Another Hole in the Rock / Canyonlands trip report: July 10th – 16th

[Larry]

3 guys, 2 trucks and 5 very hot days traveling the back country of Utah. We began our journey on the Hole in the Rock trail, which is a trail we spent a short amount of time on last year but ran out of time. After a few days on the Hole in the Rock trail we headed up towards Canyonlands National Park near Hite, where we got a fresh supply of water, ice and fuel.

While in Canyonlands we saw The Doll House, some of the Maze Overlook and Ekker Butte.

Again this year, we took SPOT along on our travel so the peeps at home didn’t sit around wondering if we were lying dead in the desert from dehydration. We turned over 1,500 miles on this trip without a single breakdown, over heated engine, and only minial trail damage (Dodge’s nerf bars). My buddy Bill’s bone stock Dodge Ram diesel (leveling kit with a set of fresh 295 BFG’s) did awesome. We ran into a few hairy spots on the at the wall on Hole in the Rock and on the way to Ekker Point but nothing terrible.

Here is a link to my SPOT adventure page.
http://www.spotadventures.com/trip/view/?trip_id=213659

A few pics from the trip..

Near the Fortress Ruins

The last passerby left a bag of food laying on the wall. We took it with us to discard later.

Second night camping near Hole in the Rock

111 Degrees in the shade

Shower arrangement. 15 gallons of water in the white tank with 15 more in reserve inside the trailer. We used it all, then some….

My buddy Bill

 

[mph]

Good for you guys...way to brave the sun!!!!

 

[Larry]

The Hite marina was a mess this day (Monday, July 12th), as they were repaving the road between Hwy 95 and the Marina. We burnt up over an hour waiting in one lane traffic.

Airing the tires down after getting on the trail that leads into the Maze District.

Much dustier trail than Hole in the Rock

The majority of the lead-in trail is pretty clean where any stock 4x4 can go

Nice little shelf for a snake to hide. No luck

A few narrow spots in the trail along the way

3rd night of camping but the first camp spot in the Maze District. No we did not have a camp fire and yes, we brought a portajohn. This campsite is “The Wall”

 

[Larry]

Tuesday morning we headed to the Doll House

Shade!

Colorado River way down there. Superzoom

Some flexing action going in and out of The Doll House

Next stop Ekker Butte

 

[Desert Dan]

Ahh "the amazing Maze". That is great county.

How were the temps at the Dolls House?

 

[Larry]

How were the temps at the Dolls House?

Yes, it is amazing country! It was a consistant 105-109 degrees all week. The hottest we experienced was around 122 degrees at the Hite Marina.

More pictures later.....

 

[mph]

122!!!! Wow...that has to be close to a record! I have been to the Maze numerous times and unfortunately there isn't a lovely, clear flowing stream to jump into out there

 

[Rot Box]

I have experienced 122* before and I wouldn't wish it upon anyone! Dealing with those temps for several days I have to say you guy's are hero's! :Wow1:

Great report! Thanks a bunch for sharing it with us. Its great to see the fullsize trucks on the trail and I'm sure you've heard this a million times but your pickup is awesome :bike_rider:

 

[nwoods]

Nice pictures, amazing considering the heat!

 

[segona]

awesome pictures ^^
thank you for sharing

 

[Larry]

As we continue on our way to Ekker Butte. A lot of steep climbs with sharp turns and huge drop-offs

Magnificent views!

Now, the next corner starts to get hairy again. I was just crawling along listening to the iPod when we all came upon this tight corner with a pretty decent drop off then Bill called on the radio from the Dodge telling me to come take a look. At first glance, it didn’t look passable with towing the trailer.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oM2Z4NJkeF8"]YouTube- Canyonlands 1[/ame]

Bill navigating the corner. He had asked me to come take a look, so I figured I better film it in case he falls off that cliff so I can show his family he died doing someting he loved He made it look easy!

