98 SR5 - The "Dirt Duster" build
- Thread starter rickashay
- Start date
rickashay
New member
Thanks Nick! I'll stay away from abandon buses and the raging rivers where possible. lol Fishing - HELL YES.
Thanks a lot, I approve of you liking the CBI. haha I bought some vinyl tint of ebay for like $7 for a small roll. It was the lightest tint available.
hhaha, I've heard of that show but never seen it. I'll let you know if I become a discovery channel superstar. lol
Yah, I'm a little bummed but stoked all at once. Knowing I'll be working 12-14hr days for the next 3 months straight kinda sucks, but the scenery and experience should be something I wont ever forget, and my pictures will hopefully tell the story to others when I come back. If my internet connection at camp is any good, I'll be on the forums and uploading photos as I can.
Thanks everyone!
rickashay
New member
Not really to do with my 4Runner build, but I thought I would post up a couple photos of where I'm working right now in the Yukon. So far it has been pretty good. Long days but it's amazing working in this pristine wilderness, literally not a single person to be found for MILES. I had a 45 minute helicopter ride off of the Alaskan highway where we were already, in the middle of nowhere. Here is a shot from the heli ride, I took tons but only a couple turned out due to the wierd blue tint on the windows.
20120716-IMG_2227 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
I actually had an Alaskan Black Wolf come out of the trees the other day and was about 10 feet behind me while I was working. My brother, who is on my crew, started yelling at me to turn around. We grabbed the bear spray and just watched it for a few minutes before it left. We kept recalling scenes from "The Grey" for the rest of the day, pretty scary but a gorgeous creature none the less. Wish I had my camera on me!
The drilling rig I work on:
20120719-IMG_2274 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
Here is the view from my jobsite:
20120719-IMG_2271 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
View from my tent at camp:
20120718-IMG_2251 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
Anyways, I should be out of this camp in under a week. At that point I'll be headed to Whitehorse for a couple days off. I'll be able to grab some more photos then and hopefully get some more heli shots when I fly out of camp. Thanks for reading!
20120716-IMG_2227 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
I actually had an Alaskan Black Wolf come out of the trees the other day and was about 10 feet behind me while I was working. My brother, who is on my crew, started yelling at me to turn around. We grabbed the bear spray and just watched it for a few minutes before it left. We kept recalling scenes from "The Grey" for the rest of the day, pretty scary but a gorgeous creature none the less. Wish I had my camera on me!
The drilling rig I work on:
20120719-IMG_2274 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
Here is the view from my jobsite:
20120719-IMG_2271 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
View from my tent at camp:
20120718-IMG_2251 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
Anyways, I should be out of this camp in under a week. At that point I'll be headed to Whitehorse for a couple days off. I'll be able to grab some more photos then and hopefully get some more heli shots when I fly out of camp. Thanks for reading!
HedgehogOutdoors
New member
Not really to do with my 4Runner build, but I thought I would post up a couple photos of where I'm working right now in the Yukon. So far it has been pretty good. Long days but it's amazing working in this pristine wilderness, literally not a single person to be found for MILES. I had a 45 minute helicopter ride off of the Alaskan highway where we were already, in the middle of nowhere. Here is a shot from the heli ride, I took tons but only a couple turned out due to the wierd blue tint on the windows.
20120716-IMG_2227 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
I actually had an Alaskan Black Wolf come out of the trees the other day and was about 10 feet behind me while I was working. My brother, who is on my crew, started yelling at me to turn around. We grabbed the bear spray and just watched it for a few minutes before it left. We kept recalling scenes from "The Grey" for the rest of the day, pretty scary but a gorgeous creature none the less. Wish I had my camera on me!
The drilling rig I work on:
20120719-IMG_2274 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
Here is the view from my jobsite:
20120719-IMG_2271 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
View from my tent at camp:
20120718-IMG_2251 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
Anyways, I should be out of this camp in under a week. At that point I'll be headed to Whitehorse for a couple days off. I'll be able to grab some more photos then and hopefully get some more heli shots when I fly out of camp. Thanks for reading!
That is absolutely beautiful!
1985taylor1925
Senior Member
Wow man, a chopper ride and an encounter with a black wolf, and both in Alaska! Thats epic! Those will make some great memories for you. Ive always said that the wilderness is where adventure lives. So what exactly do you do for your job?
rickashay
New member
I know! The pictures don't even do it justice out here!
