Skylinerider
Wandering the desert
- Location
- Ephraim
I like to look at "nothing".
Plan B - San Rafael Swell, 11/23-11/25/07
- Thread starter cruiseroutfit
- Start date
greenjeep
Cause it's green, duh!
- Location
- Moab Local!
Great report, I definitely want to spend some more time out that way!!
Houndoc
Registered User
- Location
- Grantsville
Great sounding trip, and nice set up on the Taco. Something like that could even tempt me over a Cruiser, perhaps.
thering
Member
- Location
- Springville
Cool trip report
Nice report. So are there any access rules or tips you guys could let me in on about SR Swell area? Like closures for winter, best route to start with, etc. I would like to take my fam and a few friends down there this winter or maybe spring and I've never ventured into the Swells before.
Nice report. So are there any access rules or tips you guys could let me in on about SR Swell area? Like closures for winter, best route to start with, etc. I would like to take my fam and a few friends down there this winter or maybe spring and I've never ventured into the Swells before.
scoutabout
None
Please do not go to the Swell without picking up a current travel map from the BLM:
Price Field Office
125 South 600 West
Price, UT 84501
435-636-3600
http://www.blm.gov/ut/st/en/fo/price.html
Several roads travel through or around WSA's and off-trail travel is a big deal.
Price Field Office
125 South 600 West
Price, UT 84501
435-636-3600
http://www.blm.gov/ut/st/en/fo/price.html
Several roads travel through or around WSA's and off-trail travel is a big deal.
- Location
- Sandy, Ut
Finally finished the official trip report 
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Why Plan B? Well, I’ll get to that in a minute or two. The plans for the weekend were to run the acclaimed White Rim Trail in the Island in the Sky district of Canyonlands National Park. I was originally invited on the trip by a good friend Troy, as it later turns out Troy couldn’t make it and I was on my own. At this point I should have accepted defeat, but being so excited to run the WRT I continued my plans to run the trail. The National Park Service requires visitors to secure a permit if they desire to camp along the trail. The permits are $30 and allow only 3 vehicles and a maximum of 15 people per group. While this is a small group by most accounts, I was by myself at this point, so I could invite a few friends. I put the word out to the regulars, with the caveat that I must know pretty quickly if they would like to go. Without much hesitation Richard D. and the Russell’s were all over it. I sent the pair an email with all the trip details and rough itinerary; they seemed to be as charged with enthusiasm as I was for the trip. It was official! We were a couple days out at this point and everything was set for takeoff. We planned to leave in the early am hours on the Friday following Thanksgiving. Leaving the Salt Lake valley at 5:30 am would give us enough time to make it to the Canyonlands visitor center north of Moab by 9:30 am, when the visitor’s center opens.
Richard and his trusty FJ62 caught up to my one man Tacoma caravan as I traveled south on the Interstate towards Spanish Fork Canyon. We conversed about everything under the sun as we made the all too familiar drive over the canyon and into Price. Weather.com was looking pretty accurate at this moment, the sky was clear, the air was cool and it looked as if it was going to be a grand day in the desert. Doubts start amassing as we pulled off for gas in Green River. There were several cars in the gas station with snow laden undercarriages and remnants of slush still melting away on their dirty windshields. It was dry from here north to Salt Lake. Surely it didn’t come from the south? When a gal commented to Richard that it was a “blizzard” in Moab, as far north as the airport, we were in disbelief. Sure enough as soon as we hit the Canyonlands Field Airport things got crazy. Snow was falling in a fury as we turned up towards the visitor’s center I really started doubting our plans for the weekend. As we climbed the switchbacks on the highway, things went from bad to worse. The road was now essentially snowpack, and cars were pulling off the highway. As a Utah native the snowy road conditions didn’t have me discouraged, I actually like driving on the snowpack… however it was almost a sure guarantee that the Park Service was going to close the White Rim Trail.
