#teardropcamper

Thanks for everyone who followed our maiden voyage with the Teardrop. Here is a video we put together of our trip. Now time to explore the Northeast. Cheers!

I didn’t think any other national park would impress me the way Glacier did until I got to Grand Teton. The Grand Teton mountain range is so surreal looking. With it’s rugged outline, snowy passes and lakes that surround it, it was near impossible to look away from.
Jess and I met a cool kiwi in Zion. He had a 1969 Ford Econoline Camper Van and I couldn’t resist asking him to check out the inside. After having a few beers together that night we exchanged contact information and parted ways. We were fortunate enough to cross paths again in Grand Teton. Dan had some friends with him, a kiwi couple - Jen and Lloyd, two genuinely nice and cool humans. We shared a campsite together, after hiking all day we’d sit around the fire and laugh all night. It was nice to hang with like minded people and exchange laughs and stories with people from across the world. I hope that we may meet again, friends. I also hope I find myself gazing up at the Tetons again sooner than later.

August 1st - 1 month on the road, 8,257 miles and 12 National Parks! CHEERS!

Glacier National Park - Crown of the Continent.

Oregon was one of the states that we were really looking forward to. We pulled up to our campground around dusk after a scenic ride through beautiful winding mountain roads coming from Lake Tahoe. Our campsite was nestled right next to Diamond Lake. We set up camp and cooked our first meal as the sun was setting over the gigantic snow capped mountain that lives across the clear blue lake. Our neighbors informed us that we just missed a hailstorm and the temperature would be a record low that night, dropping below 40. We broke out our wool blanket and heavy socks in preparation for the chilly mountain air.

The following morning we woke up in clouds of heavy fog. Being the optimistic people that we are we headed to Crater Lake. Needless to say we couldn’t see five feet in front of us, let alone the beautiful unbelievably blue lake. So we headed north for some waterfalls and of course we weren’t disappointed. The green of Oregon’s forests with raging blue clean water is an unmatchable combo. Umpqua National Forest was a great area to explore. With four waterfalls and hot springs all within a 20 mile stretch it wasn’t hard to fill our entire day in the lush green forest.

The next day we headed to Crater Lake. Instead of writing about our experience at this incredible lake, I’d like to tell our personal favorite story of how the Lake came to be. We came across this story while reading “Your Guide to the National Parks.”

Mount Mazama had a cataclysmic eruption about 8,000 years ago. This cataclysmic eruption caused the mountain to collapse into itself forming a massive caldera.
The Makala Indians tell the story of an epic battle between Llao, Chief of the Below World and Skell, Chief of the Above World. Llao on one of his visits to Mount Mazama fell in love with one of the villagers. Llao promised the pretty young villager enteral life if she would come and live with him below Mount Mazama. The girl refused Llao’s offer which enraged the Chief of the Below World. Llao took his rage out on the village and started to destroy everything in sight. Skell, Chief of the Above World, seeing this from standing atop Mount Shasta decided to help the villagers. The epic battle between Llao and Skell ended in fiery destruction. Skell finally drove Llao back into the underworld through Mount Mazama where the battle took place all night. The next morning Mount Mazama was gone and all that was left was a gigantic gaping hole to the underworld. The following months after the epic battle was filled with torrential downpour which filled the void and created Crater Lake.

Bodie, CA~ Circa 1877- California gold-mining ghost town. Walking through these deserted streets made us feel as if we were in a Clint Eastwood movie. This Wild West gold-mining town was as real as it gets. It was known for its rugged cowboys, endless shoot outs, brutal murders and 60+ saloons. Bodie hung on by a string until the 1930’s when the town became completely abandoned.

“Goodbye God, I’m going to Bodie.”- The town took on this motto after a little girl wrote this phrase in her diary as her and her family were headed to Bodie.

Goodbye Bodie… We’re now headed to Lake Tahoe.

“We are now in the mountains and they are in us, kindling enthusiasm, making every nerve quiver, filling every pore and cell of us.” - John Muir

Yosemite National Park - Day 1 & 2

The first two days at Big Sur have been amazing. The morning fog washed away by the afternoon and Jess and I took a trail down the cliff and made our way to the water. We rock scrambled our way up and down and explored the coastline for a few hours. After we got some lunch in our stomachs, we headed to Pfeiffer beach for a few hours which is a cool sandy beach spot ( 10$ - ouch.) Today we will be exploring a few waterfalls and taking a couple of trails within our campground (Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park). The trails lead you through the big beautiful alluring coastline redwoods. The redwoods are unlike anything I have ever seen and truly make you feel pint sized. With the morning fog and the large redwoods rising up hundreds of feet surrounding you, it truly feels as if you are in a dreamland. 

The Pacific Coast Highway truly is America’s most beautiful scenic highway. The winding road along the cliff face overlooking the lightly colored greenish blue ocean is surreal. The landscape is so charming and I can safely say Big Sur has me lured in. The only downfall I see and I must write this because it really is unfortunate. I pulled up to a gas station yesterday at the price was 6.77$ a gallon! That’s highway robbery, no pun intended. French toast at a local restaurant that Jess and I went to check out was 19$! I understand raising prices because of the touristy area, but the prices here are absolutely disgusting. I don’t mind paying for good food and I never complain about gas prices, but that is ridiculous. Otherwise the natural beauty certainly makes up for any downfall. 

