2007 Chevy Silverado LT: The Adventure

I'd been planning an adventure in the Southern Sierra Nevada mountains for a few months and when the time came I needed a vehicle that could haul three people, three bikes and three people's gear. That narrows the choices considerably. But the Silverado has served nicely for this duty on other adventures and, more importantly, it was available. Fully loaded with squishy bikes it looked like this:

So at 5:00 in the morning it was loaded and on the road. By 6:15 we'd hit the worst traffic snarl I've ever experienced. An hour and a half later my adventure partners were ready to throw in the towel, but I was having none of it. We were going to the mountains if it killed me. During this time the Silverado served us well enough to put everyone but me to sleep. I guess the seats are comfortable since I never even got road butt as everyone else slept. Whatever.

By mid morning the big Chevy delivered us to the trailhead at 9,200 feet and for five hours we rode trails that looked like this:

They took us to meadows like this:

And eventually to vistas like this:

And by the end of the day I was so euphoric I'd all but forgotten about my aversion to trucks. In fact, I might just drive them more often. For the adventure.

Josh Jacquot, Senior road test editor @ about 21,000 miles