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We arrived at the visitor center greeted by 6" of snow on the ground. A jubilant ranger was shoveling snow on the porch, commenting on how rarely he gets to do so, “come to Salt Lake” I told him, he declined. Sure enough the rangers were not allowing anyone down the White Rim Trail for the day, and likely not tomorrow either. They had already closed the gate on the Shaffer switchbacks and wouldn’t reopen them until they had a chance to drive the trail to inspect conditions, maybe tomorrow, maybe next week, no way to tell. Rock-falls and washouts are extremely common after this much moisture, and it could be days for the Park Service to get a tractor down the trail if such a repair was needed. It wasn’t looking good. As I sat in my truck waiting for Matt Russell to arrive, I tuned into the weather reports on the 2M radio for the greater Moab area. 50% chance of continued precipitation into the evening with lows in the teens and highs in the 30’s. It was time to start thinking of a Plan B. The San Rafael Swell weather broadcast was reporting cold weather, lows in the 20’s, highs in the 40’s, however no precipitation. Shortly thereafter Matt arrived in his FZJ80, accompanied by his wife Nancy and boys Hank and Si. They too were in utter disbelief of the weather; we updated them on the situation and starting discussing alternatives. We were a go, the San Rafael Swell would be our destination for the weekend and dammit we were going to have a good time. With that in mind, we were back on the road, this time chasing the clear sky along the northern horizon.
We again stopped for fuel in Green River, the same exact station we had been at just 3 hours earlier, the sad reality of a failed trip really sunk in at that point. No fear, we were confident we could salvage a trip out of the weekend. Onto the Swell we went. We entered the swell via Black Dragon Wash, within minutes of parting ways with the highway, we had the windows rolled down and were leisurely pacing our way up the canyon, stopping to enjoy pictographs and petroglyphs throughout the canyon. We reached Jackass Flats as the sun began to drop in the sky, with just an hour or so left of light we decided to hunt down a place to camp for the night. The Swazey Leap road looked like the perfect option, we could camp at the roads end and take the 2 mile hike out to the Leap in the morning. It lived up to its expectations; we made camp at the end of the road (beginning of the hiking trail) and enjoyed the evening around a campfire.
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The entire group made the hike out to the Swazey Leap the next morning, stopping at an abandoned car along the once passable road. The Leap gained its name from the cowboys that used to run cattle in the area, one of the Swazey boys jumped the gap riding horseback, all over a bet amongst friends. Later a makeshift bridge was built across the gap in order to move cattle to the opposite side of the San Rafael River it hovers above. The bridge fell sometime ago, but the legend lives on. A worthy hike to break up the monotony of driving all day long, keep that in mind the next time you find yourself with a couple of spare hours along in the Jackass Benches. We retraced our steps to the vehicles, loaded the gear and retook the road heading west.
By the time we reached the Swinging Bridge, the final minutes of the annual BYU-Utah football game were counting down. We parked along the side of the road and listened to the game trickle away, the Ute’s had lost, a shame but life. We continued north towards Buckhorn Wash, stopping at the Buckhorn Pictograph for a quick gander. I’ve stopped there so many times in the past, but its one of those places you just can’t get enough of. Why did the Native Americans choose this exact spot? Who were they talking to? Where did they go? Questions we may never know, but we can’t help but ask. Oh, well back to the rigs. We were rolling by the seat of our pants at this point, no agenda, no schedule, just random exploring. What better to do than check out the Wedge.
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We arrived to the Wedge overlook with a couple hours of daylight to spare. After taking a couple of pictures and throwing a couple of rocks, we made our goal finding a campsite for the night. It wasn’t extremely trying, we literally had every campsite in the area to choose from. We drove to the eastern most lookout along the ridge above the Wedge, just as the road cuts back north where we found a great spot perched right on the break of the canyon. The Russell’s were heading back to town for the night, they had some friends they wanted to visit and decided to part while they still had some light on their sides. Richard and I enjoyed a quiet camp on the edge, broken only by a couple of loud gun blasts that reverberated through the canyon for what seemed like minutes. We warmed ourselves by the fire into the night and eventually retired to our beds, bundled against the cold night’s air.
