April 1 - Thu.
Got going at 7 AM. Cloudy. 20 miles out of Aurora the sun came out. Great day to drive. The entertainment through Iowa and part of Nebraska was most excellent! Wound up at the Julesburg, CO, rest area for the night - about 800 miles in 14 hours. Not too shabby - but damn tired. No photos. Nothing exciting.
Castle Rock and " Priest and Nuns " rock formations as viewed from the campsite during a thunderstorm.
Same view. but later. Colors always change!
April 2 - Fri.
So I'm up at 5 AM, MST, ready to go. As I make the coffee I see water on the outside of the window - but there's no rain. Hmmm. A few minutes later I walk out to check the " caravan " and, in my early morning stupor, proceed to get soaked by their sprinkler system (which appeared to be more concerned about watering the motorhome than the grass next to it.) Needless to say I was removed from my stupor - quickly!
Made it through Denver during the morning rush. Yuch! Weather today was cloudy and hazy - lot's of water vapor in the air. They are predicting 6-12 " of snow tonight inn the Rockies but made it over before it hit. Dodged that bullet. Rick & Co. and Clint & Co. will probably get it as they come through later today and tomorrow.
Got in to Hittle Campground, 25 miles NW of Moab about 3 PM. Found a great spot. I pulled as far away, in a remote spot, as I could so my generator wouldn't bother any one. What do you know? Some guy from Colorado pulled in downwind. He leaves. I'm happy. He returns and proceeds to set up a tent. Now there's a lot of other spaces available - much nicer than the one he chose. He'll probably complain about the diesel smell and/or the noise. Go figure.
So here I am. Tired but happy. Drinking a Pilsner Urquell and watching the world go by. No wheeling tonight - just beer, a steak and a baked potato ---- and some sleep!
April 3 - Sat.
7 AM. Up an at 'em, ready to go! Will wait for Rick & Co. (Rick, Jerry & Paul from Two Rivers in Illinois) to show up. They were scheduled to get in to Moab about 3 AM and were planning on stopping by here around 9 AM for the Rose Garden pre-run. I suspect they got hung up in the storm in the Rockies. Last night was fun. A nifty thunder-boomer came overhead about 6. While my generator couldn't chase the gentleman from Colorado away, the thunderstorm and 4 raindrops did. Yes! Watched Psycho and was asleep by 9 PM :(
Today is overcast with periods of sun. They have a winter storm warning out for this area, including the LaSals, where they are predicting 8 to 15 " of snow. The National Weather Service radio says by Tuesday the weather should improve but the Weather Channel appears to disagree. My vote is for the NWS (for once.)
Waited until 10:30 but Rick & Co. were no shows. I bet the storm got them. Zipped through Rose Garden in 90 minutes and found another remote view of Fisher Valley from Waring Mesa. Awesome. This time I got to within 4' from the edge. The more popular " Top of the World " view is here (along with " No rocks, please! " )
Got back early, about 3. Had a few beers and put the cover on the Jeep. Started the grill - baked potato and pork shops. Started the furnace - dropped from 78 to 50 ° . The 6 PM storm is coming in again, right on schedule. This one looks nasty - lots of wind. It's fun watching tenters. Time to eat, time for a beer. The DVD feature movie this evening is North by Northwest.
Hittle Campground - 2004 (2003 here)
AM view from camper
I had a request to get photos of " characters. " So far, this is the best I can do: a photo of a sign about dead characters.
Fisher Valley view - 4' from the edge of a 1500' drop. Yes, 4' is the
best I could do (although I do have another photo looking straight
down while laying on my fat belly and in mortal fear of rolling off.
)
Clint & Co. on Rose Garden
Again, a request for characters. So we have Rick, Jerry and Paul, as well as Jaeger Bombers (Jaegermeister and Red Bull with Warsteiner chasers - oh my!)
April 4 - Sun.
Clint & Co. (with their 6 Jeeps from Omaha) showed up and we ran Rose Garden hill. After that, I sent them on their way through Thompson Canyon and to Polar Mesa while I returned to go to Moab and get set up there. They got to see some old mining camps and play around a little up on the Mesa.
Rick & Co. showed up. Yup, they got waylaid by the snow storm in the Rockies and had to spend the night. Better late than never! We drank a lot of beer (I was dehydrated) and then we went to Moab Brewery for additional re-hydration. Now I should have fixed my CB antenna that wasn't working, should have washed the Jeep, should have done a few other tasks, but what the hell, I wanted to be sociable, don'tcha know! Got back at 10 PM and am writing this. Getting ready for Rose Garden (again) tomorrow as an official EJS (Easter Jeep Safari) trail.
