Boondocking: Not for Everyone, pets included

[Troutboy]

Originally Posted by Ray Eklund

At a Burning Man Festival that, no doubt, many of you attend:

"Closed Indefinitely due to BARE Attack"

Boondockers Off the Grid... you cannot shut them up. But only when the subject is dear to their heart. Usually not about Wine, or Places to Eat... but fly tying, interesting rocks, Indian Folklore in the area, fishing, rock hunting, gold prospecting, the worst towns to find food, fuel and parts to repair the Airstream... etc.

Obviously it is hard to shut me up on the Forum... but then I can decide what I find interesting and dive in.

I can spend a lot of time... working with YOUR dog... but that is another quirk.

I found a silver 1946 quarter dollar, metal detecting, at my last hunter's camp on this last trip. Obviously they had a BB Gun, as it had a BB dent, probably flipped further away than expected, only to be found by me decades later.

This is fun for me. Nancy likes to read her Mystery Novels.

Our dogs... let them sniff your... whatever, and they are your best friends. Dogs have a pack mentality. They do not have to be on top, just know WHERE in the Pack they belong. People... all want to be in charge, but without any responsibility. If People sniffed one another more often, things would work out, just fine.

"Excuse me. May I sniff you?" That would get the socializing started, for sure.

So... get your sniffing done, and do what you want to do most. Eventually someone will ask "What in hell are you doing on my property... Bud..." Then... those socializing skills become more important.

Now this I could do..... maybe not the sniffing part, I have a sensitive sense of smell......

I like fish more than rocks, but rocks are pretty cool, especially those that you can climb... or the cool looking ones that someone can actually tell me about.

The seven year old loves rocks, can't get enough in his pockets. Mom doesn't appreciate it when they end up in the washer.... dad doesn't always appreciate it when he throws those rocks at the fish....

[uncle_bob]

Originally Posted by Ray Eklund

I am trying to take 5 linear feet and put 6 linear feet of books in that space. One that did not fit concerned the Hebgen Lake, Montana earthquake of August 17, 1959. I did a monologue on it earlier in Other Topics.

When finding that perfect camping spot in the Forest, understand a tree may silently fall when no one is standing there listening... but trees do fall and when they do the noise is very loud. If you are there, or not.

The Rocky Mountains have a large number of standing Beetle Kill trees. Many can be found at campgrounds and hunter's camps. Some may weigh hundred of pounds... others TONS. Some trees that have not fallen, 'hangers' or 'widow makers', will fall if the wind moves the tree or trees that have supported the hanger from falling. This tree could weigh tons, be 100 feet long and you are camped 74 feet within this fall zone.

LOOK around before you set camp. Dead trees will fall. When it does fall... you do not be there.

Rock Falls.

This same earthquake killed more people by rock falls and slides. If you set camp below a cliff... observe the area for large boulders that have fallen recently or in the past.

Glacial moraines above a campsite contain boulders from one pound to tons. A big rain could create a slide or loosen a one ton oblate boulder into your shiny Airstream and keep going.

Earthquakes. Trees, slides and rock falls are all possible. Just camp smart. You may have camped in these steep canyons of the Big Horn Mountains for 50 years or more. I do hope you enjoyed every moment, as well.

But... Human TIME to a rock slide, a boulder on the verge of rolling down slope... time means nothing.

Water

Camped downstream from a earthen dam? Camped in a dry arroyo in Utah? The list is long of caveats. Be a smart Accidental Tourist. Accidents are just that. But these, you can put a little thought into prevention and not make the newspaper headlines of the One in a Five Hundred Year accident.

Fire

Again. Think. Wind direction. Traffic moving out of area in one direction. Stop someone, if you have no idea what is happening. Stupid is only if you make a move and not know.

We may feel safe and there is no reason not to. But be aware of your surroundings, as no one else seems to be concerned does not make it... smart.

Hi

One more (maybe obvious .. sorry)

Lightning.

