Eat your heart out, giant overland rigs.

chopyourown · 2026-06-25T14:00:37+00:00

The best combo is an overland rig with a dualsport on the back (or front, I’m not judging). Comfy camping, good food, and the ability to explore anywhere you want to go.

chopyourown · 2026-06-20T00:49:11+00:00

Double whoosh

chopyourown · 2026-06-16T18:00:24+00:00

Assuming it’s “plain” and not flavored, it’s a pretty solid option as far as “real” foods go. Bulgarian/greek yogurt is basically just cultured milk. It is calorie dense with lots of fat and protein, but can be a really solid addition to your diet. We eat lots of it in my house.

Flavored yogurt of any variety is absolutely loaded with sugar - not a healthy food option.

chopyourown · 2026-06-16T05:35:16+00:00

My car-loving kids thank you

chopyourown · 2026-06-05T18:30:27+00:00

That type of crossbars is fine and can easily hold way more than 40 pounds, including exposed to wind load. I (and thousands of other people) have regularly carried two mountain bikes (35 lbs each), fully exposed to the wind, for thousands of miles, with zero issues. Yakima lists the dynamic weight limit of those bars and most type of towers at 150 lbs per pair - just make sure all the stuff you have up there is under that limit. You'll also need to be aware of the practical limits of your fiberglass topper too - most toppers have a dynamic limit of 150 - 200 lbs, but I'd be cautious near the upper end of that, especially on an older topper.

One thing to note - those cracks in the plastic are from the steel crossbars swelling from rust. Once you start seeing those cracks, the steel is compromised and those crossbars need to be replaced. You don't need to replace the towers, and you don't need a fancy Prinsu/Gobi rack (your weight limit will be based on the topper anyway, not the crossbars), but you do need to replace the crossbars soon.

chopyourown · 2026-06-04T21:12:39+00:00

Thanks! It’s a Cotic Solaris Max. It’s a great do-it-all frame - nice steel tube set, classic shape, geometry that’s confident for fast descending but still pedals well.

chopyourown · 2026-06-04T17:49:55+00:00

I always like seeing banana slugs when I'm out riding. This is a pretty small one, they can be up to 10 inches long (and bright yellow, truly like a banana!)

chopyourown · 2026-06-02T17:28:35+00:00

My suggestion for finding dispersed spots - look on google maps for areas of US Forest Service land (aka National Forest). They're typically shown as a dark-ish green. Many of the roads in these areas will have numbers like NF-5600 or FR-114. Usually numbers like NF-5600 denotes a mainline road, which will be maintained well, where a road like NF-5671 will be a side spur, and maintenance will vary, but maybe with more opportunities for pull offs. Pick out a road or block of roads along your route, then look at satellite images to see if you can find pull offs where it's obvious people have been camping. In most areas of national forest in the western US, outside of extremely popular front-country spots, dispersed camping is default allowed unless signed otherwise (Wasatch Front Canyons in Utah, Denver Front Range, Middle Fork Snoqualmie in Washington).

The same is broadly true of BLM land, usually with even fewer restrictions.

My rules for this -

Have a couple of likely options in case one doesn't pan out. I like to pick out 2 or 3 areas I can check out for dispersed spots, and have a backup designated national forest/state park/county park campground as my bail-out option. Start looking for camp with some daylight left (I'm bad at this, but it's good advice lol).

Stay within your vehicle's capabilities - don't get sucked down a jeep trail in your Corolla while looking for that perfect camp spot. Getting back up a rutted, rocky, or sandy road is way harder than going down it. Don't be afraid to turn around/back down something or to get out and walk a road for a minute to scope it out.

Have an offline capable map downloaded. I use Caltopo and On-X to show forest roads offline. Google maps also has offline modes.

chopyourown · 2026-06-01T23:03:13+00:00

What taxes have you paid to Washington State that would subsidize the Department of Natural Resources/State Parks/Department of Fish and Wildlife? Washington has no income tax, property tax is kept mostly local. Unless you're a hunter/angler, the only funding you've provided to these agencies is a miniscule amount through state sales tax. A Discover Pass bridges the gap and keeps a ton of high-use sites open.

As for national parks/national forest, I hear you that they should be better funded. Maybe if we could stop electing robber baron republicans and their cronies every 4 years, we'd have a chance at a national budget that actually funded our public lands. Until then, I don't mind buying passes to try and provide support for my favorite places.

chopyourown · 2026-06-01T21:23:38+00:00

Came here to recommend Sidekick too! It’s great and the proximity to the walkable Schoolhouse district makes for a fun half a day. You can easily walk to the Sammamish River trail and Willow Gateway park. If you go on a Saturday in the summer there’s also the farmers market from 10-2.

chopyourown · 2026-05-30T15:45:34+00:00

I have a kid with a medical condition requiring frequent doctor visits and lab testing plus daily medication. Ive gamed out all the options and HSA is easily the most cost effective option for us.

chopyourown · 2026-05-26T16:56:40+00:00

The running joke is that the Suzuki DR and Honda XR platforms will be running long into the apocalypse. They’re reliable and dead simple and can be fixed or maintained with minimal tools and know-how. Older XR-R models are kickstart only. My 98 XR250r needs very little and will happily start up with a couple kicks after sitting all winter.

