ROFarts Lost in Utah; The Story
- Thread starter Ace Brown
- Start date
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Ace Brown
Retired Ol’ Fart
Day 4:
Lazy rest day and drying out gear. Boy that sunshine felt good. But even ROFs can't sit still for long. Headed out about noon to visit the park. Stopped at the Needles Outpost because Frenchie has some relatives who recently took over as managers but they were off on a hunting trip. Learned at the park most backcountry roads were closed from all the rain. But Elephant Hill was open so I urged Charlie to give it a go as we were so close. So up and over he went with Frenchie riding shotgun. I waited below as I couldn't go on the trail with my dog on board, and I had just done it in May. After a quick run over the top and back they met a guy in a nicely set up JK. He asked about running E-hill and did drive up to the top and back. Later that afternoon he stopped by our camp for a chat. We invited Bruce to join us through Lockhart Basin and he happily accepted (see his post above). The day wound down with another nice fire (Frenchie accused me of burning too much wood, but I was just lightening my load before Lockhart) and star gazing with clear skies.
Lazy rest day and drying out gear. Boy that sunshine felt good. But even ROFs can't sit still for long. Headed out about noon to visit the park. Stopped at the Needles Outpost because Frenchie has some relatives who recently took over as managers but they were off on a hunting trip. Learned at the park most backcountry roads were closed from all the rain. But Elephant Hill was open so I urged Charlie to give it a go as we were so close. So up and over he went with Frenchie riding shotgun. I waited below as I couldn't go on the trail with my dog on board, and I had just done it in May. After a quick run over the top and back they met a guy in a nicely set up JK. He asked about running E-hill and did drive up to the top and back. Later that afternoon he stopped by our camp for a chat. We invited Bruce to join us through Lockhart Basin and he happily accepted (see his post above). The day wound down with another nice fire (Frenchie accused me of burning too much wood, but I was just lightening my load before Lockhart) and star gazing with clear skies.
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Ace Brown
Retired Ol’ Fart
Got to add a little foot note here. I was shivering cold and joints really hurting from the penetrating dampness. A recent back injury was really hurting. Frenchie dug out some hand warmer packets but as much as we tried to get them warming they refused. Finally Dale gave another try and we realized somewhat foolishly they had one more covering to remove to get them activated. Once warm I placed them in my skivvies next to my hips and they felt pretty good there. But later I got up to visit a bush. When I sat back down I suddenly realized they had slid down to a low point and we're getting pretty uncomfortable against certain tender parts. But warmth is still warmth so I hung in there. Besides we were huddled so close to the fire getting up to move was disruptive for all. When I woke up in the morning one of the little buggers was still warm. I mean the hot pads, not me. 
Ace Brown
Retired Ol’ Fart
Day 5: Enjoying another sunny morning we headed out towards Lockhart Basin with some apprehension, it was sure to be the most difficult portion of the entire trip. Then factor in the uncertainty of wash outs or bad mud from all the recent rain. I had done Lockhart once before in 2010, from N to S and came very, very close to a disastrous roll over. That memory did not add to my comfort level nor did the added difficulty of pulling a trailer. But we pressed on regardless and picked up Bruce at Indian Creek CG. The road was in pretty good shape until we found a long muddy bog in a low area. After some testing we elected to take a bypass. The further north we traveled we encountered more obstacles and one ledgy climb proved quite challenging. Knowing we had the tight and narrow canyon section coming up we elected to camp early on a big slickrock area. We had not seen any other vehicles all day which was surprising with such great weather on a Saturday. But just about sundown the parade started. First a young family in a 4Runner, then a solo Jeep and well after dark a gaggle of side-by-sides (golf carts). We fixed chow and burned up the last of our firewood. We also watched a spectacular sight as the moon rose over the red rock wall east of our camp.
CW Post Part 2
Continuing.......The next day. We packed up our gear, and Headed toward Bridges NP. It rained pretty hard on the way back out.......Lots of Mudddddd
View attachment 312821
From Bridges NP, we headed down the road to some Indian ruins.
After hiking,and Exploring the ruins, we went on down to Comb Wash. To camp for the night. But, before we could even set camp up. We had a young man looking for help. apparently his vehicle got washed in or stuck in the creek. From all the rain that we had been getting. Frenchie, and a few of the others. Went to help out. I know that their were pictures taken. Rumors has it Frechie got suck as well. Love to see those pic's.
The following day.....We headed into Blanding to refuel, and go over to Museum. Very good Museum. Would recommend it. For it's great displays on Ancient Heritage art, and craft, pieces.
Continuing.......The next day. We packed up our gear, and Headed toward Bridges NP. It rained pretty hard on the way back out.......Lots of Mudddddd
View attachment 312821
From Bridges NP, we headed down the road to some Indian ruins.
After hiking,and Exploring the ruins, we went on down to Comb Wash. To camp for the night. But, before we could even set camp up. We had a young man looking for help. apparently his vehicle got washed in or stuck in the creek. From all the rain that we had been getting. Frenchie, and a few of the others. Went to help out. I know that their were pictures taken. Rumors has it Frechie got suck as well. Love to see those pic's.
The following day.....We headed into Blanding to refuel, and go over to Museum. Very good Museum. Would recommend it. For it's great displays on Ancient Heritage art, and craft, pieces.
Ace Brown
Retired Ol’ Fart
Ok, I will bite......what does SWMBO stand for?
Ace Brown
Retired Ol’ Fart
Day 6:
We continued north and right away the challenges got harder and more frequent. Bruce had some smoke coming out from under the hood which was diagnosed as a leaking air line. We disabled the fan to reduce the risk of fire and moved on. Next up was the tight and difficult canyon. We all walked and scouted it and did a little rock stacking. Took turns spotting each other through and no problem except a few scrapes and bangs from plates and sliders. Departing the trail E stopped at Wind Caves to do a better fix on Bruce's Jeep. After one wrong turn we came out to the Kane Creek Road and were forced to camp in a designated BLM site as they have closed all boondock camping in the area. Charlie was itching to head home so he departed. Bruce needed some stuff from town so he took off too. He came back a few hours later with firewood (!) and beer (!!!) which helped cheer up our camp. The wind got up foretelling more bad weather approaching.
We continued north and right away the challenges got harder and more frequent. Bruce had some smoke coming out from under the hood which was diagnosed as a leaking air line. We disabled the fan to reduce the risk of fire and moved on. Next up was the tight and difficult canyon. We all walked and scouted it and did a little rock stacking. Took turns spotting each other through and no problem except a few scrapes and bangs from plates and sliders. Departing the trail E stopped at Wind Caves to do a better fix on Bruce's Jeep. After one wrong turn we came out to the Kane Creek Road and were forced to camp in a designated BLM site as they have closed all boondock camping in the area. Charlie was itching to head home so he departed. Bruce needed some stuff from town so he took off too. He came back a few hours later with firewood (!) and beer (!!!) which helped cheer up our camp. The wind got up foretelling more bad weather approaching.