Easter Jeep Safari & Beyond...Eight Years Later

[TripLeader]

Part 1 [A Trip Report from 2012?]

Yes, this is a report from an eight year-old event. Like everyone else, I wasn't able to get out to the desert this spring because of the pandemic. So I had to go through some old photos and re-live some memories. So here we are.

This was my first and only trip to Easter Jeep Safari. A good friend and I drove the 15+ hours to Moab. But it wasn't just any drive. It was in my old 2000 Jeep Wrangler...the SE model with the 4 cylinder, 2.5L engine. No air conditioning. No cruise control. A second hand hard top. Terrible acceleration and a low top speed on 31 inch tires. Dreadful in high winds.

We spent our first night in a KOA campsite in western Colorado. We had the Jeep packed. The Raingler net behind the front seats was a tremendous help for keeping everything in place.

 

[TripLeader]

Part 2 [3-D Trail Ride]

We had departed home on a Friday and arrived in Moab on a Saturday. We luckily found the one empty campsite in a nearby BLM campground.

Sunday we joined up for the 3-D Trail and met the others Jeeps at the designated meeting spot.


And we went out for our first taste of the slickrock.








The ride was over. We parked and admired some more scenery on the way back to Moab.

 

[TripLeader]

Part 3 [The Wall by Camp]

We stayed at the Goose Island Campground. It was positioned between the Colorado River and a large, dramatic bluff.



Some people driving by later that night tested their offroad lighting out against the wall.

 

[TripLeader]

Part 4 [What's the Story, Morning Glory?]

We took the hike to the Morning Glory Arch. It was very close to our campground.




Morning Glory is over 240 feet high.


It has the 9th longest span of any natural arch in the world. (The 8 longer arches are all in Utah and China.)

 

[TripLeader]

Part 5 [Arches National Park]

You can't visit Moab without going to Arches, so we headed that way.

 

[TripLeader]

Part 6 [More of Arches National Park]

We came across some rock climbers.






One last photo of the climbers (if you can spot them).








We then took the four wheel drive road out of the park. Driving that road was one of the best things we did in the park. We only saw one other vehicle on it, as opposed to the crowds at all the main arches.

It was dark by the time we hit the highway.

 

[TripLeader]

Part 7 [More Easter Jeep Safari]

Our last ride was Hellroaring Rim. I had scheduled Copper Ridge for the day before. But we had to skip it for light snow and to inspect a "clunk" sound from the front end, which turned out to be nothing.

Meeting up for Hellroaring Rim.






We stopped in town after the trail ride. We checked out the Jeeps on display. Its what one does when attending Easter Jeep Safari, of course.

 

[givemethewillys]

This is great, thanks for sharing! I'll get out there someday.

 

[TripLeader]

Part 8 [Intro to Capitol Reef National Park]

Our time at Easter Jeep Safari was over.

We then moved on to the next part of our trip: Capitol Reef National Park.

We found a walk-in campsite in the park. The place was windy. Our neighboring campers had the unfortunate experience of forgetting to bring their tent poles. They did their best to make do, by hanging their tent from a tree. We came to affectionately call it the "Camping Bag." The neighbors went and purchased a new tent the next day.


We went and drove around the park and checked out a few places on foot.














There is a highway that runs through much of the park. One of the local deputies was parked by the side of the road.


Outside of park headquarters.

 

[TripLeader]

Part 9 [Cathedral Valley]

Driving through Cathedral Valley is a must-do for any visit to Capitol Reef.

We took the drive. It started out with fording the Fremont River, which was about 18 inches deep.

We stopped and walked out to an overlook to the Temples of the Sun and Moon. We would not get to them until later.




We came upon the Cathedral.

 

[TripLeader]

Part 10 [The Temples]

We continued driving the valley. The next stop was at the Gypsum Sinkhole.




We then came upon the Temple of the Sun and Temple of the Moon.










We walked back over to the Jeep, "The Grinch." Its 2.5L engine may have been a couple of sizes too small, but it got us there.

 

[samuraj]

 

[TripLeader]

Part 11 [Navajo Knobs]

We took a hike on the Navajo Knobs Trail.












At the top of the trail.


And headed back down.

 

[TripLeader]

Part 12 [Lower Spring Canyon]

The next, and final, part of the trip was a hike through Lower Spring Canyon, a 9.7 mile route.






























More of Spring Canyon to come...

 

[shade]

"Is there a tent store around here?"

That was one of my favorite trips.