StormRunner Build & Adventure Thread

[ECUDrummer]

Thanks I appreciate that! I am trying to get better and learn photography tricks as I go. I actually have been using kit lenses forever but just last week got my first additional lens which is the Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 so I am excited to shoot some with it.

Not sure if you are on Instagram but if so check out my profile. Just this past weekend we organized a group run using Instagram and we all had a good time so are looking to organize another one soon

35mm is where it's at (even if it shoots like a 50mm on my d7100).

 

[jdtaylor42]

I believe I'm already following you, my IG username is blake__nichols.

Which body are you using? Your shots just look SO much more crisp and vibrant than I can ever get mine to look. For example, here's a few of my photos.

I primarily shoot with my D3300 although occasionally I will also carry my wife's D7100 and snap a couple with it. I used her's when doing the night photography since it is much more capable for that.

I think your shots look great! Do you shoot to jpg or in raw though? The camera and lens make a difference but a lot of it is also post-processing. I edit in Lightroom for full-screen and then also fine tune using the Instagram tools before posting there. I find with IG pics being so small that you have to ramp up the clarity and saturation for those pictures to pop versus being on a full screen on your computer.

 

[trailbikerider]

I primarily shoot with my D3300 although occasionally I will also carry my wife's D7100 and snap a couple with it. I used her's when doing the night photography since it is much more capable for that.

I think your shots look great! Do you shoot to jpg or in raw though? The camera and lens make a difference but a lot of it is also post-processing. I edit in Lightroom for full-screen and then also fine tune using the Instagram tools before posting there. I find with IG pics being so small that you have to ramp up the clarity and saturation for those pictures to pop versus being on a full screen on your computer.

I shoot in raw, and also use Lightroom. I just feel like my photos lack clarity. Though I am self-taught and have never taken any classes or received any tips from anyone else, so maybe a photography class would be beneficial for me.

Either way, I'll stop cluttering your build thread up!

 

[jdtaylor42]

I shoot in raw, and also use Lightroom. I just feel like my photos lack clarity. Though I am self-taught and have never taken any classes or received any tips from anyone else, so maybe a photography class would be beneficial for me.

Either way, I'll stop cluttering your build thread up!

Haha sounds like we are pretty much taking the exact same path. I have never had any classes or worked with anyone who really knows what they are doing but I just watch Youtube videos all the time and I bought all of Tony Northrup's books from Amazon and read through those.

Hopefully sometime we will be able to wheel together and can swap notes on what we have found useful

 

[Presa Canario]

I primarily shoot with my D3300 although occasionally I will also carry my wife's D7100 and snap a couple with it. I used her's when doing the night photography since it is much more capable for that.

QUOTE]

I love your photos. Id love to be able to take shots like that. I looked up your camera expecting it to be very expensive. I was a little surprised when I seen the price. I may have to pick one up and start learning.

 

[jdtaylor42]

I primarily shoot with my D3300 although occasionally I will also carry my wife's D7100 and snap a couple with it. I used her's when doing the night photography since it is much more capable for that.

I love your photos. Id love to be able to take shots like that. I looked up your camera expecting it to be very expensive. I was a little surprised when I seen the price. I may have to pick one up and start learning.

Thanks I appreciate it. The D3000 line is a super capable set of camera's at a great price. Awesome bargain and when you shoot in RAW format rather than JPEG it really allows you to bring out a lot of detail that you dont normally get in photos.

 

[Hosemang]

Gorgeous! Awesome build brutha

 

[jdtaylor42]

Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend! I got to go out and do some exploring which was a blast as always

At the End of the World overlook viewing Sedona

Just the view

Part of the area that was burned by an out of control campfire a couple seasons ago

The ferns are going

Had to generate a Hadouken!

Got to go kayaking on El Vado lake in New Mexico

Got to watch some Osprey hunting

New Mexico Sunset

 

[joeysav]

Hello, Great build thread! I read through the whole thing! I was hoping I could find some information about how you made the AoB switch work? I am still trying to figure out how to connect the marker lights to the AoB switch. What fuse relay did you use? Do you mind sharing the exact product of it? Thank you very much

 

[jdtaylor42]

Hello, Great build thread! I read through the whole thing! I was hoping I could find some information about how you made the AoB switch work? I am still trying to figure out how to connect the marker lights to the AoB switch. What fuse relay did you use? Do you mind sharing the exact product of it? Thank you very much

Sorry I missed your question but I have been away on roadtrips for a while. I just used a standard single outlet relay from any auto parts store. For power I used "add-a-fuse" also from any auto parts store and tapped into the fuse block under the drivers dash. For wiring the AOB switch I don't recall the wiring diagram since it has been so long but the switch itself comes with a diagram which I used to wire mine up and it worked great.

 

[jdtaylor42]

It has been a while since I updated my thread because I have been out on a few adventures in the past few month or so. I hit the road for a two week roadtrip in early August which took me from Arizona to New Mexico, Colorado, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, back to Colorado, Utah, and then home to Arizona. All totaled I put just under 3800 miles on the truck for this trip but I saw some incredible places and had a blast

Just getting started heading into Colorado

About to start the Medano Pass in Great Sand Dunes National Park

First water crossing of the trip although there would be many more (nine just on this trail itself, the highest of which was just to the top of my tires)

The views along the pass

Next stop would be Rocky Mountain National Park but along the way there were some amazing views like this one

Morning 1 in RMNP was all about hiking. I got up well before sunrise to be at Bear Lake as the sun came up and it was worth the yawns

Dream Lake

Emerald Lake

After a few more hikes I decided to take Old Fall River Road to get back to the west side of the park where I was camped. This is an amazing drive with incredible vista's

After a couple days in RMNP I headed north to the Black Hills of South Dakota. The first morning I got up early to go check out Wind Cave National Park and try to book a couple of tours. I got super lucky and was able to get a last minute reservation for the Wild Cave Tour which was incredible. That tour is only done once a day for ten people and books a month in advance but someone just happened to cancel that morning so I got their spot

This cave is known for its "boxwork" shown here. Really cool

The next morning I again got up before sunrise so I could be at Mount Rushmore and the sun came up. Provided some great light and it was nice to have only one other person in the entire complex while I was there.

