A Utah Adventure...

[Moody]

adventure |adˈven ch ər; əd-|
noun
an unusual and exciting, typically hazardous, experience or activity : her recent adventures in Italy.

Hiking through the desert at night, sans my much needed spectacles, headlamp, and a scant 20 oz. of water remaining between my son and I, a humorous thought entered my mind, "This is an adventure alright."

After hiking here:

Although my 'fear meter' was never pegged, we became disoriented, and ran out of daylight on our return trip. After hiking for about 2 hours after the sun had set, we decided we -should- have made it back to the road. I was hiking blindly, as I only had my sunglasses with me, as I left my glasses back at the cars. I figured the trip would take us about 3 hours, and we left at 2:30 pm. We unfolded the map, used Dave's headlamp, and along with my Dad's old compass, realized we had turned completely around in the dark and we were heading in the opposite direction. After turning around, and heading on a solid southern route, we made it back to the road, only 2 or 3 miles away from our vehicles. We arrived at the vehicles at 11:30 pm. Exhausted, we camped right there on the edge of the mesa.

I will remember to bring the 10 essentials on every hiking trip in the future...


More to come.

 

[Moody]

Our casual group of adventurers consisted of Dave, Jamie, and their children, Davey and Cedar. Also along for the ride was Nate, and his longtime friend Brandon from S. Carolina who had flown in just for the trip. In my vehicle was my son Alexander and myself. Additionally, we had Nesta, Nate's German Shepherd to keep an eye out for those pesky skinwalkers.

The Posse, beginning with Nate:

Brandon:

Cedar and Nesta:

Dave and Davey:

Jamie (who kept her wits about her, pulling full-time mom duties)

Alexander and I:

 

[mph]

Roger...Glad you made it back from those ruins on the Mesa. Good for you about keeping your wits about the situation. I got a little turned around out there once in full daylight. It was 100 degrees too. At least it was cooler for you Good to hear all is well!!!!

 

[FourByLand]

Cedar and Nesta:

Priceless.

 

[cnynrat]

I think I recognize that place. Looking forward to hearing about the rest of the adventure!

 

[mosupernak]

Glad you all made it alright. That reminds me to put a garmin on my Christmas list.

 

[Moody]

Adventures rarely begin as scheduled, and as such, we arrived at our camp at near 1 am. After setting up a couple of backpacking tents, we celebrated our arrival with a 'Hoptober' (or two) from New Belgium Brewing, it being the first day of October and all.

We all woke up slowly to Zander running around and finding rocks that he just had to show us. After a quick breakfast and some coffee on the go, we ventured out into Goblin Valley State Park. (I'll be there again next week, if anyone is going to be in the area)

 

[Moody]

After getting our share of Goblins, and the valley bringing the heat, we decided to drive out on the Molly's Castle 4WD road. It is a nice and scenic route, and although it seems tame overall, there were a couple of deep sand spots that required low range and a little bit of tension in the buttocks along with an appropriate ratio of the skinny pedal to make it through.

"I think it died yesterday..." Zander said. Dead things are pretty neat to both kids and adults. Dave, a science teacher, gave Zander (and the rest of us) brief lesson on decomposition.

 

[1leglance]

OH this is great...
keep it coming!

And there is never such a thing as a short hike where you don't need anything. My friends & family make fun of me about taking my small pack with me for a "short hike"..but my rule is if you are gettting out of eyesight of the rig then BE PREPARED

 

[Scenic WonderRunner]

No One could be Moody on this adventure!

It's Impossible!....:sombrero::victory::costumed-smiley-007:ylsmoke:


.....Awesome!


Thanks!


.

 

[Moody]

After some thorough inspection of the deceased, we thought we ought to get back to the camp and get ourselves, well...'hydrated' for the evening.

One quick stop to view a pictograph panel before we went back:

Can you see them above the truck?

They have deteriorated quite a bit, but are still the remarkable 'Barrier Reef' style that is unique to the area.

Closer shots:

 

[Equipt]

Nice Roger. Great photos. The place seems oddly familiar. I am glad you guys made it out OK.

Cheers,

 

[mph]

Roger,
I was in the area of the pictograph panels once and saw a person using that entire wall to project a viewing of "Jaws" the movie...couldn't believe my eyes. The projected screen had to measure 12 feet by 20 feet....

Sorry to hear/view those are deteriorating...Thanks for the pics!

 

[Moody]

Jaws....they should have chosen something more fitting for the area.

Thanks for the comments on the photos guys, I am new to this photo thing...up until about a year ago, I was reaching my limits with my Canon Powershot A590, and I knew I needed something more.



Continued:

Once we had gone back to camp for a little while, we decided we needed a drive to see some more of the canyon we were camped in. We drove up a ways to find the route around Temple Mountain, but we ended up just viewing the old mines, cabin and it's remnants, and an abandoned car. Knowing we must be in the right place in Southern Utah, we saw a couple of trucks up near the mines, one with a trailer and what appeared to be an older Maggiolina on top and another truck with a variation of the FWC on back. We didn't get the chance to meet. Once we had gone back to camp, we were dragging as some of us had gone to bed at 4 am. The night didn't last, and most of us were asleep by 10:30 or so.

The next morning, we sent Nate, Brandon, and Nesta on their way, as they were planning to hike Ding and Dang (awesome slot canyon, by the way) before heading home to spend a night on the town since Brandon was scheduled to fly out Sunday.

We packed up (no lollygagging Nate) and went on our way. With a quick stop at the Hollow Mountain Store in Hanksville for munchies, we drove south towards Hite and Lake Powell.

The viewpoint above Hite:

 

[Rot Box]

Good times! :bike_rider: