A.Wilson013's Build Thread

[A.Wilson013]

Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons Part 1

Took the ol' 4Runner on a "little" trip over the past 9 days covering ~2100 miles through Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming with [MENTION=99825]bwright[/MENTION] and [MENTION=82154]GSPRunner[/MENTION]

The majority of it was spent fly fishing, which I have no idea how to do, but have been sold on the idea of taking it on as a future hobby. So I just took a bunch of pictures and filled the role of beer drinker.

We left Friday, September 16th and headed for the Yakima Canyon for the night.
DSC_0283 by Alex Wilson, on Flickr

DSC_0315 by Alex Wilson, on Flickr

DSC_0327 by Alex Wilson, on Flickr

Satuday, September 17th we got up early and began the trek to the Madison Valley in Montana where we stayed the next two nights. Fishing, eating, drinking, and just living it up.

DSC_0464 by Alex Wilson, on Flickr

DSC_0580 by Alex Wilson, on Flickr

Of course there had to be a Pointer in this story...
DSC_0618 by Alex Wilson, on Flickr

DSC_0621 by Alex Wilson, on Flickr

DSC_0640 by Alex Wilson, on Flickr

DSC_0679 by Alex Wilson, on Flickr


Monday, September 19th took us up Sawtell Peak (Elevation ~9900') and then back down to Elk Lake where we set up camp for the night.

DSC_0686 by Alex Wilson, on Flickr

DSC_0737 by Alex Wilson, on Flickr

DSC_0818 by Alex Wilson, on Flickr

DSC_0843 by Alex Wilson, on Flickr

DSC_0865 by Alex Wilson, on Flickr

DSC_0881 by Alex Wilson, on Flickr

Tuesday, September 20th we headed into West Yellowstone, bought fishing licenses for the park, and were rather surprised to find that no camp grounds had any open spots, on a Tuesday, weeks after Labor Day. Alas, we exited Yellowstone through the South Entrance and set up camp in Colter Bay, just across Jackson Lake from the Grand Tetons.

DSC_0893 by Alex Wilson, on Flickr

DSC_0914 by Alex Wilson, on Flickr

This fella joined us in camp for a bit...

DSC_0930 by Alex Wilson, on Flickr

DERP

DSC_0953 by Alex Wilson, on Flickr

Cont...

 

[A.Wilson013]

Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons Part 2

Wednesday, September 21st we got up, checked out the Tetons, and made our way back into Yellowstone early, but not early enough. Again, all campgrounds full. We trudged north around Lake Yellowstone, over Mt. Washburn, the east to Slough Creek for some fishing prior to going even further north, through Mammoth to the Eagle Creek campground outside of Gardner.

DSC_0010 by Alex Wilson, on Flickr

DSC_0017 by Alex Wilson, on Flickr

DSC_0055 by Alex Wilson, on Flickr

DSC_0071 by Alex Wilson, on Flickr

DSC_0101 by Alex Wilson, on Flickr

DSC_0117 by Alex Wilson, on Flickr

Thursday, September 22nd we had our first meal at a restaurant, and it was awful. Worked our way out to Pebble Creek where we actually found a couple camp sites, and then headed to Soda Butte Creek for some fishing. After the fishing slowed we went back to camp, and got absolutely poured on for the rest of the night.

DSC_0180 by Alex Wilson, on Flickr

DSC_0211 by Alex Wilson, on Flickr

DSC_0233 by Alex Wilson, on Flickr

Friday, September 23rd we headed back southwest to The Firehole and fished for a few hours catching all sorts of monsters. On our way out to West Yellowstone we stopped along the Madison River again to catch a couple trout. Exiting Yellowstone we decided to really live it up and got a bison burger in West Yellowstone before heading to the local KOA for a shower, and an easy night.

DSC_0304 by Alex Wilson, on Flickr

Saturday, September 24th we met up with MTGirl from Tacomaworld (who now has a 5th gen 4Runner) for breakfast before heading into the park to see Old Faithful. With that out of the way way pushed back to the Madison Valley and climbed up the Gravelly Mountains to our last camp at Clover Meadows.

