Overland Travel ⎮ Adventure Photography
Just a few minutes north of the famous Forest Gump Point and sacred Navajo lands that make up Monument Valley is a lesser-known area that is as majestic and beautiful as the crowded neighbor to the south. Valley of the Gods is a network of intricate and superb rock features that line San Juan County Road 242 below Cedar Mesa.
July has been an interesting month, to say the least. We said goodbye to family in South Dakota and began our slightly mad journey to the East coast. The journey was mad only because we chose to do it in the hottest month of the year in a bus without air conditioning. July was also a lot of driving and not a lot of enjoying locations on the map, hopefully August will slow down and cool off a bit. We are still on track to visit all 49 driveable states by 2020 and we knocked several off of the list in July.
We are on a journey to see all 50 states together and to take our bus to 49 of them, so a side trip to North Dakota was needed. ND gets a lot of hate from the other states and it is pretty obvious why…there is not a lot there. One place worth mention and a visit if you are close is Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Unfortunately for us, our vehicle was too big to pass through the construction area on the road in the park so we only got to see a portion of Teddy’s park.
The claim to fame of the park is its wild horse herd, which we were lucky enough to see in our short time there. These some 1000 horses roam free here and are truly something to behold. Like most of the plains, there are a ton of prairie dogs and bison to see roaming the banks of the Missouri River. The landscape and horses make a visit to this park the MOST interesting thing that one could do when visiting North Dakota, and I say that in the nicest way possible.
Due to the time of year that we are crossing the country, most of the things that we would like to do in Minnesota are in the far-north and simply not an option right now. We have plans for a Boundary Waters trip someday that will allow us to explore Minnesota more in-depth. An attraction that we did get to visit in Minnesota was Itasca State Park near Bemidji. Lake Itasca is the start of the Mississippi River and at the headwaters Big Muddy is a simple 8-foot wide stream.
The park is extremely nice and we gladly paid for camping to have access to the showers and water fill up. The bike trails that run through the park were also a super nice way to go check out the mighty Mississippi without having to move the bus.
Another state on our list that was relatively close to our route was Iowa. Although we would have loved to hang around for RAGBRAI (on our bucket list for sure) the only other thing that we found of interest to do in Iowa was to go caving. You read that right, we found a cave to explore in IOWA! It would be unfair to compare these caves to the caves we just explored in South Dakota as they are completely different types of caves and these are not nearly as elaborate or as well-preserved as the caves in South Dakota.
We hiked all over the small Maquoketa Caves State Parkand had mostly free rein of the some 10-12 caves in the valley. We were pleasantly surprised by the lack on any real rules or regulations in the park and it was pretty much chaos compared to the National Park managed caves that we visited in June. Would I travel across the midwest to walk around these caves in East Central Iowa? No. But I would stop in on my way to other places on the East Coast.
Iowa was also a really good stop to get my stitches removed from my misadventure in SD with a table saw. It cost $2500 to stitch my finger in South Dakota and only $97 to remove the stitches in Iowa.
I too have been seeing the buzz all over social media about Indiana finally having a National Park, Indiana Dunes National Park. Previously designated a Lakeshore, the National Park Service has simply slapped a Nat’l Park sign on the entrance and has neglected to do much of anything else. We spent the day hanging out on the beach and attempting to enjoy the waves of Lake Michigan lapping on the sand. In true National Park style, there were thousands of people in the park and no accommodations had been made for extra trash or more porta-potties and parking at 8AM was a nightmare for a 22-foot long school bus.
We still had a good time as we tend to do just about anywhere, but we hope the NPS invests in Indiana before the next time we visit. The BEST part about our trip across the midwest was getting to meet up with a bunch of Rachael’s extended family, most of whom I (Zach) had never met. We were welcomed in to the air conditioning, thankfully, and we got to go out to lunch with most of the Fort Wayne cousins. It was an absolute treat and we now have a reason to come back to Northeast Indiana!
We made a mistake- We should have driven the West Coast of Michigan and explored the Upper Peninsula for a couple of weeks while a heat wave attacked the midwest, but we didn’t. Instead we wanted to explore part of Ontario so we drove through the least pretty and most boring section of Michigan, the Southeast. I had visited Bay City as a kid and remember it being a type of coastal town with pretty boats, I was twelve after all. We made the drive to Bay City to find a ghost town. Shops were closed in the middle of the day, streets were empty, and it just seemed like nothing had happened here in a long time, perhaps since I was there as a twelve year old.
We hung out by the river and got some work done but soon made plans to escape Michigan and head to Canada, at least we would have Tim Hortons to console us. And console us it did. Although Tim Hortons sold to the company that owns Burger King, we will still continue to patronize them as long as they continue to serve delicious crullers and affordable coffee.
