Lessons learned on numerous photo camping trips, many to the San Juans, in Southwestern Colorado

What follows are things that I experienced (both things to repeat and things to avoid) during numerous "truck-camping" trips to areas of south, central and southwest Colorado in summer and fall. These trips netted all of the images in the Fall Color section of my gallery. These productive trips also contributed significantly to the images in the Mountains gallery. Though these observations and suggestions are written from the standpoint of one person working alone for a few days and sleeping in a pickup with the passenger seat fully reclined, many would easily apply to other configurations, such as if you drive a 4Runner or other enclosed pickup-frame vehicle. Quite a few of these suggestions also apply to any sort of vehicle-based outing, so take what you need and ignore what obviously doesn't apply to you for the trip you're planning and the vehicle you drive.

Finally, my legal people tell me that I ought to say something to the effect that "You are responsible for yourself in the wilderness, so don't take my word as a suggestion to put yourself into danger" -- so here goes: You are indeed responsible for your own backcountry conduct; what I've published here is intended to make your excursion safer, more organized and more productive, but ultimately safety is an active choice and personal concern; I cannot be responsible for your conduct. If you are the one person out of 10,000 who feels that I am suggesting that you trespass, drive dangerously or aggressively, or that you put yourself between a sow and her cubs, you are grievously mistaken and should stop reading. If, however, you want to benefit from my positive experiences and a few mishaps, please read on. Oh also, if you see any of your trademarks or products listed here or linked to, I acknowledge that they're your trademarks and I'm grateful that you make them so well; I hope you don't mind my sending a few people to your websites.

This document contains the following sections; you can skip to any one by clicking its link below.

Safety first

• Map out your destinations. Make a copy of that sheet and leave it with a responsible party.
• Check in periodically with that responsible party and levelset with them when you expect your next check-in will be. Agree on a plan of action should you fail to check in.
• Have at least one first-aid kit with you. I have a larger one in the truck and a smaller one with me in my photo backpack. Review their contents so you know what your treatment capabilities are. Refresh any outdated medications.
• Buy, read, understand and bring along a quality backcountry medical manual. It isn't fun reading, but it's essential.
• Buy or make, and know how to use, a survival kit. Also, The Wilderness Medical Institute (WMI) of the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) offers a 10-day intensive wilderness first-responder course in which you may consider enrolling.
• Always carry a Mylar survival bag in your camera backpack, as well as an extra water bottle and a couple granola bars or a bag of gorp. If possible, store food items outside of the main compartment (for instance in an outside pocket) to minimize crumbs and water accidents. "Wet cleanup in aisle 5" is no laughing matter when it involves an $1800 lens.
• Though I've only seen one bear in Colorado in ten years of hiking, camping and photo treks, don't act as if they (or mountain lions, for that matter) are not around. Keep a very clean camp. Don't leave food out. Don't leave your stove out overnight. Don't sleep with your food or your stove. If you have nowhere else to keep your food while you sleep, at least hang your food from a tree a minimum of ten feet off the ground and six feet out from the trunk on a strong branch. Tie your accessory cord around a rock to get it strung to the tree limb. If you use a tent, bring only the absolute essentials for sleep, and that doesn't include toothpaste, a toothbrush, soap or anything fragrant. Don't bring a midnight snack. Leave it all in your vehicle, sealed up and completely out of view, or hung from the tree. If you frequent the Yosemite valley or the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, you already know all these suggestions and more, so I'll not waste your time. In especially bear-prone sites (Great Sand Dunes and Black Canyon of the Gunnison immediately come to mind), follow all posted directions to the letter, including using bear-proof containers either that you brought or rented, or that are supplied on site. For further reading, you may be interested in the National Park Service's Bear Behavior Field Guide.
  