Tomorrow we head to Yosemite National Park, I am so excited.

Zion National Park Part II

Yesterday we woke up early and hiked The Narrows. Which was probably the coolest most beautiful hike I have ever done. The sandstone canyon walls rise up hundreds of feet around you while you are waist deep in the light blue Virgin River. The “trail” follows the river as it winds through the canyon walls. Each time we came around the next bend, it was just as breathtaking as the last one. It is a hike I highly recommend. The enormous canyon walls will leave you speechless and wading through the river will make you feel like a 18th century explorer. We took the first bus for both Angel’s Landing and The Narrows which I also highly recommend. As we were ending our hikes, the crowds of people starting the trails were by the hundreds it seemed.

We got done with The Narrows in the afternoon. We packed up the truck and camper, made some lunch and hightailed it for California. Our original plan was to stop at Death Valley National Park. I am writing this blog entry from a parking lot in Big Sur, CA. Plans changed. - My mind was so free from the concept of time that I had no idea what date and day it was. Which caused us to run into a problem this morning. We pulled up to Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park and realized we were 1 day early. Being that all the campgrounds around are full, here we are. Anyway..

I drove about seven hours yesterday. My eyes started to sag so I pulled into a rest area next to some big rigs and set up camp. We finished the drive to Big Sur this morning.

Side note • After driving 100+ miles on the Pacific Coast Highway up towards Big Sur. I am officially declaring it to be America’s most beautiful scenic road.

I will post up pictures of our first day in Big Sur tomorrow morning!

Cheers!

The Grand Canyon is unreal. It’s feels as if you are staring at a painting or a backdrop for a John Wayne movie.

Jess and I visited the South Rim. I really would have liked to to gone to the North Rim just to avoid the Disney World crowd like madness. Our trip was originally planned for coming up from southern Arizona so the South Rim made sense. Due to the fires in the Coconino area and our reservations being cancelled our trip changed last minute and was rerouted.

After setting up camp we headed to the visitor center to attend to our ritual, postcards and a sticker. The visitor center had to have thousands of people there, total madness. The stress levels started to rise. After coming from Bryce and Arches, the crowds just were too much to handle.

Luckily Jess and I read up on a few cool hikes to beautiful views of the South Rim away from the overwhelming crowds. We headed to the first hike’s trailhead, two other cars in the small parking lot was a great sign. We headed down the trail excited to get “our” views of the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon is a very spiritual place, I didn’t want that compromised because of the stampede like crowd of tourists. So two cars in the parking lot was an exciting view. The trail was only a little over a mile each way, cake. Coming around the last bend was more than we could have asked for. A ledge that ultimately sticks out into the canyon, I saw Jess’s face light up. After spending hours that only seemed like a mere five minutes we headed back to camp.

This morning we woke up with a family of Elk in our campsite. Grazing the grass and paying no mind to Jess and I’s excitement. We hung out with the elk as one while we ate our egg white burritos. The smile wouldn’t leave my face, waking up with Elk 50 feet from us is what it’s all about.

This morning we are headed to a few more view points including Desert View which I am pretty excited about. I definitely would like to come back to the Grand Canyon and hike down into the canyon. Unfortunately when I booked the sites, all the backcountry permits for camping were booked up. Always next time. Now we are headed
back into the magical state of Utah to experience Zion National Park. We only have two nights there. We will be nonstop, fitting in as much as we can. We can always sleep this fall when we head back east.

On the road to Zion…

We left The Great Smoky Mountains National Park around noon on Wednesday. As you can see our route changed a bit. Some of our reservations were cancelled in Arizona due to fires. So, we high tailed it to Colorado stopping only for fuel and food. I didn’t get any sleep and drove the entire day Wednesday, Wednesday night and most of Thursday. Jess hopped in for a few hours here and there giving me a few breaks. You also might notice there is a picture of Jess driving and not me. That’s because Jess slept most of the time :) . Luckily I had some good driving tunes and coffee to keep me awake. We did get to stop and check out Cadillac Ranch outside of Amarillo, Texas which was a cool piece of art.

We got to the campsite late Thursday afternoon and went to sleep pretty early last night. We did get to meet our great camp neighbors who are from Minnesota and travel the U.S. every chance they get on their motorcycle while pulling a trailer tent. They have been doing it since 1990 and had some great tips and ideas for camping/the camper and cool recommendations for areas in the U.S.

Jess and I woke up at at 4am to hike around the Sand Dunes at Great Sand Dunes National Park. For the first hour as the sun was coming up we were the only people in the park, that we could see at least. The Great Sand Dunes in Colorado are the tallest dunes in North America. Such a surreal natural beauty.

Now to take a nap in the hammock…

builtsosmall-campervantravels:

america-living:

Tiny House/Tear Drop Trailer Combination

Wow. Very different. My two loves combined.

america-living:

Tiny House/Tear Drop Trailer Combination

Wow. Very different. My two loves combined.