Entering into Canada north of Detroit was a really smooth border crossing. Something that always happens in our bus, people tend to think we smoke weed, which we don’t. No huge political stance or moral objections to it, it’s just not our thing. The border agent seemed to think we looked like drug users and informed us several times that weed was legal in Michigan and in Canada, we simply needed to declare it, only we had nothing to declare. Ahh the joys of living in a school bus and having long hair!
We spent a few days in Canada lounging along the North Shore of Lake Erie in the little town of Port Stanley. This town was the perfect place to charge the batteries and sit in the cold lake while record highs smacked the Midwest and Northeast. We found public camping near a beach and road our bikes or walked all over town and worked in a nearby coffee shop when we needed to. It was a pleasant couple of days.
Niagara Falls was the other reason that we wanted to cross Ontario and we were not disappointed. Although Niagara is a haven for tourists, the falls are still beautiful, especially from the Canadian side. After exploring around the falls, we prepared for another breezy border crossing back into the states and we suddenly found ourselves in New York!
Upstate New York is a really interesting place to visit. The bulk of attractions in Upstate revolve around the lakes region of the Finger Lakes, Lake Champlain, and Adirondack Park. New York is also home to the Number 1 State Park in the United States, Letchworth State Park and was the site of the Winter Olympic Games in the 80’s.
As is the case with most of the Eastern US, public land is rare, but we found several good camping spots and explored the North end of the state, one of which was next to a retired fire tower. Unfortunately, we did not have a ton of time to spend in New York and hopefully we can come back and spend a bit more time when the weather is cooler.
Despite the challenges of camping for free in VT and NH, we still managed to see some sites like the Ben and Jerry’s. Factory, the Green Mountain National Forest, White Mountain National Forest, and beautiful landscapes of dense green forest along the way. We found there were simply too many people touristing for our speed. Also, the heat was a bit much. The temperature was in the 90’s during the day and high 70’s at night and in a bus with no AC, that is simply too hot.
We will likely make a weekend trip to Vermont and New Hampshire in the fall some day, but for now we are heading North!
The Black Hills of South Dakota are known for a few things including Mt. Rushmore, the Crazy Horse Memorial (insert link) and some of the most beautiful scenic drives in the country. What most don’t know about Western South Dakota is that it is home to not just one, but two MASSIVE cave systems. We took the plunge (see what I did there?) and took tours at both Wind Cave National Park and Jewel Cave National Monument, both near Custer, SD.
During our time in the Black Hills, we had a day with really bad weather in the forecast so we opted to visit Wind Cave National Park, about 22 miles south of Custer, SD. Arriving at the park from the North, we were greeted into the park by a regularly occurring herd of bison near the park entrance. The Wind Cave herd is one of only 4 bison herds in North America that is relatively pure and walks freely on public land. The number of bison in the Wind Cave herd are 250-400 strong and a large portion of the herd spends most of the summer along Highway 385, near the Visitor Center. It is rumored that the herd will even perform a “South Dakota Car Wash” of your vehicle in the spring if your vehicle is carrying delicious salt on the exterior of your vehicle, by licking the salt off of your car.
The park Visitor Center is very mild and boasts standard amenities such as bathrooms, a gift shop, and a small naturalists display of wildlife and history from the area. Despite the beauty of the grassland above and the size of the bison herd, the main attraction to the park actually lies below ground, within its 150+ miles of discovered cave passageways.
The passageways of Wind Cave are unique for a couple of reasons.
First, Wind Cave contains over 95 percent of the world’s boxwork formations. Unlike formations in other popular cave systems that rely on water to drip down the rock and deposit minerals, boxwork was already present in the rock and was simply refined by the water of a once present underground lake. The result, a beautiful lace-like mesh network of sediment that makes Wind Cave one of the densest caves in the world.
Second, Wind Cave is the 7th longest cave in the world even though the footprint of the cave system is contained within only a couple of square miles. While navigating the passageways you realize the scale of the cave and how the distance is accomplished, tunnels veer in every direction from the main tunnels and rooms. It is easy to understand why some of the cave is still not explored even to this day.
The best part about a visit to Wind Cave National Park is getting to tour the caves themselves!
For more information on tours, visit the National Park Service website.
We chose the Fairgrounds Tour and were really happy with our choice. Our tour guide, Ranger Justin was excellent and had a very well-rounded knowledge of the cave and its history. On our tour, we meandered around the cave, crouching but never crawling, and had the opportunity to see the infamous box formation and multiple instances of frostwork. This cave was pretty tight in some places, so those that get claustrophobic should probably stay about ground. Interestingly enough there was a major lack of the two things that I expected to see in the cave: bats and water. The bats apparently hang out around the natural entrance because food and navigation is easy. Water is missing from the majority of the cave due to the lowering water table and at one point, the entire cave was filled with water.