  ↑ Return to top

Planning

• Use your mapped-out locations as your primary destinations, but remain flexible to abruptly rethink your plans should you experience new opportunities, or unforseen complications.
• Don't plan a driving day that demands so many miles that you miss one or both golden hours.
• Only use highways and interstates when necessary. Very few major paved roads in Colorado have the stunning views that county roads and Forest Roads have. Like some people I know, I highlight the roads I've driven on, in my Colorado Atlas, and circle areas of interest. While this makes an upgrade of the Atlas very time-consuming, it exponentially increases its usefulness during its lifespan. I also have highlighted all passes, and record GPS readings for optimum photographic sites.
• For many reasons, you can't average 50 mph on back-roads. Don't plan your destinations so that you're rushed.
• Cook, enjoy and clean up dinner before the evening golden hour. Have a snack later (but not in your tent). It's a treat to have warm water ready in an insulated bottle to make tea or hot chocolate later.
• Eat breakfast after the morning golden hour, or well before it.
• Break camp well before sunrise, or well after.
• Bring a customized, printed solar/lunar ephemeris chart, if your GPS doesn't have that function built in. If you don't have software to generate a chart, here is an excellent, free program to do so. Follow the links to Ephemeris 1.0; both a PC version and also a PocketPC version are posted here. For you PalmOS users, here's a related program by a different author. I find that a windshield visor is a convenient place to stash a folded ephemeris chart preprinted with this sunrise/sunset data for all of my destinations.
  
  ↑ Return to top

Staying found

• Don't skimp on detailed roadmaps. High-quality, recent, detailed maps are your friends. I'll offer an unpaid and unabashed endorsement of the excellent series of large-format Atlas and Gazetteer topo maps by DeLorme. I own 11 of these and find that some get so much use that I have to pre-tape their bindings and inside middle page crease to delay the inevitable destruction that heavy use inflicts on them.
• Bring sufficient topo maps to get you where you want to go when the atlas runs out of detail. Strong products in this category are the State and Park series plasticine topos by Trails Illustrated. Their ever-increasing catalog of detailed, up-to-date maps truly is impressive. The maps survive immersion, snow, re-folding, abrasion and being opened when encrusted with ice; they also put up with a surprising degree of abuse by pets, relatives and lost strangers you meet on the trail.
• Bring (and know how to use) a GPS or other navigational aid that doesn't rely on sunlight to operate.
• Don't rely on a cell phone to help you navigate or be found. In many backcountry areas you will have no reception.
• Remember: at least in Colorado, all drainages lead to civilization (though some lead to waterfalls first).
  
  ↑ Return to top

General and camera equipment

• Don't forget your tripod.
• Bring all tools necessary to adjust your tripod.
• Bring at least a few small tools and accessories to adjust and clean your camera and lenses. These might include a micro screwdriver, and should always include a brush-blower combination and a silk cleaning cloth.
• Don't be caught without a wide-angle, normal and tele lens. One all-purpose zoom might do in a pinch. I have often rounded a corner and come onto a stunning scene that begged to be on film. If my camera had been very inaccessible, rather than already mounted on the tripod and ready to use, I might have reconsidered and kept on driving. Make it as easy as possible to exit the vehicle, camera in hand, and get that shot. I drive with it in the passenger seat.
• Bring what will seem too much film or extra digital media. You will NOT find Velvia or more compact flash digital media in small towns, and cutting your trip short due to running out of film or memory is truly unfortunate.
• Always, always carry a pocketknife or Leatherman that has at least one blade and a screwdriver. I can't tell you how many times I've bailed out somebody who didn't have a knife, and how many times I've appreciated having both a blade and a screwdriver. If you'll be flying to your destination, be certain that all tools regardless of size and composition go in your checked luggage. You do NOT want to have them confiscated out of your carryons.
• Consider bringing a backup camera. Your destination may well be visually stunning without looking through a viewfinder, but you went there in large part to take pictures. If your only camera dies, a significant portion of your rationale for being there is gone.
• Bring the instructions.
• If you just bought a portable hard drive to put your digital shots onto, test both saving to it and reading from it, before you head out on your trip.
• Bring those instructions too.
• If your destination is particularly dusty or gritty, such as the San Luis valley and Great Sand Dunes Park and Preserve store your camera and lenses in closed ZipLoc baggies inside your regular camera-bag. In dusty and sandy areas, the grime you feel on yourself also gets into your equipment, even inside a camera bag. This is especially a problem with digital cameras, where the CCD can quickly become covered with dust, if the case isn't sealed.
• If your destination is an ocean beach, use your lens cap constantly when the camera isn't in use, or unseen wind-deposited salt will very quickly (literally a matter of minutes -- like the duration of a sunset) fog over your lens to the point of certain image degradation. Similarly protect your ND grad filters, if you use them.
• Bring fresh batteries for all electronic devices. If some batteries are working fine and not ready to be replaced before your trip, still consider bringing extras; it's hard if not impossible to find nonstandard sizes outside of major metropolitan areas. Unless your camera is specifically made to use alkaline batteries, use silver oxide when possible, and take them to a toxic waste dropoff site when they're spent. If lightening your load is high on your priority list, buy lithium batteries but beware the price. Look within the same store for different packaging or location of lithium batteries that will save you money. Example: I bought eight lithium AA batteries off an end-cap at Target for only 50¢ more than the cost of one four-pack from the electronics department. Hmmmmmmm.
  
