Four Wheel Blazer Pop-up, Finally found one

:unsure: Sounds like you are having some interesting trips, (as well as some of the characters you encounter here's to hoping you stay on the better end of those trips.
 
jmodge said:
:unsure: Sounds like you are having some interesting trips, (as well as some of the characters you encounter here's to hoping you stay on the better end of those trips.
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Interesting sure makes them easy to remember. It only seems to happen when we get near civilization. Might be we need to get further off the grid when we go. I'm ok with that. That's pretty easy to due desert romping, but playing in the Rockies is a tad bit harder.
 
Zoomad said:
Interesting sure makes them easy to remember. It only seems to happen when we get near civilization. Might be we need to get further off the grid when we go. I'm ok with that. That's pretty easy to due desert romping, but playing in the Rockies is a tad bit harder.
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We run in to a lot of interesting things in michigan also. Can't get as far from civilization here, although there are remote and neat spots. A person hasn't experienced Michigan unless they have travelled the dirt roads. Took us three days to get into the upper peninsula, a 200 mile trip. We met a family in an Alaskan camper from Tuscon on a ten week trip to New York. Couple years ago a couple from Toronto in a Vanagon whom had not been home in 2 1/2 years(they made me a little jealous, but I am happy for them)
 
jmodge said:
We run in to a lot of interesting things in michigan also. Can't get as far from civilization here, although there are remote and neat spots. A person hasn't experienced Michigan unless they have travelled the dirt roads. Took us three days to get into the upper peninsula, a 200 mile trip. We met a family in an Alaskan camper from Tuscon on a ten week trip to New York. Couple years ago a couple from Toronto in a Vanagon whom had not been home in 2 1/2 years(they made me a little jealous, but I am happy for them)
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We spent 7 years living in the Detroit metro area while I started my career at GM. One thing I regret was not going north in the summertime. We got as far as Frankenmuth, which is cool but we didn't go much beyond that. I did go up to my neighbor's cabin up on Sage lake for some ice fishing. Pretty country for sure. No offense, I did giggle when I saw my first Michigan ski area though.

I'd like to get back and explore the UP and the shoreline of the great lakes at some point, but that's a long haul from CO.
 
Zoomad said:
We spent 7 years living in the Detroit metro area while I started my career at GM. One thing I regret was not going north in the summertime. We got as far as Frankenmuth, which is cool but we didn't go much beyond that. I did go up to my neighbor's cabin up on Sage lake for some ice fishing. Pretty country for sure. No offense, I did giggle when I saw my first Michigan ski area though.

I'd like to get back and explore the UP and the shoreline of the great lakes at some point, but that's a long haul from CO.
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Yes, whole different area, our mountains are a bump in the road compared to what you have out west, I do like being near water all the time though. Hunted in Greybull Wyoming once and out to the Phoenix and Concho Lake area, Snake River Canyon. I was at the Grand Canyon probably the only time it was closed. In the 90's during a government shut down. They paid someone to turn people away, ha, government intelligence.
 
jmodge said:
Yes, whole different area, our mountains are a bump in the road compared to what you have out west, I do like being near water all the time though. Hunted in Greybull Wyoming once and out to the Phoenix and Concho Lake area, Snake River Canyon. I was at the Grand Canyon probably the only time it was closed. In the 90's during a government shut down. They paid someone to turn people away, ha, government intelligence.
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I do love our Rockies right out my front door. But the more I get in the deserts of the southwest the more I like them too. I will say this I like it all. The adventure is going and checking it out.
 
Went up for the weekend to screw around in the mountains a couple of days back. Camper got a good workout with the wife and one of my dogs coming along for the first time.

IMGP0002 by Rob Zulian, on Flickr

IMGP0006 by Rob Zulian, on Flickr

At the top of the trail for Pomeroy lake. We were at 11,500 ft here.
IMGP0007 by Rob Zulian, on Flickr
IMGP0017 by Rob Zulian, on Flickr

IMGP0018 by Rob Zulian, on Flickr

Lots of old mine relics in this part of Colorado. This is part of the Mary Murphy Mine.
IMGP0022 by Rob Zulian, on Flickr

IMGP0034 by Rob Zulian, on Flickr

Hankock pass.
IMGP0001 (2) by Rob Zulian, on Flickr

30,000 Gallon water tank for the old steam engine that rain up to the Apline Tunnel. The trail my truck is on was the old road bed for the rail line.
IMGP0014 (2) by Rob Zulian, on Flickr

Then the funny part. This is a fairly new Mazda CX-5 cross-over. Look closely and you'll see 3 flat tires in the pic. Actually all were flat, the bonus is the right front had come completely off the bead. This was 200ft from the summit of Tincup Pass. It's pretty tame for my K5 as trails go and your average stock 4wd truck can go over with no lift and a decent set of tires. But the size of the rocks kinda preclude taking a "Soft-Roader" over it with 40-series low profile tires and zero ground clearance. The poor car got beat to death. Rockers are missing trim and beat in by the rocks, even the doors got hit hard at the bottom.