How much of your AS and TV is electrical / electronic? Even a close strike can mess things up (check the fuses). A direct hit *will* mess things up. A TV with no more computers in it is one that will not move. A trailer that has no water pump is one that is not as useful as it was a bit ago. Dead TV and outside cell coverage .... hmmm.....

That wide open view way up at the top of the hill / mountain / mesa sure is great. Consider that it may have a downside as well. (Also an issue out it the middle of the flat lands)

Bob

[Thalweg]

Originally Posted by Ray Eklund

Glacial moraines above a campsite contain boulders from one pound to tons. A big rain could create a slide or loosen a one ton oblate boulder into your shiny Airstream and keep going.

We may feel safe and there is no reason not to. But be aware of your surroundings, as no one else seems to be concerned does not make it... smart.

But Ray, what about the glacier itself? A fast moving, and possibly rabid glacier could encapsulate a 25 foot Airstream and entomb it for 10,000 years. I doubt that even an F-350 diesel could pull it out. In 20,000 years it will be a shiny glacial erratic.

Sorry, couldn't contain my smart-a** nature.

[uncle_bob]

Originally Posted by Thalweg

But Ray, what about the glacier itself? A fast moving, and possibly rabid glacier could encapsulate a 25 foot Airstream and entomb it for 10,000 years. I doubt that even an F-350 diesel could pull it out. In 20,000 years it will be a shiny glacial erratic.

Sorry, couldn't contain my smart-a** nature.

Hi

Given the direction most western glaciers are moving at the moment, you are safe at the *bottom* of the glacier. Don't park at the top ...

Bob

[Ray Eklund]

[QUOTE=Thalweg;2004340]But Ray, what about the glacier itself? A fast moving, and possibly rabid glacier could encapsulate a 25 foot Airstream and entomb it for 10,000 years. I doubt that even an F-350 diesel could pull it out. In 20,000 years it will be a shiny glacial erratic.

******
Thalweg brought up a good point. The big concern today is Global Warming. We are in an Interglacial Period of warming. This is among the five or so warm periods that are preceeded and then followed by a Global COOLING period. Our Glacial Ages.

Since schools do not teach much basic science, the last Ice Age is discussed since the 'animals died'. Mammoth, mastodons, sloths, huge bison and all these oversized animals... died due to Global Warming. Yep... true enough.

But... if this cycle has repeated itself over and over, the last several millions of years... and I am a good Casino Gambler that works with ODDS and OUTCOMES, what do you think is just coming around again?

We think 100 years is a long time. A rock can be billions of years old and show no grey hair or nor wrinkles in the process of weathering. If you understood that the Mississippi River is the large intestine that guides solids down to the Gulf of Mexico from the higher landforms in the north... you will then have an idea of TIME.

Just a bit less sunlight. Just a bit of more snow cover left over each year. Just a quirk in the Earth's 23 1/2 degree tilt towards the sun... no one wants to find out why this keeps occurring, but I will bet you $1 that Global Warming is far better than what is coming.

Thalweg knows about the large inland lakes of Nevada, Utah and Oregon. The Great Lakes are remnants of the last Ice Ages. It is all written in stacks of books, yet no body understands that we are just passengers on this planet. You cannot get off this ride through the galaxy or solar system, but when the time comes... move south as in 2,000 or 40,000 years we will all be wearing fur coats and dug into the side of some hill to keep warm.

[The Ice Man]

Dang, you folks make me laugh.
Makes me think of the denizens of Big Rock Beach in Malibu who built there multi-million mansions on the tiny strip of beach between the ocean and the huge cliff on that part of the Pacific Coast highway, right amongst the scenic Boulders that gave the beach it's name. Oh but did they complain a couple dozen years or so ago when house-sized boulders fell from the cliff demolishing their mansions. They even sued the County of LA for "allowing" them to build there -- it's always the other guy's fault.