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Our plans were still extremely fluid, basically the lack of a plan would describe it better. I hadn’t been through Fuller Bottom in sometime and Richard and I wanted to check out a route on the map that was noted with “Impassable to Full-Size Vehicle”. As we approached the San Rafael River a familiar vehicle came into view, it was the Land Cruiser of Ryan Hayes and family, an amazingly small world to run into them in the middle of a desert in the early winter. I must know cool people. We crossed the slow running river and decided to try a loop route I had never traveled. I don’t know an official name for it so I’ve dubbed it the Sids Mountain Loop, don’t like it… well it’s my trip report. It was scenic, offering un-parralled views into the depths of the Sids Mountain Wilderness area. I’ve long wanted to spend a couple of days hiking in the area, as it turns out this would likely be the best entry point for a trip in, in fact one could hike a good distance into the Wilderness area on an old road. What, a road into the Wilderness area? Sure, had me baffled too (imagine my eyes rolling here). There is a cabin up on top of the mesa somewhere in the area I would like to check out, one day I’ll strap on a pack and get there.
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Plan B - The San Rafael Swell
11/23 - 11/25/07
By Kurt Williams
(Last Updated 04/14/08)
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11/23 - 11/25/07
By Kurt Williams
(Last Updated 04/14/08)
Why Plan B? Well, I’ll get to that in a minute or two. The plans for the weekend were to run the acclaimed White Rim Trail in the Island in the Sky district of Canyonlands National Park. I was originally invited on the trip by a good friend Troy, as it later turns out Troy couldn’t make it and I was on my own. At this point I should have accepted defeat, but being so excited to run the WRT I continued my plans to run the trail. The National Park Service requires visitors to secure a permit if they desire to camp along the trail. The permits are $30 and allow only 3 vehicles and a maximum of 15 people per group. While this is a small group by most accounts, I was by myself at this point, so I could invite a few friends. I put the word out to the regulars, with the caveat that I must know pretty quickly if they would like to go. Without much hesitation Richard D. and the Russell’s were all over it. I sent the pair an email with all the trip details and rough itinerary; they seemed to be as charged with enthusiasm as I was for the trip. It was official! We were a couple days out at this point and everything was set for takeoff. We planned to leave in the early am hours on the Friday following Thanksgiving. Leaving the Salt Lake valley at 5:30 am would give us enough time to make it to the Canyonlands visitor center north of Moab by 9:30 am, when the visitor’s center opens.
Richard and his trusty FJ62 caught up to my one man Tacoma caravan as I traveled south on the Interstate towards Spanish Fork Canyon. We conversed about everything under the sun as we made the all too familiar drive over the canyon and into Price. Weather.com was looking pretty accurate at this moment, the sky was clear, the air was cool and it looked as if it was going to be a grand day in the desert. Doubts start amassing as we pulled off for gas in Green River. There were several cars in the gas station with snow laden undercarriages and remnants of slush still melting away on their dirty windshields. It was dry from here north to Salt Lake. Surely it didn’t come from the south? When a gal commented to Richard that it was a “blizzard” in Moab, as far north as the airport, we were in disbelief. Sure enough as soon as we hit the Canyonlands Field Airport things got crazy. Snow was falling in a fury as we turned up towards the visitor’s center I really started doubting our plans for the weekend. As we climbed the switchbacks on the highway, things went from bad to worse. The road was now essentially snowpack, and cars were pulling off the highway. As a Utah native the snowy road conditions didn’t have me discouraged, I actually like driving on the snowpack… however it was almost a sure guarantee that the Park Service was going to close the White Rim Trail.
We arrived at the visitor center greeted by 6" of snow on the ground. A jubilant ranger was shoveling snow on the porch, commenting on how rarely he gets to do so, “come to Salt Lake” I told him, he declined. Sure enough the rangers were not allowing anyone down the White Rim Trail for the day, and likely not tomorrow either. They had already closed the gate on the Shaffer switchbacks and wouldn’t reopen them until they had a chance to drive the trail to inspect conditions, maybe tomorrow, maybe next week, no way to tell. Rock-falls and washouts are extremely common after this much moisture, and it could be days for the Park Service to get a tractor down the trail if such a repair was needed. It wasn’t looking good. As I sat in my truck waiting for Matt Russell to arrive, I tuned into the weather reports on the 2M radio for the greater Moab area. 50% chance of continued precipitation into the evening with lows in the teens and highs in the 30’s. It was time to start thinking of a Plan B. The San Rafael Swell weather broadcast was reporting cold weather, lows in the 20’s, highs in the 40’s, however no precipitation. Shortly thereafter Matt arrived in his FZJ80, accompanied by his wife Nancy and boys Hank and Si. They too were in utter disbelief of the weather; we updated them on the situation and starting discussing alternatives. We were a go, the San Rafael Swell would be our destination for the weekend and dammit we were going to have a good time. With that in mind, we were back on the road, this time chasing the clear sky along the northern horizon.