IMGP0022 (2) by Rob Zulian, on Flickr

Minimum wrecker fee from a Tow operator in nearby Buena Vista Colorado was $250 per hour from when they leave the shop to where they drop it. Just getting to the top from the south trailhead would be 2.5 hours easy. We all laughed hard over this dummy.

IMGP0023 (2) by Rob Zulian, on Flickr
 
Nice photos Zoomad
Hope to be in the San Juan's next weekend. Hope to be needing jackets, been awfully hot here.
Thanks for sharing.

Russ
 
Great pictures, but you’re killing me!! I use to fish the Pomeroy lakes every summer. Hopefully you got a chance to wet a line. They were full of cutthroats, and some pretty good sized ones too. I took a buddy that grew up in NY up to the lakes one time and the steep and rutted hill near the top of the trail scared the heck out of him. He ended up getting out to walk up the hill - not an easy hike in the thin air.
I took my son up to nearby Hancock lake to fish and it was raining and the wind was howling. We stayed awhile, but when the storm passed the coyotes started howling. Really scared my son so we left.
Ahh, great memories. Thanks for sharing.

I wonder if the Mazda driver watched that new Kia commercial where they show a Sorento running trails at Moab. He probably figured if a Kia could do it . . .
 
Cougarcouple- You'll need jackets. We camped at about 11,000 ft of elevation each night and it got chilly.

EDR- This was my first time to Pomeroy. It's still steep and rocky at the top. It's pretty rocky the whole way up. Fun trail. We did most of it in the dark on the way up to where our friends we camped below the lake. That's always interesting to do.

We did visit Hancock lake too. I didn't fish since I didn't buy a license this year, but my buddies did in both. Caught cutthroat in each. I've camped before right at the Hancock lake parking area. We heard the coyotes once the sun went down too. Pretty cool.
 
PokyBro said:
Zoomad,

Great job on your continued build. Nothing like warmer weather to get you motivated!

Regarding your furnace wiring, I had a lot of trouble figuring that out too, and difficulty finding a diagram that made sense. But here is the information you're looking for. The black wire is ground, the red wire is positive. the blue wire goes to your thermostat, then the other wire that will leave the thermostat also goes to positive. On mine, I hooked the red wire to a fuse block, black to a ground bus bar grounded to the frame, and as I indicated above, there will need to be another wire leaving the thermostat that also got connected to the positive fuse block. Your thermostat will have two screws to attach wires.

Hope that helps, give it a try!

Poky
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Well I finally got around to wiring the furnace and t-stat in. Following your guide I wired everything in. I hooked up the regulator to the propane tank and turned the main power on. I dialed up the temp to it's highest setting and the blower came on like it should. No heat though. I shut everything down, rechecked the regulator and gave it a couple of taps for good measure. Turned it back on and the burner lit off. I got heat now. It belts it out. Turned the t-stat down and the burner shut off and the blower kept running for a few more minutes to cool down before shutting off on it's own.

I buttoned it all back up again and called it a day. Outside of a quick cleanup it is ready for the next mountain run in a couple of weeks. We will probably need the heater for sure. At least this time the t-stat will regulate and keep me from boiling in the upper bunk.
 
OP you might already know about this group...Yahoo Autos Groups Chalet/Casa Grande owners & enthusiasts forum.
 
sourdough said:
OP you might already know about this group...Yahoo Autos Groups Chalet/Casa Grande owners & enthusiasts forum.
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Yep very aware of that group. Sadly, not much crosses over between the Chinook camper used for the Chalet and the blazer fwc. But I do follow along for tips or ideas to swipe that might work in mine.

One of the main members there is on here and ck5.com and we share info pretty regularly.

Thanks for the heads up though!
 
