I bought a few strands of the LED fairy lights you posted up somewhere. That was worth the purchase. Keep up with the photos and updates.
I forgot to take pictures of my night setup this past weekend but I pretty much run those lights every time I camp now. It's totally gary but I love the ambient lighting that it puts out.
Where can I go for a long weekend within 4 hours of the Bay? I do have a stock 4x4 Colorado
Some of the Big Sur sports look neat...
Lost Coast is on the list but we need the kid to be a little bit older.
Our camp spot on the Merced River this past weekend was awesome. 3 hour drive from San Jose, easy 4 miles of dirt road, don't even have to air down. Campsite is a stone's throw from the river, vault toilets a short walk away, and supposed to be some waterfalls a 3 mile hike away, and it was empty for this late in the summer. Also just 30 minutes drive from Yosemite if you want to take the family in there for a day (it wasn't crowded at all for a Sunday). PM me if you want details on the Merced River camp.
Otherwise there's tons of camping available on both Sierra and Stanislaus National Forests and both are about a 4-hour drive from the Bay.
I'm always concerned about getting in over my head 4wheelin. Which is why I've never ventured off the beaten path. I've heard lost coast and big sur are "very" accessible. I do like this idea though. hmmmm.
These pictures were taken on Prewitt Ridge in Big Sur, and the pictures on my
2nd post were taken on the Lost Coast (Usal Beach). Yes they're both very accessible to where passenger cars can make it to those camps, but that's also the downside, I hear they've both been shit shows this past summer because the fires were driving everybody away from the usual Sierra spots to the coast. I know wannabe was trying to camp at Big Sur a couple of weeks ago and the rangers told him it was ridiculously crowded with traffic jams on Nacimiento-Ferguson. I'd stay away from both of those spots until we're deep into fall and most of the tourists are gone.
Agree with all the experiences > gearhead dick measuring with overlanders and 4x4.
To me it's about getting the solitude / back country experience of backpacking, but you get to bring a bunch of beer / bbq and don't have to hump it all in on your back.
The wife and I have yet to be stuck/unable to keep up with the $80,000 kitted out Jeeps/LCs in our stock, unibody 2004 Honda Pilot..... I mean I'm sure they are capable of some crawlin that we aren't, but for most of the types of trips folks actually enjoy doing as a group it does the job just fine.
Of course I'd prefer a sweet kitted out rig, but getting too caught up in the gear seems to miss the point to me.
Yea there's a lot of blowback and hate from the "hardcore" off-roaders directed at the "hipster overland" crowd right now. They bitch about how overlanders are crowding their favorite trails, and then they bitch when overlanders meet at parking lots. I'm of the opinion that they're just bitches, period.
No, I don't wheel my $40,000 truck the way they wheel their $4000 4Runners. I run solo for the most part, I don't wanna find myself on my roof rack in the middle of nowhere, and come Monday the truck still has to take me to work. I'll do whatever dirt road will get me to the cool campsites but I don't seek out black diamond trails just for the sake of doing them. If that somehow diminishes my status with the hardcore off-roaders, oh well, fuck them. My truck, my money, my time, my business. MYO.