April 5 - Mon.
Narrows and Rose Garden Hill
Well, the Red Bull at 5 PM wasn't the brightest thing I've ever done but the energy came in handy about 2 AM when it started to rain and I had to go out and put the top up. It has been raining all night. Today will be a mess - and I'll be leading a group to Rose Garden. The Weather Channel radar looks ominous - green all over and swirling. This rain will stay for a while. Time to have some coffee, have a sweet roll, take a deep breath and head out :( And Dieter & Co. came all the way from Liechtenstein for this!
Well, not quite. Dieter (my helper on the trail) never made it as a Ford (Found On Road Dead) dealer promised to weld a bracket for him and didn't get to it until 4 PM. (Now why did he take a Jeep to a Furd dealer? Dunno.)
The trail went fine. Miserable, rain, greasy trails (I slipped off the trail big time) but we got up Rose Garden, back down and like last year, during the drive through the Narrows, the sun came out and it was fantastic. We spent about 45 minutes getting a load of awesome photos! A fine time was had by all.
Got back in time to grab a pizza, drink a beer, hear of Dieter's plight, talk to about 20 other people I know out here and then run out to the safety meeting where both the Grand and San Juan County Sheriffs reiterated that they are committed to keeping the trails open out here no matter what it takes. It is nice to know someone is on our side. KEWL!
What a busy, busy day! I'm tired. (But it's a good tired!)
Oh, yes stopped to visit Clint
&
Co. at Slickrock Campground. We are hoping to run Pritchett Canyon tomorrow.
My guess is that they will not be ready by 8 AM tomorrow.
Got back to the camper just as the full moon was rising. Bright white wisps of clouds were scurrying across the sky in front of the large yellow orb that was rising from the horizon. The LaSals were in the background. Limbs of budding trees were in the foreground. What a sight! I shot about 20 shots from the digital and they all sucked. Take my word - it was a fantastic sight. The weather was perfect, the moon was outstanding. I was mellow. It doesn't get much better than this - honest!
Californians playing in the Narrows
Rick & Co. in the Narrows.
Rick playing at one of the 23 stream crossings.
Great spotting! Tim (nor any of our group) added any racing stripes to our vehicles.
Rocker Knocker. Lots of entertainment there but it wasn't us!
April 6 - Tue.
Clint & Co. were not ready by 8 AM. Surprise! We finally all met (Clint's group, Rick's group and Barry, from Washington state.) We got on the trail at 8:45 and there were about 50 vehicles ahead of us already. What a slow day - but a good one - no breakage for any of the 9 vehicles in our group. We got held up at the Rock Pile by 3 inconsiderate morons who tried for almost 2 hours to negotiate the obstacle. Didn't get back till 8 PM. Oh well, it was still a fun day!
So the trail was nice. None of us broke. We just waited for hours and hours at the many obstacles while people worked at them. Some were very good. Some were very bad and provided ample entertainment (the people, that is!)
I had to be strapped once. However, I should point out that I was the anchor point for Rick's Jeep to winch to at one point and also strapped someone else up. That negates the strapping I needed to have done so the net effect is -1. Therefore, " I was not strapped. "
At lunch, a bunch of Californians lusted after the cheeseburgers Clint was fixing on the charcoal grill he carries. If he had played his cards right, he could have paid for the whole trip right then and there! Alas, another missed opportunity.
Our Motley Crue
Onward and upward. Rocker Knocker, Rock Pile, Yellow Hill and finally out. Rick & Co. did great except for the mudflap he tore off (Oops - I wasn't supposed to say that - sorry!) We got a group photo (characters again, per request) and Baja'd the hell out of there. We didn't even stop to clean up. Headed for McStiff's (8:30 PM) and had lots of beer, lots of laughing and a great, great time. Thanks Rick & Co., Clint & Co., and Barry for a great, great time - and for the very tasty pitchers of Jalapeno beer! Belch!
Our Motley Jeeps
Did I mention this was the first full day of sun? Did I mention that we all got sunburned beyond recognition? Gawd, we had fun.
So here I am, 11:24 PM trying to type this drivel and making mistakes ever six keystrokes (plus or minus 1.) I shall endeavor to add a few photos and go to sleep. I'm " pleasantly " tired.
Met so many people over the last few days that I know. Rick, Jerry and Paul just wind up shaking their heads. People pop out of the woodwork (or trail, as it were) to say " Hi, Dave! " It's mind boggling - even for me. This is, for me, " old home week. " What a great place and what a neat bunch of people - even the ones I don't like!
Note: I must be having a great time. Been gone almost a week and haven't even had any desire to check my email. Ahhhhhhh! In a few days I shall put on my rubber gloves and go to the pubic [sic] terminal at the Grand County Library and see what awaits me online. :( And I haven't even uploaded this drivel yet either. There really hasn't been a minute to spare since arriving in Moab. Life is good.
April 7 - Wed.
Got up this morning. Hangover. My face is beet red. My neck is even redder. My arms are red and hurt like hell. My lips are burnt. My nose is burnt to a crisp. I think I sunburned my hair! My Jeep is broken. But I'm having the time of my life! Jeez, I love Easter Jeep Safari week.
Today is Moab Rim with Dieter, Rolf, Stefan and Jacob. I think we wore Rick & friends out yesterday. Woke them up at 8:30 to see if they were going and was not favorably received.
Just FYI, the routine is get up about 6:30, eat, listen to the Weather Channel, do a little web work, pack lunch and load up for the day. Get to the trail line up about 8:00 and leave no later than 9:00. Return in the late afternoon, have a beer (or more), do any repairs, take a shower then go out for supper and " socialize. " Come back in the late evening, plan the next day's adventures and go to bed. This leaves little time to just sit and chill. But why do that? After all, this is a vacation!
So the trip up to the top of Moab Rim was fine. No photos. Been there done that. (See other EJS write ups for those photos.) Got to a parking area and Ber (the 79 year old trail leader) took the crew on a hike to an arch, theoretically only 1.5 miles away. After hiking 90 minutes over rocks, through canyons, across slickrock domes, I was so gassed. This guy moves along - holy shit! (Later at the Associate's dinner, I was complaining about how beat I was and the standard response was " You tried to keep up with Ber, didn't you? " )
When I turned back, there was thunder in the distance. After my 60 minute hike back it got real nasty. Cold. Rain. Lightning. Thunder. Wind. It was challenging to try and dodge the bolts of lightning - especially when the trail leads you over the top of high rock domes. It's like haul ass and get into a canyon before the clouds have a chance to recharge - and then hope the canyon doesn't fill with water.
I got back, moderately soaked and put the top up on the Jeep. By then I was dripping wet. Started the engine, warmed up and about an hour later the rest of the 30-40 people on the hike came sloshing back. Everyone one made it, but quite an adventure!
From there we drove through a canyon which was filling with water. Been there many times and dry as a bone but was really neat to see it during a soaking rain. Waterfalls off the slickrock were everywhere. Awesome!
The trip down the 1500' rim was uneventful except for some guy who was going up while we were coming down. He rolled over on Devil's Crack. Nothing exciting. No photos.
Got back to the coach and my engine was complaining. I had apparently adjusted my tailpipe on the run so went out and ordered a replacement, due in at 8 AM tomorrow. Headed up to the Bar-M Chuckwagon for the Red Rock 4 Wheelers Associates dinner. What a great time. About 400 members there and had a chance to visit with many friends whom I see once a year. Had an absolutely wonderful time.
It started fine. Nice weather and " This is a cake walk! "
That's me on the left and Ron on the right with Dieter taking the photo.
About an hour into the hike the weather was NOT looking good.
On the return (in the Jeep), streams were flowing and there were fantastic waterfalls all over the place.
When I was removing my modified tailpipe, someone stopped by and said " You backed up! You NEVER back up out here! " I suspect the exhaust flow was slightly restricted.
Playing in the wash
Tusher tunnel
Exit of Tusher tunnel
Pucker Pass
April 8 - Thu.
Running for parts. Replace the tailpipe. Replace the starter (damned Pittsfield mud.) Head up to the event headquarters and talk to Perry so I can figure out where to lead the group of 50 vehicles tomorrow. Still no time to upload this drivel. Oh my!
Finally settled down after replacing the starter and tailpipe. Also cleaned mud out of the turn signal lens. What a mess. Bent my glasses. Lost a c-clip. Hit both thumbnails with a hammer. 12 noon - finally out of here - and yes, the rest of the day made up for the insane morning.
Pre-ran Wipe Out thanks to the hints Perry gave me. Thanks Perry! Running Bartlett and Tusher Washes was great fun. Rick is shown playing in Tusher.
Next stop, Tusher Tunnel, a natural water drainage that carved a niche 400' through rock. After driving by it once, finally stopped there an hour later after searching for it and said, " Duh! " (or something roughly equivalent.)
