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Originally Posted by special-K
Where abouts? Cool pictures. Best one yet, ey? Larry had invited to ride along one year, way back when. I wanted to but couldn't swing it. I really missed out on a chance of a lifetime.
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So we had a loose plan for this year and it centered around Hanksville Utah. Smack dab between Canyonlands and Capital Reef National parks. It's the only place for many miles in any direction with fuel.
I really only had one GPS track nailed down to start out on and we would choose as a group where to go next. We've gone the other way and had hard plans of a very specific trail each day and like clockwork, the plan gets tossed for different reasons and we end up winging it anyway. So we cut to the chase and winged it after day one.
Best one yet comes from many factors. We had a diverse variety of landscapes and elevations, each section of dirt was different than the last. We had alpine forests at 10,000 feet of elevation to be at least 7,000 feet lower at the bottom of a canyon crossing the Dirty Devil River. The trails were not highly technical rock crawling but what they lacked in boulders they made up for in steepness and remoteness. Low gearing going downhill was a must both coming down the mountain and deep into the canyons.
Larry and I joke but are partly serious that one of the goals of the trip is to be away from people. We nailed it. Between traveling during the week and in the depths of summertime heat (I saw 107* at one point) in southern Utah there weren't any other idiots like us out on the trails. Literally, we passed zero folks on the trails. I'm not counting two NP Rangers we came across at different times as they were out there looking for goons like us to warn us of the pending threat of rains and flash flooding that was possible every day we were out there.
We had minimal mechanical issues. Any we did came from mine. The biggest of which was a blown exhaust donut that we fixed in a rest area outside of Capital Reef NP. An hour burned on a hot parking lot and we were back out moving again. Honestly, it couldn't have gone any smoother than if we planned it.
We all had a great time. It was more overland than wheeling for sure, but driving 9 hours out and back also means we don't want to destroy our junk and not be able to make it home. All our trucks are very well equipped to take on a rough trail if we have to. We've done it many times in the past. It just worked out that though remote they weren't hard. That being said I still managed to get winched off a river bank when I couldn't get further and the Waggy with the camper got a tug from a kinetic rope when he couldn't get over a sandy hill on the trail. Both were self-inflicted. I had a hub unlocked and Don was still in 2wd when he hit the hill.
Never say never dude. If you want to tag along, let me or Larry know and we'll make it happen.
