The Solo Frozen Overland Adventure (SFOA)

Well folks, this is it. I just got back from a bumpin' 6 day venture spanning across 5 states, putting 1600 miles on the Iceberg, and embracing a 90 degree temperature difference from start to finish. Oh, and the Mississippi River tried to make my last campsite an island, but we'll get into that later :cheers:


Over the next few days, week or so I will be constantly updating this thread with some of the 600+ pictures I took of the environment, wildlife, and most importantly, my vehicle being my staple in this adventure- there is no doubt that this wouldn't have been possible if it wasn't for this slightly modded 3rd gen to save the day. Check out my build thread here!

With that as a hearty enough introduction, let's start the journey... Here's a pic to get everyone's attention right off the bat :rockon:

A little background on the matter: I am a graduating engineer at the University of Wisconsin- Platteville. Do to my final semester schedule being quite the light load, I am blessed with 4 day weekends until May. Which was great- my plan is to take a lot of trips like these....


Now it just so happened that last week, the scary polar vortex lumbered over the Midwest, getting people all freaked out because it was going to be -50 degrees Fahrenheit with windchill here in SE Wisco. So, what better time to head south where it was warmer? So I got to planning, made myself a four day, four day night adventure itinerary to work down to the Ozark National Forest in upper Arkansas, with intent to check out Lake of the Ozark State Park, Mark Twain National Forest, and the Buffalo River Basin on the way. Well I got lucky and they shut down campus early in the week, so I added two more days of plans, grabbed some extra food, and started my trip 2 days early! Yes, a whopping 6 day trip as my first ever "overlandish" adventure.


Here's a map of my proposed free campsite locations, mostly all from a site called freecampsites.net. I planned on mostly all public rec areas or primitive use free sites in WMA's or park boundaries, to save cost. As most of you know from seeing my build thread, I recently bought a Tepui RTT for these trips I'll be taking this spring! So, drive in, setup tent, sleep, enjoy scenery, hike, drive, repeat.

Day 1.

Started in Platteville, Wisconsin, which is in the SW corner of the state. Drove 6 hours in the blitzing cold "polar vortex" to escape the 20 degree weather and hopefully make it to somewhere around 0 degrees. Made it to Pine Ridge Rec Area near Guthrie, MO. This was the first time I was going to be camping in the RTT, so it took me approximately 15 minutes to get it all setup and up in there with a 20 degree mummy bag, two blankets, and a couple of handearmers. My hands were frozen, so excuse the first couple initial not-so-great pics! I promise they will get better :rockon:

Woke up with condensation on the inside due to my breath! -5 with windchill was pushing it, but I was tired and got a good 7 hours of sleep to prep for the next day.

Day 2 consisted of more cold weather down in Missouri, but I had a decent amount on my list to take care of...
The first being Lake of the Ozarks State Park.

It was cold, so I went down into Bridal Caves for a private tour-I was the only one out and about in the 0 degree weather. It was a balmy 60 and humid down there though!



I ended up getting the coordinates to another "hidden" cave down in Ha Ha Tonka State Park. Explored that on my own- was wicked cool.



I'm a big rock and fossil guy so finding Onyx / Calcite formations was neat as can be.



Camera shots of Lake of the Ozarks, Bagnell Dam Access along the park, and a bunch of vultures along an old abandoned castle in Ha Ha Tonka...

Day 3. Woke up with a great night's sleep on 20 degree weather, this time little to no windchill.


Started off the morning with a good breaksfast, yep, homemade venison jerky.

Did lots of driving today, but had to stop in Springfield to check out the Bass Pro HQ. Didn't disappoint!


I got far enough south to get out of all the snow and salt that eats frames alive. And it finally got above freezing! So I took the Iceberg for a celebratory wash.

Stopped at a bar for a bowl of chili and it turns out, down here, they put fritos on it. Definitely a trend I'd continue.