  ↑ Return to top

Packing

• Remove every nonessential item from the glove compartment and seat console and restock them with your most useful utility items, such as an extra flashlight and extra roll of TP (flattened, for compactness).
• Don't stow your extra film or digital media where you'll never think of it, especially in the glove compartment or console (which both heat up while driving). Having to search through exposed rolls at the bottom of your camera bag to find your unexposed ones is far preferable to thinking you have no more left, giving up, and driving home, when your unused film actually resides in another bag or location that you don't typically associate with film. Better still is devoting one pocket of your bag to exposed film, and another to unexposed. Don't have pockets? Sew some on. Don't know how to sew? Take your bag to an outdoor shop like our favorite, REI, and see if they'll do it for you. Many will, and at a reasonable cost. To contain exposed 120 film, I glued felt to all surfaces of a coffee can, and now dump the exposed rolls in there for a light-tight fairly durable safe deposit box. I'd like a screw-on lid, but that's just not to be, with such a cheap alternative. I'm brainstorming other similarly inexpensive, durable and light-tight storage bins with a screw-on lid that can hold as many 120 rolls as the coffee can will (around 30), however nothing has materialized yet.
• Stock your vehicle with well thought out, useful items. Don't pack many "just in case" items -- if you KNOW you'll need it, bring it; if you have serious doubts or know deep-down that you won't, leave it at home. For instance, though snow is a possibility at virtually any elevation most anytime in Colorado, significant snow is something of an uncommon occurrence in early October in the southern Rockies because the westerlies aren't yet firmly entrenched at that time; so why bring gaiters, extra boots and your winter parka?
• Pile up all of your supplies on the living room floor before you leave. Ask yourself do you really need all that for x days of camping, and just as importantly, will you be comfortable coexisting with all that gear for a number of days?
• Don't bring too many backpacks. Granite Gear's soft-sided compression bags are excellent for stowing clothes, pillows and such. They save room, can be used as padding, tie down or clip easily into carabiners, have quickly stowed straps, and fit easily into larger bags as needed to minimize clutter. The typical internal-frame backpack with a hip belt does none of these things well, but of course is invaluable if you're going to hike away from your vehicle for an overnight or longer. In sum: know what your purpose is, and pack using the right bags.
• I'm still experimenting, but having fresh sets of clothes (at least a shirt and undies) packed in separate ditty-bags is pretty dang convenient and avoids the "have-I-worn-this-before?" dilemma that each day with a hurried morning photo frenzy brings. Alternately, you may choose to sleep in, or at least with, the next day's clothes.
• Invest in a small army of snap-on and screw-lid storage bottles of various sizes, for Q-tips, seasonings, vitamins and medication, etc. Anything larger than 5-10 cc is probably too large unless you're packing for three, or out for over a week.
• For car-camping and short hikes with 35mm equipment, I'll load my camera equipment into a simple padded nylon top-loading book bag. I wrap each smaller lens in a unique color of bandana to distinguish one from the other and to protect them from themselves and from my 80-200 f/2.8. If you have no large lenses, you may wish to invest in a dedicated belt pack storage system. Because I carry too much 35mm gear (when I use my 35mm system), I use a book-bag. What I like about this over-the-shoulder bag is its ability to be held open and be located right on me, in front and convenient. With a backpack, I have to take it off, set it down somewhere farily clean and fairly flat, unzip it, etc. It's a lot of work. It's also bad practice to leave your backpack exposed, since stuff can fall into it, passers by can borrow items from it, you can forget it (yes, you can), and in the case of shoreline photography, it can be inundated with water (yes, that too can happen). For smaller systems, invest in something that stays ON you and keeps your equipment convenient: you'll be so much happier, really. Be certain that you can securely shut a book-bag like the one I described, so your expensive equipment won't fall out if the bag rolls off the seat while you're driving (or dancing out of the way of a wave). Load up your big, expensive backpack for the virtual camera store of equipment it allows you to bring on a hike, but leave it in the truck for short walks and the inevitable grind-to-a-halt photo ops. For medium-format equipment, a bag such as the book-bag simply isn't the right thing, I've had to admit. For mine, I rely on a large Lowepro bag instead, and deal with the weight and some level of inconvenience, especially in rain.
  
