Desert Trip VI: Another Mojave Rd, Death Valley and some Utah Canyonlands
- Thread starter Larry
- Start date
Larry
Bigassgas Explorer
Great, glad you enjoyed them so far. I’ve been wondering the same thing so I just went and measured it. 83” from one tire bulge (ground contact surface) to the other. Measured at the front axle (front axle is wider than the rear on these old trucks). If you’re thinking of taking the FG over Lippincott you might want to wait until they do some maintenance on some of those recent washouts. The weight of my truck (8,000 lbs) had me more nervous than the actual width for fear some of those spots would break away.
westyss
Explorer
Thanks for that, I think you are a couple of inches wider than I am. I know of another FG that went through there last year but it looks like there were a few more wash outs now. nice set up too by the way!
Sold! Thank you for a non-commercial, no stickerized, "just for the fun" report. **************' rig, too.
Larry
Bigassgas Explorer
Day 7: Friday, March 29th
Goal: Start 1,342 mile migration home. Today’s destination – Hampton Inn in St. George, UT (400 miles)
Friday morning we all took our time packing up trucks for the highway in disbelief the Death Valley trip had come to an end.
As we left the campsite headed towards Hwy 190 we ran across these neat old cars parked in the desert.
Looked like an old Buick and Chevrolet
As we topped off the tires with air and said our goodbyes.
Ty's silver Dodge headed to San Diego while the Richard's white one was headed to Palm Desert for an Easter weekend vacation with family meanwhile, we have a 1,342 mile ride ahead of us to get back home to Colorado.
Little Elvis insisted upon checking busy Hwy 190 to make sure it was safe to cross. Sure enough, nobody coming from either direction for as far as the eye could see
So our grand plan was to exit Death Valley through to Beatty, NV then Beatty to Las Vegas to catch I-15 to St. George to stay for the night. This would be about 400 mile ride from where we aired up. From St. George planned to hit Moab to check out the Easter Jeep Safari on the way home. Beatty to St. George would be a quick jaunt through the desert if it wasn’t for Nellis Air Force Base being directly in the way.
Sights just South of Beatty, NV. Thought about stopping but MIL said…negative!
We got into North Las Vegas with In-N-Out Burger burning a hole in our minds. Unfortunately, we never found one even after seeing a sign that said this exit. I was getting frustrated driving around in circles looking for In-N-Out Burger in thick Las Vegas traffic so we ended up eating at the world’s slowest McDonald’s instead. Imagine our disappointment in eating a quarter pounder with In-N-Out on the mind
. Cutting though Vegas turned out to be a 1.5 hour ordeal I hadn’t planned on just to get gas and food. What hassle! I think my GPS caused more issues than helped in this area to boot.
We saw an Aston Martin speeding around the Las Vegas Motor Speedway parking lot though as we flew up I-15
We arrived at the Hampton Inn in St. George around 5ish. It was a treat to get the first real shower in a week, do some laundry and eat a full dinner we didn’t have to cook.
That is it for Friday….
More shortly….
Goal: Start 1,342 mile migration home. Today’s destination – Hampton Inn in St. George, UT (400 miles)
Friday morning we all took our time packing up trucks for the highway in disbelief the Death Valley trip had come to an end.
As we left the campsite headed towards Hwy 190 we ran across these neat old cars parked in the desert.
Looked like an old Buick and Chevrolet
As we topped off the tires with air and said our goodbyes.
Ty's silver Dodge headed to San Diego while the Richard's white one was headed to Palm Desert for an Easter weekend vacation with family meanwhile, we have a 1,342 mile ride ahead of us to get back home to Colorado.
Little Elvis insisted upon checking busy Hwy 190 to make sure it was safe to cross. Sure enough, nobody coming from either direction for as far as the eye could see
So our grand plan was to exit Death Valley through to Beatty, NV then Beatty to Las Vegas to catch I-15 to St. George to stay for the night. This would be about 400 mile ride from where we aired up. From St. George planned to hit Moab to check out the Easter Jeep Safari on the way home. Beatty to St. George would be a quick jaunt through the desert if it wasn’t for Nellis Air Force Base being directly in the way.
Sights just South of Beatty, NV. Thought about stopping but MIL said…negative!
We got into North Las Vegas with In-N-Out Burger burning a hole in our minds. Unfortunately, we never found one even after seeing a sign that said this exit. I was getting frustrated driving around in circles looking for In-N-Out Burger in thick Las Vegas traffic so we ended up eating at the world’s slowest McDonald’s instead. Imagine our disappointment in eating a quarter pounder with In-N-Out on the mind
. Cutting though Vegas turned out to be a 1.5 hour ordeal I hadn’t planned on just to get gas and food. What hassle! I think my GPS caused more issues than helped in this area to boot. We saw an Aston Martin speeding around the Las Vegas Motor Speedway parking lot though as we flew up I-15
We arrived at the Hampton Inn in St. George around 5ish. It was a treat to get the first real shower in a week, do some laundry and eat a full dinner we didn’t have to cook.
That is it for Friday….
More shortly….