And lastly, on my way to my campsite that evening, did my first stream crossing, albeit it was a concrete crossing and only 6 inches deep...Lame.

Day 4 I woke up to this scene at the Coy Bald Trailhead. My RTIC 65 proved to be invaluable for keeping my water and perishables UNFROZEN for the past couple nights, but starting this day, I switched it over fridge-mode to keeping things cold. I picked it up over Christmas for their year-end closeout sale for about 1/3 the price of a Yeti 65... :rockon:

Now I'm in Mark Twain National Forest in the lovely Ozarks- here starts the scenery , warm 40-65 degree weather, and hikes. :tongue:

Today I worked my way to Whitaker Point in the Ozark National Forest in upper Arkansas. I worked my way up the surprisingly-intense clay roads, stopping to look at the little things on the way. What I found was pretty amazing...

Once I hiked a couple miles in, it got intense. Walking on rock bluffs, hundreds of feet up... Wild.

At the point, I found another hiking couple and snagged some pics for them, so a attached a photo with them on it for reference!

I stayed the night in the McIllroy Madison County Wildlife Management Area near Huntsville, AR. I spent a good part of the morning driving around and hiking this area, and I couldn't help getting some mid-drive shots (it sure would have helped to have an extra hand for this, haha)

That afternoon I put about 5 slow miles on the boots in the WMA. I found the Kings River Scenic Overlook, a kind of rare Golden Crowned Kinglet, and a couple of waterfalls. The last one Tea Kettle Falls, was dry- water supposedly spews out of the hole in the rock about 50 feet in the air. Reynolds didn't disappoint though!

What flavor of engineer are you? I graduated Mechanical in May 2017 and now work as a Nuclear Systems Engineer at a Nuke Plant here in Ohio. Any plans after graduation?

How do you manage to dump so much money into that thing going to school full time!? Even having my school paid for (Veteran) and working mostly full-time, I couldn't stomach dumping much money into mine. Granted... at that time I had a brand new car and 3 motorcycles too. Haha.

This should be good. Safe travels.



Eddie

zoombyu86 said:

What flavor of engineer are you? I graduated Mechanical in May 2017 and now work as a Nuclear Systems Engineer at a Nuke Plant here in Ohio. Any plans after graduation?

How do you manage to dump so much money into that thing going to school full time!? Even having my school paid for (Veteran) and working mostly full-time, I couldn't stomach dumping much money into mine. Granted... at that time I had a brand new car and 3 motorcycles too. Haha.

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So I went for Engineering Physics. It's mechanical, electrical, and applied physics all in one. For example, I am working on a team that is designing a plasma reactor right now it's both mechanical design, and it needs to jive with over 30,000 volts of electricity to generate a discharge. Hoping to move out west (CO, WY, MT) for a little while after graduation, see what I can get into out there. :cheers:

To be honest, the Iceberg really hasn't set me back very far, when you factor in what I paid for it initially (1k), buying my lift used, and doing all the work myself except for mounting and balancing tires and an alignment! But scholarships too- big help.

eddielasvegas said:

This should be good. Safe travels.

Eddie

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Thanks Eddie. I should have been more clear, but this is actually a post-trip writeup, I made it back in one piece! I am going through all my pictures and will be documenting my adventure here on the forums for you guys as the week continues! Stay Tuned :dancin:

In that case, glad you had safe travels and looking forward to your TR.


Eddie

apohl17 said:

Thanks Eddie. I should have been more clear, but this is actually a post-trip writeup, I made it back in one piece! I am going through all my pictures and will be documenting my adventure here on the forums for you guys as the week continues! Stay Tuned :dancin:

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Can't wait for pics, but sadly you are making me.

Spent the night in the Drury-Mincy Conservation Area southeast of Branson, MO. Table Rock State Park was next on my list, and I had a good chunk of food on a "beach" on an early February morning. can't say I have ever done that in Wisco...

Alright, last but not least- the moment we have all been waiting for. The big story I hinted at in the first post- how my last night turned into a morning I will always remember. So I spent time in Branson checking out the scene, and then headed north again to get halfway home-- destination Quincy, Illinois at Bear Creek Campsite along the Mississippi River. At this point, I had done 5 nights in my runner, and it had crossed 219,000 miles, the RTT had kept me safe and warm, and all of the little mods I had done ( Android Auto stereo with nav, suspension and engine, LIGHTING- full respect with the retrofits, light output at 100%...) had made this trip quite the respectful and rocking adventure. Little did I know I would be testing my limits beyond what I ever thought I would be doing.


So I made my 5 hour drive to the campsite, dropped into the Mississippi River Basin, and trekked my way through about a foot of snow on the dirt road to get back to the site. I ate dinner, popped open the tent, and got to bed early in the evening.


I woke up to the Mississippi roaring- it had warmed up overnight to about 40 degrees- the ice chunks were dislodging, sliding down the river, and building themselves up into huge piles, eventually breaking loose and making a HUGE racket. It was actually really mesmerizing to watch, quite the force of nature! Here are a few pics of where I was, note the lack of snow on the ground. I never thought twice about it, snow melts, whoop-de-doo.

I made breakfast, closed up the tent for the last time, watched the river a bit more, and decided to head out and make the last leg of my 1600 mile journey!

Started on the dirt road out...

Noticed quite a bit of water on the road- mostly just puddles at this point.


At this point the road wallowed away into a stretch of water overflow- keep in mind it is flat in the Mississippi River basin- I started to think a little bit about how there used to be over a foot of snow on the road night before, and l=hw little was left. I made it through a nice stretch of foot deep water about 30 yards long...


And came up to this. :jaw:
What used to be the only road coming in to this campsite, was now a 50 yard long raging offshoot of the Mississippi River of unknown depth!!! I stopped for a moment, contemplating life, studying the tree line, road angle, and the capabilities of my runner before making the decision that I needed to get across this. I had no choice but to commit to the crossing. If I were to go back the way I had came, I would have had to call the local Ranger Station for help, but the water was rising as snow kept melting, and it was now or never.

So I made sure all my doors were closed well, breather tubes secure, I was in 4 Lo, got to about 2k rpm, and started to cross. What a white knuckle experience.

About halfway across this newly formed river, I lost a bit of traction, likely to a big ice chunk hitting my driver's side rear tire big enough to push me laterally (and make a loud clunking noise, might I add). At this point, water was over my bumper, halfway up my door, and had the occasional splash over the hood. Sooooo sketchy.

But I made it.

Spent the next 15 minutes doing a once over in the engine bay, checking fluids, letting it idle, making sure water didn't cause any damage... It didn't get to the cone filter and the engine never bogged in the least, but it covered the alternator, was about halfway up my timing belt casing... Whoofta. I also found a big chunk of ice lodged in my passenger side suss.

So, I learned my lesson. Be careful around big bodies of water in large temperature changes. It could have been much worse, and I trusted in the Iceberg to get me across, but I also got lucky that it wasn't so deep that my lift, tires, and modifications got me across safely.

Moral of the story--nobody go camp here in spring months, unless you are prepared to go swimming :cheers:


One last picture of what I crossed, from the other side. It's safe to say that I may be adding a snorkel in the upcoming months so I am a little better prepared for situations like this!

All I can say, is that for my first real adventure with the Iceberg, it treated me splendidly. I have full respect for how it responded to what I put it through, and everything I added, from the Falken tires to the lift I implemented made this 3rd Gen leagues above stock 3rd Gen capability. Hope you guys enjoy a slice of my photography and my style of TR! What do you think?
[MENTION=287045]JWM816[/MENTION] is that enough pics for you? [emoji481]

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

apohl17 said:

...
Stopped at a bar for a bowl of chili and it turns out, down here, they put fritos on it. Definitely a trend I'd continue.

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What?? - no Onions or Jalepenos ???? :cowboy: