After 4 months on the road, it was time to take a break from overlanding and spend time with our loved ones. It was September and we couldn’t push it further as it was getting cold in the east side. We took a 5 hour flight from Seattle to our first stop, New York! We had an amazing two weeks in New York. Our main focus was catching up with family not sightseeing and we really loved our time in New York. We did have some days of exploring New York too. Surprisingly we liked it alot.
After two unforgettable weeks in New York, we took a train to Montreal, Canada and spent another week with more loved ones there. Our week in Montreal was packed with good food and drink and long hours of talking and catching up. We enjoyed it so much!
After three weeks of feeling at home, we were refreshed and had itchy feet again. It was time to get back to Chaapaar and continue south. The road was calling us. Another 5 to 6 hour flight from Montreal and we were back in Seattle and reunited with Chaapaar.
The first thing to do was getting back to Mount Rainier National Park and try our luck for the second time. This time, we were lucky with great sunny crisp weather!
After visiting Mount Rainier, it was time to say a hard goodbye to Washington state and head toward Oregon. First stop on our Oregon tour was visiting some of its world famous waterfalls and stunning forests. We’ve spent few days visiting different waterfalls and enjoying epic camp spots with stunning views.
It was the end of summer but we still had the chance to buy fresh summer fruits from countless orchards along the way and try unique freshly made jam flavours that they had on offer.
After soaking it all in, we were about to experience a different side of the Oregon. We passed the Cascade Range and entered Oregon’s high desert region. The views changed drastically and offered us with unique views and landscapes to explore! It has been a long time since we’ve been in the desert and we really missed it especially when it is cool and not hot. We enjoyed some unique spots including the famous Alvord desert, a dry lake bed which makes you feel, you are on another plant.
When we reached the Alvord desert, it was extremely windy and the white dust was in the air and made it even more surreal since it was hard to distinguish the line between the earth and the sky. We were right in the middle of it and trying to get some photos that captures the stunning views of the landscape with the dust and wind and poor visibility. Far in the horizon, I saw another troopy approaching! Visibility wasn’t great and with no one around, I thought I’m hallucinating. But it was getting closer and it was in fact a white troopy. The nice guy driving it got out and said hi and said that he knew us and we were already in touch way before we started the trip. It was amazing to see him with his troopy right in the middle of the desert close to his hometown. It made our visit to the Alvord desert even more especial. We had to take some great shots together in that epic location.
From Alvord desert, we headed south and crossed into northern Nevada. We truly loved the vastness and emptiness of Nevada when we visited Nevada for the first time in late April and it was so good to be back here with great weather. We headed first to Soldier Meadows Hot Springs and started to explore the Black Rock Desert
Black Rock desert is famous for its burning man festival, happening every year here and brings thousands of people to this deserted location. For us, black rock desert was a really stunning playground that could be explored for weeks. A massive area with lots of dirt tracks to explore and enormous options for camping with epic views. We were taking it all in before heading west back into California where we won’t have the luxury of having these epic views and capspots for ourselves. This is a challenge to overcome in the next post. Till then take care and enjoy life.
michael Chernishov
April 13, 2025 at 11:04pmGorgeous!