Well, I'm actually in the Yukon Territory right now but pretty close to Alaska. Either way though, your right, it's a pretty unique experience and I'm pretty happy that I got the opportunity to come up here. I work on the small drilling rig in the picture. We drill 200 foot deep holes for the purpose of gold exploration. While we drill, we take samples of the rock we are drilling through, at 5 foot intervals and then the geologists take over from there. They look for traces of gold in the samples and also correlate the layers of rock and their depths between each hole we drill.
For anyone who cares, here is our current camp GPS coordinates: 60 57.50'N, 129 53'W
rickashay
New member
A small update on my wilderness working experience:
A couple days ago, we had finished the last hole in our drilling program way ahead of schedule. This meant it was time to call the chopper back and get our 6-man camp and our drilling rig flown out of the woods, before sending us on our way to our next contract. With one last night up in the small mobile city, I set out to grab a coupe goodbye photos to remind me of my time spent up in camp "Vivi" at around 5000ft.
Our tent and our lifeline:
20120723-IMG_2292-2 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
Looking just east of camp, these are the mountains near the Yukon/Northwest Territory border.
20120723-IMG_2281-2 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
I was up later than normal knowing I wouldn't really be busting my ass all day the next morning, so at around 12AM I was finally able to see the sunset. It's only dark for around 4 hours at this time of year here.
20120725-IMG_2299-2 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
With short notice, we were able to snag a B204 heli instead of the usual A-Star. The larger brother meant a massively increased load carrying capacity and ultimately, fewer loads to get our stuff back to civilization. We had 4 hours of booked flight time, before the pilot had to make a mad dash back to B.C. to fight some forest fires. We needed to make every run as fast as possible to get our gear out in time. Here is David the pilot just after landing at camp at 7:15am.
20120726-IMG_2308-2 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
My brother and myself were on the first flight out, and would be receiving each load at the drop-off zone. It was pretty exciting working for the next 4 hours with the heli as he dropped off numerous loads, all while we strategically had them placed around the gravel pit.
20120726-IMG_2311-2 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
After loaded our rig and gear onto our trailers we set out on our journey back to Whitehorse - home base. I was told we would hit the highway shortly and have a few hour drive to our unloading point for the next job, before forwarding to Whitehorse. It turns out, most of the "highways" up here are simply gravel roads, that are maintained at a mediocre level, at best. I don't have any photos of this portion of my journey unfortunately, but all I can say is that the wilderness here is absolutely pristine! If you ever have a chance to make the drive up here, do it without hesitation. We ended up driving for a total of 10 hours that day and saw, literally, 10 cars on the "highway" all day. We passed by several stunning lakes that housed a total of ZERO inhabitants. Just a small campground here and there and a couple government road signs, were the only reminders of human presence. After pulling a 19 hour day, we arrived in Whitehorse with the promise of 2 full days off for some much needed relax and laundry time!
Fast forward to last night, and I'm on the road again without ANY days off, headed to Atlin B.C. to fill a position on another rig while someone else is taking time off.... So much for some relaxation, but on the bright side, it was another chance for me to reach into the unknown and discover more of the area. I had no preconceived notions of the place I was going. Other than being told it was on another dirt road that would eventually reject you any further progress - a dead end.
On the way in. At this point, my photo-senses are starting to tingle:
20120727-IMG_2315-2 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
I just had to take a pic of this sign:
20120727-IMG_2317-2 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
The first thing I thought of when I took this photo, was the Hobbit and the volcano where Smaug the dragon lived.
20120727-IMG_2318-2 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
After arriving in Atlin around midnight, this was the view that I stumbled upon from the balcony of our small hotel:
20120728-IMG_2322-2 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
These next two photos bring me up to today. I worked the usual 12 hours today and with all the travel time, figured I would grab a quick couple photos, before doing some post-processing, getting these images uploaded, and off to bed. They actually call this place "little Switzerland" for good reason, as the mountains are absolutely massive!
20120728-IMG_2323-2 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
20120728-IMG_2328-2 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
I will be doing a walk-around of the town as I find time and energy before I leave in a week or so. Then it's back up to Faro in the Yukon, where we will be riding a heli to and from work everyday. Pretty excited for that.... stay tuned and thanks for reading the boring story of my life.
A couple days ago, we had finished the last hole in our drilling program way ahead of schedule. This meant it was time to call the chopper back and get our 6-man camp and our drilling rig flown out of the woods, before sending us on our way to our next contract. With one last night up in the small mobile city, I set out to grab a coupe goodbye photos to remind me of my time spent up in camp "Vivi" at around 5000ft.
Our tent and our lifeline:
20120723-IMG_2292-2 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
Looking just east of camp, these are the mountains near the Yukon/Northwest Territory border.
