A Short One Day Trip to RockCandy Mountain

So I took a friend and went first to Porter Creek campground so he could see if his car would make it and if it was a place he could camp with family then we went on to Rock Candy Mountain as I had never been all the way to the top. We came across this rock quarry on the way and took a short break and took a few pictures. The trip to the top was interesting but all views were blocked by tree tops!!!

Amazing exposure of the different cracks in the black rock.

Klamath Falls Reunion

We took a couple rides in the Jeep while in the Klamath falls area, one was to the top of a butte and the other was to Crater lake. Beautiful country and scenery.

The first image is a radio and communications tower on top of a butte at 8022 feet elevation and a long rough 9 miles of switch back road,.Well worth the trip as the views were fantastic.

From the Butte we could see Mount McLaughlin miles away standing 9495 feet tall with a snow covered peak.

Here is some summer time snow left over from winter protected only by some sparse shade.

Next we went to the famous Crater lake and could only do the west side rim as the east side road was under construction for some badly needed repairs. This is a Island in the lake.

This is a wide angle picture of part of Crescent lake that I really like. It was a nice trip and we saw some beautiful landscapes on the way to the lake itself.

Beaver Utah and Bryce Canyon Trip

Here are a few images from our trip last week to Oregon, Idaho and Utah. The rock is the same rock my dad and I sat on 40 years ago and had Sharon take our picture “Memories”. We traveled over 2550 miles and had a great time met a neighbor of dads while in Beaver all in all a great trip!

Our Jeep on the bench in the sage brush above dads place

 

AspenTrees higher elevation on the Face of the mountain.

Aspen trees and log fence at the first lake on the “Loop”.

 

The rock dad and I sat on years ago for Sharon to take our picture.

Dad and I in the 70’s on his small farm in North Creek Utah on a trip with Sharon!

Many years ago on his last farm

Capitol Forest Jeep run

We took the new Jeep out for a road test in Capitol forest to see how she would do. We aired the tires down to 25 lbs as we were mostly on gravel roads and wanted to have a smother ride.

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Here we had reached our goal Capitol Peak just below the radio towers.

We reached the peak just below the radio towers.

We reached the peak just below the radio towers.

Since we were at the top and it was lunch time we parked and had a sandwich and enjoyed the fresh air and views.

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This is truly what a tree farm looks like yes clear cuts replanting and harvesting a needed resource and trails for hiking, four wheeling, horse back riding,Trail bikes and  really just about any means of transportation you want!

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Sadly all fun events end and this is the way back out to one of the main highways and back home. Near the end of this power line right of way is parking and restrooms for those that trailer their four wheeler’s or trail bikes. Maps for this area can be had at the DNR website or any DNR headquarters!

Mount Rainier Trip

We went to Mount Rainier, Randal, Packwood Morton and surrounding areas on a one day trip. We packed a lunch and ate it in a rest area just out of Packwood. The new Jeep did well and was averaging almost 19 miles per gallon. We only saw one deer and a few birds but the scenery was great as usual with the fall colors just starting. This was a shakedown trip preparing for a longer trip to Beaver Utah and surrounding areas.

Parking lot at a beautiful waterfall!

Parking lot at a beautiful waterfall!

Mount Rainier hiding in the clouds

Mount Rainier hiding in the clouds

 

Reflection Lake on the east side of Mount Rainier

Reflection Lake on the east side of Mount Rainier

One of the tunnels on the way to Packwood from the Mount Rainier park.

One of the tunnels on the way to Packwood from the Mount Rainier park.

Firebox Nano Stove Gen 2 with Trangia gas burner Review

So I ordered a Trangia gas burner that works in my new Firebox Gen 2 multi fuel stove to try out. I wanted to have a gas burner that was adjustable for cooking things that require low heat and the ability to sear and fry meat in one unit.

Let me say now I am very happy with the burner and the stove. The burner fit properly and the little stove as you will see is very sturdy. I first fried the pork chop in a little butter with a rub my wife makes for spices. I was able to control the heat and did not burn the meat but it was cooked to perfection. I then cut the pork chop up into bite sized pieces and added my home dehydrated vegetables, onions and a couple of jalapeno pepper rings along with four cups of water to make my soup. So below are four images from starting the pork chop to simmering the soup in my camping pot. It made three lunches for me.

 

The pork chop in the skillet ready for frying

Ready for the fire

Ready for the fire

The Trangia burner not at full flame but just right to brown and fry the pork chop.

Trangia Gas Burner

Trangia Gas Burner

The finished pork chop ready to be cut up and added to the Pork Chop Soup. I tasted a piece from the skillet and it was done and not dry, very tasty!!

Porkchop

Pork Chop ready for the soup

And the camping kettle with all of the ingredients simmering away. This was the real test as I could really control the heat to my needs and also I did not have to worry about running out of fuel.

Soup cooking on the Firebox gen 2

Soup cooking on the Firebox gen 2

The Gen 2 Firebox nano is now capable of using four different kinds of fuel to cook with and boil water to make it safe to drink. One is of course scrap wood and branches, two is an Esbit Alcohol burner, three is fuel tablets and the last but not the least is the Trangia Gas Burner.

Side note: The Trangia gas burner uses the same fuel canisters as my Jet Boil so in essence I have the ability to have two gas burner stoves with the same fuel supply (one container per stove).