@softroadingthewest I watch a channel called "cruising the cut", about cruising narrow boats in the English canal system. You got a mention there as great channel to watch. I agree.
Brings back some sweet memories of over 50 years ago. Grew up on a small farm down on the snake river and spent many a day and night roaming around that area chukkar,pheasant, deer and antelope hunting. All over the succor creek area. Very fond memories. A letter from the draft board ended all that. I really enjoy the ability to revisit the area with you.
Your sounds tracks on these last few videos have been on point! That casually haunting music during the foggy morning was great for the scene. Loving this trip! The lichen on the basalt in that canyon adds so much colour to it!
Maybe that is how traction control works on other vehicles, but with my 2014 Frontier pro-4x the traction control takes away throttle, not adds brakes. When the traction control is off on my model year, the electronic limited slip is on and ready to fire and the computer applies brakes to any of the four wheels as needed to try and keep all four wheels spinning. It is attempting to keep the differential from working.
As a young man, the hotter, the better. As I age I find more and more appreciation for cooler weather, and less and less abhorrence of rainy days. Btw, the foggy canyon footage is epic! Such a unique experience. It very much reminds me of the cool medieval fantasy (Lord or the Rings, Witcher, etc) set cinematography.
I love that you have music back at the backdrop of Your videos. I know that opinions differ on having music soundtracks on videos but I personally love it and Your choices of songs are usually excellent and add to the mood. Epic cinematography also. As always.
Thank you! The music is an important storytelling element to me, and while it's a TON of work tracking down the right pieces with the right feel to carry or enhance the mood of the moment, it's a true pleasure when the footage, narration, and music all finally gel. Because I am a fan of Venture4WD and because occasionally people gripe about the presence of music, I decided to experiment with leaving it out of one adventure video recently (the Utah episode). While it certainly made the edit come together much faster & easier, the end result felt sort of dry and incomplete to me. That said, I don't think one person commented on the lack of music, haha. :-)
Wow ! Watching "Cruising the Cut" a British TH-cam channel and he mentions your channel as one of the best Quality Utube Doc Channels . I agree. Thank You So Much for All that you do.
Absolutely stunning! That bridge across the river was so cool! And wow, the rocks, grass, moss, and sagebrush was over the top! So beautiful! Thank you for producing these videos for us!
The scenery is awesome. I’m sure it is even more beautiful in person as photo’s and video’s can never show the true beauty. Thanks so much for sharing your adventure as I’m sure I’ll never get to witness it in person..
Nothing better than snow camping in the HEATED wedge, you mean. :-) Awesome to hang out, and the crazy cold made it into a little adventure of sorts! Looking forward to next time!
Such an incredible area! So unique l love the rolling hills and Rock formations. Love that it seems you always have it all to yourself. Incredible episode. Jason seems like a great adventure companion
Man the mud over there is no joke. I hunt mule deer in the Owyhee unit. Been out there in the rain, it doesn’t take much to make those roads almost impassable. That’s coming from a guy that lives in the mud in western Oregon. Like the content, making me miss my old frontier.
Thank you for not disturbing that old car. I know every inch of that country and it is kind of a landmark. I remember being lost in the mud and that fog in that country in almost exactly 30 years ago and just praying to hit pavement after a trip to the craters. No map or compass. GPS was hardly a thing. Finally hit pavement in the dark somewhere near Rome. There wasn't a gas station oepn at Rome at the time and it was a gamble if we'd go to Burns Junction (where there was still a station) or Jordan Valley. We made it to Burns Junction on fumes. That was the right gamble. Also, look up the history of the Chinese massacre at China Gulch, just east of Rome, where you showed at the beginning of the clip. Also, thank you for being someone cryptic about your exact locations.
My daughter (12) and I really enjoyed this episode! She told me she would definitely go down in the alvord desert region to explore again. She’s quite the car camper in our Jeep that I have setup for four of us to sleep in. Anyway, we enjoy the videos, they’re much better than mine. Keep up the great content!
