Eric's Build/Adventure Thread

[00_4runner]

Damn... Your trip post was epic. Very jealous of all the camera gear. Me and my girlfriend just got back from a 5,000k trip kinda similar to yours. I'm also from the Chicagoland area. I saw your post about the UP a while back, and then I lost your build thread. I have a built 4th gen too. I'd love to meet up sometime to chat/wheel. I'm considering going to either the cliffs or badlands in the upcoming weekends. Lemme know!

-Konrad

 

[EHNWI]

Spaced and got too lazy to finish up this trip report. Continuing from the last post in Washington, I made my way down the coast to film sunset at Thors Well in Oregon. After sunset I drove over to Heceta Lighthouse and shot there for a bit before going to bed for the night in the parking lot. The next morning I made my way down to Big Sur and grabbed some shots before continuing to LA to meet with my gf who flew in from Chicago to spend the weekend with me. By this point I had been on the road for 2 weeks in the 4Runner.

Filming sunset at Thors Well


Still from the slow motion video


Heceta Lighthouse


Filming at McWay Falls


Just after sunset in Big Sur

 

[EHNWI]

After spending the weekend (and the only 3 nights of the trip in a hotel), I headed back up to Big Sur. The first stop I didn't get a good sunset, so I was hoping to get a better one this time. Luckily I did! After sunset I made my way up to Santa Cruz hoping to shoot another lighthouse, but the coast was all fogged over, so I pulled over next to the ocean and slept for the night.

Sunset at Rocky Point, Big Sur


The next idea was to make my way from Santa Cruz, through the sierras, and over to Mono Lake. Many of the passes were still closed, so I had to make a long trip to Sonora Pass and over the mountains, which was quite the trip. From being next to the ocean in the morning, to golden hills, to a snowstorm at 9000 feet, and then down to the high desert of the Eastern Sierras in the evening. Finally got to Mono Lake but the sunset was pretty dull. I was pretty stoked to finally see this place I had always wanted to shoot.

The 4Runner after getting down to the end Sonora Pass


A snowy, rainy sunset at Mono Lake





I had hoped to shoot stars at Mono that night, but it was completely clouded over and raining after the sun had set. I made a little dinner in my truck and decided to drive down to Alabama Hills and then back to Mono for sunrise. I didn't get anything in the hills that night, but sunrise was pretty incredible at Mono. Got some beautiful slow motion shots of the water reflecting the sunrise around the large tufas in the water, then over to the tiny sand tufas that are sprinkled around the lake. Such an incredible place to be.

Mono Lake and Tufas in the moonlight before sunrise


Sunrise at Mono Lake. You can picture me jumping up and down with glee at this one.


Still from the RED camera.


My shadow in the sunrise light


Delicate Sand Tufas. The are about 2 feet tall.



The 4Runner looking beautiful and making me so proud.

 

[Mytoy4]

Beautiful pictures!

 

[EHNWI]

After shooting sunrise, I made my way down 395 and suddenly remembered the Racetrack in Death Valley. This was a place I had always wanted to see, and the magic of this place isn't likely to last too much longer because of the rampant vandalism.

There are a few routes to take to get to the Racetrack in Death Valley. The most common is a hellish 3 hour drive on a rutted up rocky road from Stovepipe Wells to Ubehebe Crater to Teakettle Junction and finally down to the Racetrack. Most vehicles can make this drive but many tires have been eaten and I wasn't feeling like 3 hours of bouncing around so I decided to take the Hunter Mountain Pass. This route was a ton of fun and pretty remote. The 4Runner did great and there were only a few obstacles along the way that were slightly worrying, including a couple spots where the road was falling off the mountain...

After about an hour I got to a flat area and decided to give the 4Runner a rest and take another road shower. While I was showering I got a surprise visit in the skies above from the Air Force. Quite the experience to out in Death Valley with no one around, showering, as fighter jets flew above. After my shower I continued down the mountain onto the flats, through another mountain, down to Teakettle Junction and to the Racetrack road.

Hunter Mountain Road


High desert area at the top of Hunter Mountain




Road shower time!