Different from Wind Cave in about as many ways as two caves can differ that are in the same county, Jewel Cave was a very different experience after visiting Wind Cave. Jewel cave is longer and much more cavernous than Wind Cave. Jewel Cave is also longer than Wind Cave at a length of over 200 miles of discovered caves passageways. The National Park Service hosts tours that allow you to explore different areas of the cave and you can check those out on the NPS website.
The cave was discovered in 1909 when prospectors felt cool air blowing out from the cave and tours began in 1939, hosted by the NPS.
The geologic features are not nearly as rare as those that occur in Wind Cave, but there is still a few instances of box work and frost work. The most predominant crystal feature on the walls of Jewel Cave is the Spar Crystal. The Spar Crystal formations cover most of the cave that we saw on our tour with the occasional appearance of flowstone, frost work, and box work throughout. We even got the chance to see some “Cave Bacon” which is a cave feature often found in caves in the Eastern US.
Our tour guide was exceptional and had a deep knowledge (see what I did there) of the cave and it’s history. We took the Scenic Tour that lasts approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes and navigates 723 stair steps. The tour is listed by the park service as moderately strenuous, which translates to easy if you are in decent physical shape.
Okienomads Travel Tip- Arrive at Jewel Cave when it opens to purchase your tour passes first thing for later in the day, then take off to Hell Canyon (Black Hills National Forest) just down the road for a pleasant stroll through the canyon that lies above the surface of Jewel Cave.
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The Crazy Horse Memorial is an ongoing sculpture, the largest in the world, that began in 1948 to honor Sioux legend and hero “Curly” Crazy Horse. The project, a massive stone sculpture depicting Crazy Horse atop his steed facing East, dominates the hillside of the Black Hills North of Custer, South Dakota very similarly to Mount Rushmore National Monument nearby. Once completed, the monument will stand over 600 feet long and over 500 feet tall, making it the largest sculpture in the world by far. You will be able to fit Mount Rushmore inside of it with room to spare!
Work began in 1948 by sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski and even though Ziolkowski passed away in 1982, work has picked up in recent recent years with support from the non-profit organization Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation. The foundations is a registered non-profit 501(c)3 organization that manages the monument as well as the The Indian University of North America and The Native American Educational and Cultural Center whose vision is to educate tribal youth and the public at large on the history of the Black Hills and Native Americans in general. To read more about the educational efforts taking place please visit the websites for both organizations at https://crazyhorsememorial.org/dream.
Fun Fact- Crazy Horse is historically understood to have never had his photo taken, which might make carving a giant sculpture of his head a matter of interpretation.
Crazy Horse was a famous Oglala Sioux warrior most known for his part in defeating General George Custer at the Battle of Little Big Horn. Curly led a fascinating life of pushing the tribal status quo in an effort to protect his homeland from encroaching white interests under the guise of manifest destiny.
The Black Hills in Western South Dakota were designated by the U.S. Government as Sioux land in the Treaty of Laramie in 1851. As long as the native population allowed safe passage of travelers on the Oregon and Bozeman Trails, the land would remain theirs and protected from interference from whites. As is the case with nearly every treaty signed during the plains wars, the US did not keep its side of the bargain and sought gold interests in the Black Hills, despite its sovereign status.
Crazy Horse fought the encroaching whites for most of his life as needed to protect his tribe. Crazy Horse went to battle under Oglala Chief Red Cloud from 1865-1868 and served as a decoy in the Battle of the Hundred In The Hands where 81 U.S. soldiers were defeated in an ambush in 1866. Crazy Horse is perhaps most known for his bravery and fighting skill in the Battle of Little Big Horn in 1876. Crazy Horse led a group of troops to flank famous U.S. General George Custer. Custer was unable to secure high-ground and was cut-down by Crazy Horse and his troops when it is reported that Custer fired his last shot.
To learn more about the relationship and similarities between Custer and Crazy Horse, check out the Stephen Ambrose book, Crazy Horse and Custer: The Parellel Lives of Two American Warriors. Ambrose is the award-winning author of Band of Brothers and provides an unbiased account of the converging lives of Custer and Crazy Horse throughout the 1800’s.
Crazy Horse was one of the last of the Indians to be arrested after most of his land and nearly all of the wildlife had been removed from the area surrounding the Black Hills. Crazy Horse was lied to repeatedly as a captive and was eventually run through with a bayonet in a jail-cell struggle. Crazy Horse embodied bravery and courage and generations will look to his memorial for centuries and remember his fight for freedom.
