Getting Lost; Oil field roads, Petroglyphs and Canyons

[Greg]

An opportunity presented itself and I had 4 days away from work. Despite the nagging need to do yard work, I loaded up the dual-sport for a good amount of riding. I had no real plan, just a loose list of general destinations and a whole lot of time on my hands... the perfect combination for a great ride.

Day 1-

I talked to a friend who was working in the oil & gas fields South-East of Vernal, Utah and he invited me to stop by. Destination #1 had been determined! After checking out the map, I decided to follow a similar route out of Fruita, CO over the Baxter Pass as the one in my trip, Exploring The Crookedest Railroad in the West. I would take the 6 & 50 Highway to Mack, up to the old town of Atchee, over Baxter Pass, thru Dragon and Rainbow, then catching the Old Highway 45 thru Bonanza and North up to the drilling rig.

I headed out from home, topping off the 8 gallon tank. It was a short drive to Mack, then North up 4 Road. I stopped at the old Machinist Building in Atchee for a quick picture, then continued on up the old railroad grade towards the 8,422 foot summit of Baxter Pass.

On the North face of Baxter Pass I ran into a couple surprises... plenty of snow and a cow Elk! The snow wasn't that hard to deal with, as someone had driven the road in a 4x4 just before I had ridden it, so I rode in their tracks. I think both the Elk and I were caught off guard at the sight of each other, she was coming down the mountain and I was riding down the road... we missed intersecting each other by about 25-30 feet. With some quick unzipping I pulled my camera out while riding and took a photo as the Elk bailed off the left side of the road.

More incredible finds on the backside of Baxter Pass-

Crossing over the CO/UT border and continuing onto Dragon, UT. The signs were installed since the last time I was up here and they have some great pictures and information.-

The roads beyond Dragon were great, well maintained and ZERO traffic. One after another, the canyons in this area were too cool... at times the road followed the bottom of the canyon, down in a sandy wash. Long, sweeping roads winding their way thru the canyons, the riding was perfect! It was easy to maintain a quick pace and cover many miles, eventually reaching the old Highway 45 and crossing over the White River.

 

[Greg]

As the day wore on I meet up with an old friend Spence who was working on a drilling rig. They are working for Questar, converting old oil wells to natural gas wells. His job is to moniter what the drilling head is doing and let them know when they've stuck paydirt... literally. He is lucky enough to be able to bring his toys to work, in this case it's a Kawasaki Bruteforce 4wheeler. He unloaded his Quad and went for a ride exploring the oil field roads. We decided to head to Fantasy Canyon.

Fantasy Canyon is weird.... one of those places that can be creepy, in the right light, kind of like Goblin Valley The whole area is only a handful of acres, with a trail that wanders thru it. The local Boy Scouts have adopted the area and are responsible for naming the formations, and many of them are quite accurate. It's an interesting place to check out, if you're in the area.

On the way back to the truck we were greeted with some nasty looking clouds and a small herd of wild horses running along side us.

I was going to camp somewhere out there, but Spence offered up a bed on the drilling rig. He was working a 12 hour night shift and was more than happy to lend me a place to stay while he did his job. With the blowing wind and potential rain outside, I decided that sleeping on a thick mattress and having a solid roof over my head was too good to pass up. We stayed up late and BS'd while he worked, until I was tired.

The windows were covered and the humming of the diesel engines put me to sleep and apparently it was a good, deep sleep.... I didn't climb out of bed until after 10:30 the next morning! That's not really like me, but the rest did feel good. Thanks again for the bed Spence!


Day 2-

I cleaned up, said my good byes and headed out with the intention of riding down into Nine Mile Canyon. On the way to Nine Mile Canyon I used some of the main oil field roads and came across a couple more herds of wild horses. Eventually I rode onto the Reservation, crossed over the Green River, past Pelican Lake and picked up the pavement over to Fort Duchesne for a quick bit to eat and topping off the fuel tank.

The town of Ouray, UT... nothing like Ouray, CO.-

 

[Greg]

After riding thru Myton, UT I turned off to Nine Mile Road and found more oil & natural gas work on the way to the canyon. The road began a gentle climb and with the dark clouds that had moved in, the weather got down-right chilly. I already had on my jacket and didn't have much else to keep me warm, so I was really looking forward to loosing some elevation. I had plenty of time and lots of fuel, so I was more than happy to take my time and explore many of the side canyons and turn-offs.

