ImpromptU-Ah! Back to Utah We Go!

[Blackdawg]

Another nice write up and pictures
Too late now but there was an auto parts store on the South side of Moab I believe at that time it was a Checkers. They had 4X4 parts everywhere. I was told that they stock more 4X4 parts than anybody else in the country.
I was talking to the counter guy and he asked where I was camping "Oh Indian Creek" he said that there are 6 Indian ruins in that area but he would not tell me where they were. We found 4 of them.
Moab Off Road was also a place to deal with but I'm not sure if they are still open.

My problem is Toyota parts. And wheel bearings and new retainer rings aren't really something places tend to stock. The Toyota in Grand Junction is a HUGE toyota. I knew they would have the parts. And I like using OEM parts for things like this.

 

[Aussie Iron]

Man you need to stay home, all this driving around must be making you tired. ----

Another great write up. It sounds like you have a good crowd over there to help you out when problems like this arise. Good on them and I would say that they want you to keep going so that they can also follow you on your trips. Still love the scenery and the way you present it.

Dan.

 

[WeeJeep2]

Than,But Wwwwwwwwwvaxks

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[Blackdawg]

Man you need to stay home, all this driving around must be making you tired. ----

Another great write up. It sounds like you have a good crowd over there to help you out when problems like this arise. Good on them and I would say that they want you to keep going so that they can also follow you on your trips. Still love the scenery and the way you present it.

Dan.

Nevaaa!!!

Haha I live for this stuff. Perfect vacation to me.

I do have some great friends and am always grateful when they help me out and even more happy when they can come wheel.

Than,But Wwwwwwwwwvaxks

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

...say what?? haha

 

[WeeJeep2]

Nevaaa!!!

Haha I live for this stuff. Perfect vacation to me.

I do have some great friends and am always grateful when they help me out and even more happy when they can come wheel.



...say what?? haha

Sorry. Working in wet conditions in Houston and my phone is acting up. I've been following your trips. My phone opened your thread and with auto fill just made a post. I think it signed me up for a Russian wife, joined 3 questionable Facebook groups, and bought me a new car while it was in my pocket. Keep up the great reports and I'll try to keep my phone under control.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[Blackdawg]

Sorry. Working in wet conditions in Houston and my phone is acting up. I've been following your trips. My phone opened your thread and with auto fill just made a post. I think it signed me up for a Russian wife, joined 3 questionable Facebook groups, and bought me a new car while it was in my pocket. Keep up the great reports and I'll try to keep my phone under control.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

Well stay safe down there man!

Up here we are dealing with fires like crazy in Montana. Over half a million acres.

Thanks for all your help down there. Hopefully your phone doesn't do anything else for you haha

 

[PetitFrereArmada]

Great trip report and pictures.

 

[Blackdawg]

Chapter 3:
This is Why We Came​

After a lovely night’s sleep. We setoff towards Horseshoe canyone to do our Hike down to see the Petrogylphs.

First though, we had to find out if we had a place to camp that night in The Maze. After attempting 5 times to call. I gave up and sent an email and hoped for the best.

The morning was perfect, again. Nice and cool but not cold and with hardly a cloud to be seen we knew it was going to warm up.

ImpromptU-Ah.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ImpromptU-Ah-2.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

One thing that was nice about coming here was it is basically the same area we had been in before. Which meant I could get some photos that i had missed last time. Like this interesting colored pond on the road to Horseshoe canyon.

ImpromptU-Ah-3.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ImpromptU-Ah-4.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Just past here up on a hill, I got a small blip of cell service and got an Email back! I called again to the Hans Flat ranger station and the lady there told me that Hi Spur and Millards point were both open! I took it and told her id see here that afternoon to check in and pick them up.

:woot:

Trip officially saved!

Smooth sailing from here with nothing but wide open spaces and seemingly endless dirt road miles to enjoy.

ImpromptU-Ah-5.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Not that we didn’t hit traffic jams out here. Gotta watch out for the locals.

ImpromptU-Ah-6.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

After our morning rush hour, we found the turn off to the canyon off the main road quite easily due to this large sign.

ImpromptU-Ah-15.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Which is funny because I totally don’t remember seeing it on the way out when we were here in October. Probably because we were going to fast enjoying the smooth road haha

Was a short detour before we got to the trail head.