Flats after coming down Hunter Mountain


Teakettle Junction

 

[EHNWI]

After about two and a half hours I had arrived at the Racetrack Playa for the night. There were a couple cars and a motorcycle up and down the road next to the playa. I was hoping to be out there alone, but luckily everyone was gone by sunset, leaving me the place to myself all night. I walked around for a couple hours and grabbed stills of some of the sailing stones before picking 2 to shoot the moonrise and Milky Way with that night.

The Grandstand from Racetrack road, the first glimpse you get as you drive in.


Dueling Sailing Stones


Grabbing a sunset timelapse


Sunset over the Playa


The Milky Way and Moonlight on a Sailing Stone


The second Sailing Stone with the Milky Way


Walking around the playa in absolute darkness was pretty wild. Very happy I got to experience this place.

 

[rickashay]

Deadly thread. Love all the images. WHOA, Red camera?! You work in the industry?! That is a nice piece of equipment my friend.

 

[bagelsjustbagels]

Red camera, motorized slider, these are the things I dream of!

Next time you're in the bay contact me and i'll buy you a beer or coffee and pick your brain!:bump::hello:

 

[EHNWI]

Deadly thread. Love all the images. WHOA, Red camera?! You work in the industry?! That is a nice piece of equipment my friend.

Thanks! I get spurts of industry work here and there, but I bought it to shoot this type of stuff with for personal projects. Mainly a timelapse shooter, but the Red is for those shots that just don't work for timelapse.

Red camera, motorized slider, these are the things I dream of!

Next time you're in the bay contact me and i'll buy you a beer or coffee and pick your brain!:bump::hello:

Same! I'm fortunate that Kessler, the company who makes the motion control equipment I use, is 45 minutes away from me. So we have a good relationship. The Red on the other hand, I am still recovering from that purchase two years later... Hope to be out that way again in the Summer.

 

[EHNWI]

Wanted to wait a few days before adding more to this trip report.

After spending the night at the Racetrack Playa, I took the Hunter Mountain pass back to the 395. The way out was actually a lot faster than the way in since I knew the route. I only got a few hours of rest at the playa so pulled over on a side road and napped for a few hours before driving up White Mountain road to the Patriarch Grove of Bristlecones. Very impressive area. Had always wanted to see these trees in person, some of them being over 5000 years old. I only hung around here for a couple hours before heading back down to shoot sunset at the Owens Valley Radio Observatory.

Gnarled Bristlecone


Sunset at the Owens Valley Radio Observatory


4Runner looking pretty




A few friends from LA were planning to drive up to the Eastern Sierras that night, so I planned to meet them over at the Alabama Hills to camp for the night. I really wanted to go out and shoot that night, but hanging by the fire with friends was nice too. Had to grab a timelapse of our camp set up. A little jealous of my buddie's Tacoma here, but I love my 4Runner and being able to camp in the back of it made it much easier to sleep more inconspicuously.

The Moon rising and the Milky Way blazing from our camp in the Alabama Hills


Bonus timelapse! Best viewed in 4K.
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[EHNWI]

Getting up around 9-10 we started our day surrounded by rocks before heading to the Alabama Hills Cafe for some breakfast. After breakfast we went up to the Bristlecones again hoping to spend the night up there shooting the trees with the stars. Unfortunately we got hit with a snow storm up there and didn't think it would clear for the night, so headed back down.

Big rocks!


A Bristlecone looking over the Owens Valley as a snowstorm passes over White Mountain.


A couple minutes later...


Snow let up for a bit around sunset so I grabbed a slider shot of this Bristlecone at sunset as some snow flakes fell




We ended up spending the night in the Alabama Hills again that evening. I was a little bummed we weren't shooting somewhere else. It was Memorial Day weekend so the place was packed and shooting the stars without car lights interrupting wasn't going to happen. But oh well, another night with friends was nice.

 

[monkeywrenchMoose]

This thread is an excellent combo of build and adventure. Any more updates to either?

 

[EHNWI]

Well, it's been like 4 years. Maybe I should finish this trip report. Man, life goes by way too fast sometimes. This old girl is getting old and tired and needs so much work.