Took a turn up Prickley Pear Canyon, simply because it sounded interesting. I ended up wandering around for awhile, then headed back down.-

There are many old structures in Nine Mile Canyon, seems like quite a few families eked out a living up there and I don't blame them for wanting to stay, it's amazing country.

The next stop was Cottonwood Canyon, where I found a couple Petroglyphs and a great road that climbed out of Nine Mile canyon, up to the top of the Bookcliffs. Here's the Big Buffalo panel and the Great Hunt Panel, both amazing rock art pieces-

 

[Greg]

Heading up Cottonwood Canyon was an absolute blast, there was little to no traffic and the roads were great. I was probably going a little to fast at points, but the roads allowed it and I had a lot of land to cover. My intention was to just wander around on the roads at the top of the Bookcliffs, so I followed the main road, then split off heading out towards the Green River.

I came across a handful of locked gates and got turned back each time. I was getting increasingly frustrated with each gate, because I would travel many miles to find one after another. The scenery was amazing, I was very close to a overlook of the Green River, with a gate blocking the way. After riding up a few other canyons and many miles of side-roads, I began to feel a bit confused about my location. It's not to say that I was lost... just temporarily without orientation. It was getting late in the day and I was tired, so I found my way back down Cottonwood Canyon and continued towards Wellington, UT.

Eventually after covering many miles, I found my way to Wellington, UT for the night and got a room at the motel. I had a steak at the built-in restaurant and got some good rest after the long day on the bike.


Day 3-

I rolled out of Wellington the next morning and decided to stay on the pavement and find my way to the San Rafael Swell, thru Huntington, UT. I found Buckhorn Draw Road and started riding South. The roads looked like they had seen a bit of rain the night before, which was nice because it kept the dust down.

Right about this point a saw a big 4x4 coming the opposite direction as me out of Buckhorn Road... we passed each other and realized in passing that it was Dom and Mindy! I turned around and we chatted for a bit, they were down in the Swell for a float trip and mentioned that they had left early, that there were a few more friends back at camp still. I decided to drop by and see if they were still there, after I stopped at the Buckhorn Wash panel. Sure enough, I ran into Cody, Kurt & Candice and a handful of others as they were preparing to leave. It was great running into you all!

 

[Greg]

I headed over to the Swinging Bridge for some pics and decided it was time to ditch the jacket. It was warming up quickly and seemed like it was going to be a great day. The next destination was Swaseys Cabin, then onto Eagle Canyon. I've wanted to ride down Eagle Canyon since the first time I took a 4x4 down there, it just seemed like a great place to ride. On the way there I stopped at the Lone Warrior art panel.

Swasey's Cabin, Eagle Canyon and the great views the Swell has to offer were all a sight for sore eyes. I noticed that the handguard was loose after the wind blew the bike over at Dragon, UT but I ignored it and kept riding. I parked the bike while I was walking around and apparently the bike wasn't leaning quite enough, a big gust of wind knocked the bike over. On my ride back out of Eagle Canyon, my right handguard loosened up and one side fell off, forcing me to pull over and fix it. The fix was simple, made me glad I had the few tools I'd brought.

 

[Greg]

After backtracking my way from Eagle Canyon, I headed towards Black Dragon Canyon. I really enjoyed my ride down Black Dragon Canyon, it's a treat to travel thru there. On the way down I ran into a group that was filming the canyon. I stopped and chatted with one of the guys and I asked him who they were and what they were filming. They were from NPR TV out of Phoenix, Arizona and they were filming a documentary on the San Rafael Swell.

Black Dragon Canyon ended all to quickly and it was back out to the hustle & bustle of life on the freeway. My destination was Moab and while I really wanted to avoid the pavement, I was beginning to get tired after 3 days on the bike. I decided to hit the freeway on the bike and ride into the town of Green River and see about picking up more dirt roads from Green River into Moab.

As I rode into Green River, the weather took a turn for the worse. The wind was really howling, making it hard to maintain a straight path on the motorcycle. Gusts of wind would literally blow the bike all over the place. I decided to take the old highway our of Green River, to the exit for White Wash and thought about connecting that to Dubinki Well Road. As I rode to the turn-off the weather wasn't any better. The sand was blowing like crazy and there were dark clouds towards Moab. I hate to say it, but I decided to stay on the freeway and ride into Moab on the pavement. I turned onto Highway 191 and just outside of the Canyonlands airfield is really got nasty... it started to rain, along with the blowing wind and sand in the air. Visibility was bad and the rain was causing sand & dirt to build up on my visor. I pulled off and put the jacket back on, then tried to clean off my visor the best I could. I took a quick picture of the weather, then headed into the storm.

Earlier in the trip I had planned to camp in Moab, there was a reason I hauled all this camping gear on the back of my motorcycle!! After seeing the weather I figured I'd just suck it up and get a room. I felt kind of dumb for hauling my camping gear several hundred miles, only to not use it. Considering the weather, I figured I would be much better rested if I didn't camp. I rode into town and it was a circus... a couple movies and a commercial were being filmed, in addition to a festival and a Nissan 4x4 event. I felt lucky to get a room at the Silver Sage Inn. I grabbed some Mexican takeout, then retired to my room to clean up and rest.


Day 4-

My plan was to leave out of Moab by way of Sand Flats road, up the La Sal loop road, then over to the La Sals and on to John Brown Canyon and Gateway, CO, then home. I was preparing to leave, gearing up and my phone rang. It was Monday morning and I was supposed to go into work at 7 PM that evening, to work a 12 hour shift on a rail grinding train that was scheduled to leave out of Grand Junction, CO that night. The call was from my Manager, informing me that the grinding train was delayed and that I needed to come into work whenever I could. This was probably a good thing, since the news told of a big snow storm in SLC and looking up at the La Sals, you could tell that they were taking a pounding. Lots of rain and snow was hitting the mountains above Moab. I choose to ride up Highway 128, then catch I-70 to Fruita. It was way more pavement than I intended to ride, especially after slabbing it from the Swell to Moab the day before. Oh well, I needed to get home and head into work, so off I went.

On the way home I did get rained and snowed on and it was a COLD 90 minute ride home. That made me really glad I didn't head up into the La Sals, I probably would have been stuck up there. After I got home, I had to hop into the shower and crank up the heat to regain the feeling in my hands.

In the end, over those 4 days I put over 800 miles on the bike and was able to see some new and amazing places, some great sights and meet up with friends in the oddest of places. It was a great trip and helped quench my wanderlust... at least for a couple more weeks.

If you're interested, here's a link to the photo album from the trip -http://greg-catherine.smugmug.com/Travel/Baxter-Pass-Nine-Mile-Canyon/12304511_WCuBY#878199835_339vp

 

[RockMonkey]

Wow, very cool trip. Great pictures! I'm jealous of how often you get out on these trips.

 

[Greg]

Wow, very cool trip. Great pictures! I'm jealous of how often you get out on these trips.

Thanks Braden! It was a fun ride, the weather was threatening thru most of the trip, but other than some crazy wind and a little bit of rain, it never got too bad.

I've really been trying to make a couple of 3-4 day trips each year, then a handful of over-nighters. If I can manage that, I'm doing well. Hopefully there will be some San Juan trips coming up soon, now that the snow is melting off the high elevations.

 

[Tacoma]

Awesome writeup. I miss working with Spence. And dirt-tracking it around all the turns on the oil roads when I'd leave at midnight.

Everytime you post I want a bike NOW. That's a good thing. Looking forward to the next report!!

And I guess this means you didn't make that lady crash.

 

[Rot Box]

I've been dirt biking anywhere from 2 days to 4 days every week for the last few months and it is absolutely the best thing ever! But every time out I have to return to the truck and end up right where I started. Seeing trip reports like this really makes me want to get the ATK thumper put back together and made street legal--the possibilities seem endless!

Thanks for the inspiration and great writeup! That's as good as it gets

 

[Badbuggy]

Great trip report, thanks for posting up all the great pictures. Makes me want to hit the trail.

 

[anderson750]

Great trip report. If I would have known that you were going to be in Nine Mile Canyon, I would have pointed you in the direction of some neat sights. I have a lot a family history in that canyon. In fact you drove past an old family ranch on your way to Wellington.