20120723-IMG_2281-2 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
I was up later than normal knowing I wouldn't really be busting my ass all day the next morning, so at around 12AM I was finally able to see the sunset. It's only dark for around 4 hours at this time of year here.
20120725-IMG_2299-2 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
With short notice, we were able to snag a B204 heli instead of the usual A-Star. The larger brother meant a massively increased load carrying capacity and ultimately, fewer loads to get our stuff back to civilization. We had 4 hours of booked flight time, before the pilot had to make a mad dash back to B.C. to fight some forest fires. We needed to make every run as fast as possible to get our gear out in time. Here is David the pilot just after landing at camp at 7:15am.
20120726-IMG_2308-2 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
My brother and myself were on the first flight out, and would be receiving each load at the drop-off zone. It was pretty exciting working for the next 4 hours with the heli as he dropped off numerous loads, all while we strategically had them placed around the gravel pit.
20120726-IMG_2311-2 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
After loaded our rig and gear onto our trailers we set out on our journey back to Whitehorse - home base. I was told we would hit the highway shortly and have a few hour drive to our unloading point for the next job, before forwarding to Whitehorse. It turns out, most of the "highways" up here are simply gravel roads, that are maintained at a mediocre level, at best. I don't have any photos of this portion of my journey unfortunately, but all I can say is that the wilderness here is absolutely pristine! If you ever have a chance to make the drive up here, do it without hesitation. We ended up driving for a total of 10 hours that day and saw, literally, 10 cars on the "highway" all day. We passed by several stunning lakes that housed a total of ZERO inhabitants. Just a small campground here and there and a couple government road signs, were the only reminders of human presence. After pulling a 19 hour day, we arrived in Whitehorse with the promise of 2 full days off for some much needed relax and laundry time!
Fast forward to last night, and I'm on the road again without ANY days off, headed to Atlin B.C. to fill a position on another rig while someone else is taking time off.... So much for some relaxation, but on the bright side, it was another chance for me to reach into the unknown and discover more of the area. I had no preconceived notions of the place I was going. Other than being told it was on another dirt road that would eventually reject you any further progress - a dead end.
On the way in. At this point, my photo-senses are starting to tingle:
20120727-IMG_2315-2 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
I just had to take a pic of this sign:
20120727-IMG_2317-2 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
The first thing I thought of when I took this photo, was the Hobbit and the volcano where Smaug the dragon lived.
20120727-IMG_2318-2 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
After arriving in Atlin around midnight, this was the view that I stumbled upon from the balcony of our small hotel:
20120728-IMG_2322-2 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
These next two photos bring me up to today. I worked the usual 12 hours today and with all the travel time, figured I would grab a quick couple photos, before doing some post-processing, getting these images uploaded, and off to bed. They actually call this place "little Switzerland" for good reason, as the mountains are absolutely massive!
20120728-IMG_2323-2 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
20120728-IMG_2328-2 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
I will be doing a walk-around of the town as I find time and energy before I leave in a week or so. Then it's back up to Faro in the Yukon, where we will be riding a heli to and from work everyday. Pretty excited for that.... stay tuned and thanks for reading the boring story of my life.
Last edited:
quicksilvr
New member
Sounds like my dream job. Thanks for keeping us all up to date on what you're up to....I can pretty confidently say that a 4Runner forum is a good place to wilderness pictures and stories. :thumb3:
rickashay
New member
Haha this isnt my first camp type job that I have worked.... and your right, not all of them are this cool. I did just finish school but with nothing to do with this job. I have my Petroleum Engineering diploma and my Bachelors in Business Mgmt. I kind of stumbled across this job randomly and seeing as how the pay was good, it's seasonal, and I knew I would get to travel the Yukon, I decided to give it a whirl!
It's hard work somedays but a cool experience I am sure I will never forget. I figure, if I can't be outside enjoying my 4Runner this summer, I might as well try and enjoy this job and share some photos with the rest of you! Besides, there are some new mods en-route for the 4Runner, courtesy of this job! haha Thanks for following along on my not-so-typical portion of my build thread!
ichambers
New member
man this is a great thread! I love all your mod walk throughs and the great pics you take. My dad is actually a professional photographer for the OC register, so I appreciate good pics. I just can't afford a good enough camera yet. The videos are awesome to. I think I am actually gonna take some video next week as I do a little trail or two in the Mammoth Lakes, Ca area. sub'd
HedgehogOutdoors
New member
It's not the camera that makes good pictures, it's your creativity. You can do plenty of cool stuff with a crappy camera, just not as easily.
rickashay
New member
^^Thanks! I'm slowly sharpening up my photo skills!
