Pics & Notes From Our Summer Road Trip

[Dusty]

What a trip! Steffie and I got home last Sunday from our annual Summer Road Trip, and of course we had a blast. Here are a bunch of pics and some notes from our trip.

• Total Days: 13
• Total Miles Travelled: 3,685
• States Visited: 8 (California, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Nevada)
• National Parks Visited: 4 (Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP, Grand Teton NP, Yellowstone NP, Canyonlands NP)
• Nights Tent Camping: 5
• Nights in Hotel/Motel: 7 (Includes first 3 nights in a motel in Capitan, NM, while Stephanie and her brother were working on matters related to their mother’s estate, who had recently passed away. Motel/Hotel nights during the actual touring portion of this trip were only 4 (versus 5 nights camping)
• Touring Total Miles Travelled*: 3,006
• Touring Non-Freeway Miles Traveled: 2,821
• Touring Connecting Freeway Miles: 185
• Touring Non-Freeway Miles Percentage: 94%
• Total Non-Freeway Miles Percentage: 77%

*Touring mileage excludes freeway miles during both our initial getaway (Southern California to Phoenix AZ where we first left the Interstate, and the freeway portion of the final return leg (Hurricane UT to home). Everything in between I’m calling the “Touring” portion of our road trip.​

Some Highlights & Lowlights:

• Best Camping Meal: Steffie’s Chicken & Capers
• Best Restaurant Meal: Oso Grill in Capitan NM (I had the Hatch Chile Enchilada Casserole)
• Most Exciting Activity: Whitewater rafting on the Snake River in Jackson, WY
• Most Puckery Road: Shafer Switchbacks, Canyonlands NP
• Most Beautiful Scenery: The aspen forests between Crested Butte and Carbondale, CO
• Highest Elevation: Kebler Pass, CO 9,998 ft.
• Most Pleasant Surprises: 1. The beautiful mountains of northeastern Utah; 2. The Black Canyon of the Gunnison; 3. The enormous Bear Lake.
• Biggest Disappointment: the lack of viewable wildlife in Grand Teton NP and zero viewable elk in the vast National Elk Refuge.
• Live Wildlife Viewed: Antelope somewhere in New Mexico and in northern Colorado; several nice muley bucks near Meeker CO and a big one near Kebler Pass; a herd of Bighorn Sheep ewes at Blue Mesa Reservoir, CO; Bald Eagles on the Snake River, WY; a partially domesticated Bull Elk near the Signal Mountain store in Grand Teton NP, Turkey Buzzards, Canadian geese, Pelicans and Sandpipers at Bear Lake ID; various ground squirrels, chipmunks and other small mammals throughout the trip.
• Best Roads: Utah
• Worst Roads: Arizona
• Worst (only) Vehicular Equipment Failure: Shattered the rear hatch window on the Bronco
• Favorite Camping Gear: Steffie—Jet Boil and French Press; Dusty: Starlink Mini

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[Dusty]

A few more...

 

[JediMcMuffin]

DUDE... you're some of my favorite people for a reason. Looks like an epic time.

 

[Dusty]

Some non-Bronco shots from the trip.

 

[Dusty]

DUDE... you're some of my favorite people for a reason. Looks like an epic time.

Aww shucks!

 

[Felix808]

Now that's a trip!!!
No doubt an awesome time Dusty. Thanks for sharing

 

[Dusty]

We were disappointed we didn't see more wildlife, but here's a few shots of some of the critters we did spot.

 

[Dusty]

Best camp meal: Steffie's Chicken & Capers.

Hated it...

 

[Dusty]

You may have noticed the plywood in the back window in some of the shots. Steffie shattered the window one evening in camp near Gunnison, Colorado. There must have been something wedged between the window and the top when she shut the tailgate, the glass exploded and dropped to the ground. She was quite startled and very upset. I told her don't worry about it. Come sit down and have a drink. We'll deal with it in the morning. So the next morning we drove into Gunnison and bought a sheet of plywood and a hand saw. Fashioned a makeshift hatch, even attached it to the hinges, which served well for the second week of the trip. Insurance has already covered it. I'm having it replaced next Monday at my local body shop.

 

[Dusty]

Now that's a trip!!!
No doubt an awesome time Dusty. Thanks for sharing

Thanks!

 

[BigFootie]

Great pictures from what sounds like a great trip. All that in a 2 door! Who’d a thunk it! The pictures of Schafer don’t do it justice do they? Arizona roads are great compared to Wisconsins by the way!

 

[Dusty]

Great pictures from what sounds like a great trip. All that in a 2 door! Who’d a thunk it! The pictures of Schafer don’t do it justice do they? Arizona roads are great compared to Wisconsins by the way!

Yeah the 2-door is indeed tight on space. But pulling the back seats out and installing the roof rack with the two weatherproof bins up top really helped out. That said, we packed WAY more shit than we needed LOL.

 

[jbellousux]

Awesome trip!!

I’m no expert but I saw thousands of elk in the National Elk Refuge outside of Jackson, but it was still winter. My guess is they pursue higher ground in the warmer months.

 

[BigFootie]

That said, we packed WAY more shit than we needed LOL.

That’s a common problem. Sometimes “just in case” ends up being “just too much”.

 

[Dusty]

Awesome trip!!

I’m no expert but I saw thousands of elk in the National Elk Refuge outside of Jackson, but it was still winter. My guess is they pursue higher ground in the warmer months.

That could be. We passed by the Elk Refuge a half dozen times and never saw any there. Last year about the same time we saw tons of them up in Yellowstone.

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