You see about everything here. This trailer queen was NOT on any trails!
The beginning of Poison Spider and our illustrious group.
More of the group.
Spotted most people through the "Wedgy" so they would get a little air. This was a highlight for some of the people.
There was a group of 4 vehicles from the Isle of Man. They were excellent drivers and a lot of fun. Most entertaining to see their right-side vehicles.
Approaching the lunch spot and Little Arch. This is the view to the southwest.
For the last 3-4 days of the Safari, there's at least one helicopter in the air air patrolling for "renegades." Moab attracts a lot of teenagers over the Safari week that are not part of the event but come here to party and then attempt to run the trails. Due to the stepped up police presence, DUIs are significantly down and the officially run trails are SO much nicer when we don't have to contend with a bunch of drunk kids in their vehicles on the trails.
When we got to our lunch spot, there was an excellent view of the Moab Rim trail that we ran a few days ago. We're about 1000' above the Colorado River that runs between us and the Rim trail.
There's also an arch at the lunch spot. Here's Tim preparing
to provide us with some entertainment. Sadly, I cannot display the photos
here
but if you have a strong stomach, email me and I'll send you the
photo. At any rate, through the arch, one can see a corner of the Colorado
River 1000' below and the beginning of the Moab Rim trail.
The Grand Country Sheriff does a great job of supporting the Safari by patrolling the trails on their ATVs.
On the way out, via the Potash Road, there are sheer cliffs. This is a popular spot for rappelling. No thank you, I'll take my chances in a Jeep!
I was the mid-gunner for this trail that had 44 people. We all got out of town easily during the 20 minute mass exodus. The trail head is some 10 miles away on an access road that is one lane at spots. Near the point where another trail, Cliff Hangar begins, some dude in a car was coming at me on the 1 lane road. I had about 30 people behind me that we were leading to the trail head. All trails need to stick together as many of these people don't know the way and would get lost. The Red Rock 4 Wheelers pay big $$$ for exclusive access to these trails. Most people know that on Big Saturday, from 9:00 to 9:30, we will be heading to the trails. Folks either stay off the access roads or if they do come upon us, they almost always pull over and let us pass. But this guy wouldn't. I elected to have a standoff with him. He needed to pull off the road to the right and let us pass. With 30 vehicles behind me, he really had no choice. He finally conceded and pulled over to the right, on the shoulder. It just so happened to be behind a Grand County Sheriff's car. The deputy was there keeping renegades off the Cliff Hangar trail so another one of the 30 Safari groups could use it.
As I passed, I waved at the guys in the car, two in the front and one huddled down in the rear, trying to thank them. As I passed one guy screamed "You m****r f****r!" at me. Hmm. Well, be that way! It did catch the attention of the officer who then came by to see what the commotion was. He waved the group and me on. We got by and to the trail head......except for Eric, our tail gunner, who was 20 minutes late. When he arrived at the trail head, he had this story:
The officer came over after I made the other guy blink and pull over to see what the problem was and noticed the guy in the rear huddled down. He asked the three to get out of the car and then discovered that the guy in the back had handcuffs on that had been cut in half. The night before, this guy had assaulted an officer and they handcuffed him but he somehow got away. The deputies had been searching for him all night. Once the officer discovered the cut handcuffs, he drew his gun and called for backup. Shortly, there were officers all over the place with guns and shotguns drawn and arrested all three. What a way to start a trail!
Now I know why he appeared to be somewhat irritated at me when I made him pull over and behind a Sheriff's car!
Other than folks with open differentials that were not equipped for this trail, and a guy that had a bad fuel pump (the third one in three days!) we had an "OK" day. It was just long and frustrating trying to get some of the vehicles over the obstacles.
The vehicle with the bad fuel pump died about here. We pulled his Jeep to the side and he rode with someone else until we got out. Eric then went back to strap him out of the trail. He started the retrieval at 8 PM and didn't get back until 1 AM.
Our first real obstacle...a deep ravine.
Not a good day as a lot of folks had an incredible amount of difficulty with obstacles like this one.
Here is one of the 50 crossings of Kane Creek.
Trees were lime green and almost fluorescent. Photos do not do it justice.
Here is 1/2 of our trail lined up for the rock ledge obstacles.
And the last one of the day! Whew!
The Launching Pad.
I selected a lunch area on the cliff rim. Storms were forming so we didn't take much time but did stop to marvel at the view.
This is the entrance to Arches National Park, some 1500' below.
From the cliff's edge, here's Moab, with a rainstorm over it.
The Golden Crack is always a fun place to play and catch air, as demonstrated by one of the folks in the group. The YJ, with it's stiff suspension always put on a good show here but the new TJ climbed over with with nary a wheel off the ground. Boo hoo!
About this time, off in the distance, it was raining pretty good. This set off a mad rush to get the top on the TJ. Screw the windows!
By the time we got to the Double Whammy, it was raining hard and even hailing. There were awesome waterfalls all over.
The Double Whammy in the rain.
It rained like the dickens for about 10 minutes. Towards the end of the rainstorm, water flowing over the Double Whammy, one of our group attempted this obstacle - one notorious for laying many a vehicle on it's side. He climbed it with ease...even in the rain. Amazing!
The only break we had was near here where one of the guys caught his spare tire and tore the tire and the carrier right off the Jeep. He put the tire in the back seat and duct taped the errant tire carrier on the front of the Jeep. It looked like a tow bar. Too bad I didn't get a photo. We all had a good laugh over that!.
There was a roll over on another trail and they had blocked our exit but we were able to get through. Once we finished the trail, instead of all heading out, we stayed there for about 20 minutes just BSing and laughing. What a good group and what a good day - the best in a long, long time. Most excellent!
So back to the RV, pick up Jeff who was out exploring on his own, head to Zak's for pizza and beer, get back, prepare for the next day, have a few more beers and get some shut eye.
Whew! But it was fun, though!
The last obstacle.
| Sidebar again. It's already Thursday. Am getting further and further behind on the web page. Moved to Green River yesterday. Will be here today and Friday morning and then will move into the Swell where Dieter will meet me. We'll be there for several days without internet or cell phone service. Monday or Tuesday we'll be back in Moab (maybe) and will upload the weekend's folly. |
Last fall, when this trip was just a glimmer in my eyes, one of the highlights was to hook up with Bob, a Moabite, and tour some of the area Northwest of Moab. After all the bragging I did to Jeff about Bob's extensive knowledge, he also had high expectations. Well, suffice to say our expectations were not only met, they far exceeded what we expected.
We got off to a late start (10AM) because I was yakking with Perry, Linda, Guy, Larry and his 3 sons. Some of these folks we will not see for another year and time slipped by way too quickly. So little time, so much fun!
Bob has been with us before (see previous Moab trips) and has always surprised us with his extensive knowledge of the hundreds of square miles from 191 on the east, to the Green River on the west from Dead Horse Road on the south to I-70 on the North. Today we went on a sightseeing expedition extraordinaire far exceeding our expectations. So for today, I'll let the photos do the talking!
On the road - leaving Bob's house. Jeff was the "backseat photographer."
One of many panoramas. Tombstone Rock.
Bob thinks the smaller round dome in the center is the remains of a crystallized geyser.
The little rain the other day brought out hundreds of flowers.
How purty is it?
Rock Canyon.
The three amigos at lunch.
Bob and Dave, on the edge, eating lunch overlooking Ten Mile Canyon.
Trough Canyon....named after the cattle water trough, of course.
Just because it's so pretty!
Indian rock art located on the top of a well hidden ledge.
And the end of the line for today.
Jeff and I banter back and forth good naturedly. We cut each other very little slack .... like none! After a short while of our bantering, Bob cracked up. He had some friends, Mario and Joe, a couple old farts who did the same thing Jeff and I do. He said for all the world I was like Mario and Jeff was like Joe, almost to a "T". So I guess we need to change our names to Mario and Joe.
After this day of indescribable beauty, we hauled back to Moab, dropped Bob at his house, dropped Jeff at the RV, grabbed a burger and made it to the Red Rock Safari de-briefing meeting only 5 minutes late. Whew! Another busy day, but good, though. And of course the photos do not do it justice.
So Bob, once again, thanks for your expertise in guiding us, but also for you comments on the geology, history and finding the little known corners of this part of Moab. We will do this again!
It looks like there will be a break in the weather on Wednesday so Joe will take off tomorrow to head home. While the weather has been great here, it's been crap back home and also in the Rockies. Good timing for once!
The plan for the day is to drive to Gateway, CO, via the Castleton-Gateway road in the foothills of the LaSals. It's gravel most of the way so no 4WD today, just scenic. But it's cold and very windy. We're tough. Top down, windows off, we're on our way about 9 AM.
Our first major vista is Fisher Valley. The entrance to Rose Garden Hill is out there somewhere.
A view of the La Sals from the back side.
Winter lasts a long time here, apparently.
Gee, I'd like some non-radioactive radon gas, please.
This is one of our favorites...
The road to Gateway. We ate lunch near Gateway and then headed back.
This was one rutty, clay filled mess. It was much, much worse on the way to Gateway. We were slipping and sliding all over the place.
I guess it would have been nice to have the rear windows on. There may be as much mud in the rear seat as there is on the outside of the Jeep! That's my "Damn!" pose.
No expense is spared for signage on this road.
Once again, photos do not do it justice.
