4X4 is certainly not magic but very nice to have, but a man’s got to know his limitations.
Snakepit Kansas
1 day ago
A high speed box turtle was cruising through my back yard this morning. Ground is soaked and earth worms are easy picking for birds and this turtle. I brought a few orange slices to him and he had a big fat earth worm hanging out his mouth. He disappeared inside his shell and I put those orange slices in front of him. From the window I watched him eat those slices like a python at a day care.
like a python at a day care… omg, SK. What a haunting image!
John A. Fleming
8 hours ago
That always gets to me, driving down a narrow dirt track with no knowledge if there is a turnaround at the end, or meeting an oncoming car and no place to pull over. Somebody is going to be backing up, maybe a long way.
When the Overland ran through there, was it full of dense sagebrush like that, or more grassland? There must not have been that gully at that time, so something happened to change the landscape in the last 170 years. I have read that overgrazing causes the invasion of sagebrush. It’s hard to find the truth of these things.
There was a time long ago – I had a 1966 Chevy Impala – I followed an old logging road in Upper Michigan (or maybe the UP, I forget). Eventually the road became the high spot in the middle of a large swamp in the middle of the woods. Eventually, the road just stopped – washed out bridge or just erosion. I had to back up 3 miles in that thing on this narrow almost two-track. Obviously successfully or my body would still be sitting in the now rusty hulk down a road no sane person – or even a deer hunter – would go down.
Not that the experience stopped me from taking unsuitable vehicles down unsuitable paths.
Sagebrush has been prevalent in the intermountain west since before European settlement although there is disagreement as to the extent. However, sagebrush was considered detrimental to rangelands and farming and attempts were made to eradicate it between about 1880 and WWII. Now it is considered essential to maintain certain ecosystems. There is nor practical way to determine sage density in the 1860s; in places it was prevalent, in others, not so much so.
I thoroughly enjoy the smell of sagelands after a rain and its smoke in a campfire. I sometimes carry a sprig in my truck instead of the cardboard pine trees. I may be in a minority there though.
Agreed. 4×4 is not magic.
A 6×6 with 10 tires (with chains) is “no help at all” when driving uphill on icy cobblestones.
Doin’ 360’s all the way down the hill…..
4X4 is certainly not magic but very nice to have, but a man’s got to know his limitations.
A high speed box turtle was cruising through my back yard this morning. Ground is soaked and earth worms are easy picking for birds and this turtle. I brought a few orange slices to him and he had a big fat earth worm hanging out his mouth. He disappeared inside his shell and I put those orange slices in front of him. From the window I watched him eat those slices like a python at a day care.
like a python at a day care… omg, SK. What a haunting image!
That always gets to me, driving down a narrow dirt track with no knowledge if there is a turnaround at the end, or meeting an oncoming car and no place to pull over. Somebody is going to be backing up, maybe a long way.
When the Overland ran through there, was it full of dense sagebrush like that, or more grassland? There must not have been that gully at that time, so something happened to change the landscape in the last 170 years. I have read that overgrazing causes the invasion of sagebrush. It’s hard to find the truth of these things.
There was a time long ago – I had a 1966 Chevy Impala – I followed an old logging road in Upper Michigan (or maybe the UP, I forget). Eventually the road became the high spot in the middle of a large swamp in the middle of the woods. Eventually, the road just stopped – washed out bridge or just erosion. I had to back up 3 miles in that thing on this narrow almost two-track. Obviously successfully or my body would still be sitting in the now rusty hulk down a road no sane person – or even a deer hunter – would go down.
Not that the experience stopped me from taking unsuitable vehicles down unsuitable paths.
Sagebrush has been prevalent in the intermountain west since before European settlement although there is disagreement as to the extent. However, sagebrush was considered detrimental to rangelands and farming and attempts were made to eradicate it between about 1880 and WWII. Now it is considered essential to maintain certain ecosystems. There is nor practical way to determine sage density in the 1860s; in places it was prevalent, in others, not so much so.
I thoroughly enjoy the smell of sagelands after a rain and its smoke in a campfire. I sometimes carry a sprig in my truck instead of the cardboard pine trees. I may be in a minority there though.