Exploring Utah One Weekend at a Time

For many a trip to Utah is a once in a lifetime destination trip. I'm one of the lucky one's who gets to call it home. I spent a lot of time exploring it with my family as a kid, and hope to do the same with my family. I am always blown away at how much there is to explore... how many dirt roads I haven't found the end of.

In February I took a 4 day 3 night trip along the White Rim Trail with my brother in law in my Jeep. Afterwards I decided I had to sell it and look to get something a little bigger for my growing family. In May I purchased a 2000 Toyota Land Cruiser so that I could easily bring the entire family out on adventures that we couldn't reach in the family SUV and didn't have enough room for in the TJ.

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While we do plan to several multi-day trips a year, most of our adventures will be of the weekend warrior variety. One of the things I love most about Utah is how diverse the landscape is. While most adventurers think of the Red Rock of Moab and surrounding National Parks the mountains here have so much to offer as well. Over the past months I have been showing my wife and kids some of my favorite mountain roads in Central Utah. We live just outside of American Fork Canyon which has some fun trails and quite a few places to camp.

We recently did a long day trip along Skyline Drive, which I highly recommend if you are looking for tons of wild camping and great mountain views.

Skyline Drive Day Trip:
Here is a quick little video of the trip:

We had a complete blast, one of the main purposes of the trip was to see how much off road ground we could cover in the Land Cruiser with the boys. I am planning a multi day trip from my home all the way to Cathedral Valley using Skyline drive and several other dirt roads with the whole family. My wife and I decided this would be a good test run to see how much time on the trail the boys can handle.

For me this is really what overlanding is all about....

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I have always loved spending time outdoors and having a way to bring the whole family along so that they can experience it with me is why I love to do this. I hope to update this thread regularly and share our mini adventures with you. With a lifetime of trails to explore and a 4 day work week I plan to do as much exploring as possible one week at a time.
 

91AzXJ

Adventurer
When my and I moved to Arizona from the Midwest 28 years ago, we spent two weekends a month exploring our new state. After about 6 months of this, we found that we had seen more of the state than most people our age who had grown up here. It is a great way to explore your state.
 
When my and I moved to Arizona from the Midwest 28 years ago, we spent two weekends a month exploring our new state. After about 6 months of this, we found that we had seen more of the state than most people our age who had grown up here. It is a great way to explore your state.

Totally agree! We have loved it! I have been able to see a lot of places I have never been and show my family a bunch of my favorite places along the way.
 
When my and I moved to Arizona from the Midwest 28 years ago, we spent two weekends a month exploring our new state. After about 6 months of this, we found that we had seen more of the state than most people our age who had grown up here. It is a great way to explore your state.

Totally agree! We have loved it! I have been able to see a lot of places I have never been and show my family a bunch of my favorite places along the way.
 
Last weekend we loaded up the family for a little day trip to Strawberry Reservoir to test out our new to us canoe. Fall in Utah is absolutely incredible the leaves are changing and we have been trying to spend as much time in the mountains before snow starts to hit. We decided to load up the boys and head towards Hobble Creek Canyon. It took several hours to get to the lake because we kept stopping to take in the incredible views.

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One of the primary goals of this trip was to test out our new to us canoe. My inlaws have been using this sweet canoe for years in the PNW but lately it has been chilling in their backyard and while we were up there visiting last month they asked if we would like to have it. The road from Hobble creek to the reservoir is very beautiful with large trees lining the trail on both sides.

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For the most part the trail is just a dirt road, the last few miles got pretty hairy as there were a lot of deep mud holes making the road very soupy. Our plan was to be able to reach the lake around 2 so we could paddle around for 3 hours before needing to head back down in time for some of our evening plans. Because we were traveling with just one rig I had to be a little more cautious when it came to scoping out some of the bigger mud sections to make sure that we could get through it. Getting stuck would have put us in an interesting position.

One of the things I really like about Strawberry reservoir is that there are a lot of places to park and access the water including getting right next to the water to launch.

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The boys loved the canoe and despite getting there later than we had anticipated we really had a great time out on the water. Jackson our 18 month old was ready to jump in and swim, we had to hold onto him by the life jacket just to keep him in the canoe. I am amazed at the beauty that is Utah. I lived here for almost my entire life and it continues to impress. Strawberry Reservoir is a beautiful place to visit and explore, lots of great roads to explore and hundreds of places to wild camp.
 
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MicahB

Observer
As a fellow Utah local, thank you very much for posting these pictures and videos. My wife and I are a little behind you in terms of child age (2 month old here) but I'm hoping to do what you're doing in the not to distant future.

One question I have that I haven't been able to answer is where do you find information on these trails? Is there a website you use, book that you would recommend or are you part of a local 4x4 club?

I know we're surrounded by some of the most beautiful off track nature in the country but haven't got a clue as how to access it.
 

cruiseroutfit

Supporting Sponsor: Cruiser Outfitters
As a fellow Utah local, thank you very much for posting these pictures and videos. My wife and I are a little behind you in terms of child age (2 month old here) but I'm hoping to do what you're doing in the not to distant future.

One question I have that I haven't been able to answer is where do you find information on these trails? Is there a website you use, book that you would recommend or are you part of a local 4x4 club?

I know we're surrounded by some of the most beautiful off track nature in the country but haven't got a clue as how to access it.

Take a minute to check out ExpeditionUtah:
http://www.expeditionutah.com/forum/
(Tons of routs info, group events, research links, etc)
 
Michab,

Thanks! I think Cruiseroutfit had the best advice, I just signed up today. After spending the past 30 minutes reading on ExpeditionUtah I see I have been missing out. Tons of info there and trails I want to try. For me I grew up spending a lot of time in the mountains in Utah so most of my exploring areas and trails I was somewhat familiar with and exploring off shoot trails along the way.

I also use Expedition Portal and read through trip reports inside of Utah for ideas, but ExpeditionUtah has some awesome route and trip planning resources that will give you plenty to work with.
 

MicahB

Observer
Thanks for the tips guys. I actually registered over there a while ago and totally forgot about it.

I'll have to take another look.

I live up in Ogden and have played in the mountains up here a little bit but I really have had my eyes on going south and playing down there.

Thanks for sharing!
 

cruiseroutfit

Supporting Sponsor: Cruiser Outfitters
Michab,

Thanks! I think Cruiseroutfit had the best advice, I just signed up today. After spending the past 30 minutes reading on ExpeditionUtah I see I have been missing out. Tons of info there and trails I want to try. For me I grew up spending a lot of time in the mountains in Utah so most of my exploring areas and trails I was somewhat familiar with and exploring off shoot trails along the way.

I also use Expedition Portal and read through trip reports inside of Utah for ideas, but ExpeditionUtah has some awesome route and trip planning resources that will give you plenty to work with.


I'm very excited to hear that and we'd love to have you along on any of our upcoming events! Please feel free (in face I'd personally love you to do so) to share any/all of your videos there too. We strive to continue to be Utah's premier source for overland and expedition style travel information, history, land use, etc. :cool:
 
A couple of weeks ago my brother and I headed up Fairview Canyon and over near Millers Flat Reservoir for a weekend of camping with family. I put together a video Trip report of our adventure in the mud.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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A Few More Adventures

The past few months have been a lot of fun and we have been able to go on some really cool weekend trips. Most notably heading through the San Rafael Swell to Poison Springs and exploring the West Desert.






 
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