OVERLANDING TO THE EXPO
My adventure, driving from Big Water to Moab on the way to the 2013 Overland Expo.
Part 1 - The past begets the future.
I discovered the Expedition Portal a few years ago, while chasing down the location of a captivating photograph taken in Southern Utah. I found this picture during some random, outdoor escape-oriented internet search and ended up finding an adventure that I am still on. The image that captured my imagination was a picture of a white Land Rover Discovery, perched on the edge of a rather primordial looking scene that almost made me think that it was either a movie set, or the perfect place to have been a pterodactyl. For quite a while, I thought that the picture was taken from the end of the Grand Bench, east of Big Water, on the north side of lake Powell. Now that I've been there I know that it was taken from Alstrom Point, looking towards Gunsite Butte. This picture was taken by a man with an unusual name, Sinuhe Xavier; and he told a story, with his pictures and his captions, of an experience that I began to daydream about. This adventure in the Utah desert was something that I wanted to share with my wife Jennifer, as I imagined us exploring petroglyphs and enjoying gourmet food around a glowing campfire. How that came to be in July 2012, is a whole different adventure and another story, but suffice it to say, that one ended, at strange “ranch” on the way to the Grand Bench, quite prematurely.
Outdoor living room
The Grand Bench is just through that gate and across that gap (Little Valley Canyon).
The road reaches the edge of the plateau as it passes through a dugway in the rock in
the center of the picture.
Frustrated in my adventurous efforts, I vowed to complete my trip as soon as possible - alone. Not unmarried, just alone. You know, with complete creative control over the general direction, and itinerary, of the journey. In other words, the adventure would be over, when I said it was over. At least that was my mental surf.
After the abrupt end to my planned adventure, I sulked back to Zion and found that Zion makes it difficult for one to properly sulk. We walked in the Virgin river and hiked to Hidden canyon, while Harley and Daisy (our cairn terriers) went to Doggie Dude Ranch. We enjoyed the hot days and beautiful sunshine, while massive crowds and surly shuttle drivers became lazy topics of conversation and part of our experience. All the while I quietly fantasized about the adventure that I really wanted to have.
Jennifer with Harley and Daisy
The only photo we took together in Zion on that detour.
Once we returned home from the abbreviated trip of my daydreams, I immediately began to plan my solo return. The first thing that I did was to try to find the story that was behind this unexpected, mystery ranch that had ultimately been the end of my adventure. I say that the place was unexpected, because it was never indicated on any of the maps or GPS charts that I had seen before the trip, and certainly wasn't marked on any of the three maps I had with me in the truck at the time. I had no clue that it was there. Before the trip began I didn't look particularly closely at this area of the map, because I thought that it was pretty straight forward, it all looked like county roads. I was worried more about roads like Left-hand Collett Canyon and the like. As a result, I had missed this odd collection of trailers and connex's and “furniture” out in the middle of nowhere, perched on the edge of Little Valley Canyon.
After some research, I found out that this strange collection of dwellings is called the Mary Bullock Ranch and that it is designated as “abandoned”. The story I found is very interesting - like a modern day episode of Bonanza. http://www.livestockweekly.com/papers/00/11/23/whlutah.asp
When Jennifer and I were at the “ranch”, it was a bit creepy. We didn't know what to expect. We didn't know if there were people around or not, who this place belonged to, were we trespassing? I almost expected to hear banjo music like that from the movie Deliverance come wafting up from the nearby boulders and find ourselves surrounded by several generations of Lonnie's (the banjo boy) offspring inquiring about our intentions. We hadn't seen any other vehicles since leaving Escalante, on the Smokey Mountain road, 10 hours earlier, and Jennifer had been a bit rattled already. The ranger at the Escalante station had freaked her out with cautions like “I'm not sure that Smokey Mountain road goes all the way through” and other gems like “if you get stuck, you might not see anybody for several days,” and “you need to have water for at least two weeks”. All very conducive to maintaining peace and harmony as you attempt to take your reticent copilot and her two puppies 70 miles out into the southern Utah desert in the heat of July.
Powell Point from highway 12
All of that was piled on top of an earlier chance meeting with four BLM employees while we were at a turnout on highway 12 enjoying the incredible vista out towards Powell Point. During our conversation I mentioned that it was our (my) intention to spend the night on the Grand Bench. To which one of the others replied that it was one of his “dreams” to make it out on to the Bench. When I asked why he hadn't, he said that it would require a lot of planning, equipment and more than one highly-modified vehicle. Thanks bud, that was helpful!
At the time, I realized that continuing past the “ranch” was a bust. When I saw the condition and route of the road that dropped down the canyon wall, beyond the cattle gate, leading down into Little Valley Canyon, the gash that separates the Grand Bench from the rest of the plateau that hangs a thousand above the north shore of Lake Powell. I knew then, that if I was ever going to see what was down that road, I would have to come back another time. We turned around and spent the night at Alstrom Point; it was then that I realized that the picture that started this whole thing, was taken right where I was. We should have stopped there in the first place - it was stunningly beautiful.
Near Alstrom Point with Gunsite Butte in the background
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