I came across a handful of locked gates and got turned back each time. I was getting increasingly frustrated with each gate, because I would travel many miles to find one after another. The scenery was amazing, I was very close to a overlook of the Green River, with a gate blocking the way. After riding up a few other canyons and many miles of side-roads, I began to feel a bit confused about my location. It's not to say that I was lost... just temporarily without orientation. It was getting late in the day and I was tired, so I found my way back down Cottonwood Canyon and continued towards Wellington, UT.

I was probably only about 10 miles from where this picture was taken. We spent the weekend at a friends ranch that is on top of Tavaputs plateau this weekend.

 

[Greg]

Awesome writeup. I miss working with Spence. And dirt-tracking it around all the turns on the oil roads when I'd leave at midnight.

Everytime you post I want a bike NOW. That's a good thing. Looking forward to the next report!!

And I guess this means you didn't make that lady crash.

Your name came up while Spence and I were talking...

So get a bike... Older DR650's are cheap to be had and IMO, a great bike for this kinda riding.

I've been dirt biking anywhere from 2 days to 4 days every week for the last few months and it is absolutely the best thing ever! But every time out I have to return to the truck and end up right where I started. Seeing trip reports like this really makes me want to get the ATK thumper put back together and made street legal--the possibilities seem endless!

Thanks for the inspiration and great writeup! That's as good as it gets

That ATK would be great for rides like this, even more so for the area you live in. It would be a blast to wander around ID & WY over a long weekend on a big thumper!

Great trip report, thanks for posting up all the great pictures. Makes me want to hit the trail.

Thanks Jeff, it was a memorable trip for sure!

Great trip report. If I would have known that you were going to be in Nine Mile Canyon, I would have pointed you in the direction of some neat sights. I have a lot a family history in that canyon. In fact you drove past an old family ranch on your way to Wellington.




I was probably only about 10 miles from where this picture was taken. We spent the weekend at a friends ranch that is on top of Tavaputs plateau this weekend.

Yeah, I should have talked to ya but this ride was so random, I didn't know where I was going until I got there... and I like it that way. I do want to get back to Nine Mile canyon, I really enjoyed my time up there. Perhaps we will have to talk before the next trip!

 

[Tacoma]

Your name came up while Spence and I were talking...

So get a bike... Older DR650's are cheap to be had and IMO, a great bike for this kinda riding.

:wtf: heh. I liked working with Spence... waaaay better company than some of the other weirdos up there.

I am keeping my eyes open for a decent DR. Hondas keep coming up though, at least in-state. I'd love to do pretty much the ride you just did, it's not as much fun in a truck.

 

[Spork]

Cool ride, I made it to 9-mile canyon this spring and was kind of suprised with all the petroglyphs

 

[anderson750]

Your name came up while Spence and I were talking...

That is why my ears were burning this weekend. I thought it was just the sun beating down on my at 9500 feet.

So get a bike... Older DR650's are cheap to be had and IMO, a great bike for this kinda riding.

I have been thinking about it for the last cople of months. A friend of mine who I ride with quite a bit does a few of these trips each year on a KLR. He goes by mknight on ADVrider and MU and has done some pretty good trips and write ups.

Yeah, I should have talked to ya but this ride was so random, I didn't know where I was going until I got there... and I like it that way. I do want to get back to Nine Mile canyon, I really enjoyed my time up there. Perhaps we will have to talk before the next trip!

Give me a call. I could take you down horse bench and show you alot of the petroglyphs and other things in and around the canyon.

 

[Greg]

Cool ride, I made it to 9-mile canyon this spring and was kind of suprised with all the petroglyphs

I missed so much of the rock art up there, I do need to get back!

That is why my ears were burning this weekend. I thought it was just the sun beating down on my at 9500 feet.

I have been thinking about it for the last cople of months. A friend of mine who I ride with quite a bit does a few of these trips each year on a KLR. He goes by mknight on ADVrider and MU and has done some pretty good trips and write ups.

Give me a call. I could take you down horse bench and show you alot of the petroglyphs and other things in and around the canyon.

Sorry, I was talking to Tacoma!

Horse Bench sounds great, I'll see what I can do.

 

[Tonkaman]

This looks like one hell of an adventure. I can't believe how many miles you squeezed in! Fantasy canyon looks like its worth the drive by itself. Very cool report