Just came over after a glowing recommendation from Cruising The Cut. And he's abolutely right. Subscribed immediately. Cheers & Happy New Year from Germany
What a fantastic trip! It's an area that we haven't explored yet and is on our bucket list hopefully this year. So many places to explore and not enough time to do them all, well, not in one year that's for sure.
Winter camping is fun in snow but I definitely agree with being extra prepared or you might be uncomfortable and hate the experience. You guys got hit with extremely cold Temps 🥶 lol. Ive camped in freezing Temps but that is cold right there.. A new year for new adventures to come Cheers buddy!
Great video, camera work and soundtrack. Brought back some memories. Growing up in Caldwell ID my dad was the only HVAC guy who would travel to Jordan Valley, Arock and many remote ranches in that area, even including Steens Mountain where he got snowed in once and had to stay the night with his customer and family. I used to go with him in the summers when we’d spend a week servicing furnaces and the people in Jordan Valley loved him! We went to Rome and I even saw the gravesite of Sacajawea’s son, Charbonneau who is buried near Arock if my memory is right. I love the desert southwest but there is a certain beauty to the Owyhee area and that stunning overlook where you stayed.
So cool ! I cannot top these comments.. I have I have Spent time in the Algerian Sahara, North Africa in general, Yemen in the Empty Quarter, The land of Patagonia ( Chili - Argentina)and other regions. But this area is amazingly beautiful. I have really enjoyed being with you on these trips and look forward to your future adventures. Your narration is tops. I am curious about your background! Can you tell us about what you have previously done. .
Another great video with awesome footage of the canyon. Having lived in Alaska I know what you mean about the rain but I'll let you enjoy it. Give me sunshine and 70 and I'm a happy camper.
On our annual Alvord flyout/campout, we fly the section of the Owyhee from Rome to the reservoir. We land at Rome station and taxi up to the pump for fuel. What an incredible area.
We boated the river from 3forks to Rome in early spring a few years ago. This is SERIOUS rattler country, we had snakes at every camp. Be aware if hiking in the area.
Fascinating landscape, excellent photography, thoughtful presentation, ....puts me there.......and pork teriyaki cooked with wine. What's not to like? Best of the new year!
I love that area, and you capture it so well. Your video production is next level. I really appreciate the time and effort you take to create these wonderful videos for us to enjoy. Cheers.
I always look forward to your videos. Oregon was never a state I thought I would like to visit, but ever since watching your channel, Jason's Channel, and Coyote Works Channel its become definitely one of my bucket list states to travel too. Hopefully I will make one of your Patreon meetups some day.
Great country and trip, wuould suggest that as you drive one handed a lot, that you learn to keep the THUMB,S out of the steering wheel. Only needs a wheel to grab and it can be a broken or very sore thumb... Cheers and happy new year..
Ah! Now I'll know who to blame for those rutted-out roads when I'm back that way for work. Though it's great to see folks getting out that deep into that area. It's got some great sights to see and if you ever need any road beta out that way shoot me a message.
MUDroadingthhewest no wait it's Softroadingthewest !!! I love seeing all the old history you find on your travels. Neat old car parts and the rock structure by the river. How muddy did you get your camera? Thanks for the video. As always you did a great job (except for the mud on the lens HAHA ) Take care and be safe.
Haha! I lost count of how many times I stupidly stuck a camera out the window without remembering how much mud the tires were constantly flinging. :-) Thanks Frank!
Great minds think alike. First thing I did after watching was to look for the camping spot, too. Found it pretty easily. I hope you marked it as an expedition destination for the future. Thanks Donald, for leading us to all the right places!
@@swidahooverlanding2867 thanks....trying to figure it. Steens are in SE Oregon. Riley should be our there on the horizon, and perhaps its Malheur is what I am seeing. They are on the east side of the river (it flows north) , they just left Roma. The bedrock changes color quickly north of Roma (they haven't reached that yet) AND they are on the outside of a curve in river....pretty distinctive. I thought they were west of Air Strip road.. I am a Defense Mapping School honor graduate, did aerial photo interpretation for SF .... thought I had figured it. Perhaps I revisit.
