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

[Blackdawg]

Eventually though, the jeeps were done and they went on their way to eat lunch else where. Mike and I took our positions and got the classic TOTW photo.

IMG_1676 by mike digirat, on Flickr
IMG_1678 by mike digirat, on Flickr
IMG_1679 by mike digirat, on Flickr
IMG_1682 by mike digirat, on Flickr
M~D~U-19.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-20.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

After getting our moment on the perched cliff. We turned and decided to go down the way we came up to avoid the Jeep traffic.

Plus we got to get more photos doing our own pace and thing.

Which was fun on the bigger ledge part of the trail.

M~D~U-22.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-23.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Igor stretching his little legs.

M~D~U-25.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-26.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

And the bigger ledge here.

M~D~U-27.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-28.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-30.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-31.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-32.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Red head had no issues of course. It was a miracle Igor made it down without rear bed side damage.

M~D~U-33.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-34.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-35.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

We then enjoyed the rest of the trail taking in the great view down below the Butte. We were once again, looking back on where we had just come from.

M~D~U-36.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-37.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-38.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Now instead of getting back onto the main road to continue our trip, we turned right or south, to got to the Cottonwood Canyon cut off. Mike and I had also both done this last time we were here but the other way. We remembered very little about it and weren't worried at all about it.

 

[Blackdawg]

The canyon is a smaller one, but still very pretty. The lighting from the perfect sunny day was awesome too.

M~D~U-39.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_1690 by mike digirat, on Flickr
M~D~U-40.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-41.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-42.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_1691 by mike digirat, on Flickr
IMG_1707 by mike digirat, on Flickr

Once you make it to the bottom and cross the creek, things change. It becomes much rockier and worse for me, loose rock.

Not ideal for a truck with open diffs. Add some ledge's and Igor was struggling.

M~D~U-43.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

I got out to reassess my line.

M~D~U-44.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

I knew were I wanted the tires to go. But missed the spot again on my second attempt.

M~D~U-45.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-46.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Mike came up to help spot me and I showed him the line I wanted.

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

With his help, Igor finally made it up.

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

Only to get caught again.

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

Damn multiple ledges!

But with some more spotting, some skinny pedal, luck, and miniscule amounts of skill; Igor made it up the ledges.

M~D~U-51.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-52.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-53.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Doing a little wheelie! Ha!

M~D~U-54.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-55.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Then it was Mikes turn.

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

Mike has Lockers though, so he didn't have any problems..other then trying to drive through a rock haha!

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

After that the road smooths out and gets narrow on a cliff. But relatively smooth road save for a spot or two.

It was right after this spot I heard the first bad news of the day over the CB.

“****, dude I just blew a tire” said Mike.

“Seriously?!” I said

“Yep, trying to find a flat spot now before it's totally flat” he said.

“Damn. Im coming back”

 

[Blackdawg]

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

Mike didn't just get a flat. That rock murdered that tire in a hateful brutal sense haha

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

But we both agreed that a flat tire is always preferred over anything else breaking. We got to work getting the spare off and jacking up the truck.

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

less then 20mins later we were ready to role.

M~D~U-4.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-5.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Could stick your finger in the hole of the tire.

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

We came out of the canyon back on the main road. It climbs up pretty high before diving down back into the canyons.

M~D~U-7.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-8.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-9.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-10.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

By now the sun was getting low in the sky. Which meant two things.

1. Beautiful lighting.

IMG_1709 by mike digirat, on Flickr
M~D~U-11.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

1. We needed to be looking for a campsite.

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

But I just kept pushing it, not liking anything we were finding. We came up to a fairly large pull out right on the side of the cliff. But I nixed that idea thinking it would be too windy and set off down the very long steep hill.

This hill...turned out to be VERY VERY hard. Completely caught us off guard.

I was making my way down the large ledges when we got to one in particular huge ledge and I started down it. But Devin said

“Monte NO! This is huge!”

Well...she wasn't wrong..

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

This ledge was massive and steep. Considering I had no belly skids and only 1'' of lift with 33'' tires. I wasn't feeling confident going over it with the low hanging Tcase on the Tacoma.

