Trip Report Montezuma Canyon, Alstrom Point, Smokey Mountain Rd to Left Hand Collett Canyon (Oct 15-18)

[Herzog]

Let's kick off this report! First of all, what a great group with great people. It was really good to meet up and hang out with all of you.

This was quite the journey for the tacocart. I'm very happy to report that it made the whole trip with no issues other than one broken exhaust hanger from that washboard road between the Collett Canyon turn off and Escalante... those were some epic washboards.

As per the trip plan, we all met in Moab @ 9am and proceeded to Monticello. It's been a while since I've been through Monticello but what a sight for sore eyes after all the development in Moab. Montezuma Canyon turn off was just outside of town where we dropped down into the beautiful canyon. There are quite a few really nice homestead ranches down there that I kept a jealous eye on. What a neat area.

From there we stopped to check out a few dwellings and the big kiva that you can't really miss. We stopped often which was nice because the stretch from Bluff to Paige was a long one.

 

[Herzog]

End of day 1 put us into Paige AZ wheres we split. 1 group went to find camp and 1 group stayed to eat burgers before heading into Big Water.

Day 2 we headed toward Alstrom Point with a detour to try to get to the beach and find shoreline. After finding water access we headed to Alstrom Point. Since we hit Alstrom near noon we made the decision to head further up Kelly Grade & Smokey Mountain Road to find camp.

 

[Herzog]

Day 3 we left camp near Smokey Mountain and headed toward Left Hand Collett Canyon. On this morning we were down to 3 vehicles total.

The drive across Smokey Mountain Road was gorgeous. I definitely want to head that direction and explore the area more.

Collett Canyon was pretty amazing. It would be wild to try to get through there after some weather. The water certainly flows through there...

After Collett, we headed into Escalante for gas and a quick bite to eat and planned out the rest of the trip since we covered the original ground almost a whole day early. We decided to stay on dirt and head over the mountain and into Loa. From there we searched for a new camp for the final night. We ended up in an area called Horse Canyon (IIRC).

That morning we all headed our individual routes back home.

Great trip. Would do again.

 

[TRD270]

So funny how small that rather large Tacoma looks in that group photo . Thanks for sharing, so sad I missed the trip.

 

[lhracing]

Great group, great time and great pictures. I wish that I could have made Left Hand Collett Canyon.

 

[Herzog]

Great group, great time and great pictures. I wish that I could have made Left Hand Collett Canyon.

We wish you could have too!

 

[Chicken Corners]

I like the picture of the dog sleeping.

 

[BlackSheep]

man, when is the next trip of this sort? Around Thanksgiving I'll be full-time VanLife and in the SW USA and will be looking for just this kind of terrain. Technically Nov 9 will launch my VanLife but I have to visit family before heading SW.

 

[XJEEPER]

Great writeup, so bummed that I missed out.

 

[zgfiredude]

Ok, clearly we are missing some details regarding the snake that appears in a couple of the pics............share the facts please!

 

[Kevin B.]

Ok, clearly we are missing some details regarding the snake that appears in a couple of the pics............share the facts please!

At Three Kiva Pueblo. We'd all spent several minutes clambering over the ruin and checking it out, and only noticed Mr. Slither as we were walking back to the trucks. Not sure what kind of snake he was, couldn't see if it had a rattle? He was pretty chill though, I think he thought he was hiding.

 

[TEAM FRED]

Great photos!
A great trip with great people for sure!
I agree that I need to get back out and explore more of the western side of the lake on another trip

 

[jeeper]

Not sure what kind of snake he was, couldn't see if it had a rattle? He was pretty chill though, I think he thought he was hiding.

Looks lite a rattle snake to me. And this only further proves that the suckers are becoming more graboid-like daily. That guy is huge and remained silent. You are lucky his buddies didn't come from the ground and eat you!

 

[Kevin B.]

Looks lite a rattle snake to me. And this only further proves that the suckers are becoming more graboid-like daily. That guy is huge and remained silent. You are lucky his buddies didn't come from the ground and eat you!

It had a very viper looking head, for sure. They say that natural selection is favoring rattlers that don't rattle, because rattlers that rattle get killed. I dunno about that, but whatever this guy was he wasn't rattling.

 

[zgfiredude]

The skottle cooking photo looks to have a "chunk" of that snake on the ground under the skottle......it may just be the ground/shadow, but I assumed it was Rattlesnake cooking in the pan!

I don't do snakes, I'd have put a couple of rounds into him/her!

 

[jeeper]

It had a very viper looking head, for sure. They say that natural selection is favoring rattlers that don't rattle, because rattlers that rattle get killed. I dunno about that, but whatever this guy was he wasn't rattling.

4 of the 5 I have encountered made no sound at all.

 

[Herzog]

The skottle cooking photo

I only posted that to gain +200 overland points. To which I sadly lost -300 points for not having a visible ARB sticker.

 

[Stephen]

I only posted that to gain +200 overland points. To which I sadly lost -300 points for not having a visible ARB sticker.

But you were up 10,000 for having a Toyota.

 

[Herzog]

But you were up 10,000 for having a Toyota.

Could you imagine if I had one of those fancy prinsu racks on a first gen, bro? Platinum badge stuff.

But in all seriousness, this was such a fun trip. A good amount of laughs over the radios during the day and over the flashlight campfires at night.

 

[lhracing]

So I got around to unloading some pictures from the trip, here are a few.