Informative and fun video. Good insight on turning off Traction Control in fine mud. I also have a Pro4X and have learned much on different terrain. The biggest lesson was locking the rear axle when ascending fine sand at Lake Powell Utah - that was a tough ascension. Just curious: what's your Frontier's fuel range? My Frontier has 5 gallons of RotoPax fuel on the rear bumper which gets my range to about 325 miles at an average of 13 to 14 MPH.
I haven't truly done any real calculations, but it really depends on the type of driving. I seem to get the best possible mileage in that sort of 45-60mph area, which is a secondary reason I traveled so many little highways through the southwest instead of the interstate. At 70mph+ or at trail speeds, mpgs definitely go down. I'm really bad about remembering to track miles when I do fillups, so I only have a vague sense, and my Frontier doesn't have any sort of MPG or miles-remaining readout like I've seen in some cars.
@@softroadingthewest Donald great vids. Invest in a Scangauge (Scanguage II). Great bit of kit. Plugs into the obdii socket and gives you lots of real time data out of the box and you can customize for your vehicles transmission temps and such. You stick the little screen on your dash. It has a real time mpg reading as well as gallons used and remaining. You tell it when you fill up and adjust how much you put in be how much it thinks you have used and it learns to be more accurate. Also can pull codes if you get a check engine light and clear them..which is handy if it goes into a limp mode for a non issue. All the best.
It's a prototype I had made by a hat vendor. I'm happy with the embroidery work, I just don't like the specific hat model I selected. At some point I will loop back around and do a test run on a slightly different cap style, and I will make them available for purchase once I'm happy with it. It's admittedly a fairly low priority among the truck projects I'm trying to get done, but one day! :-)
Did you have any challenges matching the colors on your different cameras during the foggy morning? Pretty amazing how well they all similar reproduced the marginal lighting conditions. Do you use LUTs?
Yes, between my "main" camera (Sony) + GoPro + drone (+ sometimes my phone) it can be a PITA to color grade everything and get them to flow somewhat seamlessly. I don't use LUTs, when I've tried, I still find myself still tweaking every single clip and often fighting a cast introduced by the LUT, so in many cases they just increase my work. I manually grade every single clip in every video. Now, I can often carry settings across multiple clips that were shot at the same place and the same time, but still find that there are almost just enough little variables that I still end up needing to tweak every single clip in some way. I can easily spend two to four hours just on color grading a video of this length, depending on the scene and lighting changes and also stupid mistakes I make while out filming, haha. :-)
That's not a good campsite if you're prone to sleepwalking.😁 I suppose that this video post means you didn't get caught/stuck with that winter storm that came through. Your videos get better and better...
Beside all of that beautiful video footage of overlanding and camping and cooking by the fire there is one question that came to my mind. Don´t want to be rude or something but I wonder how you guys take a dump? Maybe it was asked already but I missed that. Do you have some kind of portable toilette with you or do you take a walk with the spade?
Oh gosh, that's not rude at all, that's a super legitimate question and something that absolutely has to be considered when undertaking virtually any dispersed camping excursion. There are a number of approaches to this. Some people, yes, carry portable toilet systems, possibly along with some kind of pop-up privacy tent. These can be bulky...definitely more than I have room for in my little truck, but it's one option if you have the room for it. Personally, I just take a walk with a shovel. Privacy-wise, that's easier in the woods than in the open desert, though the sagebrush can grow pretty tall out there and there are land contours that can help. On this trip, the late late sunrises also provided a cover of darkness for the first few hours of the morning. :-) I keep a multi-purpose 5-gallon bucket in the truck and I have special liners I can put in the bucket, so in a pinch, I can put up my curtains and take care of business in the back of the truck. That's absolute last-resort for me though...I'd much rather not do that in my sleeping space. I'll literally drive a mile away from camp to find privacy before resorting to that solution. :-)
It's the MTX105. Sorry about that, I normally put a link to it in the description when I show it in action, but missed it this time: amzn.to/35WcYEY (not sponsored or anything, I purchased this radio and have been very happy with it.)
