3" 220lb dude), my 75 lb lab and me (5’4" 150lbs) in the upstairs part of the tent. Clearly it was too cozy to have the heater up there so we left it below with a square panel out. Kept the tent really cozy, prob would have been fine without it as we were in our 10 degree bags but used it down below to heat up the tent.
When I slept solo up in the tent with my pup, I would leave the heater in the tent itself and turn it on and off as needed. So you can really do it both ways as long as you have enough head room to put the heater up top.
they tell you to sleep with your head at the tiny end of the camper, but I found that super annoying to keep hitting my head when I would sit up, so i sleep with my head at the window end and my feet at the tiny end with the dog down there and it works great.
I think if you have a warm quilt or Rumpl with a winter sleeping bag you should be fine, and by winter i mean sub 20 degree bag
1 Like
So you, your friend, and a dog slept up in the tent together with one square out? Damn that sounds a little close for comfort. Seems like you could easily roll over and fall through the hole. My buddy didn’t want to sleep in his tent either so I let him sleep in the bed of the truck.
3 Likes
I thought about what you said a little more and I think I get it now. You are only 5’ 4" so you can sleep with 1 square out and still fit. That’s pretty cool.
1 Like
Epic trip dude! Love the all black too.
1 Like