Desert sand, camping, mountain snow, beach all in one week

I got a week off for vacation and made the most of it last week.

Packed up the family (wife, two boys, dog) and went on a road trip.

First stop was Red Rock Canyon near Mojave, CA. We setup our popup in front of some painted rock formations for home base.

Spent the next two days doing off-road adventures around Jawbone OHV area and other BLM lands. I got a little too ambitious on some the the trails there (insane trails for people with no fear apparently) and got a few adrenaline shots, but all good.

Headed up into the Sierra (back side of Yosemite) to spend some time in the snow hiking.

Had a picnic up in the high mountain trails.

Went to Pismo Beach and drove on the shore banks.

A great trip. A great truck. From grocery getter to barren desert lands.

Some firsts for this trip:

• Was on a steep enough run for the front end steering to get *real* light
• Crossed a creek with water above the top of the tires (lots of mountain runoff streams)
• Let my kids drive (9yo, 12yo boys) without them sitting in my lap. I sat in the back.
• Saw a mountain superbloom of wildflowers
• Drove in the shallow ocean water at the shore

Jason

 

Awesome trip. I’m headed to Mohave on Thursday. Can’t wait.

 

What a way to spend a week with your family! I was in Yosemite Valley last month (the day before they closed the park for three weeks!!). I love my 4 Runner even more after a good snow trip!

 

Man I miss out west…soon enough though

This reminds me of a trip I took with my dad when he came out n visited

Death Valley n Sequoia…in the same day

 

That’s awesome. Your kids will never forget that trip!

 

Awesome!!!! The kids will never forget that and pay it forward some day.

is that a Border Collie I the back? He looks a lot like mine. He loves going with us too.

 

What a great way to spend the week! You guys will have great memories from that trip! Thank you for sharing this with us!

 

American Staffordshire (aka Pitbull). Rescue dog from the neighborhood. Was about six months old when we got her seven years ago.

Great with kids and our chickens. Unpredictable with other dogs. Not vicious, just insecure and reactive. We take her everywhere.

Told our landlord years ago she was a Border Collie to avoid eviction ;-0

Jason

 

Us too. Maybe were were there at the same time (Feb 21 or 22?). Ranger strongly advised that we not enter . . . but I told him I was prepared and got through.

We had a rare and beautiful glimpse of the valley in a snow storm.

Jason

 

Looks like a really fun trip! I'm going to have to take notes and plan something like this.

 

I love these types of threads.

 

Beautiful shots!!
I was there on Thursday the 23rd - it would have been awesome to run into one another there (not literally, LOL!)
You might have been there the day that the big chunk fell off of El Capitan. I think that happened the day before I was there. That side of Yosemite Valley was closed while I was there.

 

Yosemite in the winter with either a lot of snow on the ground, and, for me, preferably snowing moderately to heavy is a completely different place. It is almost completely silent - reverent even - and a glorius thing to see. Jason @jasonmcelroy was there the day before, and he has pictures of Half dome. I could not even see it the next day.

 

Awesome thread