ImpromptU-Ah-7.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ImpromptU-Ah-8.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

There were quite a few people parked around there camping and everything. But we didn’t really see a lot of people. Which was nice.

The billboard had lots of handy info on it.

ImpromptU-Ah-9.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ImpromptU-Ah-10.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ImpromptU-Ah-11.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
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The main thing its 6 miles of walking and you should be sure to bring yourself plenty of water.

The canyon though is pretty classic Utah. It just seems to appear out of no where.

ImpromptU-Ah-13.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

As you get lower and closer the size of it become more obvious and my god what a pretty canyon.

ImpromptU-Ah-14.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

You can see the old road that used to go down into the canyon. You can actually still drive it but you can’t drive down into the canyon anymore.

ImpromptU-Ah-15.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ImpromptU-Ah-16.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

I think its a bit depressing that they had to add the “not even once” part to this sign.

ImpromptU-Ah-17.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Photos don’t do this walk justice. You just need to go yourself!

ImpromptU-Ah-18.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ImpromptU-Ah-19.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ImpromptU-Ah-20.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ImpromptU-Ah-21.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

We made good time getting down. But knew truding up that sandy spot was going to be a lot slower going up. By now the sun was blasting on high and the temperatures were getting quite hot.

The trail from now on though was flat following the river bottom.

ImpromptU-Ah-22.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Thankfully the canyon also provided us a bit of shade were we stopped for a water break.

ImpromptU-Ah-23.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ImpromptU-Ah-24.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

 

[Blackdawg]

There are 4 petroglyphs sites down in this canyon actually. In the direction we were hiking we would see them in the order of The High Gallery, Horseshoe Shelter, The Alcove stie, and finally The Great gallery.

But the first one we saw was not the High Gallery.

Can you see them?

ImpromptU-Ah-25.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Amazing. This is the Horseshoe Shelter site.

ImpromptU-Ah.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ImpromptU-Ah-2.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

One down! Three to go. We continued on and noticed lots of hoof prints and horse manure, which Devin found very interesting. You would think people wouldn't be allowed to bring horses here.

ImpromptU-Ah.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ImpromptU-Ah-2.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

The walls were just enchanting.

ImpromptU-Ah-3.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

But when there is a large cave in the side of the wall, you know something cool is approaching.

ImpromptU-Ah-4.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

The Alcove site was inside, a rock slide almost covering most of it.

ImpromptU-Ah-5.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ImpromptU-Ah-7.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ImpromptU-Ah-8.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
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We sat back and ate a nice snack enjoying the large overhang providing shade.

ImpromptU-Ah-10.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ImpromptU-Ah-6.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Three young guys walked up to the site and I chatted with them for a bit. They informed us where the High Gallery was. Turns out we had walked right past it.

The day was also getting a bit late and we weren't totally sure how long it would take us to get back. I did know that the Ranger station closed at 4:30 so we had to try and be there before then. Plus leave time to get to Hi Spur.

We decided to walk a bit further to see if we could make it to The Grand Canvas. After a while though we decided to turn back to be safe. I figured if we got to the Ranger Station early enough we could go to the other side of Horseshoe and hike down from there to The Grand Canvas.

On our way back though, we found The High Gallery.

ImpromptU-Ah-11.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ImpromptU-Ah-12.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ImpromptU-Ah-13.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ImpromptU-Ah-14.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Almost unbelievable that those drawings are still there after thousands of years.

The hike out actually didn't take us any longer really than hiking down. We got to the truck and promptly drank a half gal of water dang near though. Was hot out!

Jumped in the truck and headed to Hans Flat.

Deja Vu..

ImpromptU-Ah-17.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ImpromptU-Ah-16.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

The Henry Mountains were looking stellar with their frosty tips.

ImpromptU-Ah-18.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

 

[Blackdawg]

We made it to the Ranger station in only 40 minutes of driving. Went it and got my permit. Even met a couple of the rangers I had met in the fall.

ImpromptU-Ah-19.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Another cool thing was on their whiteboard they used for road conditions, there was a note on Poison Springs. “Passable as of 08/29”. That was from us! Turns out they still haven't run the road fully yet themselves.

