Tacoma Needs Headlight Bulb & More

I’m in Utah and the Coronavirus is ramping up.  I decide to head home now!  I see my driver side headlight burnt out.  

I wasn’t worried about getting home but didn’t want to risk stopping for a bulb and putting it in, as I know from past experiences it is best to remove the car battery to get enough room to change the bulb on the drivers side.

I was a part time police officer many years ago and worked with the police through my years in the Fire Department.  Having a light out to a cop is like waving a flag at them, as stopping a vehicle with a light bulb out is a no brainer.  It is probable cause.

Well, I drove from central UT to my house in MA passing by police cruisers on the interstates for every state and I didn’t get one bite.  I guess to them they didn’t want the face to face contact.

On my arrival home I order up the replacement headlight bulbs and when I went to change the bulb the plastic tab that holds a spring that holds the headlight securely in place breaks off, leaving me with a bulb that will jiggle.

Above: My finger is pointing to where the tab that holds the spring broke off.

I then looked at both light fixtures had fogged lenses and they looked terrible.  Not to say they had done a poor job of lighting my way on my travels too.

I decided to order a new matching pair of after market light fixtures from Amazon for about $110. Above you can see how much clearer the drivers side was compared to the passenger side below.

I changed the drivers side leaving the foggy light on the passenger side.

I had to wait for a day of rain to pass to complete the other side.

The grill needs to come out to remove either light fixture.  There is one difficult bolt that holds the light fixture in and can only be reached by removing some fasteners in the wheel well to get to it, laying on the ground.

There it is with both light fixtures replaced and two new lightbulbs to have consistently in headlight intensity.

For those that know my truck I had a smoke colored lexan hood wind deflector I also removed.  Before I left in January, I was scraping ice off the hood and the lexan broke.  I left the rest there for my trip but it needed to be removed now that I’m home.

The reality of traveling with a vehicle is that things happen and repairs need to be made.  If the light bulb and fixture would have caused problems early in my travels I would have repaired them at my son’s in San Diego.  It’s nice to have a place to do things and the tools at hand while in the Southwest.

Happy Travels

Brent

macaloney@hotmail.com

Little Egypt

South of Hanksville, UT off UT95 is a place called little Egypt.  Another suggestion from my friend Roxy (A Nomad For Nature)

The suggestion to check it out was a great tip.  Although it is similar to Goblin Valley State Park, north of Hanksville, Little Egypt doesn’t cost anything go to get in.  It is also a place to go and can do it in any vehicle. 

It’s all about interesting rock formations. 

Also, some colors.

I know, I really am that excited in writing about more rock formations.  I don’t get tired of them👍

There are some special formations like the hoodoo above.  Like other rock formations you have to go and find for yourself as they are not marked on the map.

Here is another interesting one with the Southern Henry Mountains hiding behind it.

You look one way and then get a different view by turning and looking the other way.

The formations are fairly densely located so there is only moderate walking. 

 

Here I am layered up with windbreaker on top because there was a cold wind even though we had clear skies and lots of sun.

I thought this angled piece of stone was interesting in that it was exposed from wind and rain on this angle over time.

I hope you had fun at Little Egypt and take the 1/2 mile drive off UT 95 to see it.

Stay Safe

Brent

macaloney@hotmail.com

Wild Horse Canyon

Above is a Google Map screen capture)

My last post was about Wild Horse Window where the gold pin drop is above.  Parking at the same locations in blue to the right you can also access Wild Horse Canyon.  The long black line under the gold pin drop.

Above is a screen capture of my tracked hike on AllTrails.

Enter ming the mouth of the canyon wash was this artistic engineered stone arch that someone made.

There are some narrow slot sections of the canyon.

Other areas of the wash look like above.

The sandstone is washed allowing a view of the sandstone layers.

Here is an interesting sandstone structure, where the lower sections are layering on its side and then new layers on top that are horizontal  



Here is a small wreck/window in the side of the canyon

I climbed up the side of the canyon and took this picture looking west through the Swell.

Here the canyon base is wide.

And here the slot in the canyon has caved in and creates an obstruction and required hiking up and over this spot.

It’s an easy slot canyon to hike but narrow in spots that created social distancing problems if you are to meet others coming from opposite direction.

This didn’t happen during this hike, although there were others on the trail.  At tis  BJ point I was carrying my face mask to put on if it was needed.

This is an easy hike to get to and to hike.  I hiked round trip at 4.2 miles.  You can hike further about another mile to get all the way through the swell.  The location of this hike is also not far from the unique Goblin Valley State Park, that is also fun to hike.

Happy hiking

Brent

macaloney@hotmail.com

Wild Horse Window

Above is a Google Maps screen capture with Wild Horse Window and Wild Horse Window Trailhead pin drops

Thanks to My friend Roxy “A Nomad For Nature” for the recommendation for this hike.  This is an easy to get to location and my Prius followers can drive here with no problem.

Above I have included my AllTrails App screen capture of my hike.

Note that I looked for that straight line trail shown as a dotted line on the map.  Well folks, this is where you need to use your GPS skills and hike to where you can get to the window with and without trail information.

The reason you ask?  Well like many hikes on rock there may not be evidence of a trail and those increasingly larger/smaller stone piles are often wrong as people that don’t know that they are trail markers make them confusing others. 

