Wednesday, April 25, 2018

Wheeling In Moab

Dear Diary, This is one long convoluted blog, but I have given up on making sense of it.

 Klondike Bluffs From A Distance

  Klondike Bluffs Zoomed to the Tower Arch

 Who Are These Guys?

Thursday, April 12 - WooHoo, the winds came, the dust blew. After lunch, it was gusting over 30 and it was white out city at times. We had all the windows are closed and one vent on exhaust to keep a negative pressure inside. The dust came in anyway.

Friday the 13th - Dorothy writes: I told everyone that it was Friday the 13th, but no one backed out of going on a trail.  The plan was to go to the Poison Spider Trail.  We have done it twice before, but the third time, the waterfall seemed bigger and steeper and we wimped out.  Brett and Keith are very experienced so going with them would be a good thing.  We did that trail just fine, but did not turn around when we could have.  We then did the Golden Spike and Gold Bar.  At the end of the trails, we should have been given a gold bar for completing these trails without breaking the Jeep or ourselves

We wanted to try run the Poison Spider trail again. The last time we tried to run it we were intimidated by a waterfall that had become a real obstacle. I wanted to see another Jeep do it to give me confidence. Team Wyers fit the bill. I would have preferred to run it in perfect weather for photography and mid-week when there are few on the trail. But, the clock was ticking for the "kids" on vacation, so I went with them to get some confidence. The intimating waterfall was even more so, but we got up it with no problems.

When we got to where Poison Spider makes a scenic loop, the others wanted to continue on the Gold Spike Trail, which my guidebook said is one mean bitch. Keith said it was not really bad. [After running it this year he retracted that. It has changed] The first 3.5 miles were delightful steep up's and down's on the smooth slick rock. Then came the obstacles named the Golden Crack, Golden Stairs, and the Body Snatcher. We crossed the crack by putting spare tires in the crack so the wheels would not sink down as much. Once started one wheel is in the air. The  Body Snatcher referred to the Jeep body, not your own. You slide to the right into a rock unless you maintain throttle. To cap it off the next 8 miles were the worst trail I have ever been on. It was no place for a stock clearance Jeep. Brent had to tow us up steps three times. It's hard to move uphill when your skid plates are scraping the rocks.

Then it got worse. The long, long trail got longer time wise when the ground wire on Keith's Jeep came loose again. The "kids" got on the ground and fixed it, but that burned up an hour of daylight. At dark, we found an intimating waterfall that looked to me like the Wall of Jericho that we had to scale to continue out. Brent winched up. He then tried to pull us up, but it was not working. Plan B, Brent got us positioned just right and Rubi came up under her own power. I was amazed. I turned just as they told me and never backed off the gas. If we had two more inches of clearance we would have had no problems on the trail.

We got back to camp at 11pm, after 13 hours on a 15.4-mile trail.

Saturday, April 14 - Sunday, April 15 - Spent being lazy and cleaning the vehicles.

Monday, April 16 - The forecast is for two days of high winds. The wind started mid-afternoon while we were town doing laundry. We had dinner at the Moab Diner a 50's style place and the food was good. The wind rocked the rig during the night, but we it did not disturb our sleep.

Tuesday, April 17 - The wind is still blowing, but skies turned blue by 7am. By noon, the light was perfect. The bright white clouds looked like a white kitten's paws just over the orange rocks. We wolfed down a sandwich and made tracks for the bluffs. Although the bluffs can be seen from our camp, it takes two hours to get there as there is no direct road and the Jeep trail is iffy in most places. You know this not going to end well already, don't you? Right! About an hour into the drive those cute clouds grew to enormous dimensions all around the compass. We could see water vapor trying to reach the ground from the bottom of the clouds. Where the water comes from escapes us. By the time we got to the bluffs, the sun was obscured by a solid cloud. And so it goes. We crawled over the trail into Arches and took the longer, but paved road home.




 On The Poison Spyder Trail

 Pig Rock - Really - Look


 The Team - Dorothy, Linda, Norma, Rob, Brent, Sandy and Keith

 Keith Watching Brent Try to Cross The Golden Crack Unaided



 Rob Crossing The Golden Crack Using Two Spare Tires

One Of the Only Scenery Shots I Took on the 13 Hour Trail

Wednesday, April 18 - Good weather today, more wind for tomorrow and then, drum roll, good weather for at least 10 days.

Dorothy writes: The first ride of the day was the Rim Trail.  Don is doing such a good job on these difficult trails and I have confidence in his driving ability and also Rubi’s handling ability.  We got to Wipe Out Hill - Bret went down and then up and then Keith went down and then up. Sandy and Linda stayed at the top.  We didn’t do it.  Then Brett wanted to do the “Pickle”.  He made a few attempts.  One that will stand out in my memory is Brett trying to get up the rock ledge and Keith and Don with a strap in each hand trying to keep the jeep’s four tires on the ground!  All was good until I decided  I needed to get higher up to watch.  That’s when my ankle rolled and I fell down. I looked like a turtle on it’s back, but nothing was broken just embarrassed. 

We drove a particularly scenic area we had not been to before in the general area of the 7 Mile trail. We got to Wipeout Hill. I took one look and knew the Jeep could do it, but I would not try and Dorothy would not ride down with anyone. Keith and Brent went down and back up. After that Brent wanted to try The Pickle a high steep waterfall. He tried mightily but was not able to crest it.  I don't think it can be done except by a specialty climbing machine.

Thursday, April 19 - It was supposed to be windy, but instead there was dense haze that obscured even the La Sal's. No photography today. We went on the Top Of The World trail. It a 4.5 mile rough broken layered rock trail through a P&J forest that goes from the Colorado River at 4,000 feet to an overlook of Onion Creek Canyon at 7,000. There is nothing to see until you get to the top. And then, oh my, what a view. Even though the dense haze, it was breath-taking. Not likely we will do it again, but it was worth it one time.

I searched for some pictures to show the view, but all I found were countless ones like these. Not a single shot showing the multi-colored canyon. Scenery must not be high on most Jeepers list.

Onion Creek is 3,000 feet down. It always amazes me that how such a trivially small creek could cut such a canyon. It must have been larger in the last few million years.

Bret expertly spotted us through a few obstacles.

Good campfire.

Friday, April 20 - A Lazy day for us. We picked up our mail, dumped, and got groceries. The Weyers did Strike Ravine. It's was the last day for the working man.

Saturday, April 21 - Another lazy day for us. We did some chores in the morning and then we chatted until lunch. A large contingent of ATV's and cycles came in and we decided the trails would be a little busy for us.






Keith On Wipe Out Hill

On The Trail

Rocks And The La Sal's
The End Of Top Of The World Trail

                        Looking Over The Edge Of Top Of The World 


Some Like To Push It At Top Of The World 

The Very End Of Top Of The World 


Sunday, April 22 - We looked at the pictures Linda took with her iPad. I thought they were better than mine. Nothing that can be adjusted, taken in the bright sun without benefit of a viewfinder. Maybe I should toss the $800 camera?

With Keith and Sandy we found Hidden Canyon which we deemed to be one of the most interesting canyons in the area. The rocks were extremely swirly. Great weather. Good campfire, no wind.


Monday, April 23 -  Another mostly lazy day. We picked up some items shipped to us, shopped and were back at Dalton Springs for lunch, nap, chat and game of Golf. 


Hidden Canyon Overlook

                                               Hidden Canyon

Trails, so far
Klondike
7 Mile
Poison Spider
Golden Spike
Gold Rim
Tower Arch
3D
Top Of The World
Hidden Canyon

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