With our permits squared away, we headed out to Hi Spur. W

The drive out was pretty chill. But the further we went the better the view got.

ImpromptU-Ah-3.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ImpromptU-Ah-4.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

We got to the Y in the road to either go to the South West corner of Horseshoe Canyon or go to Hi Spur. We decided to just go to camp as Horseshoe was a bit further away and Devin didn't feel like hiking back down.

Once off the main road, there is a fun down hill section that, to quote my friend Mike, would “keep the subies out!”

No problems for us. But we were more preoccupied with the killer view to worried about the road.

ImpromptU-Ah-20.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Again the snow clashing with the 80+ degree temps we were experiencing was cool.

ImpromptU-Ah-5.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ImpromptU-Ah-6.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

The world just falls away..

ImpromptU-Ah-7.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ImpromptU-Ah.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

About the most “hardcore” thing we experience this time in The Maze. Flexy.

ImpromptU-Ah-8.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ImpromptU-Ah-10.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ImpromptU-Ah-11.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Just before our camp we took a short walk to the edge that the Ranger had recommended we take.

So worth it.

ImpromptU-Ah-12.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

The canyons are just endless

ImpromptU-Ah-13.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ImpromptU-Ah-2.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

After this we made it to the camp spot. Which wasn't anything special honestly.

ImpromptU-Ah-14.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
It was big though, easily fit 6-8 rigs. But we were alone. It was quiet and the view was in..sane!

ImpromptU-Ah-15.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Devin was beat though and we setup the tent at a record breaking time of 3:15pm. Probably the earliest we had ever had the tent setup ever haha she then crawled in to take a little nap.

ImpromptU-Ah-21.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

I meanwhile decided to walk around a bit and just sit back and enjoy watching the light change on the cliffs.

ImpromptU-Ah-22.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
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ImpromptU-Ah-28.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

This large rock feature is the “Hi Spur”

ImpromptU-Ah-29.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

 

[Blackdawg]

I decided to walk south along the rim because...well why not?

ImpromptU-Ah-30.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ImpromptU-Ah-31.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Far down below, sits the Green river. Little did I know but the river turns to the right again and that is where we would be tomorrow.

ImpromptU-Ah-32.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Just after the following picture, a falcon passed over right next to me, like 12' over and 6' up. It soared over this drop, tucked up and dove down at super high speed disappearing from sight. Was very cool.

ImpromptU-Ah-33.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

I made my way back after this and then the light started getting very good. I really enjoyed the quiet lone moments and the still to just sit and...watch, enjoy, and soak in the moment of the fading light and dancing clouds.

ImpromptU-Ah-34.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ImpromptU-Ah-35.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Devin got up shortly after this and we made dinner enjoying the sunset. Since we weren't allowed a campfire in the wilderness, we went to bed fairly early after dark. Which was also a first! But nice after the hike from earlier in the day. It was very quiet, peaceful, cool night sleep.

In the Morning, we said fairwell to the the Hi Spur.

ImpromptU-Ah!.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ImpromptU-Ah!-2.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Honestly, I think its an underrated site in The Maze. And if you plan on checking out Horseshoe Canyon is a no brainer site.

As you'll now see!

To start our day, we very much wanted to see The Grand Canvas. It had been the main reason for coming here. We continued North to the Canyon.

And my god..look at those mountains.

ImpromptU-Ah!-3.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ImpromptU-Ah!-4.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Believe it or not, there is a small section that turns back into BLM land between the north side of The Maze and the South side of Horseshoe canyon. We passed at least two groups that had camped out there.

A short drive though and we were at the trailhead to descend back down into the canyon to see the petroglyphs.

ImpromptU-Ah!-5.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

This trail has an official name though.

ImpromptU-Ah!-6.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Deadmans trail. Nice name. But we learned why.

It was only a short 1.5 miles to the bottom of the canyon.

ImpromptU-Ah!-7.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

The top of the trail is super easy and flat

ImpromptU-Ah!-9.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

The canyon rock walls definitely look different here.

ImpromptU-Ah!-8.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Before long you dive off down into the rocks.

ImpromptU-Ah!-10.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Not a bad place to be..