There is nothing better than you developing skills to know where you are and how to get back.

I’ve come across the wash looking back to my FWC/Tacoma on the level ground up there.

Nope! Not Navajo Mountain I have shown in previous hikes.  This mountain is the Henry’s 

Ok finally found evidence of a trail in the sand.  You can’t see but there are some old sand blown footprints if you get good at finding them

Above at the top of this small wash are the caves at the end.

In the cave on the right is the window with the noon sun shining down.

Here I am with my back to the caves looking downhill.

It’s the same way back but I did some exploring the way.

To say I’m attracted to pools formed in chain from the water running over the sandstone, would be an understatement.

Yes, there are more than one series of pools too.  If your going to hike areas like this take the time to check out the area and see what you might find.

I’ll take you on a hike through Wild Horse Canyon next to the Window in a separate blog post.  You could do one in the morning and the other in the afternoon, but why rush it🤔.

Happy Hiking.

Brent

macaloney@hotmail.com

Separating FEC From Tacoma

In addition to cleaning out the camper is taking it off the Tacoma for the summer. The weather has been terrible since I got home with snow 3 times in the last week.  Also more possible snow in the future.  A far cry from the heat now in the Southwest. 

Oh how I miss roaming around seeing all the natural beauty.

As my mind turns to home things off the camper came this week on one of the few sunny days with temperatures in the high 40’s.

There is a mental list I’m carrying to address a few things in the camper before future travels, but I am most happy with the new locking turnbuckles I used in all 4 corners this year.  The backing locking nuts worked great with only once coming loose and then I tightened better and I had no problem all the way home.

I drive on some rough roads and do climb some rock surfaces twisting and turning in 4x4 mode and it was all good.

My hikes blog posts are coming.  Like at home kind of gets in the way so they can be slow to come out.

Also I had a friend that I have known since the 70’s that died from complications from the Covid virus.  I attended his social distancing funeral yesterday. 

Life in perspective I guess.

Stay healthy and well all.

Brent

macaloney@hotmail.com

This Is Not My Weather

I came home from my 2020 travels a little early.  Normally I get home May 1 as it’s time for the first cutting of grass.  This year I drive home without stopping to see aunt in Chicago area, cousin in Georgia, and friends at the SE-GTG, and finically my east coast son and family in MD.  All missed this year due to the pandemic.

I’ve been home a week and we have had 2 snow storms with 3” and now 4” of snow.

The truck still has camper on it since it’s cold outside and I’ll wait for warm day to take it off.  

Even snow on camper roof is covering the solar.

I hope the daffodils survive as it is one of the few things that is in bloom at my house.

There are those things that are keeping me busy around the house, but mostly putting things away after cleaning them.  

I hope all of my followers are doing well and staying safe.

I have more 2020 travels to finish up writing, so stay tuned.

Brent 

macaloney@hotmail.com

What’s Around Temple Mountain?

First it would be good to explain where Temple Mountain is.

It’s in the San Rafael Swell in Utah.  If you look close at the map below you will see I70 (red line) cutting left to right through the San Rafael Swell.  Temple Mountain is south of I70, about half way to the bottom tip of the swell.

Source: Google Search Screen Capture

The swell is a beautiful geological formation of uplifting creating the swell.  Along the swell north and south are canyons, many with wonderful hikes.

This post is about Exploring with Joanne in her Jeep with Susan and dog Cafe.

Source: Google maps App

Temple Mountain sits high above surrounding swell height and sticks out at a distance due to its white color.

What I didn’t know was there is a cut that goes through the swell that is a BLM road that is perfect for Jeep exploration.

Source: Google maps App

Joanne had asked for input on places to explore and by searching the maps for the area I found the BLM road through the base of a wash to the north side of Temple Mountain.  Shown above using Google maps for routing our trip.

As you probably can tell, there is a lot of research and planning to exploration.  Not to mention getting the weather right to avoid getting stuck.

Here we are driving the wash that cuts through the swell.  It’s narrow and sandy then spots you need to climb rocks with the Jeep in 4x4 low.  I always bring my backpack with plenty of water in case I was ever to hike out from getting stuck.  There is no cell service in places like this.  Joanne actually brings plenty of water, dried food and Jet Boil to cook it.

As we came though the wash to the other side of the swell we found this very tall hoodoo that was worth a stop.

Above is the rock face of the swell near Temple Mountain.

Our second stop off the side of Temple Mountain.  My backpack on the ground.  I sit with it between my legs in the front seat.  

Above is Temple Mountain from the north side.

What you didn’t get to see is Joanne rock crawling with the Jeep  along the base of Temple Mountain, as I walked the road and guided her over the rocks.  In a couple places I put some good size rocks in place to prevent the Jeep from bottoming out.



As we drove west we gained elevation and we got to look back at the canyon we came through the swell, in the center of the photo.

Many of our drives included very bumpy, rutted, washboard roads.  We will also do some with water crossings where Joanne gets out and surveys the way into and out of the river.

It’s all an adventure that takes hours and we all gain a great deal of satisfaction.

Why I live my adventures in the Southwest.

Brent

macaloney@hotmail.com