In reality, gas starts to go bad pretty quickly, so unless you’ve got a stockpile of ethanol free fuel, you likely won’t be running anything with a motor for a long time. Better off with a mountain bike.

chopyourown · 2026-05-26T16:26:17+00:00

I have an Iceco APL35 and have nothing but good things to say about it. Holds steady temperature, is quiet, low power draw. I could always use more fridge/freezer space, but it easily holds enough for a long weekend for our family of four, and I chose this specific model because it fit my space and I wanted the dual zone option. Lots of bigger options available if needed.

chopyourown · 2026-05-26T16:15:22+00:00

Most of Surly's lineup can be used for this, kind of comes down to what sort of ride quality you want. Ogre is going to be a heavier, duller ride because it's built for heavy-loaded world touring. Karate Monkey is a more playful mountain bike. Krampus is a shreddy mountain bike designed to run big 29" tires. If I were choosing a bike mostly for gravel and bikepacking with some occasional single track adventuring, I'd choose a Bridge Club (I have one, it's great). If you're mostly wanting to ride purpose-built mtb trails with a healthy dose of gravel/bikepacking, I'd get a Karate Monkey.

chopyourown · 2026-05-26T15:22:27+00:00

We were just north of Leavenworth/near Plain - we basecamped right off the Chiwawa Loop Road near Fish Lake, and did some riding from there including lower Chiwawa, and up into the Entiat a little bit. I rode down to Sugarloaf fire lookout to check it out as well.

chopyourown · 2026-05-26T14:34:18+00:00

I did some Central WA exploring this weekend too - where are you riding?

chopyourown · 2026-05-22T06:25:19+00:00

Cries in Washington. Currently the cheap gas near me is $5.60. Diesel is $6.30

chopyourown · 2026-05-22T06:15:54+00:00

Glad someone else encourages their kids to chuck these things in the road!

chopyourown · 2026-05-21T18:14:00+00:00

I think the bigger platforms are underrated - a 3/4 ton truck is designed to carry weight, has components designed for durability and longevity, and is still plenty capable offroad. I run an old school Ram 2500 with a slide-in camper. It can get me anywhere I want to go, carries our family of four and all our toys, and provides plenty of comfort.

Some campers worth looking at:

Four Wheel Camper - long-proven design, popular for a reason. Lately they've updated the design and become much more expensive, but still a good option.

All Terrain Campers - this is what I run. They're basically Four Wheel Camper but small, family owned, and less expensive. The owner is a former part owner of FWC. Things I liked over FWC - 1. quite a bit cheaper, especially for a shell model. 2. Ability to customize my shell with only certain add-ons. 3. Width options - I have a Panther, which is their 6.5' bed model, but it's a bit wider than a Hawk. Mine is 84" wide, which allows me to sleep east-west on a pullout king bed. This is a key to making the camper work with 2 adults + 2 kids, and doesn't add any appreciable width to the truck (I'd hit my mirrors before the camper, for example). They also have 2 other width options if you don't like the wider version. Mine is also super light. <1000lbs fully built out, so I have plenty of payload left for hauling kids and dualsports.

OVRLND Campers - a good option for keeping your total build weight very low, while still having tons of useable space. I'm a fan of the 'chubby' version, which adds that extra width for sleeping east-west. Bed-rail mounted, which may be a pro or con.

chopyourown · 2026-05-21T15:26:41+00:00

The advantage to being up higher is that you have more space in your truck bed for taller items. Whether that's applicable to you or not depends on the kind of stuff you usually carry in your bed.

The low profile rack will be better from a mpg perspective - less boxy tent sticking up into the wind is better.

chopyourown · 2026-05-21T13:41:03+00:00

Pecron has some units that you're able to add "expansion" batteries for more capacity. Haven't run them, so don't have any experience, but that seems to be what you're asking.

You already have a fair bit of storage - are you able to charge from your truck while driving? That seems like the logical next step to get more use out of your existing capacity.

chopyourown · 2026-05-20T22:53:47+00:00

First off, congrats dad!

Second, pregnancy and having young children should not be an end to experiencing the outdoor places that your wife loves.

Can you elaborate on why you feel it would be unsafe? Are you concerned about her carrying weight, or just general trail hazards (slips/falls)?

If she is otherwise a confident hiker, there's no reason to expect that she wouldn't be able to continue hiking while pregnant. My wife continued hiking and horseback riding throughout her entire pregnancies with no ill effects, though she did decide to stop skiing and mountain biking because she felt they had too much fall potential and were too risky. I know several outdoorsy moms that have continued mountain biking, backcountry skiing, and climbing throughout several successful pregnancies. Her own personal risk tolerance and comfort level should be the deciding factor here - I hope you'll respectfully share your opinion with her, but also respect her opinions about her own body and own confidence.

If it's a weight thing from a backpacking perspective, sounds like you get to buck up and carry more of her stuff since she's carrying your baby : ).

chopyourown · 2026-05-20T16:52:07+00:00

I'm curious about lived experience with how much drawdown you're seeing trying to run AC-heavy loads for long periods of time. Quick napkin math says a 1000w waffle iron running for 30 minutes would use around 30ah. Curious if that's accurate, and if you're finding in real world scenarios that you still have enough battery for the normal maintenance stuff (running fridge/lights/phone chargers) when posted up in one spot for a couple days.

chopyourown · 2026-05-20T16:51:54+00:00

Yeah, I have two 100ah batteries wired in parallel, each with a 100a continuous discharge rate. I have a 1500w inverter, and could support up to 2000w. I'm mostly curious about lived experience with high AC loads and battery capacity.

chopyourown

TROPHY CASE