Some folks had obviously encountered this issue before and had started a bypass to the right. It was super tight down hill corner though around a hacked up tree followed by a very tight left hand turn to get back on the trail into steep ledges and rocks.

Here is the big ledge we avoided. Picture makes it look so small!

IMG_1712 by mike digirat, on Flickr

And the route after the ledge we had to turn into

IMG_1716 by mike digirat, on Flickr

Oh boy.

So I backed up Igor and started down.

IMG_1710 by mike digirat, on Flickr
IMG_1711 by mike digirat, on Flickr
IMG_1718 by mike digirat, on Flickr

 

[Blackdawg]

Sadly, photos are light here as after the first turn the tree stump almost dented my truck. So I got the axe out and whacked it down some more.

Then after I got around it, and truned back down hill. Igor started 3 wheeling HARD. Mike and Devin had to hang off the *** to keep him from rolling.

But after that, I was home free.

Mike slowly made his way up the steep road back to his rig.

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

Started the turn and despite our learned knowedge on trying a wider line..

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

Mike still got some Moab pin stripes.

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

This was a multi point turn. 4-6 I think. Was very tight.

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

Then turned parallel to the ledge..

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

Then a 3 point turn to aim down hill again.

M~D~U-23.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Which got a bit tippy.

M~D~U-25.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

The rock by the passenger rear tire though hit the sliders the whole way down. Got the wheels pretty good too.

But once we eased passed this spot. It was all good.

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

Finally we were down the terrible hill. 200 yards of hell, took us over an hour and 15 mins to get down.

M~D~U-29.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-32.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

We were pooped.

The large pullout at the base of the hill would suffice for our camp spot that night. We enjoyed the fading light as we set up our tents.

IMG_1720 by mike digirat, on Flickr
M~D~U-30.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-31.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

The excitement wasn't over though. It started to drizzle a bit while Devin got dinner going and Mike was setting up his stuff still. I got to building the fire.

As I was down on my knees splitting up wood for kiddling I had this funny though run through my head...

“Wow, I'm tired, I better not cut one of my fingers off”

About 3 second later, I put the axe into a small piece of wood, and the brand new razor sharp axle went clean through it...



and into my knee.

I swear I saw blood squirt out.

“God damn it!” I yelled standing up immediately walking back to my truck.

“what?” yell Mike from somewhere in the dark.

“Oh I just put my axe into my knee”

“Wait...what??!!” Said Devin as I walked up to the truck, a look of terror on her face.

“I'm fine, didn't even hurt” I said.

Then I looked down.

Holy ****!

M~D~U-33.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_1721 by mike digirat, on Flickr

In the span of 20 second the entire inside of my pant leg was covered in blood.

“well that's quiet the gusher!” I laughed half heartedly.

It's at time's like this, you don't want to find out your first aid kits are...well lacking. But between Mike and I we had enough bandages to clean it and wrap it up.

Lesson: Get a better first aid kit!

Thankfully it wasn't super serious and only hurt a bit as it had been a clean cut. It was very deep, but not deep enough to cut ligaments..thank god.

Mike and Devin both hit the beer hard after the long day and the stressful ending. But we had a great night around the campfire. It is always better when you have made it through something unexpected and very challenging.....and all your body parts still attached in my case. Ha

We all slept quite good that night.

Devin and Mike both got up before me. As I started getting dressed I heard someone walking up, and looked out the window to see a biker who had just walked down the massive hill we had come down the previous day.

“Morning!” he said to Mike.

“Good morning” replied Mike.

“Did you guys drive down that thing???” he asked point at the hill.

“Yep, somehow we did” laughed Mike.

“Holy crap. I barely made it down walking” He said.

He took off pedaling away. I bet biking all 140miles of this trail is one hell of an experience too.

We had a good laugh looking back up at the daunting hill its memory still fresh in our minds..

IMG_1724 by mike digirat, on Flickr
IMG_1727 by mike digirat, on Flickr

“I can't believe you drug me down that think” said Mike to me.

“What! I didn't drag you!”

“Whatever, you went, so I had to. Same thing”

“Least we aren't going up it!” I laughed.

With that, we set about packing up camp.

IMG_1726 by mike digirat, on Flickr
IMG_1729 by mike digirat, on Flickr
M~D~U-34.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

I also took the morning light to inspect all the new pin striping I had acquired from our venture down the hill.