ImpromptU-Ah!-11.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

After a while, you end up just walking through the slickrock. Which can be hard to follow the trail. It is very fun though and involves walking through some interesting steep sections.

ImpromptU-Ah!-12.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ImpromptU-Ah!-13.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Then you get to the main edge and can see the bottom.

ImpromptU-Ah!-14.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Interesting hand rails

ImpromptU-Ah!-15.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

What a perfect day.

ImpromptU-Ah!-16.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Once at the bottom it is nice a flat once again at the river bottom.

ImpromptU-Ah!-17.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ImpromptU-Ah!-19.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

 

[Blackdawg]

A short walk later and we almost missed the Grand Canvas. Even though it spans 200' and has painted figures 10' tall.

ImpromptU-Ah!-20.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ImpromptU-Ah!-21.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Fantastic.

ImpromptU-Ah!-22.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

There were a couple benches and two ammo cans. One had an archeology report in it and sign in notebook. The other had some old US Navy binoculars

ImpromptU-Ah!-34.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ImpromptU-Ah!-32.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ImpromptU-Ah!-33.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ImpromptU-Ah!-23.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

We sat and stared at the figures for quite a while and read the books a bit as well. Devin read that there were feral burros in the canyon and wanted to see them badly. We didn't though. With the whole site to ourselves which was nice to really be able to absorb the unique paintings.

ImpromptU-Ah!-24.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ImpromptU-Ah!-25.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ImpromptU-Ah!-26.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ImpromptU-Ah!-27.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ImpromptU-Ah!-28.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ImpromptU-Ah!-29.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
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ImpromptU-Ah!-31.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

The level of detail on some of the figures it pretty amazing.

ImpromptU-Ah!-35.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
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[Blackdawg]

They are almost haunting.


ImpromptU-Ah!-42.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ImpromptU-Ah!-43.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

If you want to read the report on the area. Here you go.

ImpromptU-Ah!-44.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

We had a long drive ahead of us
Was a magical spot. I was very glad we had been able to make it after dealing with the truck issues. It was why we had come. And was very much worth it.

ImpromptU-Ah!-45.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

We still had a long ways to go to get to our nights camp spot and eventually had to tear ourselves away from the site and start the accent up the canyon and the temperature was being to rise a lot.

ImpromptU-Ah!-18.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ImpromptU-Ah!-49.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

The walk out was longer than we had thought it would take. It was steeper then the other way we had come in. With the heat and rugged terrain I can see how it got its name. But didn't have any problems though.

We made it to the truck and drove back to the Ranger station.

ImpromptU-Ah!-50.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

While Devin used the restroom I went and asked about the burros. The ranger told us that they were in fact down there but weren't supposed to be. Thinks there is a fence problem somewhere but hasn't had the time or resources to go drive them out of the canyon. Weren't hurting anything drastically and mostly used it to get to water and out of the sun. No matter how much Devin wished we had seen some, we didn't.

The Rangers were also shocked to hear we were heading all the way to Millards and it was afternoon. We weren't worried though and set off. The Henry Mountains looking stellar.

ImpromptU-Ah!-51.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ImpromptU-Ah!-52.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ImpromptU-Ah!-53.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
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Loved the clash of snow in the desert. Spectcular.

ImpromptU-Ah!-57.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

We stopped again on the way to Flint Trail to check out the Bag Pipe Butte. I mean, who wouldn't with a view like this?

ImpromptU-Ah!-58.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
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Plus a nice overlook of Flint


ImpromptU-Ah!-60.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
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We ate lunch at the top and i talked Devin into driving down Flint.

ImpromptU-Ah!-62.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

She did great and we had no problems getting down. Soon we had turned towards The Maze Overlook and Elker/Millards and Devin put her foot down and we flew down the road. And i got to take some nice photos.

ImpromptU-Ah!-63.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
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[Blackdawg]

After this last photo we hit the Y and turned north to Elker Butte. We hit a group of young hikers, no doubt college kids on an awesome spring break. But they were a bit lost.

We stopped and i asked if they were good and had enough water. They did but were a bit confused on where the Overlook was. I told them they had to turn around and take the other road or they would hit a huge canyon. They thanked us and we took off.

This one to be exact.