Chevrolado
Cruisin'
Oh man.. Settling for McDonalds when In-N-Out was the mindset?? Ouch. That should be a crime. As a California resident who frequents In-N-Out.. I have to apologize that you were put in that situation. Very sad to hear.
Still looks like a great overall trip though.
Very sad to hear.Still looks like a great overall trip though.
Larry
Bigassgas Explorer
That is a for damn sure! Still mad about that :sombrero:
Day 8: Saturday, March 30th
Goal: Make our way across Utah
So Friday night I sat up in the hotel room playing with the mapping software to find the quickest route from St. George to Moab. Huh! Well, you just can't get there from here in under 6-7 hours! Either you have to dip way to the south through Page, AZ or head North to I-70 then come back down to Moab. Either way is a full day's drive. At that point I had to come to the realization that checking out the Moab Easter Jeep Safari just wasn't going to happen this trip so we decided to just take the scenic route through the middle of Utah and take in all the beauty then camp someplace near the Colorado River.
Back in the snow somewhere East of Cedar City, UT
We passed through the Northern part of Brice National Park
There is no mistaken we are in Utah now….look at the red dirt!
Outside of Escalante
So just before we left on this trip the latest issue of Truck Trend had come in the mail. In there was an article where Truck Trend had taken a new Power Wagon on the 75 mile Burr Trail from Boulder to Bullfrog at the Colorado River then took the ferry across to Hall Crossing (Ironically, when we got home from this trip I got the latest issue of Overland Journal in the mail and it too had an story on the Burr Trail). Well, as we were cruising Hwy 12 near Boulder, UT we saw the sign for the Burr Trail and instantly started slowing the big dog down. We made the split second decision to follow the same route as Truck Trend. This should be neat route as I have seen everything on the Hall Crossing side of the Colorado River over the years. In fact, Mosesburb and I were just at Hall Crossing last summer when we did the Hole in the Rock trail.
Pictures along the Burr Trail…..
Beginning of the Burr Trail
The Burr Trail is well groomed. Almost too well groomed for my liking
Hall Crossing marina coming into sight
So as we entered the Glen Canyon National Recreational Area we started getting a nervous feeling as every designated camp site off the road was closed. Before long we arrive at the park entry booth at Bullfrog where the nice lady told us how to get to the only open campsite in the park this time of year. I hesitantly asked the status of the ferry schedule and the nice little old lady said in the sweetest voice “Oh, no honey, the ferry doesn't run this time of year”. AGH, WHAT!!! Great! Now we get to back track 50 some miles up Hwy 276 to Hwy 95 and cross the Colorado River at the Hite marina. Ultimately, we were going to catch Hwy 95 on the other side anyway to would will lead us to Blanding, UT to catch the road home.
At this point I am a bit pissy because it is starting to get late in the day and we have 40 some miles to get to Hwy 95 plus we still need to find a place to set up camp somewhere along the line. To make it worse, I only had 28 psi from of air in the tires from coming down the Burr Trail so I really needed to air up before taking on Hwy 276. After I pulled over the air up the tires, I thought…meh….they don't look that low so we pushed on.
As we pushed North on Hwy 275 and about halfway to Hwy 95 we spotted a lonely road off to the left side of the truck with a sign of some recreational area. We whipped in there to see what it was about and it looked pretty promising for a place to call home for the night. We followed this trail up for a few miles and found a really cool spot. It didn't look like anybody had been up into this area for months.
When we first arrived at this spot and opened the camper the weather was beautiful. Within 20 minutes things got ugly fast. The wind started whipping and it got really cold with sprinkles of rain. Before long the mountains in the distance totally disappeared.
View off to the drive's side of the truck
While MIL made some awesome chicken quesadillas with green chili for dinner I aired up the tires and dumped what was left in the fuel cans into the tank. About an hour later the storm passed and it was clear again, but still cold!
Oh, I would like to add that I was a bit disappointed in the Burr Trail after all of the magazine hoopla. The mags make the Burr Trail out to be an off-road route. Maybe I was just expecting more. Yes, it was a beautiful drive no doubt about it, but of the 75 miles we traveled only about 12 miles (if that) were actually dirt and even at that, the dirt was like pavement. It was a total waste of time to air down the tires in the first place. I don't regret traveling the Burr Trail but it sure isn't the off-road trail I was expecting. Simply put....The Burr Trail is a Prius and minivan road.
That is it for day 8….
More later….
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Larry
Bigassgas Explorer
Day 9: Easter Sunday, March 31th
Goal: Complete the final leg home
We woke up to a beautiful Easter Sunday. It was warm and sunny!
You could even see the mountain that was barely visible the night before
MIL going bananas with the hoola hoop one last time before we begin the 11 hour drive home.
We stopped at the Colorado River overlook above and across the river from the Hite Marina.
An extremely dry Hite Marina. When we were there in 2010 the water was all the way up to the top of the boat ramp. The mighty Colorado wasn’t even flowing this day!
1.5 day saw tooth route through the core of Utah
Our last picture of the trip as we passed through the San Luis Valley of Southern Colorado. From here it was a few more hours home. Little Elvis was so tired from trip he slept the entire way home.