M~D~U-36.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-37.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

 

[Blackdawg]

Glad I got these made just a week before..

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

Mikes rig also took on some new body art

M~D~U-40.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-64.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

But, all in all. Not to bad! Better then a cracked Tcase.

With the trucks packed, we set off to the next leg of the trail.

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

As we were driving out through some very fun twisty washes. I noticed a very small label on my APRS OSM Map. I zoomed in to read it.

I stopped the truck I couldn't believe what I was reading.

“Holy **** Mike,” I said over the CB, “wanna know what this road is called we are on?”

“What?” he asked

“ROSEGARDEN HILL!”

Holy sweet mother Mary and the baby jesus.

We just made it down Rosegarden hill.

For those of you that don't know this name, I suggest youtubing it. Trail Damage rates this trail a 7-9 out of 10. Most of the “harder” stuff we were planning on being on were 7s.

I just started laughing.

“Damn, I can't believe you drug me down that” Mike said

Still in disbelief and also feeling stupid for having not read about it in our research. We pulled onto Onion Creek Road to head to Thompson canyon.

IMG_1733 by mike digirat, on Flickr

We were now down in the valley that TOTW overlooks.

IMG_1738 by mike digirat, on Flickr
IMG_1740x by mike digirat, on Flickr

Thompson valley is a smooth maintained road but man is is pretty. There is even a great camp spot on it I highly recommend.

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

We passed the biker guy down in the valley and started to climb up and up looping back around towards the valley.

M~D~U-45.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Canyons..canyons everywhere.

M~D~U-46.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-47.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

I was running low on gas at this point though. We found it interesting my gas light had come on well before Mikes. I had been driving a while now with it on and with no scan gauge to tell me exactly how much was left. I decided to pour a fiver in.

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

We were now climbing towards the La Sal mountains. And once again, able to look down to where we had come from.

M~D~U-48.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_1742 by mike digirat, on Flickr

Before long we were flying through the La Sal forest service road and at 8000' elevation in forested mountains.

Talk about a change of scenery.

Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_1745 by mike digirat, on Flickr

Once again we could see where we had come from.

IMG_1747 by mike digirat, on Flickr

At the peak of about 8600' we were headed back down when devin spotted a bathroom by a large pull out. I pulled in and she used the facilities while I looked around the area. I was greeted by a wonderful surprise.

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

I'll be damned! Dino tracks!!

I quickly yelled at Devin to come check it out when she was ready and radioed Mike where we were. This little detour proved to be quite awesome.

Plus the view of the overlook was awesome.

M~D~U-51.jpg by

And I looked down..and what do you know.

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

How awesome is that? Mike and Devin had joined me by now and were also very taken aback by the dinosaur tracks.

M~D~U-53.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_1758 by mike digirat, on Flickr

This wasn't my first time seeing dino tracks as there are some near my home town. However, these ones were massive compared to those.


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

 

[Blackdawg]

There was a short trail to more and we gladly took the very short walk to see more.

M~D~U-55.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_1753 by mike digirat, on Flickr
M~D~U-56.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-57.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-58.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

That detour was well worth it. A great find to stumble on.

But we needed to get to Moab. We hoped to get Mike a new tire while in town and then still had to find camp after that.

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

The drive down the other side of the mountain was beautiful. Once again, crystal clear skies provided wonderful lighting.

IMG_1760 by mike digirat, on Flickr
M~D~U-60.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-61.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_1762 by mike digirat, on Flickr

We continued on following the track across the mountains. Still have a decent elevation looking down into the desert below.

M~D~U-62.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_1763 by mike digirat, on Flickr

Im still amazed at the ecosystem change. Mike pointed out how much cooler it would have been to catch all the Fall colors in full swing. I again appologized for the later start then originally planned...because..he was right.

IMG_1764 by mike digirat, on Flickr

This had been the longest stretch of asphalt we had been on in the last few days. So when the opportunity to take the dirt road down the mountain presented itself..we pounced.

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

Not far down the dirt we encountered a very old truck. Makes you wonder what the story is behind it...

M~D~U-68.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-66.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-69.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Time was running short though and we didn't linger long.