The Crazy Horse sculpture is massive and beautiful and arguably the best way to see the monument up-close is to participate in the semi-annual two-day event called Volksmarch. The Volksmarch is a semi-annual hiking event hosted by the American Volkssport Association (AVA) that takes place in the Spring (June 1-2) and the Fall (September 29th). Thousands of hikers flock to the monument to participate in one of the largest volksmarches in the world and it is truly a sight to see. We don’t normally enjoy hiking with a large number of people, but the crowds at Crazy Horse are manageable and not annoying in the way that National Parks can be.
Admission to the Volksmarch is 3-4 non-perishable canned goods per hiker, as a donation to the local food bank and a $3 hiking fee paid to the AVA Black Hills chapter. Both donations are small and help these organizations in a HUGE way, so we were happy to donate. Don’t pack any water and instead bring some cash in small bills to purchase water, gatorade and snacks from the various organizations fundraising at the 4 checkpoints along the way. The Boy Scouts were marking our tickets and selling goodies and the Custer High School Volleyball team was taking our money for delicious baked goods and gatorade just before the top of the monument.
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While traveling the Baja Peninsula, camping can be really easy to come by at times. Most seasoned travelers to the area have a “if the gate isn’t closed, it’s free game” mentality and that will serve you well for the more remote areas of Baja, but what if you want to see a city and camp close to it?
We took a weekend trip down the San Felipe for groceries, the beach, and to see a new town in Baja. San Felipe is a town dependent mostly on fishing and tourism and is know as the home to the last Vaquita Porpoises remaining on the planet. We wanted to camp close enough to town to walk to the main strip for tacos and not be required to pack up camp and drive each evening. We chose Campo #1 Touristico for a few reasons.
Not that we are very worried about security in Baja, nearly everyone is happy and friendly, but having a gate locked overnight provides a peace of mind to some travelers. One thing to note is that being a beach that is so close to town, people can simply walk through camp from the beach any time of day, so the gate is only useful for vehicle travel.
One thing we got used to while traveling the Western US in our school bus conversion, was the lack of amenities at free campsites. In Baja, sometimes you can’t avoid paying for a campsite and sometimes you get your money’s worth with Wi-Fi, hot showers, and an on-site restaurant.
The Wi-Fi was not fast, but we were convinced that some of the snowbirds camping there for the winter were hogging some bandwidth. There was still plenty of signal to check and send e-mails for work and the LTE signal in San Felipe was fairly dependable too.
The showers were hot for about a minute, then they turned to lukewarm, which was still really nice after getting out of the Sea. The water in the showers and sinks outside were all freshwater and had good pressure. Some of the sites had electric connections for an RV, but our site at the very end of the row had no hook ups, which was fine by us.
We did not sample the food in the restaurant, but if the smells from the food-prep were any indication, the food was likely delicious.
We wanted to explore San Felipe properly and for us that means walking most everywhere. Being able to hike a bit from the campground to the main drag in town was very beneficial. It took us about 20 minutes to walk from the truck to row of taco stands waiting on the boardwalk. The walk can actually take you past the lighthouse, a now abandoned disco-tech the “The Boom Boom Room” and the National Shrine.
We spent both evenings of our weekend on the strip sampling fish and shrimp tacos and ceviche from the various culinary offerings across from the beach. Although the tacos weren’t better than the ones we had in Ensenada, they were still better than 99% of the fish tacos in the states.
We paid $30 for two nights at Campo #1 and felt like it was a fair deal. It is impossible to find a campsite in the US with electric, water, wi-fi, security, and showers on the beach for $30 per night, much less half that amount. The views were beautiful and listening to the ocean waves at night was a nice way to fall asleep.
It is rumored that if you wish to stay for a week or longer, the rate comes down significantly. This is the word of the men camped there for the winter, your mileage may vary.
All in all, if we find ourselves on that side of Baja and need a place to camp, we will likely stay here again. The staff was friendly, the prices were fair, and the nearby fish tacos were tasty!
As always, thank you for reading along on our travels and adventures. Hopefully you were entertained, enlightened, or otherwise felt like the last few minutes reading this post was a worthwhile investment of your time. If you enjoyed our content, there are a few ways that you can help promote what we do and keep us on the road a little longer:
If you are on social media or routinely turn on your TV, you have seen the news stories of crisis at the border between Mexico and the United States with armed military on one side and a mob of angry Mexicans on the other side hell-bent on crossing the border and ruining the American economy. For a lot of folks on the border and for us, this simply wasn’t the case when we crossed in the first week of January 2019.