ImpromptU-Ah!-70.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr://farm5.staticflickr.com/4064/34834647013_81959081fa_h.jpg[/img][/url]ImpromptU-Ah!-67.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

What was cool is how much bigger it got.

The road got more fun as well.

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The views just got better though.

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And better. The La Sals were snow covered as well.

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But then came the best view of all.

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The road comes right next to the canyon with an awesome parking spot.

ImpromptU-Ah!-74.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
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Was hard to capture the insane view of this spot. The valley below even looked perfect.

ImpromptU-Ah!-77.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
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Still. This drive was worth it.

ImpromptU-Ah!-79.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
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After lingering by this spot for a while, we knew we still have a long ways to go to get to camp though. And kept on going.

ImpromptU-Ah!-81.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

And then as if the view couldn't get any better we got to Elker Butte campsite which had its own killer view.

ImpromptU-Ah!-82.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ImpromptU-Ah!-83.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
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Gotta say, that is a a great site.

By now we were pretty much done with the road. It had gotten bumpier and made it very annoying to drive. Made us miss Frankenstein's far superior suspension. Igor was getting beat on. It was nothing crazy rough, but very annoying. We were tired and ready to be done. It is a VERY long drive though.

Eventually we crested a hill and up to our left far away was Hi Spur.

ImpromptU-Ah!-85.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

This was nice to see as it meant we were close to the end.

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And sure enough after about 15 minutes we made it to our camp spot.

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Which was RIGHT by the mighty Green River.

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There is the bend I had spotted the day before above at Hi Spur.

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The river was super high and we had hoped to get a nice dip in. But the river was very strong and murky. Made it a bit daunting to jump in. Devin couldn't stand it though. She slid off the side of the rock and i had to help haul her back up. It was freezing too and quite the shock to her system. Haha But the sun was warm and she was fine after a few shivering minutes.

ImpromptU-Ah!-90.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Was a beautiful spot. Also relaxing after the very long day on the rough road. Shame we had so little time to enjoy it.

ImpromptU-Ah!-91.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

After a bit more lingering at the river. We went back to camp, made dinner and collapse into bed. Already not entirely looking forward to the drive out. But slept harder than two fallen trees next to the babbling river.

 

[Blackdawg]

The next morning was lovely quiet and cool. Slowly, we packed up the tent, mentally preparing ourselves for the rough drive out.

At least the light from the morning sun was lighting up the spectacular buttes in glorious fashion. Just meant I stopped more for photos.

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The road out here was not well traveled. As you can see here. I know why now though. Its a long ways and in a more “normal” rig, is not a fun drive.

ImpromptU-Ah!-93.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
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And this just shows how amazing Utah can be. You look out across the plain and think “Oh, we just have to get over there.” Except suddenly the ground just falls away…

ImpromptU-Ah!-96.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

So then you have to drive around it.

ImpromptU-Ah!-97.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Because really it just falls away...again. And again.

ImpromptU-Ah!-98.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Spectacular.

ImpromptU-Ah!-99.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

That canyon is right by Elker Butte. Honestly, if you want to see the big drop off canyon walls, just get that site. Millard is pretty nice though.

After passing Elker we stopped once again at this spot. What a cool parking spot.

ImpromptU-Ah!-100.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ImpromptU-Ah!-102.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ImpromptU-Ah!-103.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Just across there somewhere is the Maze Overlook site and trail.

ImpromptU-Ah!-104.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

It was our last day in The Maze though and we knew we had to start heading north to Wyoming and couldn't linger here very long.

The road out was even more beautiful then the road in.

ImpromptU-Ah!-105.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

The drive up Flint was almost becoming normal for us.

ImpromptU-Ah!-106.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ImpromptU-Ah!-107.jpg by ImpromptU-Ah!-112.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
tps://www.flickr.com/photos/93219767@N02/]Monte Nickles Photos[/url], on Flickr
ImpromptU-Ah!-108.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

We stopped at the parking lot above Flint and ate a nice lunch in the hot sun.

ImpromptU-Ah!-109.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

And it was hot. Even the mountains looked like they had lost quite a bit of snow.

ImpromptU-Ah!-110.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ImpromptU-Ah!-111.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ImpromptU-Ah!-113.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr