Adventures of Etoimos: A running thread of my adventures lasting from daily jaunts to multi week excursions.

[Etoimos]

Hey everyone, my name is Keith and I'm an "overlander". I like to go to remote places in my vehicles (currently a 2022 Power Wagon) to explore and camp. I thought I'd share these adventures with everyone in hopes of inspiring some of you to get out there and do some exploring of your own.

So if you like reading about and looking at photos (and a few videos) of remote places, follow along as I try my best to bring those places to you.

 

[Etoimos]

The Great Western Loop 2022​

Each year I try and plan one large overlanding trip for my son and I. For 2022 I was planning our largest trip to date: Colorado to Tuktoyaktuk Canada on the Arctic Ocean. I had been planning that trip for over a year, but as the first few months of 2022 came and went it was becoming clearer and clearer that the trip might not happen. The new 2022 Power Wagon that I had ordered had arrived in February, but the RSI SmartCap the build was going to be centered around had an unknown delivery date. Then the gas prices started rise and no one knew just how high they were going to go. With questions surrounding the timeline of the build and fuel cost estimates for the Tuk trip surpassing $3,500, it was time to come up with a new plan. I placed a quick call to my Dad to see if he could join us if we did a two week trip here in the States and he was immediately in.

I am constantly examining satellite imagery and maps of different areas for possible future trips and all those hours invested in years past finally paid off. I was able to string together what I am calling the Great Western Loop (GWL for short) out of several of those pre-scouted routes. The GWL would take us through Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, and Colorado in the span of 14 days. To say that it was an ambitious plan is an understatement!

As with most of my overlanding trips, the first day was to be a long one that consisted mostly of putting down miles on the dreaded black stuff: pavement.

Unlike all my previous trips, this one got off to a rough start as we had barely gone 20 miles before the first issue popped up. While stopping at a light in Colorado Springs early that morning I smelt overheated brakes. Since there was no one else on the road, I knew it had to be from us. We pulled off into a parking lot and it did not take long to figure out that the smell was coming form the trailer brakes. Not being able to see anything wrong with the trailer, I figured it was probably in the brake controller. I had of course tested and adjusted the brake controller after I got the Power Wagon, but I had done that with the trailer unloaded and on the dirt roads around my house. I figured that the extra weight in the trailer and being on pavement was causing the trailer brakes to overheat. I dialed back the amount of brake input via the controller and that solved the issue.

After a couple of hundred more miles the next issue reared its ugly head. The Power Wagon has a camera screen for the rearview “mirror” and I have a camera mounted to the top rear of the trailer that plugs into the truck to be displayed on that “mirror”. Whenever we would hit a decent sized bump in the road, the “mirror” would black out for a second or so and then come back on. It would do this for a while and then the “mirror” would go gray and display an error message about the camera. Stopping again we were able to determine that there was a loose connection somewhere in the truck side wiring. Unable to fix it on this trip, I had to unplug the trailer camera and view the front of my trailer in the mirror like a Neanderthal.

As we drove further north, rain started moving in. At this point I started to wonder if this first day was going to be an indication for the trip to come. Issues and weather aside, there was plenty of great views and some cool sights to see that helped break up the 14 hours of driving that first day. And of course the time spend with both my dad and my son was worth every mile driven.

By the time we got to our first stretch of dirt leading to the campsite, the clouds had moved in fully and a few drops of rain had fallen. The trail to the campsite was dry enough so we continued on as the trail got tighter and tighter.

After getting the truck and trailer positioned just a few feet away from the river for the night, we decided to cook a quick dinner of brats and chips in order to beat the rain. With dinner wrapped up and still no rain, I thought it would be a good idea to get a detailed weather update via my Garmin InReach. While I was waiting on the update to come in, I decided to fly the drone down the river a bit.

When the weather report finally came in, it was not looking very good. They were calling for a chance of heavy rain. Being at the very end of a tight trail and right next to the river, we decided that it was better to not take the chance of getting stuck down there. Less than an hour after getting to our camping spot we were working our way back up the trail to higher ground for the night.

That was the third blow to the first day of the trip, but unbeknownst to us at the time, it would turn out to be a good thing.

 

[Etoimos]

It turns out no rain fall that night and everything was dry the next morning. However, had we not moved back up the trail, we would not have awoken just before sunrise to find a mom and two grizzly bear cubs not more than 100 paces from our camp. They were foraging in the meadow next to us and were not too concerned with our camp being there. I was able to wake Kiefer up just enough for him to look out of the trailer and see them before he crashed again.

With grizzlies outside our trailer, there was no way I was going back to sleep. I quickly and quietly got dressed and grabbed my camera to try and get a few shots of them. It was still too dark to get any good photos when they are close, but as the light picked up some my dad and I made our way in the direction that they had scampered off in. We were able to spot them again moving up the hill on the far side of the trial from us.

There might not have been any rain overnight, but when the sun finally broke over the distant mountains, there was a lot of cloud activity that made for a very beautiful and interesting sky. Both the lighting and the clouds were changing by the second!

While the new campsite was not on the banks of the Clarks Fork Yellowstone River, it was still a very choice spot to spend some time at.

This photo was taken where I estimate the grizzlies were when we first woke up.
The grizzlies were not the only visitors we had that morning, this cow elk came around to check us out as well and ended up staying around for quite a while.

Not much further down the road we discovered why we did not get any rain overnight. It all fall in the form of snow in the mountains to the north and west of us. The roads must have been warm enough from the day before to keep them clear, which meant smooth sailing for us as we made our way into and out of Montana on the way to the Northeast Entrance of Yellowstone NP.

Like most trips to Yellowstone, it was not long before we started seeing wildlife. First up was a fox that looked like it had had a rough night and wanted to take it out on the humans as it blocked the road for a decent amount of time. So much time in fact, that a ranger had to come shoo it way.

Next up was the ever present Tatanka. No matter how many times you see these guys, you always have to stop for a better look your first day in the park.

By mid morning the rains had started in earnest over Yellowstone and stayed with us for most of our trip.

 

[Etoimos]

The off and on rain through out the morning made everything very green, except the roads. It made those muddy.

And the truck and trailer even muddier.

Well, we thought this was muddy, but we’d find out later just how wrong we were.

The next stop on our trip was the Natural Bridge Falls. This is a pretty unique water fall in the fact that as the water level of the river drops, the river disappears into an underground network of caves.

And then reappears gushing out of the side of a near by cliff. When the water level is higher, the river pours out of the two holes just above and to the right of where it is coming out in the photo below. When the river is really running high, it also cascades from the top, again just a little above and to the right of the two holes.

There is a short hike that takes you all the way down to the bottom where the falls meet the river below. The last part of the hike is kind of steep and everything is very slippery from all the moisture trapped down there.

Things were not much drier back up top, but nothing stops Kiefer and Pep-paw from having fun together.

With the falls and lunch out of the way, it was time to put down some decent dirt miles to get to our next camping spot. Which, just happened to be in the mountains behind this cool little church that was out in the middle of know where.

Soon after the little church, Melville Road turned into “Mudville” Road. I’m talking about mud so bad that you have to slow down to 5mph just to maintain control of your vehicle. Mud so bad you have to work your trailer’s breaks manually just to help anchor it behind the truck so it does not push you off the road going down hill on a curve. Mud so bad you have to keep going as stopping to try and turn around is a sure fire way of getting stuck.

After spending way too much time driving in the mud and consuming way more gas than expected, we decide to bail at the first paved road we came to, leaving the abandoned campsite some 17 miles down a remote road in the new state of Mudtana. Even back on pavement the mud was not done with us. We had to stop and clean off as much as we could from the trailer to lighten the load back there.

With the second night’s campsite scratched off the books, we decided to see if we could push on to where we had planned to camp the third night. After all, if you have to divert from your plans, you might as well try and get ahead of the game. Alas, that was not to be either. The extra time and gas spent in the mud meant we did not have enough of either to make it there. Instead, we made camp in a spot we found along the way. It might have been a decent campsite in better weather, but with snow melting on the ground and rain falling on our heads, we ate a quick dinner and went to bed cold and defeated.

Here is a short video of the campsite we site we stayed at.

 

[Etoimos]

With the rain continuing off and on through out the night, we were not certain that we’d be able to do much of the trail I had planned for the day and we were still a little low on gas. with those things in mind we decided not to try and force the trail run in. Our time would be much better spent visiting family for an extra day.

We left the rain behind at the campsite and drove on to my Aunt Suzzie’s ranch under blue skies dotted with puffy white clouds. What a welcome change!

After several days of warm showers, good food and great conversations with family, it was time for us to hit the road again. This time heading west into Idaho.

The trek through Idaho was to be a quick one, with only a single stop planned to stay the night before moving into Oregon. That did not mean we could not stop and enjoy a little of what the state had to offer in the way of a river side picnic however.

Camp for the night would be a quite spot not too far from the main road and it made for a great place to get some photos of the kiddo.

With dinner cooking and the shadows growing longer, it was time to settle in for the night as the next day was going to be another long one.

 

[Etoimos]

With both Idaho and a stop for provisioning behind us, we made our way into Oregon. This was the first time Kiefer and I had been to this state and I was excited about exploring some of the very cool places it has to offer in the Owyhee area.

As you drive across this remote area, everything looks pretty flat without any major landmarks. Looks are deceiving however, as there is a large canyon less than 700 feet away on parts of the drive. The canyon is also very deep, nearly 1,000 feet from rim to river in some locations.

Our plans for the night would see us dropping some 850 feet into the canyon to setup camp on the banks of the Owyhee River.

Within minutes of exiting the truck to checkout various spots to camp, we heard the unmistakable rumble of a fighter jet rolling through the canyon. Quickly scanning the skies below the near total cloud cover, I caught a glimpse of an F-15 doing a hard bank above the canyon’s rim not far from were we had entered. The solid layer of clouds that had built up during the afternoon hid the rest of the jets that we heard rumbling above us. The only other jets we saw were a pair that appeared to be heading back to base at a high rate of speed and at high altitude as the sun began to set.

When the jets were not flying around, there was still lots to see with all of the different canyons merging at this spot.

Continuing our game of finding faces in the landscape from our previous trips, we found several faces in this rock formation like a stone golem and a titan’s head. Do you see them?

That evening the low clouds did make for a nice, if not intense, sunset.

Owyhee River video

 

[Etoimos]

The next day started out bright and clear and with only around 55 miles to go to the next campsite, it was supposed to be an easy day. Instead, it would turn out to be the most arduous day of the trip.

With the best weather we have had all week and the short travel day ahead of us, I thought it would be a great time to get some drone footage. After all, our campsite for the previous night had been in a really cool location.

And that is when the day took a drastic turn…

Drone crash video.

I spent the next two and a half hours scrambling up, down and through the very rugged terrain trying to locate my crashed drone. I had a pretty good idea of where it should be since I was orbiting that rock spire, but finding that spire when viewing the area from a totally different direction and perspective was a different story. To make matters worse, my controller/tablet had lost connection with the drone so I could not use the “Find My Drone” feature it has built in. This meant that I had to keep trying to reconnect to my drone as I picked my way though the rock formation.

I was eventually able to reconnect with it and turn on the location lights and sounds. I was barely able to to hear the drone beeping and worked my way to it. In the heat of the moment, I forgot to take a picture of it where it had come to rest before I picked it up to examine it. However, the photo below is of the crash site and the drone was resting right at the edge of that “path”. It does not look like it in the photo, but that is about a 20 foot drop down and it would have been next to impossible for me to reach it had it tumbled over that final ledge.

The drone was destroyed beyond my ability to repair it on the road. It had two broken flight arms, one motor’s electrical cables completely severed, a couple of broken rotor blades and the lower fuselage frame was cracked. Trying to still make the most out of the morning, I picked up my still camera and was treated to a Common Merganser hen and her six chicks swimming in the river next to camp.

With the morning’s ordeal out of the way, we made our way up and out of the river bottoms.

And like every trip I’ve ever taken, were met by cows. Whenever you get a good section of high speed dirt, it never seems to fail that they are standing in the middle of the road.

After navigating the minefields of cows we reached our first point of interest for the day, the resting place of Jean Baptiste Charbonneau. Jean was the son of Sacagawea and Toussaint Charbonneau and was born during the Lewis and Clark Expedition. It seemed fitting to pay our respects to a historical overlander on our overlanding trip.

With our respects paid, it was time to get remote again. We took a two track “road” that I had scouted out online to get us to the Jordan Craters lava flow. Along the way we were treated to a wonderful view of a meadow covered in yellow flowers.

We were also treated to a sliced sidewall in one of the truck’s tires. Remember how I said it was time for us to get remote just a little bit ago, well we were pretty remote when the tire went flat…

It took a lot of effort and even more time, but with a combination of constantly airing up the blown tire and digging out a spot to put the jack, we were able to get the spare tire mounted. To add injury to insult, when we put the spare wheel on and tightened everything down, the locking lug nut that came on the truck decided to brake and strip out. While it did not effect us driving on the spare at the moment, it was going to be a huge pain when we found a replacement tire.

I back tracked a little ways on foot to see if I could find what had sliced the sidewall, but could not find nothing. With over eight miles left to to reach our planned campsite, down to no spare, and unable to determine what caused the flat, we had a decision to make.

It did not make a lot of sense to go deeper into the wilderness when we would just have to back track all the way out and to the nearest town that might have a tire that would fit, so in the end we decided that it would be safer to turn around and pick up the main road to Cow Lakes Recreation Area and stay there for the night.

 

[Etoimos]

The next morning was cold and wet. Finding a new spare tire was at the top of the list so we eat a cold breakfast while backtracking the muddy roads to the nearest town, Jorden Valley.

There is not much in Jorden Valley, but they do have a Sinclair service station… and by service station I mean that in the old sense of the term. They had a two bay shop and lots of tools on hand. Much to our delight, they also had a 285/70R17 (33″) off-road tire in stock. It was not the same brand as my other tires, but it was the only tire I could find in a two hour radius that would fit my needs.

While the service station was well provisioned, the guys working there did not seem to know how to do anything besides a simple tire swap. That was going to be an issue for us, since we had that busted lug lock to deal with. After about 2 minutes of them staring at it, they conceded to just let my dad and I have run of their shop to get it off. A slightly oversized 12pt socket and 3lb hammer got the keyed lock off, but it took a hammer and chisel to get the inner race off.

With the hard work done, they proceeded to get the new tire mounted and balanced and we were back on the road in only a couple of hours.

Keeping with the wet theme of the trip, the rain followed us across south east Oregon. As we approached the Alvord Desert, we could see standing water on it.

Since we had never been here before, I stopped and talked to someone that knew a little more about the area. We took their advice and stay close to the edge so if it started to rain hard again, we would be less likely to get stuck.

While dad and I were setting up camp, Kiefer went exploring. About the only thing to find on such flat terrain, was the cracked ground under your feet.

This lead to Kiefer and I building some dams to see how it might effect the water still on the surface.

As the afternoon turned into evening the desert started to dry out and some other vehicles decided to do some racing out in the middle of it.

Dinner that night was Kiefer’s choice, so pancakes it was!

An after dinner hike took us out towards the middle of the desert. You can just barly make out the truck to the left of these track and right on the vegetation line.

The Alvord Desert is a very interesting place and one I’ll have to return to in drier conditions as it has some great photo opportunities.

 

[Etoimos]

We awoke the next morning to, you guessed it, more rain. Luckily it did not rain a lot over night, but it did rain enough that the few people that had setup camp out on the desert had woken up during the night and moved their camp closer to the edge.

With the weather threating to dump more rain, we quickly packed up camp and made our way down the road into Nevada. We were treated with some really cool skies that morning.

And just to be sure the morning was not too wonderful, we had to stop and get some gas.

If you think it hurts to spend $50 on 8 gallons of gas, it hurts even more to do it twice in a row just to get a half tank of gas!

With the trailer unhooked we again headed off in to the wilderness, this time in search of a B-24 that crashed in 1945.

Don’t let that last sunny photo fool you, a few miles down the trail and the weather had set back in.