We crossed into Mexico at the Tecate border crossing mid-morning on a Saturday. The border area was small and only two lanes of traffic were open to incoming traffic. We were waived over, our rig was looked over and we were given permission to pass into Mexico. We parked our truck on the street near the town square and walked back to the border to complete paperwork for legal entry for the 4-months that we planned to be in Mexico.
In the immigration office was a Mexican border agent that requested our FMM (tourist visa), FMM receipt showing payment, and our passports. Then it hit me, I neglected to print the Visa. I printed the receipt and never went back to my e-mail to print the actual Visa that I needed to stay in Mexico for the rest of the Winter. I explained that I didn’t have the Visa and he instructed us to walk back into town to the nearby copy shop, print the Visa, and bring it back to be stamped. So we did. The copy shop was right where he said it would be, the shopkeep was friendly and helpful, and the border agent stamped our Visa and Passport quickly and efficiently. Easy as pie!
This would have been a perfect opportunity for the “ruthless savages” of Mexico as described on Fox News to take advantage of the gringos that aren’t familiar with the process, don’t speak much Spanish, and are clearly vulnerable. But that wasn’t what happened. Everyone was extremely helpful, gracious, and friendly.
Once we crossed into Tecate we pointed our rig West and headed for the coast, Ensenada specifically. We are housesitting at a home in the mountains of Baja Norte and we planned to meet the owners of the home in Ensenada the next day for Tacos de Pescador and instructions on the house. We explored a bit and found a sweet camping spot near the beach with excellent views of the city and the ocean.
The campsite at La Jolla Beach Camp was a little expensive, but it seemed to be the only beachside camping in Ensenada and it gave us a secure place to hunker down for the night. There were hot showers, bathrooms, and trash service.
We met with the home owners the next day, loaded up on as many groceries as we could fit in our 4Runner and drove South. Driving in Mexico is interesting as speed limits aren’t real. They are posted, but no one follows them. Most locals pull over and drive on the shoulder if you are traveling faster than they are. It takes some getting used to, but we feel like we have it down pretty well.
We arrived at a campsite near our turn off for the house and drove the 15KM road down to the beach for a beautiful sunset and great shrimp tacos. Our first few days in Baja are turning out to be okay after all.
The next morning we drove the 70KM’s to the driveway and another 6KM up the drive way to get to the house. From when we turned off on the “driveway” to when we pulled in the gate at the house it took nearly 45 minutes. The road is gnarly and super vulnerable to the weather and nature. We are definitely looking forward to more trips down this thing in a couple of weeks.
We are so excited about this stage in our adventures and we hope you will follow along as we learn as much as we can about off-grid living, remote ranch living, and Baja in general. As always, thank you for reading along on our travels and adventures. Hopefully you were entertained, enlightened, or otherwise felt like the last few minutes reading this post was a worthwhile investment of your time. If you enjoyed our content, there are a few ways that you can help promote what we do and keep us on the road a little longer:
We are quitting #buslife and parking the bus! Our Skoolie has provided us thousands of miles of adventure and exploration through some of the coolest parts of the Western US. If you haven’t seen our bus, you can catch up by checking out our Bus Build Page!
Our Skoolie will stay around and will eventually tow our new adventure rig to future destinations. Until then we will be traveling in a new-to-us 1986 Toyota 4Runner! The 4×4 will allow us to see more of the backroads and off-road trails that the world has to offer. We loved traveling in the bus, but having a small, nimble, and capable truck will allow us flexibility to travel farther. Without delay, here is the new truck!
The ’86 will obviously need some work before we take off on the road again! Plans include a new paint job, new bumpers, suspension refresh, rear platform build out, and a roof top tent. The goal behind this build is to have a capable, reliable, and rugged off-road machine to explore deep into the wilderness.
Here are some of the ways you can follow along with our build:
We have worked tirelessly on the truck to make it as reliable, capable, and fun as we could on a limited budget. The result is a great truck to get us into the wilds of Baja.
Rachael and I will be spending the Winter in Baja housesitting at an off-grid ranch. We have always really enjoyed this lifestyle and hope to learn more about how we wish to setup our future off-grid home. We will be shifting a lot of our content to off-grid living topics like solar power, aspects of ranch life, and the realities of living in remote areas. We hope you enjoy the new content and we look forward to sharing the next leg of our adventures.