  ↑ Return to top

Camping

• Camp between 9,800 and 11,200 feet on National Forest land: National Forest land because it's typically public (check signs or ask if unsure) and typically free (this is always marked); between 9,800 and 11,200 feet because that elevation range in Southwestern Colorado is very likely to contain great stands of aspen interspersed with fragrant spruce and fir, which makes for a memorable experience and a quick start the next morning. You will often be able to avoid the company of loud neighbors often encountered at reservoirs, recreation sites and state and national parks.
• Use dispersed campsites whenever possible. Typically more remote than common campgrounds, these spoil you with their privacy and locale. Yahoo's travel guides and the USDA Forest Service page are great starting points to find campsites in your National Forests.
• If you're still in town 30 minutes before sunset, you're screwed for getting to a campsite at 10,000 feet while it's still light (remember to bring the ephemeris chart). Don't put yourself in the position of having to negotiate Forest Roads in the dark. If you do find this is the case out of sheer necessity, either get ready for a tough drive to a campsite, or spend the night in a hotel.
• Bring guidebooks and reference material for after-dinner research while you're still wide awake but the sun has long since set. One strong guidebook in this category is the Sierra Club Naturalist Guide to the Southern Rockies.
• Bring at least two different flashlights or other portable sources of light. In my experience, there is no single ideal lantern or flashlight that works for every occasion. I bring a compact fluorescent lamp, a large D-cell handheld and a small, waterproof handheld. I also have compact LED lamps on my keychain. Bring a variety of binder clips or short strings if you need to secure these lights to various points in your vehicle.
• Consider keeping a hidden extra key for your vehicle. There are obvious pros and cons to this, so weigh the alternatives and make the most sane choice. If you're prone to losing your keys, the choice is probably clear. If you can't take the risk of someone potentially breaking into your vehicle upon finding your key, that choice also is clear, as is the responsibility for keeping your keys on you at all times. I have stitched a locking clip into my pants pocket, so I'm assured that my keys won't come loose at an inopportune moment.
• To keep mosquitoes at bay, I cut some screen and velcroed it to the truck's window frames. If you want to also do this, cut it larger than you think you need, and trim once it's installed. While the idea has merit and my execution of it wasn't perfect, it does fulfill its purpose. One warm July night on Grand Mesa without screen proved to me the utter necessity of proper screening to ensure both good ventilation and exclusion of bloodsucking insects. If you do take on some mosquitoes in your vehicle, just turn on the dome light for a bit -- they'll mostly ignore you and head for the light...and be easier targets.
• As one of your two or more personal lighting choices, bring a head-lamp, preferably one that allows for beam-focusing. Take your pick of a dizzying array of LED- and incandescent-based systems ranging in price from $15 to over $150. When choosing one, keep in mind your needs: will you hike at night with it, strictly use it for reading before bed, or need it to cover many scenarios. Must it be very lightweight or can it be a few ounces, would you like the battery pack in front, on the sides, in back, or on your hip with a cable...
• Bring a variety of good, new music, if you enjoy listening.
• If there are things you LOVE doing at home, narrow down the list and if at all possible bring one or two of those things along as creature-comforts or to cut potential boredom.
  
