The M~D~U Report: A Thousand Miles of Dirt in Utah

[Blackdawg]

Thanks! Looking forward to more!

Thanks for reading!

Still awesome! Can't wait for more.

I want to go back...

Ok ready for another chapter LOL. How long did this whole trip take?

Im going to start writing tonight!

I was on the road for 16 days and 17 nights. Was a blast!

 

[paroxysym]

ready for more, just spent two days on and off reading this thread- awesome trip

 

[Flhtruss]

Hi BD
As usual great pic's and story to go with. You must be very busy, thanks for squeezing this in.
Russ

 

[Blackdawg]

Chapter 7:
A Perfect Maze​

We awoke the next morning and I thought it has rained the Dew was so thick.

M~D~U-3.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-2.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-5.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Didn't really bother us though. We took our time to wait for a little sun to get on our tents and disscused our route we would try for the day.

M~D~U-4.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Our first road was Flint Trail. Which took us down from the Butte we were camped on down to..well another Butte. The Maze feels like a multi storied landscape. Flint was a way down to the other roads are camp spots including ours for the night, The Maze Overlook. The trail has a few switch backs but nothing crazy compared to what we've done in the past.

View was pretty stellar though from the think dew morning. The air seemed crisp and clear.

IMG_2374 by mike digirat, on Flickr
M~D~U-6.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Right after this photo is a slightly rocky section. Nothing bad. But I like how Mike described it:

IMG_2378 by mike digirat, on Flickr
IMG_2379 by mike digirat, on Flickr

“That'll keep the subies out!”

:laugh:

He was right though. High clearance only now.

IMG_2380 by mike digirat, on Flickr
M~D~U-7.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
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M~D~U-8.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
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[Blackdawg]

Was a fun little road. Nothing crazy. But you could tell if someone without experience could get themselves in trouble.

IMG_2388 by mike digirat, on Flickr
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nothing drastic about the decent. Then you end up at an intersection and we went straight to Lands End which rode along the rim of the Butte we had just descended. Only to reveal more canyons.

M~D~U-9.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_2410 by mike digirat, on Flickr

Lookie here! Those are the Abajo mountains in the Manti La Sal nat Forest that we crossed only a few days ago. Once again, looking back! As well as forward as that is the Land of Standing Rocks where we will drive through tomorrow.

IMG_2411 by mike digirat, on Flickr
IMG_2412 by mike digirat, on Flickr
M~D~U-10.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

And we had done very well this trip on avoiding mud, but the rain the day before and the heavy dew put mud holes everywhere. Our trucks would slowly become more and more red.

M~D~U-11.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-12.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_2415 by mike digirat, on Flickr
M~D~U-13.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

And this is one of the reasons why its called The Maze. Look at that terrain!

M~D~U-14.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_2418 by mike digirat, on Flickr
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[Blackdawg]

And in the far distance down below..another tail.

M~D~U-16.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-15.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

That the road to The Doll House, were our last night will be had in The Maze.

But for now we would continue on this road.
IMG_2425 by mike digirat, on Flickr
M~D~U-17.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Which eventually comes down to the valley below and levels out a lot.

IMG_2427 by mike digirat, on Flickr
M~D~U-18.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-19.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

We passed a 4 way interesction which to the east was The Doll House and to the West was Poison Spring Canyon. We would return via Poison later that day and continued south on Cove Canyon road back towards Hite.

M~D~U-20.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

The views were great, it was big and open down here with buttes everywhere. We passed a big group of bikers that had a hired chase vehicle. Thankfully let us pass as our pace was much higher then anyone else we had met in the area.

M~D~U-21.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-22.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-23.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_2428 by mike digirat, on Flickr
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Hite and the overlook are up ahead where we ate lunch yesterday. You can see the “lumpy” mountain.

IMG_2431 by mike digirat, on Flickr
M~D~U-24.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_2433 by mike digirat, on Flickr

The road was pretty smooth honestly and we mad great time only stopping to take photos of the beautiful landscape.

IMG_2436 by mike digirat, on Flickr
IMG_2438 by mike digirat, on Flickr
M~D~U-25.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-26.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-27.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-28.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_2440 by mike digirat, on Flickr
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[Blackdawg]

And just like that we were back in Glenn Canyon Recreation area again. Its a nice way to enter the Maze I think rather than leaving it.

IMG_2445 by mike digirat, on Flickr

So we got back on the highway to head up to Poison Spring.

M~D~U-29.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

not before I got a second attempt at snapping Mike crossing the Dirty Devil River bridge though.