I'm running a Midland MTX105 GMRS radio (which I've been VERY happy with, this was well worth the hundred bucks...much happier than I was with handheld FRS radios which I would constantly misplace or would run out of battery at critical moments). Not sure what Jason is using.
@@softroadingthewest Thanks Donald. I have Midland handhelds which I love. Good for travelling together (under 2 miles real world use). I just bought the new Yaesu FTM-6000r which I'm installing in the Van for longer range Comms. Looking forward to yours and Jason's remainder of trip vids. Cheers from Manitoba Canada!
Haha! It's Jason's firepit, so it goes where he wants to put it. Admittedly, that whole scene with his van, awning, campfire, and canyon in the background looked reeeeally nice. I would never deny a fellow creator such Instagram gold, haha. :-) Actually I think this was the only night we used his firepit, all other nights on this trip we either used existing rock rings or had no fire at all. For Christmas, I received my very own portable firepit, so I now can in theory build my own little fire to keep me warm wherever I decide to park the truck. :-)
That's not mud, that's actually a weird little brown ghost that was following me around for a while. Turns out eastern Oregon is haunted, who knew? :-)
It's a cell-capable iPad. Those have GPS receivers in them just like a phone. Mine's not connected to any cell plan. The GPS receiver picks up the satellite signals regardless of connectivity. I pre-download map data in the Gaia GPS app before trips so the iPad can show me where I am on those maps. Works great!
@softroadingthewest I watch a channel called "cruising the cut", about cruising narrow boats in the English canal system. You got a mention there as great channel to watch. I agree.
Love CtC. Even mentioned Donald's awning video to David on his Vandemonium channel. Definitely recommended!
Yup, that is how I got here to. And I am in Portland, so fun to see this in the PNW.
Brings back some sweet memories of over 50 years ago. Grew up on a small farm down on the snake river and spent many a day and night roaming around that area chukkar,pheasant, deer and antelope hunting. All over the succor creek area. Very fond memories. A letter from the draft board ended all that. I really enjoy the ability to revisit the area with you.
Something special about that area. I mule deer hunt near the owyhee reservoir.
Your sounds tracks on these last few videos have been on point! That casually haunting music during the foggy morning was great for the scene. Loving this trip! The lichen on the basalt in that canyon adds so much colour to it!
Maybe that is how traction control works on other vehicles, but with my 2014 Frontier pro-4x the traction control takes away throttle, not adds brakes.
When the traction control is off on my model year, the electronic limited slip is on and ready to fire and the computer applies brakes to any of the four wheels as needed to try and keep all four wheels spinning. It is attempting to keep the differential from working.
Thanks for driving through the mud holes instead of going around and widening the road! Great country, good adventure!
As a young man, the hotter, the better. As I age I find more and more appreciation for cooler weather, and less and less abhorrence of rainy days.
Btw, the foggy canyon footage is epic! Such a unique experience. It very much reminds me of the cool medieval fantasy (Lord or the Rings, Witcher, etc) set cinematography.
I love that you have music back at the backdrop of Your videos. I know that opinions differ on having music soundtracks on videos but I personally love it and Your choices of songs are usually excellent and add to the mood. Epic cinematography also. As always.
Thank you! The music is an important storytelling element to me, and while it's a TON of work tracking down the right pieces with the right feel to carry or enhance the mood of the moment, it's a true pleasure when the footage, narration, and music all finally gel.
Because I am a fan of Venture4WD and because occasionally people gripe about the presence of music, I decided to experiment with leaving it out of one adventure video recently (the Utah episode). While it certainly made the edit come together much faster & easier, the end result felt sort of dry and incomplete to me. That said, I don't think one person commented on the lack of music, haha. :-)
The trip still is looking like fun. Yeap, that side road definitely had an epic campsite. We would prefer it not rain when we are camping as well.
Wow ! Watching "Cruising the Cut" a British TH-cam channel and he mentions your channel as one of the best Quality Utube Doc Channels . I agree. Thank You So Much for All that you do.
Absolutely stunning! That bridge across the river was so cool! And wow, the rocks, grass, moss, and sagebrush was over the top! So beautiful! Thank you for producing these videos for us!