DSC_0368 by Alex Wilson, on Flickr

DSC_0383 by Alex Wilson, on Flickr

DSC_0466 by Alex Wilson, on Flickr

DSC_0487 by Alex Wilson, on Flickr

DSC_0516 by Alex Wilson, on Flickr

Sunday, September 25th it was COLD in the morning, and time to head back to the real world. 701 miles later, we were back....

DSC_0525 by Alex Wilson, on Flickr

DSC_0544 by Alex Wilson, on Flickr

DSC_0591 by Alex Wilson, on Flickr

 

[trailbikerider]

I am seriously so jealous of you guys out west. I can't wait to move out there, because there is absolutely no scenery like that here.

 

[LittleCaesar]

Great pics Alex! Very jealous. It looks like everyone had a great time.

 

[GetZPayd]

As always, great pics of your adventures, looks like a fun trip. I find it had to believe this time of year the camping spots were that hard to come by, but it is Yellowstone.

 

[4-Ripcord]

Best trip report yet! Such amazing scenery and photos. Looks like a blast.

 

[Renton4runner]

Looks awesome! Ill have to do something similar at some point.

 

[nihkon]

Looks like an amazing trip! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Unner]

Amazing. This country is so beautiful. I love it!

Since you're more experienced with cold weather camping, how cold is too cold for camping in your opinion? I'm looking into a trip this winter and I know I won't be able to go anywhere up further north like you were, but I'm wondering about west Texas and places where it is warmish during the day, but cold at night in the winter. Unfortunately I can't make it any of the cool places you get to go to since it would be a week at least of just driving there and back...

 

[adschreifels]

Amazing trip good sir! I hope my wife and I can do something like this soon.

 

[Road Bull]

That looked like a blast! Great photos to remember it by too. Thanks for the inspiration brother.

 

[amalik]

Incredible pics man

 

[Rock_Rat]

Looks like you guys had a great trip. Great time of year for that run. I think you beat the rains (well, most of them).

 

[Hepar]

Looks like a rad trip! I've tossed around getting into fly fishing. Looks like a great way to relax. But not sure I need another cash sucking hobby.

Get a new camera?

 

[A.Wilson013]

Looks like a rad trip! I've tossed around getting into fly fishing. Looks like a great way to relax. But not sure I need another cash sucking hobby.

Get a new camera?

It was a good time!

Fly fishing does seem like a great way to relax, that is, until you watch dozens of fish rise allll around the fly for hours, and none of them take anything you throw at them. It doesn't seem too spendy though, to me. I think you could get into it with decent stuff for under $1000.

Now, if you demands all Simms errrthang and a bamboo rod... Well, yeah, that's going to be spendy.

Same ol' D3300... Just having to use some crazy settings to get things to expose MOSTLY right. Most of these were taken with a polarized filter which helps a LOT with my over exposing issues.

 

[Hepar]

Same ol' D3300... Just having to use some crazy settings to get things to expose MOSTLY right. Most of these were taken with a polarized filter which helps a LOT with my over exposing issues.

Lol. Nice that you found something to work around the issue.

 

[4Running Daily]

It was a good time!



Fly fishing does seem like a great way to relax, that is, until you watch dozens of fish rise allll around the fly for hours, and none of them take anything you throw at them. It doesn't seem too spendy though, to me. I think you could get into it with decent stuff for under $1000.



Now, if you demands all Simms errrthang and a bamboo rod... Well, yeah, that's going to be spendy.



Same ol' D3300... Just having to use some crazy settings to get things to expose MOSTLY right. Most of these were taken with a polarized filter which helps a LOT with my over exposing issues.

My D90 has the same issues. I'll try that filter and see what happens.

 

[Kitsune]

Our last night we spent here, Summer Lake Hot Springs, a couple hours south of Bend. This is NOT my photo... But it was an AWESOME place. Look it up, and put it in your schedule.

Photo credit to Albert Ideation

You just sold me on this!

 

[Kitsune]

DSC_0060 by Alex Wilson, on Flickr

I used to work in the 4-82 about 6-7 years ago.

 

[Brilliant]

great pics and report, looks like a lot of fun.