Completed a 3 day run a couple of weekends ago. My son and I went up with my friends Larry and Ian in Larry's K10 and Pam and John in the Jeep. I set up the run to tackle the Wheeler Lake trail outside of Fairplay CO and then Mosquito Pass to Leadville.

Wheeler Lake is a rated Moderate to Difficult depending on the trail website you look at. It was pretty challenging for sure but the views and the lake up there was more than worth it.

Here we are at Montgomery Reservoir finishing airing down.
Wheeler lake and Mosquito pass trail run 2018 by Rob Zulian, on Flickr


The trail quickly makes its way up to the Magnolia mill which is one of the many mine relics in the area.
Wheeler lake and Mosquito pass trail run 2018 by Rob Zulian, on Flickr

The first of three major obstacles is named the flopper. It tends to tip your ride right into the rock on the driver's side. Larry taking the line through.
IMGP0006 by Rob Zulian, on Flickr

John getting close and comfy with the rock.
IMGP0012 by Rob Zulian, on Flickr


Here I'm coming up to the second major hard spot named the v-notch.
Wheeler lake and Mosquito pass trail run 2018 by Rob Zulian, on Flickr

This is one big slab to attack. My line choice got me hung up enough I had to pull cable from the winch to get over it.
IMGP0013 by Rob Zulian, on Flickr


I really could use a locker out back.
IMGP0015 by Rob Zulian, on Flickr


Larry took a different line altogether and it was even harder, It illustrated the need for him to get the front ARB installed. I ended up having to pull him up a couple of feet with my winch to clear it.
IMGP0028 by Rob Zulian, on Flickr


John on the other hand made it look easy. But running ARB's front and rear with the right line will do that.
IMGP0029 by Rob Zulian, on Flickr


The leaves were starting to change too. The valley was popping with color.
IMGP0033 by Rob Zulian, on Flickr


For a change of pace, Larry managed to break something instead of me this time. He tagged the steering link and stabilizer shock on a large rock. Ian removed the offending stabilizer and we pressed on.
Wheeler lake and Mosquito pass trail run 2018 by Rob Zulian, on Flickr


The final hard spot is a fairly long steep climb up what is called Bowling Ball Hill. As the name implies it's filled with large loose rocks that like to spit out from under your tires as you go. It added to the fun for sure. Plus near the top was a nice wet hole with a couple of muddy ledges to get over to move on. I barely scrambled through it. Larry without any traction device in the front axle couldn't pull over it. He had to take to the cable again.

Wheeler lake and Mosquito pass trail run 2018 by Rob Zulian, on Flickr


Setting up camp.
Wheeler lake and Mosquito pass trail run 2018 by Rob Zulian, on Flickr


The lake. Wheeler lake and Mosquito pass trail run 2018 by Rob Zulian, on Flickr

More camp.
 
Wheeler lake and Mosquito pass trail run 2018 by Rob Zulian, on Flickr


Coming back down by the Magnolia mill.
Wheeler lake and Mosquito pass trail run 2018 by Rob Zulian, on Flickr

We had to backtrack to Fairplay to get a replacement stabilizer shock as any speed over 45 with the swampers induced some wicked death wobble.
Wheeler lake and Mosquito pass trail run 2018 by Rob Zulian, on Flickr

Onward up Mosquito Pass. 2nd highest pass you can drive over in the state.
Wheeler lake and Mosquito pass trail run 2018 by Rob Zulian, on Flickr

More mine relics. This is the mill for the London mine located much higher up the pass.
Wheeler lake and Mosquito pass trail run 2018 by Rob Zulian, on Flickr

Part of the London mine. This was a building for the aerial cable system used to bring the ore down from the mine to the mill.
Wheeler lake and Mosquito pass trail run 2018 by Rob Zulian, on Flickr

Mosquito Pass summit, 13,185 feet above sea level.
Wheeler lake and Mosquito pass trail run 2018 by Rob Zulian, on Flickr

We camped down the pass some. Dropped back below timberline at least.
Wheeler lake and Mosquito pass trail run 2018 by Rob Zulian, on Flickr


Pretty good run. The furnace ran good except for the massive squeek from the blower motor. Everybody heard it. I didn't have any WD-40 onboard. That and the furnace won't run well when you run it out of propane. Figured that out around 5:30am on the second night.

Going out again for an overnighter back up on the Pomeroy lake trail again.
 
Nice Zoomad
Looking like some fun times. Sometimes we don't have everything we wanted, but I bet you still had a great time!

Russ
 
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