As the trail got rougher and more remote, it also got wetter and slicker. It finally got to the point where the truck was sliding off the trail and we had to call off the search for the crashed B-24. I was starting to think this was the trip that should not be.

After getting back off the mountains and hooking up the trailer, but laid down some serious highway miles and stayed a night in a RV park. This gave us a chance to clean some clothes, the rigs and our selves. The latter being the most important! I don’t like staying in campgrounds our RV parks, but when I’m forced to we almost always meet some interesting people. This time was no different as we had some good conversation with our neighbor for the night.

 

[Etoimos]

The next part of our trip was a surpise for Kiefer. We were going to one of his Top 5 must visit National Parks: Great Basin National Park. With camp setup, we set about exploring what the park had to offer.

After so many days in the truck and all the rain, Kiefer was excited to do a little hiking in the sunshine.

Pep-paw decided to sit this hike out and it was a good thing he did as it turned into a pretty rough trail in spots.

Kiefer was hoping for a little more out of the Mill Creek, but at least the views along the trail were good and there were some interesting rocks along the way.

I was also able to take some decent photos of the cascades that ran behind the campsite.

This first day in the park was both fun and relaxing, but the big adventure would happen the next day.

 

[Etoimos]

The Lehman Caves are probably the biggest attraction in Great Basin NP. The caves were discovered in the 1880s by Absalom Lehman. Before becoming a National Monument and later part of the National Park, the caves were used for a variety of things to include private tours, weddings and even as a Speak Easy during the Prohibition.

Unlike most cave systems that only have a handful of shield formations, the Lehman caves have over 300 of these rare formations. You can see the aptly named Parachute shield formation in the center of the photo below.

The longest tour of the cave is the Grand Palace Tour and takes about 90 minutes. All of the tours sell out weeks in advance, so if you want to explore this very unique place, make sure to plan ahead.

With our cave tour tour complete we started heading east towards Moab. Due to the late start and a quick trip into town to resupply, we used the iOverland app to find us a decent campsite not to far from the highway to call home for the night.

 

[Etoimos]

The 12th day of the trip dawned clear and cool, but the expected high in Moab was near 100 degrees. I had scouted out a couple of dispersed campsites around Moab, but with our planned activities right there in town we tried to find a site along the river just outside of town first.

We lucked out and found an open site that was pretty well surrounded by trees. We setup camp and ate a quick lunch before heading out to explore a little.

With no trailer to worry about it we did a little recon trip to one of the sites I had scouted out online. There are some pretty rough places on the trail to the site and it is kind of far away from most things in the Moab area, but it would be an interesting place to use as a base camp to explore the area.

The Dewey bridge has been a local landmark in the Moab area from the time it was built in April of 1916. Unfortunately it was burned down by a young boy playing with matches in 2008. Even with just the suspension parts left standing, it is still a neat place to get out and explore.

With the mornings wanderings completed, we returned to our shaded campsite for some lunch and then it was off to explore a part of another of Kiefer’s Top 5 National Parks to visit: Arches National Park.

The Park was still under a Covid induced timed entry, so we only had the late afternoon and early evening to take in some of the bigger attractions.

As can be expected, the Park was busy and hot. The parts we were able to explore left Kiefer longing to come back for more.

 

[Etoimos]

Having off-roaded in Jeeps for over a decade, I was a little apprehensive when I made the decision to switch to a full size truck for my adventures. The extra room and nicer ride were a huge plus, but how well it would actually do on “Jeep trails” was still a mystery to me. I never made it out to Moab with my Jeeps, so there was no way I was going to miss hitting a trail while there in the new Power Wagon. I figured Fins and Things would be a good first trail to introduce both me and the truck to the slick rocks of Utah. With a Trails Offroad rating of 4-6, it was sure to test the mantle of my mostly stock Power Wagon.

Our very early start on the trail meant that we beat most of the heat of the day. It also meant that we had the trial mostly to ourselves. The few SxS that past us were quite surprised to see the Power Wagon not taking any of the bypasses on the trail.