The night after camping at the Alabama Hills, my buddy with the Tacoma had to head home, but my buddy with the Jeep stuck around. The next day we made our way back up to the bristlecone trees and hung out there most of the day before spending the night in the parking area for Patriarch Grove. Another friend made his way there that night and shot with us. I really didn't get any photos of our setups for the night, but here are some shots from the day and the timelapse I got that night.

Hanging above Owens Valley. So beautiful. This is like 10,000ft.


Scouting bristlecone trees for the night.


The tree we ended up shooting.


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The next day was just a lot of hanging around again. We ended up spending the night at Alabama Hills but actually shooting this time.

Time for a nice desert shower.


Nice sunset coming.


Don't pay attention to the end of the clip. I screwed up and the pan tilt head got stuck.
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The next day, my buddies left. The roads has shaken off my rust exhaust, so a shot in Bishop was nice enough to weld it back up together.


Since everyone was gone, I started the drive back up to Oregon. I had wanted to hit up Trillium Lake. It was a long day of driving, but I love driving so it wasn't too bad. I made it there just before sunset and got some okay shots. There wasn't really much of a sunset, but still cool. I had never been there before.

Trillium Lake and Mt Hood


That night I spent at Lost Lake. My previous MW shot from there was okay but I wanted to try again. A big rain storm came in during the shot unfortunately, but the shot turned out pretty cool!
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After waking up, I went back over to the Columbia River Gorge area. I had seen an area online that I wanted to hit and get a shot from. It turned out to be one of my absolute favorites. I also revisited Panther Creek Falls to get a couple different shots.

Elowha Falls, a still from the RED



Panther Creek Falls
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I had a buddy in Portland who was nice enough to let me deliver some batteries to his house, so I went and picked those up and then had to stop over at Hair of the Dog. So worth.


After the beer and food, I sat in my car for a little while. I definitely wasn't drunk, but didn't feel comfortable driving quite yet. After dark, I made my way up to Mt St Helens. I downloaded this really cool audiobook about the eruption and history of the volcano and listened to it on my way there, and then ended up spending the night at the Johnston Ridge Observatory.

 

[mystereons41]

Your pictures are beautiful! Glad your Runner has had such an adventurous life!

 

[EHNWI]

Your pictures are beautiful! Glad your Runner has had such an adventurous life!

Thanks!

 

[EHNWI]

Waking up with this beautiful view of Mt St Helens after spending the night in the parking lot was pretty awesome. Got up right before sunrise and set up a couple cameras to capture it.

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From Mt St Helens, I actually made the drive all the way back up to the Olympic National Park area. My second visit on this trip. It was just so cool up there I had to go again. I probably did so much unnecessary driving, but I love to drive and listen to stuff. I made it a little before sunset and luckily made it in time for this beautiful burner at La Push. I wish I would have got more shots of the 4runner around these areas.
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After sunset, I made my way back up to Hurricane Ridge so that I could spend the night up there and try to get some shots.

Home for the night on Hurricane Ridge.


The next day I made my way down to this little tourist town called Gig Harbor. I really wanted a shot of Mt Rainier, but all the good 4x4 trails were still actually closed because of snow pack. Man, it was so weird being in a busy place after spending so much time in the middle of nowhere places. I was not a fan of all the traffic and people.

Waiting for sunset and shielding myself from the view of everyone outside driving and walking by.


Shooting Mt Rainier at sunset with a really cool lake foreground.



This night, I actually ended up driving back down to Mt Saint Helens, but it was either a Friday or Saturday night and when I got there, there were at least 10 people at Johnston Ridge shooting Milky Way stuff. I just went to bed instead of shooting.

 

[Maverickpixel]

looks great!

 

[EHNWI]

looks great!

Thanks!

 

[EHNWI]

4Runner with the Milky Way from the parking lot of Little Sable Point, along with a cool clip I shot from moonset to twilight.

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[EHNWI]

Rust finally caught up to this truck a year ago. Rear upper control arm mounted busted off the frame, rockers were toast, transfer case stopped working. I got a lot of miles out of it while winter salt ate it away bit by bit. Living in GA now. Have this 13 Outback I got when I sold it and 07 GX I picked up a couple weeks ago.