My First Week Exploring Utah, 4/12-4/19 2014

[BlairB]

Just realized that I never remembered to hit submit on my previous thread! Here is my delayed trip report.

Overall it was a great trip and I highly recommend getting out here if you haven't already. Issues were minimal, and the scenery and weather were impossible to beat. We did about 300 miles of dirt roads/trails this trip.


Day 1

We started off Saturday leaving from Los Angeles, heading to Zion National Park, planning on camping at Watchman Campground for the first of our two nights there. As I hate driving on pavement the whole way we took a detour from Cima to Nevada Stateline via Cima Rd and Nipton Trail. Fun, high speed dirt road that parallels the railroad tracks for quite a bit of the way.





Unfortunately, after getting back onto the pavement and making our way through Vegas we were stopped on the 15 for over two hours. Traffic was due to a trio of construction, accidents, and a freeway-side protest in support of a farmers cattles' grazing rights on BLM land (yes, seriously). As a result we ended up staying in a hotel our first night rather than coming into camp after 10pm and waking everyone up.

One interesting thing that we saw while stopped on the freeway was there must have been some sort of desert exercise for local law-enforcement since we were passed by literally hundreds of rangers, state police, sheriff etc.. all driving dirt-covered SUV's, trucks, UTV's. They actually had some really cool builds mixed in!

Day 2


We started off day 2 by heading straight into Zion National Park. We debated hiking Angels Landing but settled for Taylor Creek, wanting something a little more relaxed. Great hike that was around 4 miles, and lead to a beautiful dome at the end of the trail.





Made some friends along the trail.





After our hike we headed further into the park for a scenic overlook.





We finally made our way to Watchman Campground to set up. It was a decent campground, but since it was established it was filled with many large groups and lots of people.

 

[BlairB]

Day 3

Our third day began with heading through Zion towards Cottonwood Canyon Road. It was provided some beautiful, varied terrain.







As always, we tried our best to avoid paved roads while en route.



We arrived at Cottonwood Canyon Rd, and made our way into Grand-Staircase Escalante National Monument.



Lots of dirt road to cover and we made some more friends.





We arrived at Grovners Arch and explored a little.





We headed deeper into the park via Road 440 and 441 trying to find the perfect campsite. Ultimately after quite a bit of exploring we settled on a site right near the Arch from earlier. Remote camping sure beats a packed campsite. We did find a large mountain lion footprint that was pretty fresh. That is an eye-opener as you are looking to select a campsite.





Day 4


We covered a lot of ground this day, making it all the way to Moab. We started by leaving the Grand-Staircase Escalante and headed towards Burr Trail. We took Burr to Notom Road, which brought us through some beautiful country.





We hit some real elevation changes and some major switchbacks.





When we finally arrived in Moab we were SHOCKED at the numbers of built Jeeps we saw everywhere. Shortly after arriving we realized we had decided to arrive right in the middle of their annual Jeep Safari. To say we were outnumbered was an understatement.

We spent this night in Moab Valley Inn. Also, I highly recommend Moab Brewery to anyone that rolls through town!

 

[BlairB]

Day 5

Top of the World Trail is awesome. Simple enough. Definitely a little technical and I would be hesitant to bring a rig through if you didn't feel pretty comfortable off road, and have a bit of time. We started the trail solo, but ended up hooking up with four Jeeps from TNT Fabrication out of Wyoming. Very cool guys and they helped spot us through some of the tougher sections. The trail has apparently degraded a lot in recent years, and I put my sliders to work. Wish I took more photos of the trail itself, but here are some cell phone shots.









To say the view you get up top is impressive is an understatement.





And of course, the standard Top of the World Photo.



From here we finished the trail, which was harder and bumpier on the 2nd half of the loop. We aired up slightly and headed to begin the White Rim Road.



The White Rim Road is an amazing 100 mile loop in Canyonland's Island in the Sky District. We ran it counter clockwise. We started off heading down some more switchbacks.





Don't take a wrong turn.



The trail then lead us along the Green River to our first campsite, Potato Bottom.



Again, more amazing scenery.





We finally arrived at camp around 6:30 and made ourselves some hard-earned dinner. Garlic and Ranch Chicken with potatoes and mixed vegetables. Yum!

 

[BlairB]

Day 6


Day two on the White Rim Road. This was the only day we experienced any sort of mechanical issues.

Starting off the day we were greeted by many mountain bikers. This is a pretty popular loop, and they seemed to be out in pretty large numbers overall. Looks like a fun, but dusty and long, ride.



I also introduced my girlfriend to driving off road. She loved it.



You also get an idea of why this is called the White RIM Road with all the canyons you drive along.









And of course, a poser shot.



While around 15 miles from our campsite, the truck pulled suddenly to the right and dropped in the front right corner. I immediately knew that something pretty dramatic had happened. When I got out I found my front right corner buckled in. My Grade 9, Hardened, M14 bolt that connected my UCA to Spindle had decided to sheer in half. I still have no idea how this happened, I can only assume the bolt was bad.



Since we were in the middle of nowhere, pretty much exactly in the middle of the trail, I had to figure out a way to get the car able to move again. After skimming through all the possibilities in my head, I realized that my bolt-on sliders used a thinner, but equally long nut and bolt. I ended up stealing one from the drivers side to hold the UCA to the Spindle. Wish I had more photos, but was more concerned with getting us moving again. All and all this whole episode only delayed us 30 minutes, but could have easily been much worse.



We continued on our way (albeit, slightly more slowly) and enjoyed some more of the beautiful sights.





We ended up setting up camp at the Airport Camp around 5pm. FYI, named after a mountain, not an actual airport. Pretty epic views.





The Airport.



Day 7


We packed up and started our final day on the White Rim Road. As always, we were greeted by beautiful overlooks of the canyons below.



We did a quick stop at Musselman Arch.



Which I then needed a photo on, of course.



From Musselman we made our way to an overlook of the Colorado River.

 

[BlairB]

We enjoyed the beauty for a short while more before we started the trip up and out of the trail.





Sad to have finished White Rim, we aired up and pulled back onto the pavement. We quickly headed back to Moab to find a larger bolt for the UCA/Spindle fix and a quick bite to eat.

We made a quick stop at Arches National Park, and then finally began the trip back to California. Day 8 won't have a writeup since it is just freeway.





Overall this was an amazing trip, and I can't wait until I make it back out here again!

 

[RedSled]

Very nice, Thanks for sharing.

 

[JWaldz]

I hope to visit Utah one of these days. Looks like a great time. Thanks for sharing!

 

[GP4R]

Incredibly jelly of your trip. You two took some great pictures along the way. And fixing your 4R on the whim, :cheers:

I took a road trip last year and made it through many of those locations you visited.. except from the paved road. Didn't have the 4Runner at the time.

Zion is my favorite of all national parks. Though I'll finally make it out to Yellowstone for the first time this early July, my statement may change. Currently living down in Mississippi but moving back to Grand Junction, CO at the end of this month. Afterwards it's on to Logan, UT in August. Excited to venture about.

If you ever make it back to Zion, you've got to hike through the Narrows. I think we were able to do 2.5 mile hike in before we needed a permit to go any further. Was definitely worth the ~20 minute ride up in the shuttle bus. After a mile through the water, the crowd nearly dissipated. Here's a couple of pictures before I ramble any more. Thanks for sharing your trip!

 

[R.A.]

Looks like a great trip!

Enjoyed the pics; thanks for sharing.

 

[Fishwerks]

Damn that sounds like a fun trip. Nice build too.

 

[ZOMBRNR]

Beautiful pics! Looks like one heck of an amazing trip.

How much extra gas did you carry with you?

 

[02SE]

Great pics and trip report. Utah has some amazing scenery.

As for the broken bolt, probably the most common reason for that type of failure, is over-torquing. If a bole is tightened too much, it is stretched beyond it's elastic point, and is significantly weakened.

 

[BlairB]

Thanks for the compliments guys, I highly recommend making it out there if you can.

Beautiful pics! Looks like one heck of an amazing trip.

How much extra gas did you carry with you?

Pretty much anytime I hit the trail for any amount of time I carry 10 gallons with me. I could have probably done the entire trip without using it since I am in the habit of filling up often, but I would rather be safe than sorry. Also, I always carry a little more than you probably need in case I am wheeling with someone and they need it as well.

Also, I had the bonus that I got to use my super cheap Utah gas instead of expensive California gas when I got back!

Great pics and trip report. Utah has some amazing scenery.

As for the broken bolt, probably the most common reason for that type of failure, is over-torquing. If a bole is tightened too much, it is stretched beyond it's elastic point, and is significantly weakened.

I thought the same thing about the bolt, but I am doubtful I did that while tightening these by hand. Didn't use air tools when I installed my front suspension, so nothing is torqued to a crazy amount.

 

[TheeMikeB]

Damn looks awesome, thanks for sharing. I'd love to do that trip.

 

[BlairB]

Damn looks awesome, thanks for sharing. I'd love to do that trip.

You should do it! The drive from the Bay Area is not that bad at all.