Just another Moab Trip - Oct 7-10

[sixstringsteve]

Eric (864runner) and my brother and I went to Moab Oct 7-10. We met up at the main street grill in Price (fantastic food) and headed out from there.

We decided to do some more exploring along the backroads this trip, rather than just hitting the poular 4x4 trails.

We started out by heading down to the white wash sand dunes.

It made me happy to see this sign. A great step towards educating people about what "stay on the trail" means.

We found a good spot to camp and went straight to bed.

 

[sixstringsteve]

The next morning we awoke to a slight drizzle. I was happy that I didn't have to pack up a wet tent. Sleeping in the back of the truck worked out really well.

My dog Fender loves camping. You'll be sick of pictures of him by the end, but we're happy to have a dog that loves the outdoors as much as we do.

We explored the sand dunes a bit.

 

[sixstringsteve]

Then we headed off on the fire roads leading us into Moab. I have the GPS waypoints if anyone's interested, but it's easy to find on a map.

Due to the light rain the evening before, the trail was pretty muddy. We proceded with caution, making sure we weren't tearing up the trail. It was obvious where we had driven, but there weren't any ruts, and we weren't damaging the trail. Once we were sure we weren't tearing up the trail, we headed out.

There's one big disadvantage to having your tires stick out past your fenders:

Eric learned that you can fling mud onto your own roof and onto the roof of the guy in front of you.

 

[sixstringsteve]

The trail was beautiful.

The fire roads were the muddiest, but we found a nice litle 4x4 trail that didn't have much mud. I'd like to do this trail again, it was very cool.

 

[sixstringsteve]

We got back on the main fire road and decided to take a break to let the road dry.

Fender got to stretch his legs. I swear he is half deer.

While we were waiting for the road to dry, we put Carl's (Ilean) targets to use:

Carl's targets held up great.

 

[sixstringsteve]

I'd never been out this way before. It was cool to stuble on this old well.

We popped out of the trail at Bartlett Wash and saw some people running an ultra marathon.

 

[sixstringsteve]

We got into town, washed the trucks, got some groceries, and headed out on Hell's Revenge.

I let my buddy Taylor drive for the first time.

Needless to say he's hooked.

After a couple miles, we took him down Hell's Gate.

Eric followed

 

[sixstringsteve]

Taylor was doing so well that I decided to let him drive out of Hell's Gate.

I love the way the sidewalls grip on a KM2.

One thing I learned at the noob run is to make sure the spotter is always in the view of the driver.

And my first body damage on my truck happened right here.

I know taylor was a bit overwhelmed with everything: clutch, squealing steering, crooked steering wheel, super steep incline, and me spotting. If I had the rear locker working I think it would have made it fine. I probably could have spotted better...

 

[sixstringsteve]

I decided that I threw Taylor into too much too soon. So he backed down and Eric gave it a try.

I was afraid I wouldn't make it without a rear locker.

Thanks to Erik's great spotting I made it right up.

 

[sixstringsteve]

At the Hell's Revenge overlook.

 

[LT.]

B-E-A-UTIFUL. Great report these are the kind of reports I love reading.

LT.

 

[sixstringsteve]

Then we headed over to Base Camp Lodge, just past Hurrah Pass.

I think this was a 10 min exposure setting, after dark.

The owner of the lodge is one of the coolest people I've ever met. He has 2 or 3 mud hogans he rents out for less than $10. The hogans were full, so we camped near the lodge.

We woke up to a plane flying over the river. See if you can spot the plane.

 

[sixstringsteve]

We spent the morning playing disc golf. This is probably the best disc golf course in the world.

 

[sixstringsteve]

Erik realized his tires weren't pointing straight anymore. maybe it was that big jump he hit the day before.

We didn't know what the issue was. We thought it might be a trunion bearing, or the pin in the steering arm.

We got into town and decided to take it apart. I got to try my new bushranger jack. One important note with that jack is that you can't have an exhaust leak or it won't work. Erik is one of my all-time favorite guys to wheel with. he was really patient and did a great job taking his axle apart.

Turns out the axle was fine. Trunion bearings were fine. Knuckle studs were a tiny bit loose. We decided the housing was just bent at the knuckle balls, so we did a quick parking lot alignment and Erik decided to limp on home. He got home safely and the rest of us headed over to Goblin Valley for a night hike up Little Wildhorse.

 

[sixstringsteve]

My dog Fender loves these slot canyon hikes more than anything else in life. We tied a glow stick around his neck and let him hike along with us.

If you've never done this hike, it's my favorite hike I've ever done.

It was a full moon, so we could do most of it without flashlights. The trail follows a slot canyon and twists and turns where the water carved it out.

Alien dog.

We had to straddle a few crevaces to keep from getting wet.

 

[sixstringsteve]

The only part of the hike that Fender didn't like was the swimming.

We had to take our shoes off and wade at one point.

Here's a cool night shot from the hike. The moon was quite bright.

Then my brother headed for home (late night) and taylor, me, and my wife camped at the mouth of Ding and Dang canyons.

It was pie-iron pita pizzas that night. Way better than I thought. Can you spot the cast iron pie iron?

 

[sixstringsteve]

Then we ate breakfast, and slowly packed up.

Fender found a nice little mud puddle to play in.

See if you can spot Fender

he kinda blends in.

 

[sixstringsteve]

Then we set out to hike Ding and Dang. What an adventure.

very cool terrain.

 

[sixstringsteve]

Taylor straddling the crevice so he didn't get wet. I slipped and fell in when I tried it.

Such a cool hike (and I hate hiking).

 

[sixstringsteve]

We were out Ding (I think) and headed down Dang canyon. (I may have that reversed)

This descent was about 20 feet down. My wife and I opted to go around it. Taylor is a daredevil and went for it.

There's a guy in St. George with a cool orange datsun pickup. I've never met him, but I know of his rig. We bumped into some friends of his on the trail. They own an art gallery in Maine and feature his art there. Super nice guys. If you see this datsun dude, say hi to them for us, they were super nice.