M~D~U-67.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Soon we were back on the main road that switched between paved and dirt all the way to Moab bring us back to the red rock desert.
IMG_1767 by mike digirat, on Flickr
IMG_1768 by mike digirat, on Flickr
M~D~U-70.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-71.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

We were soon amount the many others that come down here to enjoy the area. Jeepers, climbers, dirt bikers, UTVers, hikers, campers, mountain bikers....they were all here. And even though Moab wasn't quite the zoo it can normally be due to the late season. We hadn't been gone super long from “reality” but we already didn't like being back.

At the first Gas station, we topped off all our gas and water. Then set off to the first of two tires stores in the area.

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

Seems we always blow a tire on our trips these days..

Mike went in and talked to the folks there. They remarkably did not have any 33x10.5r15 KM2s. We figured it would be a popular tire size around these parts. They did have a KO2 in that size. The lady said they were the BFG dealer for the town so rather then drive all the way across town. Mike paid the $234ish bucks to get the Ko2 mounted.

“Hopefully when I get back I can trade it in for a KM2 at discount tire under warrenty. So long as it doesn't touch the ground.” Mike said as we removed the blow KM2 off the bumper.

“Well, don't get another flat!” I jeered

A little while later, we were ready to roll out.

M~D~U-73.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

We had one more stop though to satisfy Mikes Moab crave. A stop at the Moab Diner for some Green Chile...anything. Seriously, they put their green chile on pretty much any and everything there! It was delicous.

I also touched base with my little brother, an avid Utah visitor for its many many climbing routes. I told him where we were going to be in a few days over the weekend. It was his birthday weekend and was hoping we could hook up to say Hi as I hadn't seen him in a couple months when he went back to school.

He said he had plans but would see if his climbing partner would be up for changing them and would let me know. Told him i'd only have cell service for an hour or so but he said he would know soon.

I never heard back from him though.

Our bellies fully, we headed out on the town to be tourists for a bit. I had to get a classic Moab sticker for Igor. We got some other odds and ends. Some T shirts for family and friends and such. Our last stop was the grocery story for Devin and I to do a light restocking of food supplies.

When I came out into the parking lot, Mike had a couple of guys chatting with him through his window.

“Well here is the guy that made it!” Mike smiled pointing at me.

Apparently the guy had been admiring Mikes rear bumper and had asked if it was a CBI or something. We chatted with the guys for a bit. It was their first trip to Moab in his 04 Tacoma. He said it was on the forums but didn't get on much really.

Always cool meeting random TW members though! We wished them luck and finished packing the truck.

We left town with the sun setting taking Kane Creek Boulevard out of town to head in the direction of our next trail, Lockhart Basin. There is camping all over up in the creek.

There were also people all over. Every where actually. Stuffed in every nook and cranny were people camping. We drove and drove and drove looking for a spot to camp.

It was totally dark by the time we found a pull out somewhere off the road that would work. We took it gladly, ready to settle in for the night.

We had heard in town it was supposed to get below 30 degrees Fahrenheit tonight. And we were already feeling the cold.

Wasn't going to stop us though. We were excited to run Lockhart having hear conflicting opinion on how hard of a trail it was. Tomorrow, we would get to form our own opinions.

M~D~U-74.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

To be continued:

Chapter 4: Sleepless in The Needles.

 

[PGW]

I don't post much but I have truly enjoyed this report so far as well as all your other ones and your build threads. Your photos and storytelling are great! You have given me a ton of ideas and inspiration on where to travel in the future.

 

[SmoothLC]

Open diffs and Rose Garden Hill. Impressive.

 

[Blackdawg]

I don't post much but I have truly enjoyed this report so far as well as all your other ones and your build threads. Your photos and storytelling are great! You have given me a ton of ideas and inspiration on where to travel in the future.

Hey man thanks! I appreciate it. I love to hear it is inspiring to some. Makes all the work worth it! Thanks for reading and commenting!

LOTS left in this report so stick around..plus i just went to Utah AGAIN just a week ago..ha

Open diffs and Rose Garden Hill. Impressive.

lol thanks...i...wouldn't have done had i been paying more attention! but it all worked out. I am sure to tell everyone that says they are going to do the Kokopelli to by pass that section so the same doesn't happen them. Caught us by surprise.

