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Tue Oct 14, 2025 10:02 pm

Just returned from a 2872 mile trip, Seattle to Moab.
12 sleeps in the van.

Installed new tires, Mazama Open Range A/T Plus, 215/75R15.
I checked alignment with string.
Zero toe.

I realize you wanna see pics of my new tires but here's a pic of the coffee supply that we departed with.

Checked & cleaned all my gearbox magnets.
Changed the engine oil.

Had a couple problems during the trip.
But they healed.

A sparkplug cable "came off' the coil.
I wonder if it was because there was dielectric grease sealing the sea-level air pressure inside.
Then at higher elevation, pressure it pushes the greasy cap off. :?:

The engine was missing and we were getting 14mpg.
I opened the engine cover, and saw it instantly right on top.
It had happened before, but it was down on the bottom, not as visible, but we heard it snapping.

The intense Subaru spark eroded part of the coil lip and totally blackened the brass end of the spark plug wire.
And blackened the socket in the coil pack.

2,000 miles later, a CV was clicking LOUD. See YouTube---> https://youtu.be/0JtqVCsPlrU
But I jacked up the suspension, which redistributed CV grease, and the clicking stopped. 800 more miles to home and it hasn't clicked yet.
They are Lobro 944 CVs, not very old, maybe 50,000 miles.
I will probably use T3 Technique high-angle CVs.

===========

OK the trip

First night near Bruneau Dunes, iD
We brought push-bikes.
Modern bikes don't fit very well on old bike racks.
If we get e-bikes I'll have to buy yet another bike rack.

Opening the engine cover to "fix" the spark coil problem.
Note this old SoftRide bike rack actually clears the Vanagon rear hatch.

Stopped at a Nevada ghost town called Osceola. There was a graveyard.
The gravel road passed on thru Osceola and popped out at Sacramento Pass campground.

Camped that night following little desert roads half a mile out the back of Sacramento Pass CG.
We saw a balanced rock and drove towards it.

That's the moon!

Arrived at our destination camp about 20 miles west of Moab.
Two 2wd vans arrived later, after dark.
They had no trouble on the rough road.
Well, almost....none....one driver (with 14"street tires) got stuck in deep sand.
I told him to "stop before sand, or after sand, but never stop in the deep sand."
But he was plodding along in 3rd gear and it "just sunk".
He got out himself by making a litlle road with his "leveling blocks"

Camped near the edge of a 600 ft cliff.

Leveled on rocks as usual.

We hiked to this arch.

Big, high quality food-nut dinners on the fire, every night. 11 people.

This is moonlight.

Ok that's all for tonight.

Tue Oct 14, 2025 10:18 pm

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Wed Oct 15, 2025 4:44 am

Love it!!!

Wed Oct 15, 2025 5:06 am

Love it! That Sacramento Pass area is a great one. I did the same.

Wed Oct 15, 2025 5:37 am

Looks like a wonderful trip!

Wed Oct 15, 2025 6:08 am

Great pictures!

Wed Oct 15, 2025 8:13 am

Looks like a great run! Thanks for sharing!

Wed Oct 15, 2025 9:55 am

i think this trip is fake news. everyone knows a person can't travel more than 150 miles away from home with a Vanagon.....

Wed Oct 15, 2025 10:12 am

:lol:

With AAA Premium they can!

Nice report Sodo… we were near Sacramento Pass two weeks ago but went west on 50 and now near Tonopah. Fresh snow here!

Wed Oct 15, 2025 1:29 pm

We were camped at Sacramento pass Oct1, which was 2 weeks ago! (then headed east to Moab).
We sure didn't see many vanagons on this trip. Maybe 2 other Vanagons in 2 weeks.

Heres Oct1 pic from our Sac pass camp, of Great basin NP. I suppose that's snow on Wheeler peak (13,000+ ft).

My brother's entry step is made from his sand-boards.
He didn't need the boards on the drive in, but they came in handy as an entry step.
But in the course of brotherly competition I want you,
dear reader,
to also contrast and note the "superior elegance"
of MY new folding van-step on the pic ^^above^^.

On the way home we went over Mayfield-Ferron Scenic Backway because the map said "Grove of the Aspen Giants". Ron Chandler had recommended this route in October 2020. It was a GREAT route, crossing the "Great Western Trail. This area was fabulous in October.
The Aspens were slightly past their prime, but also many many Aspen groves were 'dead'. I suppose it's getting too dry for Aspens to survive.

Here's Willow lake campground, 9500ft.
This is another moonlight pic ( iPhone16! ).
You can see the Big Dipper.
The temperature was "brisk" Fall weather. We had a hot campfire and slept with thick blankets.
We enjoyed the Mayfield-Ferron Backway, and will drive the Great Western Trail next time we're in Utah.
The next day we drove a secondary road north off hwy50 towards Ruby Lake.
This mining truck #417 was parked at the entrance.
The road to Ruby Lake was not as we hoped.
It was like "a mining road for monstrous trucks".
We passed on thru, and camped in Lamoille Canyon, sadly arriving at dark.
Waking up in Lamoille Canyon.
Camped on the roadside (after dark), at 8800ft.
We didn't see any "no camping' signs anywhere. !

We ate lunch at Denio Junction. I had a great hamburger of local beef. Highly recommend the roadside restaurant/bar at Denio Junction.
Then onward. Hwy160 from Denio to the road named, open and notoriously, BOG Springs road.
This is a running stream, out in the sagebrush, 15 feet wide in places.

It's friggin HOT. This is at the origin. Clean running water, no sulfur smell. It's a big place, long running stream. There was only one other camper there, a hunter, his trailer parked like it had been there several days.
He ran a generator in the evening.

This mussel was near the 132F origin.

This is another moonlight iphone16 pic, and yes, a big dipper pic too.
We drove downstream to get in the water.
A location that tested 110F in the daytime, was now 105F in the cold night air, and just cool enough to get in for awhile.
We parked the van right next to the stream,
between us and the hunter/camper/generator.

My brother laid his clothes out on the rocks of a little dam, and the next day complained of many "bites" and said "no more Bog for me".
Lisa and I put our "stuff" on a large bare rock, above the stream, and had none=zero bites.
Anyway be forewarned about what may be lurking at the stream edges at Bog.
Drove back to our camp at the head of the creek.

Here's our campsite in the morning.

On the way North we stopped for breakfast at a Mennonite bakery in Madras (Eagle Bakery). Everyone there, including customers, were almost other-worldly friendly (compared to other places, and ...Seattle). The baked goods were real good, old school though. Seattle has better bakeries but fully double the price. We bought a cherry pie for $18. The coffee was free and like "warm water," was price-appropriate. But the atmosphere there was worth the stop. We wondered if they were hoping we would stay for church on Sunday....

Late lunch stop was at the St Johns Orthodox Monastery ( Greek Bakery ) out in the boonies on Hwy 97 (North of Goldendale, WA). The coffee was good, and the food WAS great. We love Greek food. Especially strangely out in the boonies. Spanakopita, Baklava, Moussaka.
But everyone was
"somber".

I suppose that's a sub-meaning for "Orthodox".
We did not feel like the next thing said might be "will you join us for church tomorrow"?

Cheery Mennonite bakery in the morning,
Somber Orthodox monastery in the afternoon.
Two contrasting vibes in one good eatin' travel-day.

We ended the trip with this much coffee.

Normally I get all bound up describing some kinda mechanical catastrophy, leaving no energy to describe the trip.
But there was no real catastrophy so I had to up my game.

OK hope you enjoyed the ride!

Wed Oct 15, 2025 1:35 pm

So you're saying with only that much coffee your trip nearly ended in disaster!

Wed Oct 15, 2025 2:03 pm

GoEverywhere wrote: So you're saying with only that much coffee your trip nearly ended in disaster!
I'd say it ended in disaster. No one wants to be that low on coffee during any trip. I always fill a pint jar of ground coffee for weekend trips and manage to bring some home at the end of the trip.

I do have to say, You Vanagon and Bay owners sure do make a lot fantastic trips.
I'm always entertained by your travel threads.
Us EV guys, are too busy trying to fix our vans so we can make it across a parking lot without breaking down.

Wed Oct 15, 2025 2:44 pm

Dang Sodo, missed Ya by a couple days and like 50 miles.
(we were a little south of 50 on the 1st)

We coulda discussed beers instead of gears! :wink:

Wed Oct 15, 2025 2:47 pm

E1 wrote: Dang Sodo, missed Ya by a couple days and like 50 miles.
(we were a little south of 50 on the 1st)

We coulda discussed beers instead of gears! :wink:

Man, almost coulda had a Samba meet... I was in Moab 2 days before Sodo was :P We need like a Samba Missed Connections section...

Wed Oct 15, 2025 2:54 pm

Double Dang!!

I actually started a thread for this exact thing several years ago, but the idear got roundly panned in Olympian time.

Concept was:
I’m leaving Seattle on the Xth, arriving in Moab by the XXth, and heading back home on the XXXth (Oops).

Should I reboot for all to add more disapprovals? :lol: :lol: :lol:
(I just looked and kinda recall I deleted the whole thread)

Wed Oct 15, 2025 3:12 pm

Cool.

Wed Oct 15, 2025 4:55 pm

Saving this thread for future trip planning. :D Dad & I came back to AZ from Laguna Seca in August via Nevada's highways 361 and 50. At the Middle Station junction, there's a sign that proclaims "best burgers in the west!" Too early for a burger when we went by, so don't know how they'd compare with Denio Junction's.

We also stopped in at Great Basin N.P. Grabbed one of the last camp sites and it poured rain... fantastic views up there.

Nice trip report!

GoEverywhere wrote: Man, almost coulda had a Samba meet... I was in Moab 2 days before Sodo was :P We need like a Samba Missed Connections section...

We won't talk about May. *cough* :popcorn:

Wed Oct 15, 2025 8:50 pm

Awesome! I've never explored NV, but have been thinking about it more and more it seems. Thanks for taking us along!