The only modification I’d done to increase the Power Wagon’s offroad chops before going on this trip was to install a set of White Knuckle Off Road’s rock sliders. They did their job quite well in a few spots along the trail.

All in all the Power Wagon did really well on Fins and Things. It could definitely benefit from some larger tires to get the radius arms up a little higher and to help with the breakover angle. A set of 35″ tires are in it’s future to help with those issues. A new rear bumper with a better departure angle is also on the list of things to do to it.

With the trail completed and the temperature climbing steadily, it was time to head back into the high country of Colorado. The cloud dotted sky and snow dotted rolling hills and open meadows was a nice change of scenery from the browns and reddish oranges we had seen over the last several days.

The plan had been to make camp next to one of those high altitude lakes, but we had made such good time that morning that we decided to continue on and look for a campsite down in the Crested Butte area. While searching for a site on a side road I heard a metallic scraping sound coming from the back of the truck. A quick glance around did not reveal anything so my dad walked along beside me as I slowly drove a few feet. He was able to locate where the sound was coming from… the rear drive shaft!

We were not sure what that large metal ring was used for, but it did not appear to be a critical component of the drivetrain. I zip tied it up out of the way and we found a campsite right off the highway that would not stress anything out more than it needed to be.

 

[Etoimos]

The final morning of the greeted us with a light layer of frost and gorgeous views. Two things that are common place in Colorado.

With nothing left between us and home but several hours of pavement, we hit the road to close out yet another trip for three generations of Upton boys. While this trip had more issues and setbacks than any of our previous trips, it was still a great time that none of us will ever forget.

 

[Kauffmj1]

Man, thanks for the time taken to post such awesome photos and a great trip recap. Was fun to read through! I live in Ohio and I'm jealous of the areas you guys have out west to explore. Its good to see a Powerwagon doing real Powerwagon stuff. its making the wait on my 2023 Powerwagon all that much harder seeing yours in action! Its impressive you made it through the Moab trails with only some scuffed bumpers.

So how close did the grizzlies get to the trailer at night? I've had run-ins with black bears in PA when ATV riding, but grizzlies are on another level!

How did the PW do dragging the trailer through the trails? What does it weigh in at?

 

[Jacob]

Great pics

 

[diesel_driver_3500]

Great story and great pictures! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Etoimos]

Man, thanks for the time taken to post such awesome photos and a great trip recap. Was fun to read through! I live in Ohio and I'm jealous of the areas you guys have out west to explore. Its good to see a Powerwagon doing real Powerwagon stuff. its making the wait on my 2023 Powerwagon all that much harder seeing yours in action! Its impressive you made it through the Moab trails with only some scuffed bumpers.

So how close did the grizzlies get to the trailer at night? I've had run-ins with black bears in PA when ATV riding, but grizzlies are on another level!

How did the PW do dragging the trailer through the trails? What does it weigh in at?

If you ever head out to CO with the PW, hit me up and we will do some trails. I don't think the grizzlies were ever any closer then they were when I woke up and saw them. That was about 100 paces or so away. Years ago I had a run-in with a black bear on my crotch rocket. Revving to 13k RPMs sent him up the nearest tree pretty quick. lol

The PW did really well pulling the trailer, it did not even know it was back there. I only knew it was back there on the tighter trails. It made some of the sharper turns and backing up kind of interesting. My dad grew up on a farm and drove tractor trailers most of his life, so he was really good at spotting for trailer placement. The trailer has a gross weight of 3500, but I think we were only running it at around 3100~3200. I did weight the entire rig during the trip. Fully loaded with people, gear and gas we were 4,540lbs on the front axle, 4,940lbs on the rear axle and 2,880 on the trailer axle. Total weight was 12,360lbs. So a little over weight. lol

Great pics

Thanks!

Great story and great pictures! Thanks for sharing!

Your welcome and thank you.

 

[Rockcrawlindude]

Sub’d for the pics

 

[UglyViking]

Great pics and story. I am looking forward to where you take the build.

One item I'll comment on is the ring that was knocked off the driveshaft. It's a vibration dampener of sorts, and you're far from the first person to have it come off. I'd probably just cut it off and call it a day, but you can possibly have it reconnected if it's important to you.