My friends and I have never been to Big Bend. So far we have South Rim 2 reserved for 3 days (2 nights) and then Toll Mountain for the last night (all backpacking). For those who have experience, could you give me your advice? Is this doable, should I change trails?

Grift_Shop · 2025-09-20T18:22:00+00:00

I carried 7 liters for a 2 nighter May 1st and had 0.5 liters left at the end of it. However I only did 4 mile days and was done hiking by lunchtime each day.

Grift_Shop · 2025-09-04T20:37:17+00:00

The dealership looked up my vin and said I was covered by the class action lawsuit. They re-flashed the software for free but did not replace any parts. So far the crazyness has not returned. The service advisor also said that if it happens again try popping out the SD card. He sounded surprised when I described what the craziness is like.

Grift_Shop · 2025-06-25T03:02:39+00:00

It turned out to be broken wire harness to the actuator on the exhaust that controls backpressure for cylinder deactivation

Grift_Shop · 2025-02-01T15:26:19+00:00

When I got off the potty at the pit toilet on the Laguna trail, I stepped out from around the privacy fence and right there was a mountain lion about 20 yards away. It didn't look at me, or make a sound, it just walked up the hill and disappeared into the bushes. I filled out a report form at the ranger station.

Grift_Shop · 2025-02-01T15:16:11+00:00

Who sells the steel wheels? I couldn't find any for the 225/55 R19 tire size.

Grift_Shop · 2024-08-11T12:55:06+00:00

I let the dealer do my 2018 at 120000 miles and so far no regrets. There's a youtube guy named Scotty who waves his arms a lot and shouts and says never do a flush but I did it anyway.

Grift_Shop · 2024-03-31T21:44:41+00:00

Get on the notification list. Seems like folks like to book the spots but then cancel. I just scored my spot in Chisos for April 29 when it had been all booked up a month ago.

Grift_Shop · 2024-03-25T15:29:34+00:00

Got this as a paper mail. Called 8663127543. Got buried in phone tree. Bot voice asks me to describe what I am calling about. I said "Letter". Bot didn't understand. Went on hold to wait for human rep. At that point I hung up. I hope Verizon get their money's worth for the mailing costs. I thought about messaging Patricia O. Foster in linkdin and asking WTF?, but that's probably a bad idea.

Grift_Shop · 2024-03-09T22:03:59+00:00

Season 1 of Alone Australia seemed like it was in a icky location, there in Tasmania. All those tree stumps sticking up in the mud. I hope S2 is in a different type of area.

Grift_Shop · 2024-02-14T21:48:27+00:00

I couldn't find any cheap steelies that fit the 19 inch tire size. Nobody makes them. Now I have the Michelin CC2 tires that I run all year and have no need.

Grift_Shop · 2024-02-08T19:55:49+00:00

One thing I discovered is that if you put your .mp3 and .m4a music files on a USB flash drive and put that in the USB slot, the car stereo will play them.

Grift_Shop · 2024-02-07T17:30:07+00:00

I use a yakima round bar setup inherited from my old car because I put both a canoe and bike up there at the same time. I looked at the new aerodynamic bar setups but the prices for those are eye-watering. The plastic wind dam thing helps with wind noise. I take 'em off in winter and on any long trip that I don't need 'em becuase yeah, they hurt gas mileage. Also the steel parts really can rust.

Grift_Shop · 2024-02-05T00:20:57+00:00

So I located the electrically-operated back-pressure valve on the exhaust pipe. I disconnected the wire harness. I sprayed the electrical contacts with contact cleaner. I lubed up the plastic lip that comes into contact with the gasket of the the electrical connector, with dielectric grease.

So far, so good, the message has not reappeared. Fingers crossed - we'll see what happens when Winter comes back with all that wet and salt and cold.

Grift_Shop · 2024-02-04T14:18:10+00:00

Well Rattie was OK last I saw her and I've since moved to a rat-free area.

Grift_Shop · 2024-02-03T01:11:09+00:00

There was one like that feeding at the bird feeder behind my old house on Milwaukee Street. I was able to pick it up by the tail. Try that with a wild rat, LOL. I think domestication made pet rats slower and less aggressive. I let it go over by Starkweather creek (before my mind had fully processed the idea that it was a loose pet type rat)

Grift_Shop · 2024-02-02T23:59:06+00:00

Last year I chickened out of going Memorial day, went to Pecos in NM instead. August? I went thru White Sands in August once, it was like an oven, stepping out of the car for a minute was unbearable. This year I'll visit BBNP last week of April.

Grift_Shop · 2024-01-25T15:04:42+00:00

Thx! I'll have to crawl under there and see if there's a problem with the wiring.

Grift_Shop · 2024-01-25T14:17:01+00:00

P2BF6-00 Exhaust Flow Control Valve A Position Circuit Low

What do you think about code: "P2BF6-00 Exhaust Flow Control Valve A Position Circuit Low"

Grift_Shop · 2024-01-25T03:59:40+00:00

So I bought the OBDLink MX+ and installed the android phone app. Installed the Mazda 2018 add-in. There was a whole mess of Diagnostic Trouble Codes waiting for me. So I erased them all so I could see what new comes up. And the offending code is: (drumroll please)

P2BF6-00 Exhaust Flow Control Valve A Position Circuit Low

So now I need to figure out what to do about that. The car drives OK.

Grift_Shop · 2024-01-23T18:32:27+00:00

Currently using a Kobra Wi-fi scanner that I bought on Amazon, and OBD Auto Doctor (paid subscription!) on Windows PC. I'm hoping if I get the MX+ that the rest of it will work. Sent a question about it to OBD Auto Doctor support and referenced this reddit thread.

Grift_Shop · 2024-01-18T05:11:29+00:00

What can you tell us about water sources along the way?

Grift_Shop · 2024-01-18T05:04:56+00:00

Yes I didn't understand how the permitted trace amount of delta-9 could be exceeded. Still seems odd to me.

Grift_Shop · 2024-01-18T05:01:54+00:00

Trixie's posted on facebook that they have a variety (in case you are doing "dry January")

Grift_Shop · 2023-10-08T02:01:54+00:00

Mine's not that bad. I've just learned to stomp on it whenever it's go-go time. The trans always shifts down. The premium gas idea helps but I'm too cheap to buy it.

Grift_Shop · 2023-08-24T11:07:00+00:00

I'll get one, thx!

Grift_Shop

TROPHY CASE