  ↑ Return to top

Foodstuffs

• Well-made toast would be an incredible camping luxury to me. I bought a stove-mounted toaster, but haven't had much of a chance to try it out yet, and I'm not altogether certain I want to, since the heat of the stove immediately oxidized the aluminum coating and darkened it quite a bit. I don't want Alzheimer's later on. This accessory cost a measly $3.25 at REI, but I haven't contacted them yet concerning its safety. If you get one of these, make sure you use the wire rack for any toasting, or your food will either burn or stick to the diffuser or both.
• Don't use a liquid-fuel stove unless you're really good at using them. Get propane for its utter simplicity; light the match, turn the knob, and poof. When truck-camping, you'll really never be so far from a town that you'll have to rely on siphoning gas from your truck or buying kerosene from a third-world vendor.
• If you need to, use a cooler to keep your food contained, but don't rely on ice. A very wide variety of surprisingly tasty dehydrated and freeze-dried meals and food are availble that require no refrigeration. For short photo trips, I have gotten away entirely from coolers due to their bulk, and pack food in a heavy canvas bag instead. Anything that needs to stay cool goes on the roof of the truck overnight.
• If you do use ice, a cooler that has a threaded drain plug is a really smart idea.
• If you do use ice, be certain that you can absolutely waterproof items that go in the cooler.
• If you do use ice, don't immediately assume that all items that look waterproof *are* waterproof.
• If you do use ice, bring cloth towels to mop up items that you extracted from the pool of cold water. Don't store the towels in the ice-bearing cooler, even in a seemingly airtight baggie.
• Sorry to put this bluntly, but don't bring food that will necessitate frequent and messy bathroom breaks. I don't presume to understand your needs, but humbly suggest that 'staying regular' probably can wait until you're in a more controlled and less sensitive environment.
• Bring one or two rigid, two-handled heavy-duty plastic 7-gallon containers of water, and strap it/them securely to the truck so they don't crush anything if they shift. I have tie-downs in the bed of my pickup that work perfectly for this. If the water must be stored inside, for instance if you drive a 4Runner, test the container before you leave on your trip, to be certain it doesn't leak.
• Bring a 2.5-gallon collapsible PVC water jug and keep it handy inside your vehicle for refilling your 1-liter Nalgene bottles and providing hydration for cooking. I protect and carry my collapsible in a small canvas bag with straps. I trust the overall integrity of PVC collapsibles, but just don't trust the handles not to prematurely pull out and flood my boots, or (more likely) slowly leak all over the floor of the jumpseat. If you get one of these, be sure to store it in such a way that its valve cannot be accidentally opened. After the PVC bag's valve opened on me a few times while four-wheeling, I have also tried, with pleasing success, the use of large (1-gallon), tough juice containers instead of the 2.5-gallon PVC collapsible.
  
  ↑ Return to top

Staying clean and healthy

• Bring and use Wet-Ones, either alcohol-based or not. Many people let down their guard when camping, and don't practice the good hygeine they do at home. Don't let this happen. If anything, increase your care in keeping clean, while camping. I read a recent article that traced a number of serious food-borne ailments encountered during camping, back to the poor hygeine of those who prepared the food. Now I realize this directly contradicts good camp etiquitte if you're in bear country; you'll have to find a balance between a completely scent-free camp and keeping clean.
• Don't expect that every outhouse will have toilet paper. Bring your own and use your own. Bring double the amount you think you'll need.
• Don't expect that every outhouse will have its own alcohol-based hand disinfectant. Bring your own to the outhouse. I find that Purell Instant Hand Sanitizer is effective and easy to find, isn't animal-tested, and doesn't break the bank.
• No-rinse shampoo substitute works surprisingly well. Make sure you have a towel to clean off with, or this "magic bottle" will have virtually no effect.
• Bring liquid biodegradable soap and use it for everything. I even clean my gas-perm hard contacts with a carefully dispensed tiny drop of it. I have used strictly Sierra Dawn's Campsuds to clean my rigid gas-perm contacts since spring of 2003 with no ill effects.
• For short trips, don't bother bringing a sun-shower. The highs may creep up into the 60s or lower 70s (15 - 22°C), but that's just too cold for most people to take a shower. I end up using a Wet-One during the day when it's warmer. Some portable water heaters are available for showering, and some have pumps. As with many things, you can spend whatever you want on these accessories.
• As a vegetarian, I would like to think my food choices don't expose me to the potential hazards that fresh or frozen meat does, but I'm still careful with my cooking. Whenever possible, I only use a cookpot to boil water, and use other containers (typically smaller or disposable) to reconstitute or contain food. I do bring a small hand-held kitchen brush and use Campsuds and water to clean utensils and non-disposable serving ware immediately after use. Using a bit of paper towel or TP first as a squeegie for dirty cookware makes the cleanup all the easier, since the soap has so little debris to combat.
• Since I never make a campfire, but instead use the propane stove, there's no sooty residue to deal with on my cookpot.
  
  ↑ Return to top

Staying comfortable

• Bring sufficient insulative materials to keep your entire body warm. Waking up cold and shivering is unacceptable.
• If you will sleep in your vehicle in fall in Colorado (lows typically near 30°F/-1°C), sleep with the windows up and the sunroof or back window cracked open a bit. But... in fall of 2004 we got early snow and lows in the high teens, so needless to say I sealed the truck to stay warmer.
• Consider bringing a chemical hand-warmer pack just in case. This is a perfect glove compartment or camera bag item.
• Don't forget or skip unscented deodorant.
• Don't forget, or skimp on, personal items like a toothbrush or medications.
• Don't skimp on a pillow, unless you know you can sleep without one. Use a compression sack for your sleeping bag and pillow together.
• To keep toasty-warm, consider investing in a polypropylene pile liner to insert inside your sleeping bag. Not only are these softer, more comfortable and warmer against the skin than the nylon bag, you can use just the liner if you're too warm and need to open the main bag. They also keep your hard-to-clean sleeping bag cleaner.
• Sleep with a cap, socks, long underwear, etc. if the temps are really chilly.
• Make your bed as flat as possible. This rings especially true for sleeping on a reclined bucket seat. Be prepared to wad up unused clothes to fill in gaps. I got tired of filling gaps this way and put together a foam insert to fill the space instead. Here's the short version: I outlined the space to fill, using a paper bag for the template to show the cross-sectional profile, then bought an appropriately sized piece of open-cell foam, cut it to size (with, of all things, a long micro-serrated kitchen knife! it worked splendidly), and wrapped it in a thin layer of closed-cell foam. I stuck the two types of foam together with spray-on adhesive, which is amazing for holding something like this tight, despite frequent and prolonged compression. It would be nice to eventually upholster this, but for now the closed-cell foam is durable enough with a blanket covering it. I have recently determined an even better way to arrange the truck: remove the passenger seat (just four bolts in my Toyota) and install a braced, carpeted board to even out the pre-formed bumps on the floor of the truck. I padded underneath the carpeting as well, so it mostly obviates the need for bringing a sleeping pad. The shape is made to fit the contours of my truck, the supports are specially cut to make the board not tippy, and the paired holes along the sides allow for stuff sacks, camera and tripod, etc. to be securely bungeed to the board while I drive.
  
  ↑ Return to top

Vehicle

• Keep at least a gallon of water that's just for the vehicle, not for you (except in a personal emergency).
• Bring quite a bit of duct tape and get creative with it when you have to MacGyver something together. I can also highly recommend X-Treme tape, which one can find at some auto-supply stores, and also at Duluth Trading Company, who supplied me this amazing silicone tape. It self-adheres, is heat-resistant to hundreds of degrees, doesn't unwrap, and for many uses replaces traditional electrician's tape.
• Use hidden stowage compartments in your truck to the fullest. (My Toyota 4x4's back seats both lift up to reveal surprisingly large compartments.) As needed, freshen any items you put there last time. Consider labelling difficult-to-recognize items in the stowage compartments before you add them. Consider making a master list of all your stowage compartments contain.
• Bring equipment sufficient to change, reinflate or repair a tire, and know how to use it. Be certain your spare is matched to your current set, or your drive to the nearest tire store could be pretty dicey.
• Invest in a four-way cigarette lighter adapter if you have lots of devices that need a 12v supply.
• Invest in 12v adapters for all of your frequently used devices, including your GPS, cellular, a laptop or portable hard drive if you download your digital images, and so on. Consider a power inverter instead, if the overall savings and convenience outweigh the costs of buying adapters. Unless otherwise stated, most devices work fine on modified square-wave inverters; only a few require a pure sine wave.
• Bring a road-hazard kit and be cautious so you never have to use it.
• Fix all the structural defects (like torn CV boots or worn ball joints) in your high-clearance vehicle before you drive through mud or bounce around rocks and deep ruts. If you'll be driving through high water or mud, be sure to extend your differential breather valves and keep your driveshaft impeller joints greased. If you'll be fording really deep streams, you should also install an air intake snorkel.
• Rotate your tires and change your oil before you leave. You'll put a surprising number of miles on your truck driving from Denver to the San Juans, tooling around on back roads, and driving back.
• Fill up your gas whenever the opportunity presents itself (well, within reason). Don't head up for a day of driving around with less than half a tank. That doomed feeling of driving around at elevation in the dark and watching the fuel needle plummeting is one of those things I will never do again.
• Learn how to use your 4WD if you don't already know. This doesn't just mean know how to put it into 4WD or low-4. This also means routefinding: know how to avoid sharp rocks, how to judge the depth of a pool, drive around or over obstacles, know just how much mud you really can drive through and at what speed and in what gear, etc.
• Bring a small handheld ice-scraper with a rubber squeegee on the back. You may need the main part to clear your windshield of frost, and the rubber part will come in handy to more gently scrape the interior glass free of frost from a night of condensing moisture from your own breath. I also bring a cotton chamois to wipe the interior glass. I also include numerous flannel cloths and a few shop towels.
  
  ↑ Return to top

Finally, here is the list of items I always review prior to a trip. Some items may not suit your purposes, but it's nice to double-check your list against someone else's. If you don't have a list yet, I offer this as a field-tested place to start.