Dan's North American Journey

[paddlenbike]

As always Dan, excellent write up. This is easily my favorite thread on the internet.

I have never been to Zion, Arches, Bryce, Canyonlands, etc., but hope to see parts of them later this year on my way to Albuquerque from CA.

[Good Times]

Hey Dan, like what Ken said awesome write up! I was wondering since you are/were doing this trip solo (driving and navigating), were you ever worried about getting stuck out there in the remote parts alone if something broke down? Such a brave feat to cover so much ground on this awesome expedition!

[paddlenbike]

I will answer on Dan's behalf. Nope, he wasn't worried, he drives a 4runner. :-)

[DHC6twinotter]

As always Dan, excellent write up. This is easily my favorite thread on the internet.

I have never been to Zion, Arches, Bryce, Canyonlands, etc., but hope to see parts of them later this year on my way to Albuquerque from CA.

Thanks Ken! Going through Utah on the way to Albuquerque would be awesome! I highly recommend taking state roads 9 and 12. There is so much amazing scenery to see along the way.

Hey Dan, like what Ken said awesome write up! I was wondering since you are/were doing this trip solo (driving and navigating), were you ever worried about getting stuck out there in the remote parts alone if something broke down? Such a brave feat to cover so much ground on this awesome expedition!

Thanks, Lance! There were a few times where I was a bit worried about braking down, but most of driving was on U.S. highways or state roads. Most of these roads were traveled well enough that I could probably wave somebody down, but a few of these roads were fairly empty. If I ventured out on a trail or dirt road, I tried not to go more than 3 or 4 miles from a more traveled road, although National Parks or Monuments were an exception to this. I felt a bit more comfortable taking back roads in parks since those were patrolled by park rangers on a somewhat regular bases.

I always have plenty of water with me, and I rarely let my fuel get below 1/3 (and usually no less than 1/2). I also keep an extra gallon of water for radiator use, and I have a battery jump box thingy that I carry, along with jumper cables. All my interior lights were kept off unless needed (no door settings used). With my 4Runner being a manual, I also have the option of pop starting, if there were a hill close enough for me to push it to.

I have all my tools with me, and a role of duct tape. I also have a tire patch kit and an air compressor with me. Thankfully, I never had to see if my mediocre mechanic skills were enough for a trail repair. I also have a first aid kit and a snake bite kit that I have in the 4Runner.

Only once have I had to make a repair on the road, and that was after driving down the Saline Valley Rd in Death Valley. The bolt on the battery tie down came out and the battery ended up on top of the alternator. The body ground was yanked out in the process. I have an electrical kit that I carry with me, but I did not have the right wire connector. So I walked to a ACE Hardware about 50 feet from where I was and bought a connector. If I were out on the trail, I could have made due with what I had, but I figured I was close enough to a store that I wanted to do it a little more properly. I stole a bolt from one of my horns to use on the battery tie down (which reminds me...I need to replace that bolt! One 4runner horn sounds even dumber than two!)

[Good Times]

Ken, you sly dog you! haha

It's good to hear that you were prepared but what about first aid? I had my fair share of solo treks and thankfully nothing happened but I did fear getting hurt (physical injury) that requires a second hand or even immediate attention. Of course that never stopped me but I guess as I reflect back on the past I do think that I was a bit ambitious on some of the adventures I did.

[DHC6twinotter]

I will answer on Dan's behalf. Nope, he wasn't worried, he drives a 4runner. :-)

lol...true! The 4runner has been really good. My biggest concerns were poking a hole in the radiator (factory skid plate was missing when I purchased it), or having a ball-joint failure on some of the rough roads. I was begging my ball-joints not to break while in DV. I do have some minor issues that have crept up during the last few outings, those being a low idle that comes and goes, and a leaking axle seal. I hope to fix both of those, along with my seat bolt in the next week or two.

Ken, you sly dog you! haha

It's good to hear that you were prepared but what about first aid? I had my fair share of solo treks and thankfully nothing happened but I did fear getting hurt (physical injury) that requires a second hand or even immediate attention. Of course that never stopped me but I guess as I reflect back on the past I do think that I was a bit ambitious on some of the adventures I did.

I have a small first aid kit, as well as a snake bite kit. I remember looking at one of those red smoke things at the store too, but I don't remember whether or not I bought it. I'll have to check. I also have a SPOT that I got for a pretty good deal, but I never opened the box.