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEiQhOoXUK0"]YouTube- Canyonlands 2[/ame]

Now my turn. Keep in mind, I have a Detroit locker in the rear that really makes turning a hassle especially when the tires only have 12 psi in them, as the truck just plows forward instead of turning. It took me forever and 5 cuts to get around this corner thanks to the locker. My buddy from Michigan that was doing the filming and commentary is hilarious. No bumpers were harmed in the making of this video :sombrero:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uamitSHMEYU"]YouTube- Canyonlands 3[/ame]

A little further up the trail we ran into another interesting spot. Trailboss Bill decided I should lead since my rig is shorter plus I could winch from the other side if we had to. You can hear the D-rings, rattlely Hi-Lift jack, and Detroit locker banging around the entire time. A lot a rear tire chirp from the locker as well. This spot turned out to be easy but looked more intimidating in person than on video or in pictures.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs7Wr2pjJng"]YouTube- Canyonlands 4[/ame]

Around 50 miles from any paved road to get here….Ekker Butte Awesome!

 

[Larry]

Camp 4 (second night in the Maze District: Ekker Butte)

Not only were we sleeping next to a cliff, it was windier than hell this night. Had to cook inside the truck. Bill’s chair is tied to the trailer by the trailers safety chains.

We all had to make a mental note that if we had to get up in the middle of the night to use the beer return station not to wonder too far from the trucks, as that first step is a dozy!

Packed up camp early Wednesday morning and headed to Moab for a day. It took 6 hours to drive from Ekker Butte back to Hwy 95 at Hite!

Ekker Butte is only 40 miles from Moab as the crow flies but you can't drive there easily as there are several canyons between us and Moab. It was like 120 miles or so from Hite to Moab after the 6 hour ride to get off the trail at Hite. Wednesday was a llllllong day!

 

[Larry]

Along, the 6 hour drive back to Hwy 95. Easy section of the trail.

Airing the tires back up at Hwy 95 near Hite

After a few hours of Highway driving from Hite to Moab…

Camp 4 at Moab

We had a little friend hanging out with us Wednesday night

I-70 as we entered back into Colorado. People taking pictures of us cruising down the interstate as we took pictures of them, well actually the sign

As we pass over Monarch Pass

We were dog tired and spent the last night right off Hwy 50 at the Blue Mesa Reservoir near Gunnison

Couldn't take a complete shower, as there were too many other campers around. The water got pretty cold in the high country as well. When we woke up Friday morning the thermometer said 31 degrees! That was a huge change from what we were used to.

So that is it….

Over the course of the trip we used over 300 lbs if ice, drank over 100 bottles of water, few cases of beer, Cokes, etc. I did not keep track of how many gallons of fuel I burnt but the entire fuel bill to feed the 8.1L was close to $400. Before next year's trip I going to get that NV4500 I have lying around installed so I can have overdrive. Direct drive is killing me on the highway on these long haul trips. The 8.1L actually did very well on fuel off-road as it pretty much lugs around at idle all the time, it was the highway travel that killed the fuel economy. Actually, off-road the 8.1L and the Cummins in the Dodge consumed closed to the same amount of fuel.

You'll notice the fan on my truck is extremely loud in all of the videos. I used a medium duty truck fan clutch when I installed this 8.1L knowing the truck would be spending a great deal of time in extreme heat. The tight clutch does rob some power and makes a ton of noise but the engine never even gets close to over-heating. Not even in the 115 degree temperatures idling along at 3 MPH with the A/C on.

Don't forget to check out the SPOT GPS Adventure page. You can zoom in to see where each picture was taken.

http://www.spotadventures.com/trip/view/?trip_id=213659


All Youtubes are here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/DirtyLarry2#p/c/A966B54CA0B63794

Last year's Arizona Strip SPOT GPS Adventure page:
http://www.spotadventures.com/trip/view?trip_id=172579

 

[x32792]

Thank You For Sharing

Great photos and write up...Thank you for sharing.

 

[johnlogan]

Looks like you guys had a great time. Thanks for sharing some great pictures of awesome scenery. I also enjoyed seeing some full size trucks getting used. I do have a question. What type of compressor did you use for airing up? I have a Campbell Hausfield 12volt one, and it just doesn't cut it.