Played a little at Wipe Out Hill, moved on to Rattlesnake, exited the trail, went to Dead Horse Overlook and returned via Pucker Pass in Long Canyon. Few photos - too much fun.
This was one of the best days. Even driving the same sand hill 5 times trying to get my bearings was fun - especially Bajaing along at 50 mph!
On the way back via the Potash Road, got caught in the 6 PM rain shower.
Returned, got fuel, took a shower, got ready for tomorrow (all in 20 minutes) and headed to Zak's Pizza to meet Clint & Rick & Cos.
Since we sat in the bar, and not the restaurant, we had to buy a membership in their " club " in order to have beer in the bar. Now we could have had beer in the restaurant - no problem - with no steenkin' membership. But the $4.00 membership is good for two weeks for myself and 7 other " guests " so who cares.
This is Utah - go figure.
April 9 - Fri.
Wipe Out Hill. Not an exciting day. That was good! I had to lead a group of 30 vehicles on the trail. The weather was great, the people were great and the trail ran very, very well.
We stopped at Tusher Tunnel and also at Determination Towers for Kodak moments. After lunch at the top of the hill, we all made it down, easily. The most unique vehicle was the Dodge 1 ton 4 wheel drive dually with a large farm bed on the back and looked like a couple of water tanks filled with water. It was big and heavy but made it through all the obstacles.
It was a nice day but I was totally " wiped out " when I got back. This was the most tired and shot I had been any day thus far - worn to a frazzle. The trail ended early, about 3, by design. After getting back to town, went to the public library, put on my gloves and got my email. I shouldn't do that when I'm tired. There were a couple hundred emails, mostly junk. I dispatched all of them, and I'm sure some valid ones very quickly. Too bad.
After 2 seconds of remorse, headed to the Spanish Trail Arena to return my paperwork and look at exhibits from almost 150 vendors. This was the most vendors yet. The stage was filled with prizes but I gave my ticket to some other folks and came back to the motorhome. Took a shower, had a beer, did a little web work and am still worn out.
It was a very good day - and a very good tired - not the mental type of tired one gets at work but a nice, relaxing, mellow tired.
Another beer and I'll even be ready to upload this tonight. Wow!
Also have to get ready for tomorrow - Big Saturday. 1600+ vehicles will leave Moab for 30 trails within a 20 minute time span.
Rick & Co. left early today - smart move - by doing that I suspect they are avoiding a winter storm through the Rockies- warnings were issued today. Clint & Co. will leave tomorrow. After tomorrow it will be quiet in town. Ahhh!
Wipe Out Hill trail group at Determination Towers
Wipe Out Hill
Over $100,000 worth of prizes for the 2004 EJS at Spanish Trail Arena
View from the trail
View from the Jeep looking down
Rolled three times in front of me - fortunately not on the ledge!
A slightly off-center engine
Majestic view of the LaSals from the trail
April 10 - Sat.
Big Saturday - Cliff Hanger. Got all set up on Main Street and at 9 AM over 1600 vehicles left town in less than 20 minutes. This time all went smoothly (implying that's not always the case!) They close down the major highway and the trail leaders then take off with their groups of between 30 and 80 vehicles in a rather well-organized fashion so there is no grid-lock. It works well until one of the cops at the many intersections wants to " direct " the line-up and that fouls everything up. That's happened in the past. This time the Moab Chief of Police gave a short talk at Monday's safety meeting and said, " You guys know where you are going and what you are doing. If one of my guys directs you wrong - ignore him or her - they're just there for the overtime! " We did and we got out of town OK.
At the second obstacle the guy behind me, from Canada, bent his drag link. After some scratching of heads, I intervened: " Put a bottle jack underneath to bend it back up and also run a winch line to keep the link from moving side to side. " 10 minutes later - zippo - good as new! Time to move along. 300' later a Ford F150 broke a hub. They replaced the hub only to find they trashed the ring and pinion. Bye bye Ford.
While (fortunately) away from the canyon rim, a CJ-7 three vehicles up was on a set of rock steps having difficulty achieving forward motion. Bing, bang boom. No luck. Not sure what he did next, but I see him on the ledge and he's bouncing up and down like the Easter bunny. I reach for the mike to to say, " I wouldn't do that if I were you! " and just then over he goes. 3 times in fact. Now I'm on the mike as this happens, giving a roll-by-roll commentary. " Holy shit! This guys going over! " By the time I said that, he had rolled three times. " Jeez, this guy rolled three times. Any paramedics? " I ran up to the vehicle and the driver was OK. No passenger. He got out through the broken window on the passenger side. He's OK. There was a small crowd there by then and nobody noticed the foul smell from the now sideways engine compartment. I took a quick look and saw the battery had broken loose, was laying against the hood and sparking. " Let's get this f* & %^ing hood open NOW before we have a f* & %^ing fire! " (Since there was a foul smell, I figured foul language was appropriate.)