We again stopped for fuel in Green River, the same exact station we had been at just 3 hours earlier, the sad reality of a failed trip really sunk in at that point. No fear, we were confident we could salvage a trip out of the weekend. Onto the Swell we went. We entered the swell via Black Dragon Wash, within minutes of parting ways with the highway, we had the windows rolled down and were leisurely pacing our way up the canyon, stopping to enjoy pictographs and petroglyphs throughout the canyon. We reached Jackass Flats as the sun began to drop in the sky, with just an hour or so left of light we decided to hunt down a place to camp for the night. The Swazey Leap road looked like the perfect option, we could camp at the roads end and take the 2 mile hike out to the Leap in the morning. It lived up to its expectations; we made camp at the end of the road (beginning of the hiking trail) and enjoyed the evening around a campfire.
The entire group made the hike out to the Swazey Leap the next morning, stopping at an abandoned car along the once passable road. The Leap gained its name from the cowboys that used to run cattle in the area, one of the Swazey boys jumped the gap riding horseback, all over a bet amongst friends. Later a makeshift bridge was built across the gap in order to move cattle to the opposite side of the San Rafael River it hovers above. The bridge fell sometime ago, but the legend lives on. A worthy hike to break up the monotony of driving all day long, keep that in mind the next time you find yourself with a couple of spare hours along in the Jackass Benches. We retraced our steps to the vehicles, loaded the gear and retook the road heading west.
By the time we reached the Swinging Bridge, the final minutes of the annual BYU-Utah football game were counting down. We parked along the side of the road and listened to the game trickle away, the Ute’s had lost, a shame but life. We continued north towards Buckhorn Wash, stopping at the Buckhorn Pictograph for a quick gander. I’ve stopped there so many times in the past, but its one of those places you just can’t get enough of. Why did the Native Americans choose this exact spot? Who were they talking to? Where did they go? Questions we may never know, but we can’t help but ask. Oh, well back to the rigs. We were rolling by the seat of our pants at this point, no agenda, no schedule, just random exploring. What better to do than check out the Wedge.
We arrived to the Wedge overlook with a couple hours of daylight to spare. After taking a couple of pictures and throwing a couple of rocks, we made our goal finding a campsite for the night. It wasn’t extremely trying, we literally had every campsite in the area to choose from. We drove to the eastern most lookout along the ridge above the Wedge, just as the road cuts back north where we found a great spot perched right on the break of the canyon. The Russell’s were heading back to town for the night, they had some friends they wanted to visit and decided to part while they still had some light on their sides. Richard and I enjoyed a quiet camp on the edge, broken only by a couple of loud gun blasts that reverberated through the canyon for what seemed like minutes. We warmed ourselves by the fire into the night and eventually retired to our beds, bundled against the cold night’s air.
Our plans were still extremely fluid, basically the lack of a plan would describe it better. I hadn’t been through Fuller Bottom in sometime and Richard and I wanted to check out a route on the map that was noted with “Impassable to Full-Size Vehicle”. As we approached the San Rafael River a familiar vehicle came into view, it was the Land Cruiser of Ryan Hayes and family, an amazingly small world to run into them in the middle of a desert in the early winter. I must know cool people. We crossed the slow running river and decided to try a loop route I had never traveled. I don’t know an official name for it so I’ve dubbed it the Sids Mountain Loop, don’t like it… well it’s my trip report. It was scenic, offering un-parralled views into the depths of the Sids Mountain Wilderness area. I’ve long wanted to spend a couple of days hiking in the area, as it turns out this would likely be the best entry point for a trip in, in fact one could hike a good distance into the Wilderness area on an old road. What, a road into the Wilderness area? Sure, had me baffled too (imagine my eyes rolling here). There is a cabin up on top of the mesa somewhere in the area I would like to check out, one day I’ll strap on a pack and get there.
- Location
- Sandy, Ut
The loop reconnected to the Fuller Bottom route just shy of its intersection with the Devils Racetrack and Eva Conover turnoff. We stayed to the west and continued towards our ultimate destination, the upper crossing of Eagle Canyon. We arrived at the abrupt edge of the canyon after a short stop at a somewhat obscure natural arch. Rather than immediately descend into the canyon with our rigs we thought it prudent to first hike down the canyon and explore what was deemed impassible by the BLM. The first quarter-mile of the canyon looked completely tame, a bit of careful spotting but overall very doable. From there the conditions got a bit on the nasty side, like a wedge that could be driven in anything short of a purpose built rock buggy I wasn’t about to try it in my Tacoma with trailer in tow. For giggles we decided to continue the hike down to the terminus of the other side of the canyon. Not knowing how far away it was, we just kept hiking. As the canyon essentially petered out into nothing, we figured we had missed the climb out. Where did it exit and how could we have missed it? Richard decided he would hike up on top of the canyon, while I stayed in the bottom, we would stay in visual contact from time to time, looking for a route that connected the two. Sure enough we had walked right past it. We were so enameled by the wedge obstacle that we missed the trail exiting right up the side of the canyon via a steep sandy hill with some small broken ledges at the bottom. It looked completely drivable, a bit tight and technical but doable.
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We retreated to the vehicles and began our voyage through the canyon. As planned we took extra time spotting through a trio of narrow sections, strewn with rocks and debris likely from the last big rainfall. With a little effort and a bit of bouncing off the sliders we had made it to the climb out. Richard gave it a go first, with a bit of wheel speed and momentum he bounced up the ledges and climbed right up the sand hill. I wasn’t so lucky… my trailer was acting as an anchor. The wheelbase was perfectly wrong. All four tires of my Tacoma were in the sand, while my trailer tires were still negotiating a ledge behind me, I could back up and “bump” it, but I would just stop dead in my tracks as my trailer hit the 12” ledge. The day was getting long and we opted for a strap up to Richards Cruiser, with a bit of help and a cloud of dust I was up and out. Mission complete! From the canyons edge the trail meanders for several miles before intersecting with the Moore Cutoff Road.
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The remainder of our voyage consisted of a high-speed jaunt over the Moore Cutoff Road and over to Moore where we finally hit pavement again. Richard and I fueled up the tanks in Ferron and b-lined it directly home, just in time for dinner with my wife. Never a dull moment!
(Note Regarding the Eagle Canyon Crossing: I spoke with a BLM official both before and after the trip regarding the crossing. It has been on my “to-do list” for quite some time and I’ve wanted to make sure it was even legal. According to the BLM it is completely legal to travel (indicated as such on both sides of the section). However they list is as such because a stock 4x4 could not likely pass though. I agree with their decision and reasoning.)
Full Gallery of Photos Here:
http://www.expeditionutah.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=1444
We retreated to the vehicles and began our voyage through the canyon. As planned we took extra time spotting through a trio of narrow sections, strewn with rocks and debris likely from the last big rainfall. With a little effort and a bit of bouncing off the sliders we had made it to the climb out. Richard gave it a go first, with a bit of wheel speed and momentum he bounced up the ledges and climbed right up the sand hill. I wasn’t so lucky… my trailer was acting as an anchor. The wheelbase was perfectly wrong. All four tires of my Tacoma were in the sand, while my trailer tires were still negotiating a ledge behind me, I could back up and “bump” it, but I would just stop dead in my tracks as my trailer hit the 12” ledge. The day was getting long and we opted for a strap up to Richards Cruiser, with a bit of help and a cloud of dust I was up and out. Mission complete! From the canyons edge the trail meanders for several miles before intersecting with the Moore Cutoff Road.
The remainder of our voyage consisted of a high-speed jaunt over the Moore Cutoff Road and over to Moore where we finally hit pavement again. Richard and I fueled up the tanks in Ferron and b-lined it directly home, just in time for dinner with my wife. Never a dull moment!
(Note Regarding the Eagle Canyon Crossing: I spoke with a BLM official both before and after the trip regarding the crossing. It has been on my “to-do list” for quite some time and I’ve wanted to make sure it was even legal. According to the BLM it is completely legal to travel (indicated as such on both sides of the section). However they list is as such because a stock 4x4 could not likely pass though. I agree with their decision and reasoning.)
Full Gallery of Photos Here:
http://www.expeditionutah.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=1444