boogielander
Spends too much time on here
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For Memorial Day weekend 2023, I embarked on a journey that I revisited a spot I visit 3 years ago, as well as completed a bucket list quest that I've been trying to finish.
The first time I heard of "overlanding to the bottom of Grand Canyon and camp" was back in 2017, when I picked up my first offroad capable rig (Toyota 4Runner) was fairly green to the overlanding scene. I remember I was looking at different overlanding destinations online and dying to go there: Black Bear Pass, Imogene Pass, Moab, and even Alaska to name a few.
However, there was one myth that I've read about repeatedly but with next to zero information for me to act on: camping at the bottom of Grand Canyon by the Colorado River. It's like one of those things in life (finding happiness, building a successful business, finding the perfect wife, etc) that you know it's there and other people have done it, but no one will tell you how to get there. It's a well-guarded secret. So I searched and searched, and after a year of looking without turning up anything solid, I gave up and focused on other destinations.
And just like those previously mentioned things in life, you get what you want with a bit of luck. That break came in May 2023, when I was watching the Enlightenment Series of Throttle House on YouTube. They went where I was looking for! I spent one day at the office piecing together the clues that I found in the video and compared their route and their video against Google Map, Google Earth, Google Street View, and pieced together where this was. 6 years later, I can finally check off that item on my bucket list!
So, I plotted the route on Gaia GPS and downloaded it to both my phone and my offroad navigation tablet, loaded up my truck, and was on my way.
I will not disclose where this is. If you know, you know. If you don't know, you are more than welcome to PM me.
Long story short, I drove for 6 hours only stopped once for fuel and got there at around 3PM. I paid the tribal ranger (hint hint) and went down the 10 miles dirt road. With my Fox 2.5 and 35s, the road was decent and smooth enough without airing down. But since this was the first long dirt road my 35s saw, I figured why not. At 25psi, the dirt road was as smooth as some of the freeway in California, and I sent it. For regular folks the trail may take up to an hour, but I completed it in 20 minutes while making splashes through numerous water crossings. I had a lot of fun.
It was quite warm at the bottom of Grand Canyon, and I thought about going into the river to cool off. However I didn't have my shower kit with me. So I set up camp, took out my EcoFlow AC, and chilled in my Gazelle that I bought as a "hang out tent" while reading a good book.
Campsite was great: the ground was level enough, there were awnings and picnic tables provided, and prebuilt fire rings so I didn't have to do the work.
As sun sets and got blocked by the canyon walls, temperature dropped and it went from "hot" to "comfortable. I made dinner, and sat by my campfire while enjoying a good cigar. A few sites over, my neighbors were having good times of their own too.
iPhone night mode is such a great invention
The next day, I packed up camp, went back down to the river for a few more shots, then waved goodbye to this buck list site.
It wasn't really life changing event, but it was quite a drive. I was still going pretty fast on the way up, but also took the time to take in the scenery.
And Also made some friends along the way. I wasn't sure if these guys are used to seeing vehicles or not, but they look quite curious about the shiny blue object. Unsure how friendly these guys are, I refrained from hopping out for cleaner pictures and waited till the guy on the left to join his friends before I pushed on.
As I was airing up at the trailhead, the tribal dog came and looked at what I was doing. Dude ran away as soon as I picked up my camera though. I guess he's camera shy?
I aired up using my onboard ARB single mounted on @NH Overland's engine bay mount. This is the first time I run compressor under the hood in my own personal vehicle; I had it in the trunk area of my 4Runner before. I kind of miss having the compressor in the back, but that is just because having the compressor near my MOORFLATE inflator/ deflator kit was stored saved me a lot of set up time.
But the NH mount is great! I like how they incorporated a switch mount AND a air chuck mount. My ARB didn't come with extended line for air chuck relocation, but I may change that in the future.
I won't go into further detail about the mount, since I'm saving that for another thread in the future.
The first time I heard of "overlanding to the bottom of Grand Canyon and camp" was back in 2017, when I picked up my first offroad capable rig (Toyota 4Runner) was fairly green to the overlanding scene. I remember I was looking at different overlanding destinations online and dying to go there: Black Bear Pass, Imogene Pass, Moab, and even Alaska to name a few.
However, there was one myth that I've read about repeatedly but with next to zero information for me to act on: camping at the bottom of Grand Canyon by the Colorado River. It's like one of those things in life (finding happiness, building a successful business, finding the perfect wife, etc) that you know it's there and other people have done it, but no one will tell you how to get there. It's a well-guarded secret. So I searched and searched, and after a year of looking without turning up anything solid, I gave up and focused on other destinations.
And just like those previously mentioned things in life, you get what you want with a bit of luck. That break came in May 2023, when I was watching the Enlightenment Series of Throttle House on YouTube. They went where I was looking for! I spent one day at the office piecing together the clues that I found in the video and compared their route and their video against Google Map, Google Earth, Google Street View, and pieced together where this was. 6 years later, I can finally check off that item on my bucket list!
So, I plotted the route on Gaia GPS and downloaded it to both my phone and my offroad navigation tablet, loaded up my truck, and was on my way.
I will not disclose where this is. If you know, you know. If you don't know, you are more than welcome to PM me.
It was quite warm at the bottom of Grand Canyon, and I thought about going into the river to cool off. However I didn't have my shower kit with me. So I set up camp, took out my EcoFlow AC, and chilled in my Gazelle that I bought as a "hang out tent" while reading a good book.
As sun sets and got blocked by the canyon walls, temperature dropped and it went from "hot" to "comfortable. I made dinner, and sat by my campfire while enjoying a good cigar. A few sites over, my neighbors were having good times of their own too.
iPhone night mode is such a great invention
But the NH mount is great! I like how they incorporated a switch mount AND a air chuck mount. My ARB didn't come with extended line for air chuck relocation, but I may change that in the future.
I won't go into further detail about the mount, since I'm saving that for another thread in the future.