M~D~U-30.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-31.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

We would have to cross the actual river later today.

M~D~U-32.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Mike found us a nice spot down by the Colorado River to eat lunch before going much further though.

IMG_2454 by mike digirat, on Flickr
IMG_2456 by mike digirat, on Flickr


We then had a problem. We realized we would not have enough gas to just go back into the Maze and drive the roads we had planned and get out the north side. This was not good. The only option we new about was to go all the way north back to Hanksville. Wasn't an ideal plan as it would add about an hour or more. We didn't know what else to do though.

HOWEVER!

For those reading this, there IS GAS AT HITE! Can not tell you how nice that would have been to know. So hopefully now you know!

We...did not though. So after lunch head to Hankville, filled up on gas again and came back south to Poison Spring.

M~D~U-33.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_2459 by mike digirat, on Flickr

Quite a few miles to go..

IMG_2460 by mike digirat, on Flickr

Honestly this was one of the cooler trails we drove in the Maze. I wish I had taken more photos of the first part. Was really fun as you drive along a creek bed and dip in and out of the water while in a canyon. Was really cool.

M~D~U-34.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-35.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-36.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_2461 by mike digirat, on Flickr

Time was now an issue though and we had a long ways to get to camp. Mike was hoping to beat night fall as night driving isn't his thing, but we were starting to realize that wasn't going to be an option. Our road climbed out of the bottom of the creek to ride along another butte base.

IMG_2464 by mike digirat, on Flickr
M~D~U-37.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
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And then our river crossing appeared!

M~D~U-38.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_2469 by mike digirat, on Flickr
M~D~U-39.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

You could tell this sucker could get high. But didn't seem like it would be an issue. Always a risk I suppose especially as the Dirty Devil was living up to its name by being...well dirty, and couldn't see the bottom.

M~D~U-40.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

 

[Blackdawg]

Screw it!

In I go.

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Yeah..not deep at all.

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Your turn Mike!

IMG_2483 by mike digirat, on Flickr
M~D~U-41.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-42.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-43.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-44.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-45.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

That was fun.

From here the road climbed up high to let us see some fantastic views.

IMG_2484 by mike digirat, on Flickr
M~D~U-46.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
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My god this stuff is beautiful.

M~D~U-47.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-48.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-49.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-50.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-51.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

 

[Blackdawg]

The light was starting to fade fast though and Mike was really wanting to get to camp so we put the hammer down more and just took in the views.

M~D~U-52.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Wasn't easy though, the road was very bumpy and had taken a lot of abuse from water in spots.

M~D~U-53.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

I always like it when the wash is the road, not sure why. Perhaps due to growing up in an area that just doesn't have stuff like that.

M~D~U-54.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

The light was getting very pretty though and dramatic

M~D~U-55.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_2492 by mike digirat, on Flickr
M~D~U-56.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickrs
IMG_2493x by mike digirat, on Flickr
M~D~U-57.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


By now it was getting real late and we put the pedal to the medal now that we were back on Lands End. The light was epic though.

IMG_2495 by mike digirat, on Flickr
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It was pretty dark by the time we got to the intersection to turn to the Maze Overlook, our site for the night.

M~D~U-58.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-59.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

12 miles to go.

M~D~U-60.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-61.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-62.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

We didn't make it to camp in the light. But we didn't mind too much. It had been a great day and we had covered a ton of miles. Sitting around the propane fire pit, we had to decide what to do tomorrow with our fuel constraints as we were not going to go back out of the Maze tomorrow. The Doll house was our next destination and even though we very much wanted to go to Panorama point, we figured we could try and get to it on the way out.

I also had to figure out how to get my Secpter Jerry can open in the morning or I'd be in trouble.

With a plan set we crawled into bed a bit exhausted from the long trail day. Little did we know how spectacular our camp site actually was.

 

[Blackdawg]

The morning revealed all.

IMG_2506 by mike digirat, on Flickr
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IMG_2510 by mike digirat, on Flickr

Holy...crap..

M~D~U.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-2.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-3.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_2515 by mike digirat, on Flickr
IMG_2517 by mike digirat, on Flickr

That is one hell of a maze!

While we were looking around a range appeared and came down to our camp. She was very friendly and we showed her our permits and she gave us the normal run down on wilderness camping rules. She also informed us that the Doll House road was the most challenging road in the area. And that it would take us about 8 hours to get there from here.

Nice. Challenge accepted!

She also mention doing the short hike to The Granary if we had time, then left and we continued to marvel at our surroundings.

M~D~U-4.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_2511 by mike digirat, on Flickr
IMG_2513 by mike digirat, on Flickr
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Good thing we didn't go too far last night to pee..

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Even some fall colors for us down below.

IMG_2535 by mike digirat, on Flickr

 

[Blackdawg]

I finally got out my mini sledge and beat the cap of my jerry can open. So now I had 10gal of gas in reserve like Mike. We then hit the road as we were a bit curious about the Ranger information on the road conditions and timing. Mike did not want to roll into camp in the dark again.

M~D~U-6.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

It was nice to see the area we had driven into though in full day light. Including this massive drop off we had passed by and seen the rangers jeep parked by last night.

M~D~U-5.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_2541 by mike digirat, on Flickr

Utahs colors and textures are always so interesting and beautiful.

M~D~U-7.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-8.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_2542 by mike digirat, on Flickr
M~D~U.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
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M~D~U-3.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


The rest of the road was pretty uneventful and before long we were up on Lands End again headed to The Doll house.

IMG_2546 by mike digirat, on Flickr

This was our road far down below.

M~D~U-9.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Igor has been treat us well, even though he is massively overloaded. The double cab life has been great though.

M~D~U-10.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Around lunch time, we made it to the 4 way intersection again. We had literally been down all paths form here but one. I pulled off on the east road and waited for Mike to catch up so we could eat some lunch before tackling the Doll House road in.

M~D~U-12.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-13.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-14.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-16.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

While we ate a ford truck pulled up with two BLM Law enforcement Rangers in it. They were armed to the teeth too. But very friendly guys. We showed them our permits and told them all on where we had been and where we were going. They laughed when we told them we went up to Hanksville for gas and informed us of the gas pump at Hite.

:facepalm:

They were however quite happy to hear we had made it through Poison Springs as there had been a very large wash out this spring and the county was supposed to have fixed it but they hadn't been able to get down there yet. We could have been the first one all year to have done the whole thing really.

Apparently.

They also asked about traffic in the area as they were on the look out for poachers. We told them what we knew and they thanked us and went on their way south.

We rapped up lunch and started down our road which at first was very fun smooth sandy washes. But quickly turned to slick rock crawling.

M~D~U-17.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-18.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_2548 by mike digirat, on Flickr
IMG_2551 by mike digirat, on Flickr

At the tight turn near Tea Pot rock, I got a little over confident in my tire size..and dented the rear bed side.

M~D~U-19.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Damn...almost made it damage free. But wasn't bad really.

M~D~U-20.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-21.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

 

[Blackdawg]

Ha I like this marker, was for the Golden Stairs.

M~D~U-22.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

This formation was called Mother and Daughter I think. And marked the beginning of Land of the Standing Rocks.

IMG_2552 by mike digirat, on Flickr
M~D~U-23.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-24.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-26.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

It also got us out of the Slickrock, for the most part. Hadn't been anything crazy for us. I can see how someone in a more stock fullsize truck would think it as intense. But we walked through it. From here on it was pretty smooth driving.

IMG_2556 by mike digirat, on Flickr
M~D~U-25.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-27.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Our camp site would be in the middle of rock formation like this. But we still had plenty of miles to go first.

M~D~U-28.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Plenty of washouts for stretch the legs out on through here as well.

M~D~U-29.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

And then the buttes fell away, and all that was left was...well standing rocks.

M~D~U-30.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_2559 by mike digirat, on Flickr
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M~D~U-31.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-32.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
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And still the seemingly never ending canyons still appeared

IMG_2570 by mike digirat, on Flickr
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M~D~U-33.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

This is Chimney rock, you can get a camp permit right below it.

M~D~U-34.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Where we were headed though was much cooler.

 

[Blackdawg]

Once again we ended up driving in a washout and the rock formations started to change, again.

M~D~U-35.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-36.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_2573 by mike digirat, on Flickr
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This was the area our campsite would be in.

IMG_2576 by mike digirat, on Flickr
M~D~U-37.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

This got us very excited, I mean look at that!

Before that we got to the second spot the ranger had warned us about. A large crack in a mutli shelf decent. A true tire swallower. Apparently plenty of folks get caught in this though as long as you pay attention there is plenty of room, so not sure how really.

M~D~U-38.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-39.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_2581 by mike digirat, on Flickr

This is going to be great was all I could think.

M~D~U-40.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-41.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Thankfully, Mike said we were in Site 2 and we got to turn left straight into the heart of the...house?

M~D~U-42.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_2583 by mike digirat, on Flickr
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This spot was unbelievably cool. And so hard to capture its true awesomeness on camera. We were surrounded by the large towers of rock.

M~D~U-44.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-45.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
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[Blackdawg]

Also, it did not take us 8 hours to get there. In fact it took us around 4. this meant we had quite a bit of daylight left and Devin and I decided to go check out the short hike the Ranger had told us about. Mike said he didn't mind and kept setup up his camp and walked around himself a bit.

IMG_2605 by mike digirat, on Flickr
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He in fact go super comfortable and whipped out the laptop on his utah desk to clear some CF cards and do some reading.

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Not a terrible office..

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Devin and I headed out from our site back the way we came and found the trail. Though once it got up into the rocks was very tricky to follow.

M~D~U-46.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

In fact at this spot, we lost the trail and spent about 10 minutes looking for the right route.

M~D~U-47.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-48.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-49.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Eventually we found it, under a rock haha

M~D~U-50.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

The walk was mostly down hill at this point and very pretty.

M~D~U-51.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

 

[Blackdawg]

M~D~U-52.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Our trail T'ed into a bigger trail and even had an info board on it.

M~D~U-53.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

We decided to continue down hill because..why not? But then it became obvious, we would be going down for a very very long ways..

M~D~U-54.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

This is Spanish Bottom.

M~D~U-55.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

It is a frequent stop for people floating or kayaking the river. It's a whopping 1500' drop in less then a mile.

Given we didn't have THAT much time, I decided we shouldn't do the large decent not wanting to hike back up it in the dark.

So we turned around and headed up to the Granary.

M~D~U-56.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-57.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

The view was stellar.

M~D~U-58.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-59.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

At one point the Colorado River flowed right there. We were about 1200' above the old bottom and the current river was another 1500' below that. Was pretty awesome to see.

With the light fading we turned back to camp.

M~D~U-60.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-61.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

To our delight we got to a bit of canyonering! Sort of...okay not really but was still super cool!

M~D~U-62.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-63.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

I actually barely fit with my pack on and wide shoulders.

M~D~U-64.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-65.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

After the tight squeeze we ended up walking through some of the..”Dolls”

M~D~U-66.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
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After that was a easy flat walk back to camp. These towers are mystical almost, something about them was wonderful to be around.

M~D~U-71.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flick
M~D~U-72.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

10/10, would recommend that sort hike if you have the time.

M~D~U-75.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Upon our return we found Mike at his “desk” :laugh:

M~D~U-76.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

He had been reading copied webpages from traildamage about all the trails we had been on.

Devin wanted a shower though very badly, so I setup the shower infront of the truck with a rock for her to stand on and Devin proceeded to have probably the coldest shower of her life as it was just about dark when she did it.

M~D~U-77.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

After that we decided to pool our forces and make a big dinner of spicy bacon brussel sprouts, crispy bacon potatoes and pork chops. Bacon rules all!!

We then enjoyed our propane fire and watched the stars come out while chatting about the trip and our exit plan for tomorrow.

M~D~U-78.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

However...

Our night was FAR from over.

Devin decided to go to bed and Mike and I were chatting away when I heard a noise that I though was wind rusting my trasharoo...except there was no wind.

“Hey, lemme see your flash light” I asked Mike who owns the lightsaber of all flashlights.

I lit up my trasharoo which had a plastic bag liner in and to my surprise it was moving!

“what the hell...” I said as I approached it.

Right as I was about 3' from it a little black face poked out.

“Oh it's a raccoon” I said getting ready to scare it away.

But then I crawled out and relieved it very characteristic white strips and spots....

Skunk.

“oh ****!” I said jumping back as the skunk climbed into the back of my truck.

This woke up Devin and I had to explain to her that a skunk was literally underneath her which she took...not so well.

The lil bastard would not leave though. We at first just let him be but he didn't go anywhere just kept exploring the bed and checking out the stove and garbage. Finally I worked up the courage to approach it and start pulling things out of the bed. First the garbage, then kitech stuff, soon just about everything besides the OSK that he was perched on. Devin hated every moment of it worried the skunk would spray. So we let him be for about an hour again.

By now it was close to 2am and I was getting sick of this. I grabbed Mikes lightsaber and set it on strobe and grabbed my shovel and started shoving the handle in its face.

Little dude just thought it was a dance party though and crawled down in between the cab and the bed to rest up in the wheel arch.

What a bastard..

At 3:30am I gave up and just decided to go to bed and not worry about it.

“Held captive by a skunk” as Mike put it.

Exhausted and slightly worried about how everything could smell in the morning, finally we went to bed.

To be Continued:

Chapter 8: The Final Stretch