Not really anything new to post but I'll just pop in and say hi to all you T4R'ers! haha
On the 4Runner front, I'm trying to get my new winch ordered and line up a fab'er to hack into my ARB. Contemplating a LED lightbar or a Whitson rack....
Thoughts?
Not really anything new to post but I'll just pop in and say hi to all you T4R'ers! haha
On the 4Runner front, I'm trying to get my new winch ordered and line up a fab'er to hack into my ARB. Contemplating a LED lightbar or a Whitson rack....
Thoughts?
BlackCat914
New member
FWIW, when I first bought my 4R, I drooled over your truck when I was google imaging pictures for build ideas. So far, your truck is the nicest looking 4runner I think I've seen, and my favorite by far. I absolutely LOVE it. I guess that's why they same imitation is the best form of flattery. Here's mine so far.
rickashay
New member
^^Thanks Blackcat! Your rig is looking great too. I was creepin' on a pic of it in the photos thread. I'm jealous of your SR5 flares!
I just thought I would post a few more pics from up here in the boonies. No real story to tell other than I am now back in the Yukon waiting out the fog. as our heli was grounded today due to bad weather. We are going to be flying in and out via helicopter everyday for this current job. The drill rig will be sitting at the top of a mountain at 6500ft. It's the highest we have ever ran this rig and we are hoping our air compressors will be powerful enough with the lower air density. Should be interesting...
20120806-IMG_2371 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
20120806-IMG_2364 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
20120730-IMG_2356 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
This is one crazy house:
20120730-IMG_2352 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
20120730-IMG_2340 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
20120730-IMG_2333 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
Did I mention that I can't wait to get home and take the Duster to the mountains???
I just thought I would post a few more pics from up here in the boonies. No real story to tell other than I am now back in the Yukon waiting out the fog. as our heli was grounded today due to bad weather. We are going to be flying in and out via helicopter everyday for this current job. The drill rig will be sitting at the top of a mountain at 6500ft. It's the highest we have ever ran this rig and we are hoping our air compressors will be powerful enough with the lower air density. Should be interesting...
20120806-IMG_2371 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
20120806-IMG_2364 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
20120730-IMG_2356 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
This is one crazy house:
20120730-IMG_2352 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
20120730-IMG_2340 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
20120730-IMG_2333 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
Did I mention that I can't wait to get home and take the Duster to the mountains???
HedgehogOutdoors
New member
Say, you wouldn't be able to open a photography school, would you? lol I wish I had nice places that were worth taking pictures of. Just deleted 20 gigs of old pictures that I didn't want to save, took a few hours to figure out which could go and which could stay. Photography takes up a lot of memory on my hard drive!
Petroleum eh? I went in for Mechanical and think it might have been a wrong decision. haha. I got involved with commercial construction and it went downhill from there. Should have switched to oil awhile ago. Construction is a dirty business, and by that I don't mean getting dirty hands. Very dishonest and unethical. It got to me when things became overly competitive with the economy crisis so I quit and rode my bike around Latin America for half a year. haha.
There is a Warn winch on CT4wd right now from a guy in Calgary. Or P.A. has the Superwinches on sale ($400?)
You already have a rack, but I think a Whiteson full rack with tinted deflector on the front and built in light bar would be something else...
I'd like a rack but worry about noise, even worse mileage (which is coming back up a bit!) and no real need for one. Plus I don't have the roof rack rails on my truck... If only I had a canoe to justify a rack. . . .
rickashay
New member
I will continue to post "work" photos simply for my own entertainment. Knowing the Duster is thousands of KM's away and out of reach of my mod bug, means I have to focus my energies elseware. So here are some more pics, did I mention that riding a heli to work and back everyday is actually the coolest f'ing thing ever? Well, it is.
The morning drop:
20120816-IMG_2376 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
The A-Star (same heli that is in Art of Flight, but this one is newer! HA gotcha Red Bull)
20120816-IMG_2429 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
20120816-IMG_2422 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
20120816-IMG_2421 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
20120816-IMG_2415 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
Rig Ross in action at 6500ft:
20120816-IMG_2385 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
The morning drop:
20120816-IMG_2376 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
The A-Star (same heli that is in Art of Flight, but this one is newer! HA gotcha Red Bull)
20120816-IMG_2429 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
20120816-IMG_2422 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
20120816-IMG_2421 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
20120816-IMG_2415 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
Rig Ross in action at 6500ft:
20120816-IMG_2385 by RickaShay24, on Flickr
HedgehogOutdoors
New member
Want to trade jobs? haha, I still would love to live there, it would be so cool!
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