We got the hood open just as the battery burned a hole into the hood. Clunk. The battery fell out, breaking the cables. Fortunately, the sparks did not ignite the gasoline or it would have been an entirely different adventure!
It took 90 minutes to winch him back up, reset three tires on the wheels, pull him backwards to a flat spot, turn him around and get him on the trail heading downhill. The engine mount had broken loose and the engine was at a precarious angle so it could not be driven. He had some buddies with him to remove him from the trail, take him to town and decide what to do with the carcass.
The rest of the trail was uneventful and so beautiful. The view from Cliff Hanger is spectacular, especially when driving it . You look down and it's 1000 feet straight! That part of the trail, except for one obstacle, is pretty safe. It's a kick to drive. Not sure I'd want to be a passenger, however. A lot of other folks seemed to think the same thing.
Returned to camp. Turned on the scanner and listed to all the folly going on around Moab. Kids tends to come here for spring break and do really dumb things. I stayed in the campground as, at times, there was almost total gridlock in the streets out front. Nice to sit and watch it all go by.
April 11 - Sun.
Strike Ravine. Wanted to run this as I suspect next year it may be partially closed. Someone bought 160 acres of public School Trust Land for $44,000 - yes $44,000! Part of Strike Ravine, an RS2477 definition road, runs through it but the person who bought it is an eco-person and decided to close the road. The Red Rock 4 Wheelers went to court and got a temporary injunction to keep it open for a while but we all know where this will head.
Lower Helldorado is also on her property and is now permanently and forever closed since that was not an RS-2477 road. Fortunately I had run that with Shaddy, John, and a bunch of other folks for the previous 4 years. It was a delight - now it's gone. Life isn't fair - duh!
So our official trail group, let by Butch and Eve, headed down the
road and as we drove through her property to get access to the Ravine
itself, she was sitting there taking photos of us. Apparently yesterday
she had a group of greenies there and one of them even threw himself
on top of somebody's hood as they drove by. Oh how I wish they would
have done that to me.
Others were grabbing people's wheels trying to stop them. Huh? Double
duh!
We stopped by upper Helldorado (still open) and watched the rock crawlers break. From there we took the hill up to the old uranium mines. I took the Geiger counter along (to count Geigers, obviously!) and went about finding some rocks and debris that were still " hot. " And that was the end of the trail.
Jay and Michelle, from Washington state who were on the trail, wanted to do Lion's Back and didn't want to try it alone so I volunteered for the dirty deed. His wife wouldn't ride along so I ran up with him. Pretty sad, actually. Years ago there would be 50-60 vehicles going up and down the 600' high rock fin. Now some a$$ & $*e bought the land in front of the public fin and charges $10 access through their property to the public land.
The ride up and down was fine but no one around, save one other guy who paid $10 to go up, only because Jay did. On the way back we stopped at Potato Salad to watch the carnage. A kid with a $27,000 Rubicon, $16,000 worth of modifications and 200 miles on it hammered up and rolled - rolled bad. Looks totaled to me. Then there was the complete idiots with the Hummer - kids sitting, unprotected, in the back. I couldn't take it and left. I should point out that these are not 4-wheelers. These are kids, who families have WAY too much money, that come down here, drink, get high and attempt to destroy their vehicles and themselves, perhaps not in that order. At any rate, we all wish they would just go away - far away.
OK. End of the Safari. Next is to meet up with Doc and go wheelin' in some remote areas of San Juan County for the next couple weeks (+ or -.) Doc and I have been wheelin' before ( here and here ) and usually force ourselves to have a good time. Got back and found Doc, who had successfully negotiated the few open mountain passes between Hellengone, Montana, and Moab. Went out for beer and food (in that order) and kind of planned the next day, although our plan for the next two weeks (+ or -) is to have no plan.
I've a broken support bracket on the motorhome and need to get that welded so 7 AM tomorrow will be making phone calls to set up a time to get that done. Then we'll do some grocery shopping and try to get the hellottahere.
" The " previously welded strut.
View from Strike Ravine
Rock crawler that didn't
View from top of Lion's Back
On the way down
For sale - cheap!
Dumb and dumber
