My rig finally made it to Green River where the gas pump shut off while filling up when it hit $99.99. Now that the local economy was boosted, I made the 45 mile trip to base camp in Goblin Valley State Park where I was supposed to meet up with Woodpecker at noon. But he said he wouldn't be there till about 3 P.M. However, he actually got there at 9 A.M. Confused yet? Anyway, we both were in the park and we got things set up, along with the 50 gallons of extra gas we carried. Remember, we're 45 miles from the nearest civilization, Green River, and that town has only one bar with just two kinds beer, and 3.2 at that!

With all the introductions out of the way we fired up the Jeeps and headed roughly towards the Big Muddy (no not the Mississippi.) This is where we became aware that Woodpecker's approach to navigation and mine are slightly different. Woodpecker has quite a few navigational aids in his Jeep (GPS, maps of every description, compass, altimeter, etc.) so when he gets lost he always knows where he isn't. I use the " Let's go this way " or " Let's go that way " method. Now both of these work just fine until you start mixing them together. But more about that also in Part II.

We made it down to the Big Muddy by following an old road that just ended in a marsh. You had to walk down to the river and the only way you could tell the river from the surrounding ground was that the river moves. This river has more silt in it than any other river I've ever seen in the U.S. and it's full of arsenic as well. This is the same river made famous by Woodpecker in 1994 when he sunk up to the frame in quicksand (and had to jack up the vehicle and all four wheels to get himself extricated) and RongWay, who got mired in the mud and arsenic and had to hammer and chisel the sand out of his brake drums in 1996 .

On the way back, we started out on a road that headed in the direction of the main road. It got fainter and fainter until it just disappeared. Then Woodpecker noticed a 4x4 wood post with some white paint on one end we looked around and we saw another one laying on the ground about seventy yards away. So we drove to that one then we just kept looking for posts and driving toward them until we hit the main road. Apparently this was the method that was used to mark the roadway at one time. With no maintenance for a number of years the posts had all fallen over. The reason the road had to be marked was because the whole area that we were driving in consisted of gray clay that flows when it rains. The entire area had a very surreal quality, like a moonscape with no vegetation at all for about four miles. Upon arriving back at camp we made a beeline to the coolers to cut the dust. Ranger " Rick " , once off-duty, graciously joined us.

A bright morning started out the second day of adventure after Woodpecker tightened a few loose bolts in his Jeep's suspension. We headed out to try and find the Hidden Splendor Mine. Ranger " Rick " said it was going to be in the high 70's and sunny so the doors and top were left in camp. Woodpecker and I were sure glad we had parkas because when we hit the top of McKay Flats, the temperature was about 50 with a 20mph cross breeze. Actually it was pretty easy to find the mine since the BLM put up a big sign that says " Hidden Splendor Mine. " This was the only sign that the BLM put up that was of any use at all, but more about that later.

The Hidden Splendor Mine was one of the major producers of pitchblende that is refined to produce uranium. We were quite surprised to find that the opening and shaft were only about four feet tall and three feet wide. Either the miners were a lot smaller in the fifties or they spent all day working bent over. No wonder most of them died young. The drive back was interesting with the sun going down and an incredible amount of dust, not to mention cold. It turned into a long chilly drive to camp.

Woodpecker again started off the next day by tightening the steering box stabilizer bolts on his Jeep to about 800 foot pounds, which of course sheared off the grade five bolts. " Not to worry, " says Woodpecker " I've got some grade eight bolts I can use! " which he then proceeded to torque to about a thousand foot pounds. " That ought to do it! " I just shake my head.

We took a long and dusty road to Swazey's Cabin and then through a side canyon up to Eagle Canyon, 300 feet underneath the Twin Bridges, where I-70 crosses the canyon. We found an innocent little sand wash that had a couple of rocks to play in. The next thing I know, one of the rocks takes a large bite out of my left rear fender flare. (The new Xenons aren't quite as indestructible as I thought.) Woodpecker thought this was quite funny until he tried to drive through the same spot in 2WD, got stuck in the sand, and then had to get out of his Jeep to lock those newfangled front hubs to get out of his predicament. Fortunately, I had my seat belt fastened, which prevented me from falling out of my Jeep laughing. [However, I had the last laugh when Doc went to put his windshield down, lightly bumped the rear view mirror and broke it off - taking with it a fair amount of glass from his new windshield of 6 months and sending a large crack right down the middle. Doc mumbled about that for the next three weeks. - Dave]

We headed north, up South Coal Wash until it intersected with North Coal Wash and then we headed south. It's not as confusing as it sounds. South Coal Wash was just littered with BLM road closure signs on most of the existing roads up the side canyons. I counted fifteen before I stopped counting. The excuse they're using is that it's a wilderness study area. Well I'll tell anyone who wants to listen that all of Utah has been mapped, drilled, seismographed, walked over, and driven over for years. There are roads everywhere but the BLM shuts them down even though they are in violation of several existing laws. Ok, I'm off the soap box, but remember, they use your tax dollars to close your roads. In fact, while there is a shortage of funds for BLM rangers, the BLM was able to find funding for four full-time personnel just to put up " road closed " signs in the few hundred thousand acres that are in the Swell! Your tax dollars at work.

Woodpecker, thought there was a road that cut back across to South Coal Wash. He was right and it was a great drive. It was very narrow and winding over big rock terrain. At one point if you looked over to your left, it dropped about five hundred feet down to the canyon floor and on your right it dropped about two hundred feet down to another canyon. All this, of course was at the same time you drop off about a ten foot high rock ledge. Quite breathtaking with a corresponding pucker factor!