As always, thank you for reading along on our travels and adventures. Hopefully you were entertained, enlightened, or otherwise felt like the last few minutes reading this post was a worthwhile investment of your time. If you enjoyed our content, there are a few ways that you can help promote what we do and keep us on the road a little longer:
We have all seen the images or videos of the picturesque scene with the bikini-clad paddleboarder gliding across the iconic crystal-clear water of Lake Tahoe and it looks like she is the only person on the lake. This is NOT REAL. Being one of the prettiest and largest freshwater lakes (that also happens to be surrounded by an immense tourism infrastructure from the winter season) makes Tahoe a destination for thousands as soon as the snow melts. This means that most everything will be expensive; however, we found a way to actually cut our weekly expenses in Tahoe and still enjoy most everything that the area had to offer.
The Tahoe Basin is one of the most popular destinations for outdoor recreation in California and Nevada. That being said, during the summer, all of the beaches and campgrounds are extremely full. Even Forest Service Campgrounds with no water service will cost you $20 or more. We chose to park for FREE!
Everyone knows you are trying to park for FREE. Business owners that cater to the needs of millionaire tourists year-round know when you circle their empty parking lot that you are looking for free parking, keep that in mind when trying to park in Tahoe.
As with anywhere, keep your eyes open for stores, shops, and trailheads that will be empty or low-traffic in the evening. Don’t hang out all day and don’t be obnoxious. Avoid locations that have signage prohibiting overnight parking. We spoke with several shop employees that recommended spots all over the lake to park for free.
It’s Lake Tahoe, there is so much to do outside you can’t actually do it all without living there all summer. We’ve outlined a few of the activities that we did while in the basin and that we would recommend to travelers in the area.
There are a lot of day-use ($$) beaches to put in your paddleboard or kayak or to swim in Lake Tahoe, but there are also some free beaches to enjoy the water.
Thomas F. Regan Memorial Beach
South Lake Tahoe, CA
GPS: 38.944427, -119.985645
Regan was a great place to park for the day and enjoy the view, have lunch, and take a swim. The parking was more than adequate and flush toilets and water were available for FREE. There was a playground and a sand-beach for swimming.
Commons Beach
Tahoe City, CA
GPS: 39.170372, -120.140866
We spent the afternoon on Commons Beach while taking a low-mile day on the Tahoe Rim Trail while we re-supplied for the rest of our hike. Thursdays at the beach boast a Farmer’s Market (talk about good luck, we walked in to TC on Thursday; more on that later in the article). The beach is beautiful and didn’t seem very crowded. There was water and flush toilets on site with kayak rentals available on the beach.
Kiva Beach
South Lake Tahoe, CA
GPS: 38.939583, -120.047892
Kiva Beach was a recommendation from a nice Forest Service Tech named Jennifer that we met while hiking the Tahoe Rim Trail. This beach is not as well signed as others in the area and requires a walk down a short trail from the Visitor’s Center. The walk is well worth it as this beach is pristine. This hard to find beach should be at the top of your list in Tahoe.
The Tahoe Rim Trail (TRT) is a 170-mile scenic trail that circumnavigates Lake Tahoe, mostly on the rim above the lake. This trail system can be broken down into day hikes or tackled all at once for a 10-14-day adventure.
We chose to thru-hike the rim trail all at once, starting at Kingsbury South Trailhead and re-supplying at Tahoe City, CA. Rachael and I finished the trail in 13-days and could have easily cut it to eleven or twelve. For tips and more information on thru-hiking the Tahoe Rim Trail, check out our post with tips and things that we wish we had known before we set off.
As accessible as most of the trails in Tahoe are, it is no wonder that mountain bikers flock to this area to ride some of the smoothest single-track in the country. From extreme downhill, to cross-country, to bikepacking, Tahoe has something for EVERYONE. Below is a list of recommended rides in the Tahoe Basin:
Big shock that the guy that enjoyed the 170-mile hike around the rim would suggest riding around the lake on your mountain bike, but sure enough, my favorite ride in Tahoe is essentially riding the entire lake in 4-5 days.
Although most of the TRT is open to cyclists, some sections such as Desolation and Mt. Rose Wilderness are bike-free, so the route linked above starts in Reno, NV, takes you through the heart of Lake Tahoe, and back to Reno a week later. There are plenty of re-supply points and places to stop for food, coffee, and a dip in the lake, which makes this route very appealing for a beginner or seasoned bikepacker.
We met a group of guys at Tahoe Meadows that had just started this route and happened to run into them a few days later while we were camping outside of Reno (conveniently on the same route) and they had the same smiles on their faces 4 days later as they did on the second day of their trip.
We hiked up and past this trail on our way around the lake and it is knarly. It offers plenty of rugged downhill, berms, jumps, and obstacles for the most experienced riders. We advise renting a full-suspension, long travel bike for this trail as the old hardtail probably won’t make it out alive.
Enjoy the ride up the Forest Service road leading to Armstrong Pass and let it rip on Toad’s all the way back to lake-level.