The scenery is awesome. I’m sure it is even more beautiful in person as photo’s and video’s can never show the true beauty. Thanks so much for sharing your adventure as I’m sure I’ll never get to witness it in person..
Happy new year everyone, I definitely need to watch videos like this today to inspire me to be outdoors more than last year.
Your cinematography on this episode is fantastic (the drop of mud adds character)! Great start to the New Year, cheers!
Happy New Year from Grand Rapids, Michigan. I was sent to your channel by David on "Cruising the Cut ". Looking forward to watching your videos!
David sent me here too
Thanks so much for coming over to check out my channel!
Nothing better then snow camping in the wedge, nice and warm and catching a softroading video. Great seeing you again this weekend 👍
Nothing better than snow camping in the HEATED wedge, you mean. :-) Awesome to hang out, and the crazy cold made it into a little adventure of sorts! Looking forward to next time!
Such an incredible area! So unique l love the rolling hills and Rock formations. Love that it seems you always have it all to yourself. Incredible episode. Jason seems like a great adventure companion
Man the mud over there is no joke. I hunt mule deer in the Owyhee unit. Been out there in the rain, it doesn’t take much to make those roads almost impassable. That’s coming from a guy that lives in the mud in western Oregon. Like the content, making me miss my old frontier.
Thank you for not disturbing that old car. I know every inch of that country and it is kind of a landmark. I remember being lost in the mud and that fog in that country in almost exactly 30 years ago and just praying to hit pavement after a trip to the craters. No map or compass. GPS was hardly a thing. Finally hit pavement in the dark somewhere near Rome. There wasn't a gas station oepn at Rome at the time and it was a gamble if we'd go to Burns Junction (where there was still a station) or Jordan Valley. We made it to Burns Junction on fumes. That was the right gamble. Also, look up the history of the Chinese massacre at China Gulch, just east of Rome, where you showed at the beginning of the clip. Also, thank you for being someone cryptic about your exact locations.
Couldn't agree with you more on the Hot/Cold perspective.... Awesome video!!!
What an absolutely stunning experience this must have been. Your content is therapeutic.
My daughter (12) and I really enjoyed this episode! She told me she would definitely go down in the alvord desert region to explore again. She’s quite the car camper in our Jeep that I have setup for four of us to sleep in. Anyway, we enjoy the videos, they’re much better than mine. Keep up the great content!
This is a comment for support. Thanks for sharing!
Me too
Haha, thank you for watching and commenting! Genuinely appreciated! :-)
the fog in the canyon! I had a similar but less extreme experience with the fog while camping on the Owyhee last year. very moody cool atmosphere 👍
Just came over after a glowing recommendation from Cruising The Cut. And he's abolutely right. Subscribed immediately. Cheers & Happy New Year from Germany
Thank you so much for coming over to check out my channel, much appreciated!
Love Owyhee Canyon. Nice video. Thanks for sharing!
That camping spot overlooking the canyon……spectacular. The filming……spectacular.
What a fantastic trip! It's an area that we haven't explored yet and is on our bucket list hopefully this year. So many places to explore and not enough time to do them all, well, not in one year that's for sure.
Winter camping is fun in snow but I definitely agree with being extra prepared or you might be uncomfortable and hate the experience. You guys got hit with extremely cold Temps 🥶 lol. Ive camped in freezing Temps but that is cold right there.. A new year for new adventures to come Cheers buddy!
The lichen crusted basalt is beautiful
Great video, camera work and soundtrack. Brought back some memories. Growing up in Caldwell ID my dad was the only HVAC guy who would travel to Jordan Valley, Arock and many remote ranches in that area, even including Steens Mountain where he got snowed in once and had to stay the night with his customer and family. I used to go with him in the summers when we’d spend a week servicing furnaces and the people in Jordan Valley loved him! We went to Rome and I even saw the gravesite of Sacajawea’s son, Charbonneau who is buried near Arock if my memory is right. I love the desert southwest but there is a certain beauty to the Owyhee area and that stunning overlook where you stayed.
I love hearing stories like this! Thanks for watching and commenting!
So cool ! I cannot top these comments..
I have
I have Spent time in the
Algerian Sahara, North Africa in general, Yemen in the Empty Quarter, The land of Patagonia ( Chili - Argentina)and other regions. But this area is amazingly beautiful. I have really enjoyed being with you on these trips and look forward to your future adventures. Your narration is tops.
I am curious about your background! Can you tell us about what you have previously done.
.
Your cinematography on this episode was fantastic! Great start to the New Year! Cheers!
Rain in Oregon? Yes, even on the east side. Nice drive thank you stay safe
Another great video with awesome footage of the canyon. Having lived in Alaska I know what you mean about the rain but I'll let you enjoy it. Give me sunshine and 70 and I'm a happy camper.
On our annual Alvord flyout/campout, we fly the section of the Owyhee from Rome to the reservoir. We land at Rome station and taxi up to the pump for fuel. What an incredible area.
Yay! Happy New Years Donald!
We boated the river from 3forks to Rome in early spring a few years ago. This is SERIOUS rattler country, we had snakes at every camp. Be aware if hiking in the area.
Absolutely beautiful country. Great adventure and videography. Thanks for sharing.
Fascinating landscape, excellent photography, thoughtful presentation, ....puts me there.......and pork teriyaki cooked with wine. What's not to like? Best of the new year!
Wine? Alcohol? HA! Anything less than whiskey is water lol hahahaha
Another great video Donald!! Beautiful area.
I love that area, and you capture it so well. Your video production is next level. I really appreciate the time and effort you take to create these wonderful videos for us to enjoy. Cheers.
Your thoughts and words turned that barren desert into a paradise. Thank you for sharing this video.
I always look forward to your videos. Oregon was never a state I thought I would like to visit, but ever since watching your channel, Jason's Channel, and Coyote Works Channel its become definitely one of my bucket list states to travel too. Hopefully I will make one of your Patreon meetups some day.
This site was recommended its a lucky find. Very compulsive viewing. Thank you.
Thanks for checking it out!
Looks amazing, I like the colder weather too. Those mud shots look like fun
Your dinner looked delicious....could almost taste it! Great scenery, Donald.
Just opened my phone to check for recent uploads and boom! Right on time for me haha.
ooh that spring looks like the perfect camp..
Great country and trip, wuould suggest that as you drive one handed a lot, that you learn to keep the THUMB,S out of the steering wheel. Only needs a wheel to grab and it can be a broken or very sore thumb... Cheers and happy new year..
Ah! Now I'll know who to blame for those rutted-out roads when I'm back that way for work. Though it's great to see folks getting out that deep into that area. It's got some great sights to see and if you ever need any road beta out that way shoot me a message.
More fun and beautiful video. Lucky me. Thank you!
Another great adventure!! Fun to take us along and I for one, appreciate the videos!! Love your channel and happy holidays!! Safe travels!!
Awesome scenery, great video as usual.
Another great edit!! Breathtaking views, epic shots.
Thank you! Great to meet up this weekend!
Wow that site looks epic!
We were preeeetty happy with this find. It was early afternoon but we knew this would be camp as soon as we drove up. :-)
20:40 while I appreciate the disclaimer, I was more worried about the camera. loved the shot.
I camped and fished that river not too long ago. It's a fantastic area. 👌
What kind of fish?
@@frenchfryfarmer436 Brown trout.
Impressive videography.
Great series, thank you.
If you’re willing to hike down that canyon the fly fishing in the river is great, but the hike back out sucks.
That was really nice. Thanks.
Very cool landscape. No posts from Edward at Krokem in a while...he okay??
Awesome...!!
Great video good music.
That fog almost looked like a horror movie intro.
Tune in next week, we encounter a clown and a balloon.
Another great video! Thanks!
MUDroadingthhewest no wait it's Softroadingthewest !!! I love seeing all the old history you find on your travels. Neat old car parts and the rock structure by the river. How muddy did you get your camera? Thanks for the video. As always you did a great job (except for the mud on the lens HAHA ) Take care and be safe.
Haha! I lost count of how many times I stupidly stuck a camera out the window without remembering how much mud the tires were constantly flinging. :-) Thanks Frank!
Fun trip. Located you camp spot on Google Earth! Pretty desolate there for sure. Looking forward to the next one! George.
Great minds think alike. First thing I did after watching was to look for the camping spot, too. Found it pretty easily. I hope you marked it as an expedition destination for the future. Thanks Donald, for leading us to all the right places!
@@sagebrushbob2321 Yeah, there is a pretty significant landmark on the horizon. Made it pretty easy for sure.
@@swidahooverlanding2867 Steens Mtn? I a VERY far away but marked it for "someday"
@@frenchfryfarmer436 No, Donald left the Steens Mountain area in the first video of this series. He is in eastern Oregon now.
@@swidahooverlanding2867 thanks....trying to figure it. Steens are in SE Oregon. Riley should be our there on the horizon, and perhaps its Malheur is what I am seeing. They are on the east side of the river (it flows north) , they just left Roma. The bedrock changes color quickly north of Roma (they haven't reached that yet) AND they are on the outside of a curve in river....pretty distinctive. I thought they were west of Air Strip road.. I am a Defense Mapping School honor graduate, did aerial photo interpretation for SF .... thought I had figured it. Perhaps I revisit.
Fill your water cans? Great video, thanks.
I am with you , anything over 85 f is not good for me , I prefer around 65f
Informative and fun video. Good insight on turning off Traction Control in fine mud. I also have a Pro4X and have learned much on different terrain. The biggest lesson was locking the rear axle when ascending fine sand at Lake Powell Utah - that was a tough ascension. Just curious: what's your Frontier's fuel range? My Frontier has 5 gallons of RotoPax fuel on the rear bumper which gets my range to about 325 miles at an average of 13 to 14 MPH.
I haven't truly done any real calculations, but it really depends on the type of driving. I seem to get the best possible mileage in that sort of 45-60mph area, which is a secondary reason I traveled so many little highways through the southwest instead of the interstate. At 70mph+ or at trail speeds, mpgs definitely go down. I'm really bad about remembering to track miles when I do fillups, so I only have a vague sense, and my Frontier doesn't have any sort of MPG or miles-remaining readout like I've seen in some cars.
@@softroadingthewest Donald great vids. Invest in a Scangauge (Scanguage II). Great bit of kit. Plugs into the obdii socket and gives you lots of real time data out of the box and you can customize for your vehicles transmission temps and such. You stick the little screen on your dash. It has a real time mpg reading as well as gallons used and remaining. You tell it when you fill up and adjust how much you put in be how much it thinks you have used and it learns to be more accurate. Also can pull codes if you get a check engine light and clear them..which is handy if it goes into a limp mode for a non issue. All the best.
What would the be basic things I need to start car camping? I drive a 2021 Outback
Good video
All roads lead to Rome, even a two track.
Recommended by cruising the cut excellent channel
Thanks for coming over!
Did I see you east of bend yesterday? I was headed back from an adventure out hwy 20! Love this series so far!
Yes you did. Hope you had a nice time out there! We had a verrry cold night last night. :-)
Another great vid! Where did you get your hat made? Love the style and that you had it made with your logo.
It's a prototype I had made by a hat vendor. I'm happy with the embroidery work, I just don't like the specific hat model I selected. At some point I will loop back around and do a test run on a slightly different cap style, and I will make them available for purchase once I'm happy with it. It's admittedly a fairly low priority among the truck projects I'm trying to get done, but one day! :-)
Did you have any challenges matching the colors on your different cameras during the foggy morning? Pretty amazing how well they all similar reproduced the marginal lighting conditions. Do you use LUTs?