I then took the scenic drive through the hills back towards Custer which was beautiful. And since it was so early in the morning there were no other drivers on the road so I was able to stop and take pictures at the tunnels. Each of the three tunnels frames Mount Rushmore in the distance

 

[jdtaylor42]

From the top of the hills as you take the scenic drive

It was still pretty early so I then decided to drive over to Badlands National Park and check it out rather than moving my camp over there.

I was super pumped to be able to finally photograph some Bighorn Sheep as well. That has been on my list for a long time and I finally got the chance

The next day I hit the road for North Dakota to visit Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Saw some buffalo

As I headed back south I stopped at Devil's Tower in Wyoming

Would love to be able to climb here someday

That was a looooong drive day to go from North Dakota all the way back down to Breckenridge but I got a great place to camp out in the National Forest for the evening

The next morning I ran a couple trails in the Breckenridge area which took you WAY up in the mountains. Awesome trail

At the top! Would have to look back at my guidebook to know the elevation here but it was way up there above the tree-line. Really awesome trail

 

[jdtaylor42]

Mountain-top trail

At the very top there is a hikers cabin you can take refuge in. Has some canned goods and a few survival things that people leave for others as they hike up

Coming down the other side was very green and very scenic but there were definitely some tough sections. A couple sections where the trail was cut into the ground and the walls were barely wife enough to not scrape the sides. Because it was so tight I wasn't able to get out and take pics in that section but was a lot of fun

To end that day I made it to the Ouray KOA and set up camp. It was raining a good bit so I decided to stay at the campground with shower and everything rather than do dispersed in the area. The next morning I started with the Alpine Loop using Mineral Creek to access it. Mineral Creek is awesome

Nice waterfall at the split between Poughkeepsie and Engineer's along Mineral Creek

Way up here I saw this guy take flight and he was massive. He flew within about ten feet of me and I felt the whoosh of wind. His wingspan was about and big as me! I am not sure what kind of raptor this is though. Anyone know? Golden Eagle maybe?

 

[jdtaylor42]

I loved how scenic Alpine Loop was but it got pretty busy since it is so easy. Lots and lots of people on UTV's, ATV's, and stock vehicles

Another awesome bird that I haven't yet identified. He was not nearly as large but still very cool. Must be some kind of hawk

After the Alpine Loop it was only like 1pm so I decided to go hit Black Bear Pass which was out of this world. Best trail I have ever run in terms of scenery

This is the toughest stretch of the trail. Right as you start the descent it gets really rough for a short stretch and you and looking straight out towards that huge drop. A little sketchy but super fun

Starting Imogene to get back to Ouray

If you look closely you can see the switchbacks and how Black Bear comes down into Telluride in the distance

The Snow Wall

Up in the clouds over 13' feet

 

[jdtaylor42]

Poser Rock

Wildflowers in Bloom

This entire area is just incredibly beautiful

 

[jdtaylor42]

After Ouray, I made the trek on over to Moab to run a few trails there. I wasn't sure how well I would handle the heat since it was still early August but figured it was worth a shot. I arrived mid-day, set up camp in the Sand Hollow Rec-Area and set out to run Fins & Things.

As I was setting up camp this guy came along to ask for tips on running trails and I informed his this would be my first time. He was a little worried about running the trails by himself as he had traveled all the way from New Hampshire and had not really wheeled in this Jeep as he has a fully built, rock-crawler Jeep at home. So I agreed to let him tag along so we could spot for each other if needed. Ended up neither of us had any trouble at all or needed a spotter but he was a cool guy and it's always fun to meet good people on the trails.

Seriously stuffed. I was rubbing the body mount pretty good here. I definitely need to get around to doing a BMC before it turns cold again.

The climb. This was the steepest climb on the trail and only left me about an inch of clearance on the tow hitch. What's funny is we were a little ways behind a group of really built Jeeps on this trail and once they made it up and over here they all stopped to watch if that silly Toyota could make the climb. I stopped to take a few pics, got back it, and up and over I went. They all gave me a healthy cheer for my efforts

After running that trail I wanted to go hike Delicate Arch for sunset but I had forgotten they are doing road maintenance in the evening at Arches this summer and the park closes at 7pm. I had to call an audible and instead headed out to Corona Arch which is the one people were swinging off of a couple of years ago.

The following morning I decided I wanted to go run Top of the World trail. This trail proved to be MUCH more challenging than Fins & Things. The last mile is lots and lots of big ledges and since I was solo on this one I was in and out and in and out of the truck picking lines and lining up tires. Even still my skid plates took a few good hits. It was honestly pretty exhausting by myself in the heat of the day.

And with the GoPro set up. I always shoot a lot of video on my vacations but rarely make time to edit them when I get home. Video editing is very time consuming.

I made it out there

 

[jdtaylor42]

The view from Top of the World

Coming Back

I was honestly so worn out from the heat and this trail that I decided to pack up camp and head home to end this day. I had been on the road for almost two full weeks and sleeping in my own bed and showering in my own shower was too enticing a proposition to stay another night. Moab is only five hours from my home so I packed up and hit the road.

 

[ECUDrummer]

Epic shots!

 

[smallfry]

Nice.

 

[FloridaFeMan]

Those last 3 pictures are "ballsy" and amazing. Looks like a great trip was had. Maybe one day........

Thanks for sharing.