Ray, you could also add Glacial Lake Missoula whose periodic filling and flooding created the coulee's of eastern Washington, cut the Columbia River Gorge, and even deposited Montana real estate as far up the Willamette as Salem.

Ain't nature wonderful...

[morlach]

On every trip, whether boondocking (which we have so far done little) or otherwise, I discover something that needs to be added to my spares-n-repairs stock. A new spare part, a new tool or something. I do maintain a very complete tool collection, at the expense of a fair bit of our limited storage space, that has so far met every need. I am a "tool guy" so, my assessment of tool requirements is usually pretty spot on. My tool junkie habit has saved us more than once. I will leave some things at home depending on where we are going though. On this trip the chance of needing limb saws and chain hoists was minimal, so I only brought the saw - one can never be 100% certain. LOL! We did do a very short boondock on this run - a few days in the mountains on BLM land to see the eclipse - it went well. No major issues. But, it is a very different set of priorities than RV park "camping" or even camping at a more remote park with some level of hook-up availability.

[Ray Eklund]

Morlach and I both like having tools. Never enough sizes of philips and straight edge screwdrivers. On the last long trip, did not need one single tool. Did use the limb and brush clippers with the long handles.

Airstreams seem to use US and Metric tools. Now you may need two sets of tools.

Many of the 'better back country roads in the mountains' were built in the 1930's by the CCC... Civilian Conservation Corps. They also built structures for National Parks. Many of these roads are in use today in the mountains, with few improvements.

Along some major highways in the Western States, you can find remnants on these early narrow roads. Almost always to be found are cans, broken coffee cups and bottles where these early Boondockers actually camped along these roads overnight. I am always looking for old coins dropped out of pockets when climbing out of their tents in the mornings. The 1950's beer cans use the 'church key' or what is the 'beer can' opener to date them. The OLD beer cans are called 'cone tops' and very distinct.

After awhile, you get so good at spotting old partial roads, campsites, wagon routes, old mining shacks, gold placer gravel discards and recognize chainsawed tree stumps, from handsaws and axes.

When you can date a soda or beer can by a glance you are very good.

When you can date a mid to late 19th century can, you are excellent.

When you can tell by the shape of the can, what was in it... you are an expert.

Now, if you ask me what kind of bird is sitting on my head... chances are I have no idea. We all have our likes and not interested in others. When you can glance at the topography and actually have an idea where an Ancient Indian camp can be found... you are not only "Playing Indian... you are Living Indian" (Little Big Man movie) in their original environment.

All of this is out there to discover without a University Professor wandering around with a group of students.

Hint: Food, Shelter and Water. If you can envision all three, the chances of being camped upon an ancient Indian temporary camp is very high, indeed.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

Most of the original facilities in the PA state parks and forests were put in by the CCC. If you are in a park here, it's likely you are in or very near a CCC site. They also put in facilities for the CCC workers. Some were quite elaborate with multiple barracks and cook sheds. Others were quite simple.

One "unique" adventure is rooting around the remains of old distilleries (as in 1800's and early 1900's) looking for stuff like bottles. Dating those finds can be a bit interesting ( = my 1800's bottle is a "replica" from the 1950's ...) Some of the roads in to the old sites are still better adapted to mules than vehicles. In other cases they have been "improved" at least up to fire road standards ....

Bob

[Thalweg]

I was talking to one of the archaeologists at work a few weeks ago. They, by law, have to treat anything in excess of 50 years old as an archaeological feature. She was lamenting the fact that the old "pop-tops" off of soda an beer cans are now approaching 50 years old. So we can no longer just pick them up and throw them in the trash. They are a cultural artifact. Nobody is happy about that, but it is the law.

I bet it never occurred to those guys doing that CCC work that Ray would be out rummaging through their garbage. If it had, maybe they would have at least rinsed out that pork and beans can.