The Flume Trail is as iconic of a mountain bike trail as you can find. With very little climbing and beautiful white sand single-track, it’s no wonder that thousands of mountain bikers flock to this trail every summer.
Get to the trailhead early and expect to see a bunch of riders, hikers, and potentially some equestrians as this trail is extremely popular.
GLUTEN FREE RATING: A+
We spent a total of about 15 days in Tahoe and 13 of them were on the Tahoe Rim Trail where we made our own food every breakfast, lunch, and dinner. That being said, on our days before and after our hike and on our half-day in Tahoe City, we found Lake Tahoe to be incredibly Gluten Free Friendly.
Groceries were simple in South Lake Tahoe with a Safeway that had everything that we hadn’t picked up in Carson City, NV a few days prior. Speaking of, Carson is a great location to fill up on cheap gas, restock your groceries and supplies, and enjoy the dry heat before heading into the Tahoe Basin. We found gas in Nevada to be over $1/gal cheaper than buying in California.
Rachael’s Pick in Tahoe
As mentioned above, there is an excellent Farmer’s Market in Tahoe City on Thursdays that had a ton of fresh produce, gluten free pastries, fine wines and cheeses, and even live music. We highly recommend scheduling your time in TC to include the Common’s Beach Farmer’s Market. We picked up some gluten free goodies from Sugar Pine Cakery and pick up some raw white cheddar from Spring Hill Cheese, the cheese was unreal!
A quality of life indicator that we look for in our travels and observations of potential new homes is the abundance and quality of the outdoor stores in the area. Despite a moderate addiction to Amazon and REI (we are working on cutting back…) we would really prefer to live in a place that has a decent and affordable outdoor store for when our gear breaks or we feel the urge to upgrade. On day one of our 13-day trek, the shoulder strap on my cheap, 6-year old pack broke, snapped right off at the seam. We rigged it up and got into Tahoe City on a bum strap and shoulder from the maldistributed weight.
The folks at Alpenglow Sports saved the day! Not only did they carry Osprey packs, the brand that I have been eyeing for years, but they also had a knowledgeable sales person that had hiked most of the TRT and knew exactly what type of pack to suggest. She helped me pick out a really solid pack at the price point that we were comfortable paying. They even let me try it on, load it down with weight, and walk around the store with it to make sure it fit just right. Did I mention that we hadn’t showered in 7 days?
*A bonus perk of Alpenglow Sports is that if you are thru-hiking they will let you ship a resupply box to their PO Box and they will hold it for you until you hike into town, FOR FREE! Talk about great customer service!
Lodging/Accommodations
This is an area that we really don’t get to comment on too often, because we live in our bus and don’t stay in hotels or even campgrounds very often. However, after wearing the same clothes for 13 days with no shower, we decided to splurge on a $50 hotel room in Reno, NV. Accommodations in Tahoe, even during the week, were over $100/night and we simply can’t afford that. The Harrah’s Casino in downtown Reno was cheap, clean, and a great value! We spent a full day relaxing, cleaning and sorting gear, and stuffing our face at the two-for-one buffet. For the money, you really can’t beat a casino hotel after a thru-hike!
Whether you choose to explore the world around you by motor vehicle, bicycle, or by foot there is a fine line between wandering dangerously into the unknown with no preparation, being safely prepared for the adventure ahead, and being paralyzed by the insecurity of not having every piece of equipment you can imagine. If your goal is to explore the world and to be able to do so for a long time there are certain items and skills that will be necessities and others that can simply keep you from exploring at all. The most important question to ask is, do you want to sit around and wait for the stars to align, or do you want to plunge head first into the unknown and seize every opportunity for adventure?
The first multi day backpacking trip I ever did definitely fell on the less prepared end of the spectrum. Three of my best friends and I had planned out a five day fifty mile plus trek through the Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri. Combined, we had very little experience and almost no proper gear suited to the task at hand. Those of us with some cash to spend invested in various items of the outdoors persuasion, and do we ever look back and laugh at those choices. Some items were solid selections. I purchased a pair of Vasque hiking boots which have now been worn for four years, gone hundreds of miles, summited peaks in Colorado, traversed the Grand Canyon, and waded through the Buffalo National River. I also bought a Fiskars chopping axe which weighed over five pounds and was proudly strapped to the outside of my pack to be carried fifty miles and was necessary approximately zero times. One friend opted to spend no money and wore old sneakers, military fatigues (in navy digital camouflage), and borrowed an ancient external frame backpack.