All my hikes were fairly short, and I think all were on heavily used trails in National Parks. If I was in an area known to have bears, I would try to hike close to another group of hikers. I think the furthest I hiked was about 3-4 miles round trip. My back usually starts to bother me after about 1.5 miles, so 3-4 miles is about all I can do. I won't hike that far unless there's something cool to see, in which case I'll put up with the pain.

[Robinhood4x4]

Good question Lance. I'm always worried about breaking down or getting stuck out in the middle of nowhere. Less so about breaking down with the 07 4runner but more so about getting stuck.

[DHC6twinotter]

Steve, sorry I missed your reply. Most of the roads I traveled on were in good enough shape that I wasn't too concerned about getting stuck, but there were a few spots. First was while on the Alpine Loop. I took a small detour to American Basin and there is a small water crossing along the way. The water wasn't deep, but I was a bit worried about getting hung up on the sides of the stream. This area was pretty popular though, so if I did get stuck, I'm sure somebody would have been along shortly to help out.

The worse mud was on the road detour through New Mexico. The mud wasn't deep, but it was super slick. Plenty of cars were sliding around. Another mud spot was in a fairly remote section of Dinosaur National Monument. Getting stuck in that mud pit would have meant waiting for, potentially, several days for another traveler or ranger to show up.

I also encountered some soft sand in Dinosaur National Monument, Death Valley, Pismo, and Great Sand Dunes National Park. Some of these spots were well traveled, but getting stuck in some of the other spots would have meant waiting a while for somebody.

[DHC6twinotter]

Nevada

After staying overnight in Cedar City, I decided to head up to Great Basin National Park in Nevada. It was several hours out of the way and really didn't look that interesting, but since I added "See every National Park" to my bucket list, I figured I needed to go see it.

I filled up with fuel in Cedar City and headed north state road 130. In Minersville, I picked up state road 21, and the plan was to stay on this all the way to Hwy 50 at the Nevada border. Somehow, that didn't happen. I made it to Hwy 50, but as soon as I turned on to 50, a sign said I still had over 100 miles to go. What? According to my map, I was only supposed to drive for 5 or 6 miles on Hwy 50. I don't think I've ever had such a profound feeling of confusion in my life, but I continued driving west on 50. For the next several miles, I was completely perplexed and feeling a bit frustrated. I finally pulled off the road, and after a few minutes of consultation with Rand McNally, I figured out my wrongdoing. State Road 21 made a left turn about 70 miles back, and the road I thought was 21, was actually 257. That was an 80 mile mistake and beat my previous mistake record by approximately 5 miles!

Anyway, that wrong turn did provide me with the opportunity to take some pictures of Sevier Lake:



And, eventually I did make it to Nevada and the Great Basin National Park. The main features of the park are Wheelers Peak (13,063ft) and Lehman Caves. I didn't make it in time to see the caves, but I did make a drive up Wheelers Peak.



The road to top reaches an altitude of 10,000 feet and offers great views of the surrounding area:



I really didn't stay around the park very long. Aside from the cave and great views, the park doesn't really have much to offer. Just outside of the park, I noticed some of the local decor:





The alien lounging on the chair was out of this world, but I really got a kick out of the horse skeleton driving the car.

I headed west on 50 for a few miles. Along the way, I spotted this neat spotted hill:



Shortly after, I started my drive south on Hwy 93 in Nevada.







I thought the contrails in this picture were pretty neat:



I continued south on 93 and stopped for fuel in Pioche. My original plan was to set up camp in Cathedral Gorge State Park located off of 93, but upon arrival, I found the campground was packed with amateur astronomers. Some of the telescopes were massive and built on their own dedicated trailers.

Once again, I continued south on 93 and found a nice campground in Kershaw-Ryan State Park. I grabbed a great dinner at the Knotty Pine Restaurant in Caliente, which was just a mile or so from the campground.

The next morning, I headed back to Knotty Pine for breakfast, and then made my way down 93 towards Las Vegas and the Hoover Dam. I made a drive through Las Vegas and found the filming locations of American Restoration, Counts Kustoms, and Pawn Stars.

American Restoration:


After one trip through Vegas, I had enough. Despite it being early afternoon, there was too much traffic and too many people. I don't care if I ever go back.

I made my way over to Hoover Dam:







While at the dam, I noticed this crane thingy:



I don't really know what it's for, but my first thought was that it's a remnant from the construction process. I don't think this is correct though, and my best guess is that the crane system is used for moving parts (like new turbines or generators) from the road to the power house below.

Below is a picture of the Mike O'Callaghan–Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge next to the Hoover Dam. This bridge is really impressive, and it's the highest and widest concrete arch bridge in the world.



The Hoover Dam is definitely an impressive structure!