We had a slightly later start since Don and Bill had to go to the tire store to get fresh treads, Ian and I needed ice and the rest felt like a Mickey D’s breakfast. The rest of the tourists in Moab wanted a McMuffin apparently too.
Waiting for the crew getting tires installed.
That place was a madhouse for a Wednesday morning. From breakfast we hit 191 south headed for Canyonlands National park. Not sure where we are going to in the park we figured we would hit the visitors center and check trail conditions. On the way we stopped at Newspaper Rock.
It’s a huge petroglyph that’s worth checking out.
The run into the visitor’s center gives a taste the new surroundings. Larry, Bill and Ty take time checking with the Rangers on what’s good to run on while the rest of us check out the souvenirs. With an objective set, we roll back out. Heading back the way we came in we avoided having to buy a parks pass.
At the Visitor's center:
We follow to a cool little canyon with a small creek filling a series of small pools as a stopping point for lunch. Some of us hike over to them and check them out. It most certainly was it’s own little oasis in the desert. The little pools teeming with life. Tadpoles we very visible in the clear water in the upper pool and adult frogs could be seen coming to the surface in the larger pool below.
Trust me Ian and I had about enough of the heat at this point and were very tempted to jump into the lower pool to cool off. We couldn’t tell if it was 6 feet or 6 inches deep from up there so we wisely decided to cool off with bottled water.
Lunch consumed we hit the road back looking for the trail to Beef Basin. Decidedly easier than the last couple of days, but a new area to explore for all. We got to the trail and aired down again. This was mostly a graded dirt road for the first few miles that turned to deep silt. This silt had the consistency of flour. The dust stirred up by each of us was thick and really prohibited taking photos for sure but we got a couple.
The grade increased so gradually it snuck up on you. Add the deepness of the silt in spots and the trucks really had to work to make this climb. On the previous two days off road the Blazer didn’t act up at all. But on the north end of the swell temps were easily 30 degrees less than down here on Beef Basin. So with high 90’s shown on my outside temp gauge, steep gradual climb and drag from the deep silt the Blazer begun to act up again. Engine temp was climbing steady and even when I could keep the speed up and engine rpm up, it just wasn’t coming down. I stopped when it stalled. It didn’t want to restart so we ran the same procedure over again. Don was the only one behind us and waited for us to get rolling again. The guys stopped and waited ahead and we got it running again. The dust from the silt was choking and required a lot of distance to keep it down. It was bad enough for us in my truck it was better to close the windows and loose the airflow than choke on more dust. The group decided to let me run ahead to keep it in clean air and keep my speed up. It worked. I could baja it to a certain extent with the Bilstiens and keep the temps happy and the fuel flowing. Plus we were ahead of the dust cloud. Only responsibility we had was finding our next campsite. Further up the trail we came out of the trees and discovered an overlook to the west. Looking into Canyonlands it was breathtaking.
The pace slowed so we could find a spot nearby. Not too much further I spotted a set of tracks heading west off of the main trail. We waited for Bill to catch us and we went down to check it out. Sure enough about a quarter mile down the trees open up to a clearing with enough room for the 5 trucks and that stunning overlook.
Larry broke out the camp shower before dinner. Never has a shower felt so good or refreshing.
It made us human again. Much needed over the amount of silt and dust we plowed through. We all burned meat over an open flame and sat near the overlook to eat, talk and enjoy one of the most majestic sunsets I’ve seen in a long time.
Don burning some chicken
Me burning some steaks.