To keep a long story short, we got absolutely destroyed within two days of being on the trail. Five inches of rain fell the morning we were supposed to set off, turning our path into a tiny flowing river and making every step treacherous. The forecast also changed drastically from when we packed up and when we arrived leaving us expecting mild weather. Instead we woke up to snow falling the second morning. It was at this point that our spirits were broken and we decided to detour to a nearby state park and call for a very expensive shuttle ride back to our vehicle. Many experienced backpackers have told us we were foolish for going out with the equipment and lack of experience we had. We certainly felt foolish and were lucky that no serious injuries occured, communications were maintained, and there were options to bail out. To add to the point here, two of us attempted a return trip at the opposite time of the year with a different group and experienced one hundred degree temperatures and drought causing the expedition to throw in the towel at the exact same location as on the first attempt. All that being said, I am so thankful that I experienced both of those trips and would absolutely not trade the memories for anything. We learned a great deal about ourselves, our equipment, and our passion the hard way. And sometimes that’s the best way.
Since these experiences, many more lessons have been learned and many thousands of miles have been successfully traversed by foot, car, and bicycle. As I gain more experience and begin to slowly accumulate better, more useful equipment I find that sometimes I am held back by this desire to have all the right gear before setting off on the next adventure. Some of the hesitation is warranted, lack of potable water on our second trip to the MTNF could have been a fatal mistake, but I will probably be ok on every trip without a solar panel, 50” LED light bar or even steel bumpers on my expedition rig. While all of these can make certain situations easier, safer or simply more convenient the lack of them should never keep you from exploring the world around you.
As long as you have the basics covered, water/food, communications, first aid, navigation, and shelter I say go out and find something amazing in the world around you. Waiting until you have every tool and gadget will keep you from ever seeing the world and being totally unprepared could end your grand adventure we call life, but with minimal expense, basic gear and careful planning you should be all set to get out there and safely venture into the unknown.
Today’s post was written by Ethan Hayman. Ethan is a hiker, wood-worker, and general outdoorsman. Ethan’s adventures take him all over the South Central United States including Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, New Mexico, and Arizona. Follow him on Facebook to keep up with his shenanagins
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GPS Coordinates: 35.997521, -94.897183
Nearest Town: Tahlequah, OK
One of my favorite aspects of living in Northeast Oklahoma and Tahlequah in general are the outdoor activities that are still generally well-kept secrets in the area. These are well-kept locations mostly due to the lack of an active population, lack of awareness, and lack of access to these areas. These factors, in addition to conservation efforts by The Nature Conservancy, the Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Commission, and Oklahoma Department of Wildlife have helped to preserve some of these areas from over use, vandalism, and littering.
The bathtub rocks are just a few miles northeast of Tahlequah and border the Nickle Preserve, run by the Nature Conservancy. The bathtub rocks are technically a part of D4569 RD (Oakdale DR) and a car with decent clearance is suggested if you plan on continuing down the road to either HWY 62 or HWY 10(my Honda Accord made it across with minimal undercarriage scraping). This destination also makes for a great gravel bike ride out of town and can be linked with several different loops around the nature preserve.
If continuing to HWY 10, you will pass by the previous location of historic Combs Bridge. The remains of the old bridge can still be seen on either shore of the Illinois River.
The bathtub rocks have been carved by a creek flowing over them for centuries and the result is smooth slides and tubs that make for perfect swimming and summer lounging. The local crowd can fill up the tubs on the weekends so plan to arrive early and enjoy the sounds of the water and the nature of nearby Nickle Preserve in solitude. My travel companion and I spent a little over an hour at “The Tubs” and saw nearly 15 people who stayed an average of roughly 10 minutes each.
When flowing, the creek meanders to the Illinois River and provides several deep pools deeper into the woods. I advise bringing along some water shoes to enjoy the creek further into the woods. Large boulders and over-hanging trees make for a scenic walk along/through the water.
Although the tubs do not provide a full day of activity, it is an excellent stop on a series of dirt roads that meander through the foothills of the Ozarks that surround the Illinois River. Sites such as the Nickel Preserve and Goat’s Bluff are scattered along the riverside and provide several opportunities for stopping and enjoying the beauty of the Illinois River Basin whether on foot, by bike, or in a vehicle. Please research private property boundaries, I am not responsible for you breaking the law.
The bathtub rocks area is one of my favorites in Tahlequah for it’s pure, natural beauty and the evidence left behind of thousands of years of weathering from the flowing water.
This post is a classic from the archives of the Okienomad’s travels. It was originally posted to a different blog, but has been updated here with more complete information. If you enjoyed our post, please look around the rest of the website. We have images and stories from Oklahoma as well as all over the United States and Canada. We are on social media as well @okienomads on Facebook and Instagram. Thanks for reading and God bless!
