routlaw

Thanks, and agreed its impossible to get enough of this place. True about the Olivers as well, very easy to get into almost any space and back country roads as long as they don’t too extreme.

Thanks a bunch, glad it was helpful. I will not be able to make it to the rally however. Good luck with your photography endeavors though.

Adding a few more from the trip mostly from Nine Mile Canyon in the Book Cliffs area. Stayed a couple of nights at the Nine Mile Ranch which is around 7,000 feet elevation and were told we were the first campers as they had just opened for the season. They do have cabins and bed & breakfast facilities here. Very nice people, seems to be well run but you wouldn't mistake it for a 5 Star facility, considerably more rustic than that. No cell service in here and it is NOT nine miles long, nor 9 miles from anything. No idea where the name came from. All BLM land interspersed with private ranch land and very undeveloped. There are no other camping facilities throughout the canyon and apparently pull off camping is discouraged however there are some gravel roads that intersect from the paved canyon road where boodocking is a possibility. The canyon road itself is smooth as a baby's butt, but go slow there are numerous large dips due to flash floods from adjoining creeks should anyone decide to go in here. Nine Mile Ranch camground View of the Nine Mile Canyon looking west Ancient Freemont Culture Village Petroglyph Detail of Book Cliffs geology and rock formations The Big Hunt The Big Bison petroglyph pictograph Larger view of pictograph above with more recent cowboy inclusions Known as the Owl petroglyph Wild Horse Canyon view Large group site in the San Rafael Reef area, not recommended during the weekends. Note the only facility are a few picnic tables and pit toilets. NO WATER anywhere within miles. Bring your own. Black Dragon Canyon Large Pictograph in Black Dragon Canyon Detail from above Another detail Little Horse Canyon in the slot Another long view of the Blue Mountains and San Rafael Swell

Also just a quick word about the camera gear sensing that many on this forum have a deep interest in photography to one degree or the other. These photos were taken with either a Nikon Z7 mirrorless, Nikon D810 or my iPhone 13 shooting in RAW and developing in Lightroom then off to Photoshop for final edits. For the iPhone I use either Pro Cam or Halide for the app to capture in RAW, the difference between either of these two and the built in camera is night and day but does require some post production work. Hopefully this will be helpful for those interested.

I hear you @SeaDawg on occasion you can find some of these amazing pieces of rockart in pristine condition but its not usually the case. The thing is it still goes on. If you dig around on the internet for locations normally you'll find post people keeping these a tight secret, under lock and key so to speak and for good reason. The people on this forum I would trust a considerably more and thus provide some general info about where they are, but if posting on Instagram and Facebook I do not provide one hint about there location and that includes even very well known ones such as the Rochester Panel above. Thanks

Thanks @dewdev and @Patriotto answer the question the temps and weather were unseasonably cooler than normal. We arrived the last week of March and returned around April 4th I think. Night temps were below freezing every night with a couple into the 20's. The highest temp my truck recorded for outside was 61º but that only lasted an hour or so. Most hikes in the 40's to low 50's heat of the day with wind, and in those slot canyons those temps with wind can be cool. A couple of days it poured rain, buckets and sheets coming down from all directions which kept us off some back roads in the northern part of San Rafael area. I've learned my lesson when it says not passable when wet they are not kidding. We got out of the area where the Sinbad pictographs are just in the nick of time too. The road bed there is very soft deep sand, looking at torrential downpours in our rear view mirror on that one. The pictographs generally represent hunter and gatherer societies, nomads on the move and tend to be roughly 2,000 to 10,000 years old but this particular panel blew us away due to its pristine condition. Petroglyphs are more recent normally considered 700-1400 years old. Sadly many of these ancient archives have been vandalized severely, everything from bullet holes to spray paint. Brought shorts, never put them on the entire trip, LOL.

@Kirk Peterson thanks, glad you enjoyed them. Will post a few more later.

Thanks! @topgun2 Might just do that. At one point this slot got so thin we literally had to walk sideways for perhaps a 100 yards and about half way through here comes a pregnant lady with her other two kids on the way out as we were going in. Very tight squeeze at that point but everybody took it in good humor.

Returned a few weeks ago from a trip into Utah again, this time hitting a few places that have been on my bucket list for years. Weather was not ideal but we made the best of it, great hikes and adventures with some photos. Thanks for looking. Boondocking in the San Rafael Reef Formation known as the Temple Mount, San Rafael Reef View looking southwest to the Henry Mountains and San Rafael Swell & Reef Trudi peeking out of Oliver Hike in Wild Horse Canyon, San Rafael Reef Head of Sinbad Pictograph panel, San Rafael Swell Another view of the same panel above San Rafael Reef canyon wall, land of the tortured stone More tortured stone from San Rafael The textures in some of these rock walls is amazing from centuries of weathered torture 😂 via hike in the Little Horse Canyon More rock walls from Little Horse Canyon Trudi hiking through the slot canyon section of Little Horse Canyon More slot canyon views from Little Horse Canyon A geologist dream scape I suppose, most slot canyon of the Little Horse The Rochester Panel Detail from the Rochester Panel

Hopefully you do understand its not the size of the wet bath so much as how much water you are carrying around and how fast the gray tank fills up. Understand you will NOT be taking Hollywood showers unless you are in campground with full hookups. You will be amazed at how fast you can empty a full fresh water tank and fill up a gray holding tank. 36 gallons does not go far in the boonies. Glorified bird baths is closer to what you will be doing if boon docking or camping without full hookups.