Yes, between my "main" camera (Sony) + GoPro + drone (+ sometimes my phone) it can be a PITA to color grade everything and get them to flow somewhat seamlessly. I don't use LUTs, when I've tried, I still find myself still tweaking every single clip and often fighting a cast introduced by the LUT, so in many cases they just increase my work. I manually grade every single clip in every video. Now, I can often carry settings across multiple clips that were shot at the same place and the same time, but still find that there are almost just enough little variables that I still end up needing to tweak every single clip in some way. I can easily spend two to four hours just on color grading a video of this length, depending on the scene and lighting changes and also stupid mistakes I make while out filming, haha. :-)
That's not a good campsite if you're prone to sleepwalking.😁
I suppose that this video post means you didn't get caught/stuck with that winter storm that came through.
Your videos get better and better...
Yeah this was back in early November. I'm a bit backlogged. :-)
Beside all of that beautiful video footage of overlanding and camping and cooking by the fire there is one question that came to my mind.
Don´t want to be rude or something but I wonder how you guys take a dump? Maybe it was asked already but I missed that. Do you have some kind of portable toilette with you or do you take a walk with the spade?
Oh gosh, that's not rude at all, that's a super legitimate question and something that absolutely has to be considered when undertaking virtually any dispersed camping excursion.
There are a number of approaches to this. Some people, yes, carry portable toilet systems, possibly along with some kind of pop-up privacy tent. These can be bulky...definitely more than I have room for in my little truck, but it's one option if you have the room for it. Personally, I just take a walk with a shovel. Privacy-wise, that's easier in the woods than in the open desert, though the sagebrush can grow pretty tall out there and there are land contours that can help. On this trip, the late late sunrises also provided a cover of darkness for the first few hours of the morning. :-)
I keep a multi-purpose 5-gallon bucket in the truck and I have special liners I can put in the bucket, so in a pinch, I can put up my curtains and take care of business in the back of the truck. That's absolute last-resort for me though...I'd much rather not do that in my sleeping space. I'll literally drive a mile away from camp to find privacy before resorting to that solution. :-)
Which midland radio do you have? Also have you considered a headrest pillow attachment?
It's the MTX105. Sorry about that, I normally put a link to it in the description when I show it in action, but missed it this time:
amzn.to/35WcYEY
(not sponsored or anything, I purchased this radio and have been very happy with it.)
❤
More excellent content Donald! What are you using for radio comms?
I'm running a Midland MTX105 GMRS radio (which I've been VERY happy with, this was well worth the hundred bucks...much happier than I was with handheld FRS radios which I would constantly misplace or would run out of battery at critical moments). Not sure what Jason is using.
@@softroadingthewest Thanks Donald. I have Midland handhelds which I love. Good for travelling together (under 2 miles real world use). I just bought the new Yaesu FTM-6000r which I'm installing in the Van for longer range Comms. Looking forward to yours and Jason's remainder of trip vids. Cheers from Manitoba Canada!
What river is that? Happy New Year
Owyhee
Did you need to use your Pro 4x rear locker?
No, just 4WD and occasionally 4-low on this trip, never needed to engage the locker.
Not putting the campfire next to your own vehicle is a rookie mistake :)
Haha! It's Jason's firepit, so it goes where he wants to put it. Admittedly, that whole scene with his van, awning, campfire, and canyon in the background looked reeeeally nice. I would never deny a fellow creator such Instagram gold, haha. :-) Actually I think this was the only night we used his firepit, all other nights on this trip we either used existing rock rings or had no fire at all.
For Christmas, I received my very own portable firepit, so I now can in theory build my own little fire to keep me warm wherever I decide to park the truck. :-)
@@softroadingthewest yeah you have to have a fire. That’s the reason we are out there :) and yes, very ‘gramable indeed ;)
The camera in the cab of the pickup has mud on the lens
That's not mud, that's actually a weird little brown ghost that was following me around for a while. Turns out eastern Oregon is haunted, who knew? :-)
🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
20:30 Hey now, nothing wrong with a little gratuitous puddle splashing.
Great video! I never knew much about the Oregon High Desert. How is your iPad getting GPS?
It's a cell-capable iPad. Those have GPS receivers in them just like a phone. Mine's not connected to any cell plan. The GPS receiver picks up the satellite signals regardless of connectivity. I pre-download map data in the Gaia GPS app before trips so the iPad can show me where I am on those maps. Works great!