We pulled into the driveway at straight up 7 PM Easter Sunday. So there it is! That is what 9 days and 2,435 miles through a big chunk of the Southwestern Desert looks like from the front seat of a 35 year old truck. We really enjoy this trip while already making plans for next year’s destinations.
While I really enjoyed seeing Death Valley (definitely a bucket list destination), I must say I have no immediate interest to return. It is just too far and the beauty just wasn’t there like what our neighboring state of Utah has to offer. There are so many areas of Utah’s Canyonlands yet to explore not to mention what Arizona holds for future desert trips. On the other hand, the Mojave Desert was very cool and I would definitely like to check out more of that.
It was also a great week to reconnect with my old High School buddy, Ty and his brother, as well as getting to know new friend like Richard and the Mighty Dodge Ram (and Pablo, the broken down dual sport bike guy). A damn shame my buddy Coloradobill and the 2 two parties who planned to be on this trip couldn't make it. MIL and Little Elvis also had a great time but glad to be home. Jake the snake is probably hissed off because I forgot that he is still in the Trasheroo this very second, whoops. Guess, I better go let him out.
The deserts of the Southwest are such a great way to charge your batteries and get away from it all!
Here is a link to the SPOT Adventures summary page. I plan to update this page with photos showing where some of the pictures were taken along the way. The orange markers are the locations we camped along the way.
That’s it!
Might have more pictures to add once I get the flash drive in the mail from my buddy Ty….
Goal: Complete the final leg home
We woke up to a beautiful Easter Sunday. It was warm and sunny!
You could even see the mountain that was barely visible the night before
MIL going bananas with the hoola hoop one last time before we begin the 11 hour drive home.
We stopped at the Colorado River overlook above and across the river from the Hite Marina.
An extremely dry Hite Marina. When we were there in 2010 the water was all the way up to the top of the boat ramp. The mighty Colorado wasn’t even flowing this day!
1.5 day saw tooth route through the core of Utah
Our last picture of the trip as we passed through the San Luis Valley of Southern Colorado. From here it was a few more hours home. Little Elvis was so tired from trip he slept the entire way home.
We pulled into the driveway at straight up 7 PM Easter Sunday. So there it is! That is what 9 days and 2,435 miles through a big chunk of the Southwestern Desert looks like from the front seat of a 35 year old truck. We really enjoy this trip while already making plans for next year’s destinations.
While I really enjoyed seeing Death Valley (definitely a bucket list destination), I must say I have no immediate interest to return. It is just too far and the beauty just wasn’t there like what our neighboring state of Utah has to offer. There are so many areas of Utah’s Canyonlands yet to explore not to mention what Arizona holds for future desert trips. On the other hand, the Mojave Desert was very cool and I would definitely like to check out more of that.
It was also a great week to reconnect with my old High School buddy, Ty and his brother, as well as getting to know new friend like Richard and the Mighty Dodge Ram (and Pablo, the broken down dual sport bike guy). A damn shame my buddy Coloradobill and the 2 two parties who planned to be on this trip couldn't make it. MIL and Little Elvis also had a great time but glad to be home. Jake the snake is probably hissed off because I forgot that he is still in the Trasheroo this very second, whoops. Guess, I better go let him out.
The deserts of the Southwest are such a great way to charge your batteries and get away from it all!
Here is a link to the SPOT Adventures summary page. I plan to update this page with photos showing where some of the pictures were taken along the way. The orange markers are the locations we camped along the way.
That’s it!
Might have more pictures to add once I get the flash drive in the mail from my buddy Ty….
team-oomizumi
Observer
THIS is awesome! Glad you answered my question about "Why" a hula hoop
My MIL being crazy with a hoola hoop. Why do we have a hoola hoop you say? Well, this was her invention she came up with since last year’s desert trip…..the hoola hoop is used to help support the 4 strings that suspend the shower stall. Without something to hold the 4 corners apart the square shower turns in to a diamond and make it hard to shower. If there was no wind…ever, that wouldn’t be an issue but it is always breezy/windy in the desert.
mkitchen
Explorer
Nice write up
Enjoyed your trip description. Looks like you had a good time, at least most of the time. Just a suggestion, those thermometers work better in a rectal application (at least so it is said, I haven't had to test the hypothesis, myself).
Also surprized that you enjoyed Mojave road over Death Valley. My perceptions were the exact oppisite, but I had some different variables. Regardless, I am glad that you were able to get out this way. If your ears were burning, it was probably my grumbling about my missing out on the run. See you at the Expo?
Mikey
Enjoyed your trip description. Looks like you had a good time, at least most of the time. Just a suggestion, those thermometers work better in a rectal application (at least so it is said, I haven't had to test the hypothesis, myself).
Also surprized that you enjoyed Mojave road over Death Valley. My perceptions were the exact oppisite, but I had some different variables. Regardless, I am glad that you were able to get out this way. If your ears were burning, it was probably my grumbling about my missing out on the run. See you at the Expo?
Mikey