You have to understand with a dual fiberglass shell the Oliver Elite II is already quite heavy for its size, at 25 or 27 feet that weight would grow considerably. Based upon your description above I suspect the Oliver is not a good fit for your needs or desires, unless you decide to make some serious compromises. Understand too that AS you looked at is at least 8 foot wide and probably 8.5 foot which becomes an entirely different game when towing compared to the 7 foot wide Oliver. Personally I don't care if Oliver ever decides to make a larger one, it would not interest me one iota given how we camp and travel. Another option for you to consider is the Lance Travel Trailers and IMHO they are made to a much different standard than other boxy trailers. I personally feel their quality control is noticeably better than AS though the AS's really look cool especially on the inside. Nice designs! If you go the Lance route, no one will ever ask to see the inside or ask for a tour of the trailer with an Oliver you have to figure on doing this at almost every campground you arrive at. This has been the case for us going on 7 years. Good luck with your decision process and welcome to the group.

Wow! That is an amazing amount of gear to travel around with, for me its been perhaps half or less than that and its never occurred to me to be prepared to change bearings while out. There have been only very few times when I have had to reach for any of my tools at least with the Oliver and then only minor things, previous campers well that's a different story. Maybe I've just been lucky. Also amazed you were able to do all 4 sets of bearings in half a day ±. Heck I once had to rebuild a VW engine in a Nebraska campground in the first week of November no less because the flywheel came loose from the crankshaft. This was not a pleasant experience. Young and stupid years. Amazingly my wife is still with me, not sure what she was thinking. 🤔

Just curious having read through this thread a couple of times. How much or many tools and extra parts do you all carry around with you while camping/traveling? It would appear quite a bit requiring a substantial tool chest. Thus far I've been able to get by with a modest size tool box and usually keep it stored in the rear basement storage area accessed from the outside. From what most of you are describing your tool box or chest would seemingly be carried in the back of a truck bed or equivalent. Doesn't sound like it would fit the rear storage area. This also begs the question, aside from Oliver owners, is this level road trip maintenance preparedness normal? Finally how long does it take each of you (approximately) to perform these maintenance procedures?

Regarding the door, did this happen going down the road or while opened at camp? I’ve been in some extreme wind myself while towing but never had that happen. You can just about always depend on heavy winds in the southwest, still I’m addicted to going down there.

We are in Bozeman, but that’s a ways down the road from Moscow. LMK

Curious what did you use? Hard to tell from the photo. Even though I swore I wouldn’t do it, but am on the verge of springing for the lithium batteries right now and planning out various ways to insulate and seal.

Hmm, seem odd. There a few in Montana including mine. Yeah with LiFePO4’s you most likely wouldn’t want vents in the battery compartment especially up here in the northern hinterlands. Better to keep them insulated and warm than cold. Don’t know what part of ID you’re in but PM me if you would like to see ours.

Can you elaborate on that? Thanks if so.

Have you inspected the anode rod? Could be its shot and needs replacement, especially since its not working on both sources of energy.

Yep, Ryan Gurin was the guy I've dealt with. Also agree the to deep dive into the IPN Remote Controller is not for sissies either, perhaps my only complaint about the system. Also FWIW even Battle Born Batteries which is very particular about what is used with their batteries seems to think positively of Blue Sky. I'm sure impressed.

Just wanted to report on some extraordinary customer service I have received from Blue Sky Energy a division of Sunforge that manufactures the Blue Sky Solar Boost model 3024iL I have on my Oliver. After our return home from a week in southern Utah the thing died on me out of nowhere. Called the company the engineer or tech guy had me go through a few of the settings on the IPN Remote controller and decided I should send it. Said they would repair it for free, this after 7 years of use and 2 years out of warranty. Only thing I had to loose was shipping to the company and of course I gladly obliged. Turns out the inductor had a broken leg, so they replaced that as well as the relay, and updated the firmware then packed it back up and its on its way back all in one day. No charge, not even for the return postage. Wow! I don't why Oliver decided to eliminate this company from their solar setups but I rarely if ever have experienced such great support. Highly recommended for anyone needing a solar charging system. Thanks

Used the lego type blocks in the past but this year bought the Andersen Levelers and really like them. Quick and easy.

Yeah that engine will pin you to the back of your seat for sure. 😂

Good information. I had been under the impression the PB F150 had a much smaller gas tank. We have an older F150 3.5 Eco Boost and under ideal conditions which doesn't always happen out west we can get up to 14.5 mpg towing our Elite II and only a few times has it dropped down to as low as 10 mpg and that was under some terrible driving conditions with howling winds. Averages fall somewhere in between. I do find it odd Ford did not allow this setup to use battery power to assist in towing however.

Can you imagine taking a 600-700 mile (one way) camping trip with necessary charging every 100-150 miles which takes what was it 45 minutes for a DC quick charge and that's if you can find a charge station you can fit into without unhitching and re-hitching. Might take 2-3 days to get to your destination. Puts new meaning on plan ahead. I've not heard of Lithium sulphur batteries, will look into that.