DANGER CAVE! - 40°44'56.65"N 114° 1'4.67"W

DANGER CAVE ENTRANCE

Last week my daughter heard us discussing Wendover and excitedly shared a few details surrounding Danger Cave one mile outside of Wendover. A quick phone call to the Montego Bay Hotel and Casino in Wendover yielded a free room for the evening, so we packed up our gear and headed west to see the sight. There are no road signs for the site from the direction we approached, so use the following GPS coordinates as a bread crumb trail beginning with EXIT #1 off I-80. This jeep trail gets a little hairy in one spot, so you may want to bring your higher clearance vehicle...using 4 low will make the ride less bumpy, but 4x4 is not necessary.

#1
40°44'18.02"N
114°02'35.06"W

#2
40°44'57.13"N
114°02'04.05"W

#3
40°44'58.79"N
114°01'32.25"W

#4
40°44'45.46"N
114°01'13.41"W

#5
40°44'56.65"N
114°01'4.67"W

The second link below gives directions to approach the site from the other side and it appears to be more car friendly, albeit less adventureous.

I personally wouldn't travel to far to see this cave, but if you're in Wendover any way it is definitely worth the diversion. With school being almost exclusively textbook oriented learning, it was certainly worth the time investment for us to take a field trip and physically grasp DANGER CAVE with our own eyes!

More DANGER CAVE info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danger_Cave

http://www.frankstehno.com/sagemesa/destinations/utah/dangercave/dcnotes.htm

The view looking out of DANGER CAVE!

Solar panel acquired...Charge Controller input needed...

This 230 watt panel made by Canadian Solar was added to the collection over the weekend....it is HUGE at 39" x 66". The other pics are of my energy storage system...two 6 volt golf cart batteries made by Energizer (great price at Sam's Club), battery charger, LED lighting, 80 and 200 watt inverters, digital multimeter...all from Harbor Freight. And, the 12 volt splitter is from Radio Shack.

I've been playing with the batteries, charger, lights and inverter for the past few weeks to get a feel for the setup. At night my home office is brightened using three of the yellow LED lights. It does not compare in brightness to a standard 60 watt incandescent bulb, but it is very good lighting when you consider how little energy they use. The cell phone is charged using the pictured car charger (plugged into the splitter with the blue light illuminated), and after the laptop gets occasional use its battery is topped off using the 80 watt inverter. I'm pleased with the 200 watt inverters performance, but it has a noisy fan that comes on as soon as you place a load on it. The 80 watt inverter has no fan and functions without noise pollution, a definite bonus (both inverters have a USB charging port as well). I was planning to log detailed data on the batteries capabilities, but after the first three nights of usage I quickly realized this small battery bank is everything I need for now. My office currently has the ability to keep running during prolonged power outages and this setup will make life in Montello civilized during multiple days of cloud cover, without running the backup generator.

Last April we spent four days and three nights in Montello. The entire trip was largely cloud covered due to a storm front...Solution: AIR X wind generator (http://www.windenergy.com/products/air_x.htm) Accompanying the storm front was persistent and high speed winds. I'm expecting this combination of solar and wind generation will be ideal for keeping our electrical needs supplied year round in Montello. (Thanks again to Guy for the AIR X sourcing!)

The AIR X is a sweet little unit because it comes complete with an on board charge controller. Simply add a pole for mounting and a battery and you're off-grid. On the other hand, the solar panel did not come complete with a charge controller and I am open to any input towards product selection before I place the order later this week. With the higher voltage solar panel I feel it necessary to utilize a charge controller with the MPPT technology to harvest every bit of energy produced. The question comes down to which one. I'm leaning towards the Outback FM60. This unit has the ability to handle 900 watts of solar panel input and is extremely oversized for my setup, but it will allow for future expansion if needed. The only downside is the cost...$508 plus $40 for shipping. I've looked into the Morning Star MPPT units and BlueSky as well. While I'm leaning towards the Outback model, I'd love to hear any input on the subject, especially if you have a less expensive MPPT unit that works well for you.

I'm very excited to get all the pieces connected in a portable system that will allow dual site usage at my home and Montello.

The dream is being fulfilled!!!

On the road to Montello....somewhere between Snowville and Montello on highway 30.

Test of text and photo upload via mobile....

New Blog

Hey guys,

I came across a new Montello blog today....

http://montellosurvival.blogspot.com/

Have a great weekend.

Big Berkey: new filter system modification....a try at video!

There isn't much elbow room in a shipping container or a teardrop trailer. But, who needs elbow room when you have the great outdoors as your living room? That said, when it comes to mobility, space becomes a commodity that rapidly vanishes. In looking at the 5 gallon bucket system I currently use for water filtration / storage, I believed the setup could be made with a significantly smaller footprint and more portable at the same time. The following videos illustrate what I came up with. Yes, the videos suck, but you'll get the idea.

I currently use the 3" one gallon model for batch production in my home. I completed the smaller 2.5" one liter model today and plan to use it as a travel / camping / Montello filter setup.

(Note to self: hold the camera the other way)

The Big Berkey carbon filter....


The two new systems side by side....








The 2.5" model self supporting on top of a one liter bottle....

Heimo's Arctic Refuge

I spent an hour today living my life. I spent an hour today sharing a friend's life over lunch. I spent an hour today sharing my families life at home. I spent an hour today with Heimo in his Arctic Refuge.

http://www.vbs.tv/newsroom/heimo-s-arctic-refuge-full-length--2

In 1980, Jimmy Carter established the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in the Alaskan Interior, cutting off 19 million acres of prime boreal wilderness from the mitts of fur trappers, oil tycoons, and would-be lodge owners alike. Only six families of white settlers were grandfathered in and allowed to keep cabins in the refuge—of them, only one still stays there year-round living off the land. His name is Heimo Korth, and he is basically the Omega Man of America’s Final Frontier.

Raised in suburban Wisconsin, Heimo set off in his teens to the Alaskan Bush to pursue the Davy Crockett lifestyle in more or less the only place it was still possible. Amid numerous setbacks and misadventures, Heimo gradually learned how to master his terrain, provide for his Eskimo wife, and rear children in one of the most inhospitable environments in North America.

In this premiere edition of Far Out, we take a bush plane to the middle of nowhere, Alaska, to catch up with Heimo and his wife, Edna—now reaching their golden years. Over the course of our ten-day stay, the Korths show us everything you need to know about fur-trapping, caribou-hunting, caribou-eating, river-crossing, boredom-staving, bear-avoidance, and bear-defense to live happily over 100 miles from the nearest neighbors. Vegans, you have been warned. Heimo’s epic journey and adventures have been documented in the critically acclaimed book, THE FINAL FRONTIERSMAN, written by Heimo’s cousin, James Campbell.

http://www.vbs.tv/newsroom/heimo-s-arctic-refuge-full-length--2

Enjoy!