[Ray Eklund]

I am going to request that the Buffalo BLM Office do a campsite study of various pull tabs, can variations and possible sources of these items. The positioning of pull tabs around a campfire is important. Are they pulled and rolled, or just tossed... unrolled? Some made kid's rings fashionable.

I recall many kids taking these pull tabs and making long chains out of them. Must have kept them very busy. They should be exhumed and displayed as a cultural moment in time. Well, mostly University Students on a drunken weekend in the dorms... but who am I to be a critic of student life in the dorms?

What about taking a soda can, stomping on it with your heel of your shoe. The can grips your shoe and you walk around the neighborhood, sounding like a horse stampede? A true historical artifact.

Today's trash is tomorrow's artifacts.

My brother is a flint knapper. He makes stone projectile points as good, and in most cases, better than the American Indian. Someday... say fifty years... these will be determined by archaeologists to be, well, old enough to be... real(?). Real what, I am not sure, but they can look like fluted Folsom and Clovis points, to Anasazi arrowheads by the handful.

Boondocking has made Nancy, mine and our Blue Heelers lives fun and exciting in our Airstreams. It is a shame that more assets are not provided to maintain the high standards that the BLM or NFS or NPS departments would find adequate. In a perfect world, yes.

Much like the forgotten Vietnam veterans and the public servants of our vast outdoor resources... someday change will happen. Sooner the better.

[Thalweg]

Just think of the valuable information future anthropologists will glean from these valuable artifacts.

"On this spot, sometime between 1965 and 1975, a homosapien consumed a fermented beverage identified as Hamms. If fermented beverages were being consumed, the water must have been unfit for human consumption. The water impairment must have been related to bears, and must not have effected water clarity, because beverage container specifies that the water was sky blue".

[Utah Man]

Ya'll are entertaining... thanks for the lighthearted read on this thread during my lunch break. Please double-down on the grave hazards part of boondocking, dry camping, and even touristing the Intermountain West. This a pretty scary place, not to even mention the crazy politicos, so please keep up this import public service...

[Ray Eklund]

OK... does anyone have any UTAH stories to tell. Well, of course I do and will toss this out.

Moab, Utah. At one time there was a man name Charles Steen. HE died in 2006. He was a Uranium prospector in the 1950's. His family, I knew his son as Mark (Charles Jr. aka Mark?), were out in the bush with their Dad, as well. The family struggled as prospecting pays no income nor dividend until something of value is found, a claim made and then sold, if possible.

(Go to Wikipedia and search Charles Steen, Moab, Utah, Uranium)

Read the story.

I have a bit of the 'Rest of the Story'.

With the big windfall to the discovery on the Mi Vida... there still, or was lately, his $250,000 home overlooking Moab. Now this is in 1950's dollars. He would throw big parties on this wonderful perch overlooking Moab. Invited the whole town at the time.

Mr. Steen had the first Color Television in Moab, when ever that was... it was too expensive for local families. Now, how he could get any Color or any Station is something to discover? (That part I did not get details from his son, but have to believe the story.)

The story of a geologist who just would not give up is very interesting. He should have also been an accountant as it would have helped his money management with millions of immediate wealth.

So... there is a tiny bit of Moab, Utah memorabilia. His life story is worth reading.

I found some fossils in western Nebraska on local ranches to pay for my University classes. Bought a used portable color television with a broken handle for $35. I lived happily ever after.

PS... I gave up the camping spot at 'Steen's Camp at Yellow Cat' which a photo shows the shack and a trailer. It may have been posted on this Thread. Any cockroaches in your trailer may get the Uranium Zapp and take care of them and anything else not wearing a lead suit...?

[3wd67rg]

Originally Posted by Ray Eklund

Morlach and I both like having tools. Never enough sizes of philips and straight edge screwdrivers. On the last long trip, did not need one single tool. Did use the limb and brush clippers with the long handles.

Airstreams seem to use US and Metric tools. Now you may need two sets of tools.

Hey Ray, morelach is my Chris. I brought him into this thread because we love when you write.