Back at camp, Joe prepared an excellent steak dinner.
On the way back, the winds picked up even more, and Mario, the intrepid driver said to Joe, "Let's put the top up because I'm freezing my ass off." Of course Mario stopped where there would be allegedly no wind but, alas, such was not the case. Affixing the top and all windows in a 40 mph wind proved to be, shall we say, interesting? But we persevered and made it back to camp via the Sand Flats road without freezing any more than we already did.
Such ended Joe's visit to Moab this year. Thanks, Joe, for taking most of the photos and for riding along. This was a most enjoyable time and it's always nice to have company. So while Joe is returning to the drudgery of daily life, I'll escape into the wilds of the Swell for a few days for one last fling before the long depressing drive back home in a week and a half.
Head 'em up. Move 'em out. Pulled in to a CG here in "the River" that had wifi, registered, set up, and then tried to send some email. No luck. I needed to get their SMTP outgoing mail server address and use that in Outlook Express.
Went back to the office to ask what their SMTP server was (first mistake) and had an animated discussion about SMTP servers with the owner. "We don't have an SMTP server." "Yes, you do." "No, we have wi-fi." "Let me explain." (Second mistake.) After a while the game became quite boring, especially when she finally told me the problem was my Outlook Express and that I should contact Microsoft and they would fix it for me - because she could never send email via Outlook Express either. Duh! Change of tactics. I finally pried out of her the name of their ISP provider, although that's a discussion in itself. I contacted the ISP provider, got their SMTP address, plugged it in to OE, and all was well. Four minutes later I went back in and tried to explain to her that if anyone else asked, this address I got from their ISP is what they needed. (Third mistake.) She immediately entered the SMTP address into her browser and not her email client, and lo and behold, it didn't work. Sigh. More explanations eating into my wheelin' time. I finally extricated myself and have learned yet another lesson in life!
Next was the obligatory drive up and down the main drag. This is the town that time forgot. It use to be a mainstay of US Hwy 6 until I-70 bypassed the town. The Green River Unit of the White Sands Missile Range was also based here in the 60s. This was probably a happen' place back then! This is kind of like the little town on Route 66 in the movie Cars. I was impressed by the large number of defunct motels, so made the following montage, with my usual commentary. Why? Because I wanted to!
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The start of the day. Sunny but cold. I at least wanted the "sun roof" open!
Tusher Wash is cool! Lots of petroglyphs.
Canyons everywhere. Nice!
Inside the WSMR there were some clay roads and washouts. Just had to stop and play.
It was one hell of a time getting in and out of the Jeep to take these two photos. I miss Joe and his photo expertise - as well as the fact that when he was along I didn't have to get my fat arse out of the Jeep all the time!
"The" road. It was quite good and well defined here.
No comment.
Ooops! Hopefully they crashed in the desert!
Spent time poking around the old buildings of the WSMR. Many more photos of the launch sites, the block house, etc. but but am still "trying" to ration bits. Sigh. Everyone should have high speed internet!
So a good day. Got back late. Cooked a burger. Had one too many beers and got to bed well after midnight. Weather for tomorrow is to be cold and cloudy but that shan't deter me. Haven't missed a day wheelin' yet.
Into the San Rafael Reef from I-70.
The beginning of Black Dragon Wash. Of course I missed the turn off from I-70 and went another 7 miles before realizing it as I was too busy gawking at the magnificent scenery!
The "road" is down there somewhere at the base of the cliffs. This was from a little side journey along the way.
Eventually the
Storm clouds and rain were all around but didn't detract from the beauty.
Sigh!
Naming conventions are good here. I wanted to go to Swasey's Leap, but the BLM in their infinite wisdom closed the road 2.4 miles before the Leap. Screw walking!
Again, no comment!
It looked a lot darker than this photo showed. So dark in fact, I parked the Jeep, put the seat back, and had a most delightful nap.
And finally, about 5 PM, exited out of the Swell via I-70 that cuts through the Reef.
Got back and had a lot of work to do. Have a beer. The Jeep needed cleaning - very badly - inside. There was burned rubber on the idler pulley for the fan belt - that's troublesome, but got it cleaned off. We'll see. Have a beer. Spent an hour or so wrenching on the Jeep, tightening all the control arm bolts. This was not an easy task so needed to have a beer. Next take a shower and go eat . . but first have a beer.
Went to a nice looking restaurant (yet another mistake) for supper. ARG! No beer. Should have left. When my Chicken Malibu came is was as cold as a part of a witch's anatomy. Not being one to complain, I ate it and left.
Came back to the RV and emptied the sewer. Definitely needed a beer for that! Took clothes up to the laundry, put the Jeep on the trailer, did some other "housework", updated this drivel and got to bed by midnight. Yet another excellent day in paradise.