 

[Blackdawg]

The M~U~D Trip Report: 1000 Miles of Utah Dirt

Chapter 4: Sleepless in The Needles
​

The night was terrible.

Turns out our spot had been near the top of Hurrah Pass, the Colorado and Potash mine lay down below us straight out from our camp. Not that we knew that until we crawled out of our tents. Which wasn't until 10:30am or better.

IMG_1783 by mike digirat, on Flickr
IMG_1774 by mike digirat, on Flickr
IMG_1775 by mike digirat, on Flickr
IMG_1778 by mike digirat, on Flickr


Wind had slap our tents around all night as well as an unexpected plummet of temperature down to 28-30 degrees Fahrenheit meant we didn't get much sleep. But the sun crested the Butte behind us telling us to get the hell out of bed and hit the dirt. We had a long ways to go after all.

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

While we were packing, two UTVs and a dirt bike drove bye going in the same direction we were headed to Lockhart basin. We hit the dirt to go to the trail head. Several of our friends had done this trail and some say its hard, others say its a walk in a park.

Time to find out ourselves!

The drive to the trail head was very scenic and smooth road.

M~D~U-2.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-3.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-4.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-8.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

The trail comes very close to the mighty Colorado River. The river we would be chasing for the next few days.

M~D~U-5.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-7.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/Q4mz3Y] IMG_1784 by mike digirat, on Flickr

[/url]IMG_1786x by mike digirat, on Flickr
IMG_1790 by mike digirat, on Flickr

The sun was out, skies were clear, it was going to be a great day.

IMG_1791 by mike digirat, on Flickr
IMG_1794 by mike digirat, on Flickr

And then Bam. We were in the canyon crawling over the rocks.

IMG_1800 by mike digirat, on Flickr

We had caught back up to to the UTVs by now though, right at the steep hill climb. Surprisingly, they had stopped and got out to look at the hill climb to pick lines I guess. We thought this a bit strange for UTVs, but waited patiently. After a few minutes they climbed back into the machines and of course had not problems going up save one that got stuck on a tall rock well before the hill itself.

IMG_1802 by mike digirat, on Flickr
IMG_1806 by mike digirat, on Flickr
M~D~U-9.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

 

[Blackdawg]

With the UTVs clear. It was my turn to climb up the rocky hill.

IMG_1807 by mike digirat, on Flickr

I gotta say. I. Was. STOKED.

My normal rig Frankenstein is on the verge of full beast mode. Making many of the trails I do with my long time friends very simple and boring. I hadn't had to think about picking a real line up something in 3 years.

Now...things were different.

I was back behind the wheel of a mostly stock tacoma on just 33s with only sliders for armor and no lockers to help me out.

I was 18 years old again. Excited, anxious, and even a little nervous.

The line choice MATTERED again.

IMG_1809 by mike digirat, on Flickr

I set off and got stuck in a spot for a brief moment at the base of the hill.

IMG_1810 by mike digirat, on Flickr
IMG_1811 by mike digirat, on Flickr
IMG_1812 by mike digirat, on Flickr
IMG_1813 by mike digirat, on Flickr

Simple line adjustment and I crawled all the way to the top with no issues.

IMG_1816 by mike digirat, on Flickr

The UTVers and bikers had waited around to watch us get up and cheered as I crested the top.

“WOOOO!!!!”

“YYEAAAHH!!”

I got out with a giant smile on my face

“Thats what its all about!” I said

Mike made his way back to his rig. And set off.

“He'll walk up this, he has lockers” I mentioned to our fellow on lookers.

M~D~U-10.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-11.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Mike was crawling up no problem, but then made an odd line choice.

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

He got stopped by the protruding rock as his drive side wheel feel into the dug out area between the two tall rocks. I help back him up and turn into the right rock and he came up with zero problems.

Our on lookers gave another cheer, then left us in the dust. We wouldn't see them again for hours.

M~D~U-14.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-15.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

We were now back ontop of part of a butte and looking down on the river again. The drive mellowed back out a lot at this point and we trucked a lot taking in the awesome landscape this trail presents.

M~D~U-16.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_1817 by mike digirat, on Flickr
M~D~U-17.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_1818 by mike digirat, on Flickr

We were now in The Needles District. Or at least close to them. There were plenty of “Needles” around! I love of the one on the right seems to have a human skull face mounted on the top..

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

The power of errison is strong here and very prevalent. Sometimes you think you'll just see something fall over..

IMG_1821 by mike digirat, on Flickr

 

[Blackdawg]

It was at this point that we hit the next steep section. Which was nothing really, but I still had to reset my line to get good traction and in the process. Our first casualty happened.

IMG_1822 by mike digirat, on Flickr
IMG_1824 by mike digirat, on Flickr
M~D~U-20.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Poor guy..RIP Mudflap...a moment of silence for the decease......







And onward we go!

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

we really were enjoying the views on this trail. It just rides along the edge of a butte in and out of all the nooks and crannies.

M~D~U-22.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_1825 by mike digirat, on Flickr
M~D~U-23.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Having had a late start and no breakfast, we pulled off to eat lunch taking in the wonderful view before moving on some more.

M~D~U-24.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_1826 by mike digirat, on Flickr

We then came up over a small hill that crested the small rise and fall to turn us south. The Colorado was once again far down below, carving away.

IMG_1831x by mike digirat, on Flickr
IMG_1829 by mike digirat, on Flickr
M~D~U-28.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_1832x by mike digirat, on Flickr
IMG_1834 by mike digirat, on Flickr

We would now be head gernerally south the rest of the time as this road comes out on Highway 211 where we would then head to Canyon Lands.

IMG_1839 by mike digirat, on Flickr
IMG_1841 by mike digirat, on Flickr

After this point, there are a few fun little spots, but nothing very hard. Something with high clearance only stuff, but we didn't think the trail was very hard all in all. But is was VERY fun to drive and my god the views..

M~D~U-30.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-31.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_1845x by mike digirat, on Flickr
M~D~U-32.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_1848 by mike digirat, on Flickr
M~D~U-33.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

 

[Blackdawg]

We stopped a lot to get out and capture the vast landscapes.

M~D~U-34.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_1856 by mike digirat, on Flickr
M~D~U-35.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_1851 by mike digirat, on Flickr
M~D~U-36.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

The road opens up a lot at this point making travel much faster all around and you begin to pull away from the butte.

IMG_1852 by mike digirat, on Flickr
M~D~U-37.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_1849 by mike digirat, on Flickr
IMG_1854x by mike digirat, on Flickr
IMG_1858x by mike digirat, on Flickr
M~D~U-38.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

We were driving a long at a good clip, when Devin point out what she thought was Birds...

Well she wasn't wrong.

M~D~U-39.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-40.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Two large Osprey Vertical Take Off planes thumped by at a good clip. Not sure what they were up too but I'd guess some sort of desert training exercise.

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

Im sure it was cool whatever it was.

We continued onward now with the sun starting to hang low. Mike started to worry about camp. The days were mighty short this late in the year. So we put the hammer down hoping to get closer to the highway and find a nice spot to camp.

The lighting though made for some awesome photos.

M~D~U-42.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-43.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

We actually caught our UTV friends by this time. They had aquired a few more motor bike folks who I guess had started from the other end. They were doing a high school reunion of sorts! Hadn't seen each other ins 7 years or something the guy said. Pretty cool!

We also passed a stock 4runner on small tires with no armor what so ever. A fairly elderly guy was driving and his wife looked insanely stressed.

“think we will be okay in this thing? To find a camp spot anyways?” he asked me.

“hmmm idk man. Few pretty big ledges As long as you aren't in love with those running boards you should be fine! Plenty of camp spots just a few miles in.” I replied.

The Wife had a nervous look and was staring at the man, no doubt going to try and make him turn around once we had left.

I hope he didn't! Haha but I hope he didn't hurt or break anything either.

We came off the butte and hit soft smooth road and really put the pedal to the metal. But suddenly, camp sites were no were to be found..

And then bam, we were back amoung the people. There were everywhere and every camp site was full. We drove and drove and drove not happy with the one or two sites left that were right on the road side.

Then the road ended..the highway was right there.

“Crap, well, hopefully one of those sites is still open” I radioed.

Mike turned around instantly and snagged the bigger of the two that was left. Sadly, it was right on the main road..

M~D~U-44.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

But better than nothing and we made the most of it enjoying the sunset and making dinner.
M~D~U-45.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_1860 by mike digirat, on Flickr
IMG_1861 by mike digirat, on Flickr
IMG_1863 by mike digirat, on Flickr

We were tired from the poor sleep the night before and had really hoped for a good nights rest.

It didn't seem like we would get it.

A couple of young kids started up their 4 wheelers and started tearing up and down the main road..Mike finally got fed up with it and waited for them to drive by again to wave them down to ask them to slow down.

Thankfully, they did. But they kept at it for a while longer.

Nosies from the other campsites ensured we would not sleep well for a while into the night. But people did quiet down after it got later and soon everyone was asleep soundly...





''RRREEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA”

I jumped in my sleeping bag.

“****** is that!” I said to Devin.

We poked out of the tent, the moon light up the area around us. Someone had pulled off the road right across from us and were setting up a very late camp with some sort of pop up..thingy. All I know was it was well past 1am, it was loud, their dog was loud, they were loud, I was tired, we were tired, and it was freezing cold again.

Ugh.

Another rough night for us.

 

[Blackdawg]

No sleeping in this time either. Traffic picked up on the road very early as people set about to their own adventures.

Oh well.

We got out of bed and packed up to go get our permit to Elephant Hill Trail.

M~D~U-112.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

We decided to stop at the Needles Outpost to get fuel before entering the park. Kinda of a cool stop anyways.

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

The gas pumps look original from the 60s or something. In fact, you just fill the truck up then go inside and tell them how much you pumped for them to charge you!

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

I had a nice chat with the lady at the desk who had living in Wyoming for many years. She told me that they had been getting lots of rain storms this fall and it had been making everything quite green.

We headed off to into the park paying our fee and went to the Backcountry office to get our permit before setting off to the trail head. We also got confirmation that Beef Basin and Bobby's Hole were open.

Now we were really in Needles territory.

M~D~U-4.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-5.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_1865 by mike digirat, on Flickr

And again, we could look behind us and see the butte we had just traversed the day before as well as the La Sal mountains we had crossed in the distance..

IMG_1867 by mike digirat, on Flickr

Elephant hill trail needs little introduction. It is a fantastic trail and another revisit by Mike and I from 2012. The parking lot is always full of hikers and bikers and such. Rangers are always there making sure that no one takes a vehicle in that isn't equipped for the journey and more importantly has a permit to go it. They only give out 24 day use permits a day to 4wd vehicles for this trail.

The ranger stopped us and check our permits, let us know the road conditions, and more importantly. Told us the traffic we had in front of us.

IMG_1872 by mike digirat, on Flickr

“You guys looks pretty well outfitted and in good rigs.” said the ranger eye our Tacoma's.

“Well, not our first rodeo and actually our 2nd time here to Elephant hill!” I replied cheerfully.

“Ah well then you know whats going on. We just so you know, there is a stock jeep just ahead of you. He should be okay, seemed to have a bit of experience under his belt but first big trail. More importantly though there is a guy in a big ol'4runner. Also bone stock. We told him we weren't sure he'd come out without some battle scars but he went for it anyways. You'll probably catch them in no time.”

We thanked them for the info. Slapped it in 4Lo. And climbed up to the top of the cliff.

M~D~U-10.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-11.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-12.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-13.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Whereupon we hit traffic already.

M~D~U-16.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-15.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-14.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

The 4runner had two buddies out spotting for him. That thing looks brand spankin new! Like the bought that afternoon, drove it off the showroom floor, said “**** it! MOAB!” and came to do Elephant hill! Haha!

They were going very slow and having to pick lines very carefully.

I chatted the the jeep fella while we waited.

IMG_1874 by mike digirat, on Flickr

He seemed like a nice guy, but didn't have much experience and he asked about the trail.

I told him about the tight switch back just below and how you have to back down it. Then about the rockier hill later down the trail and Devils Pocket squeeze.

I knew we would want to get around them at some point since his wife was already spotting him on this smoother slick rock stuff. And hoped he would be nice enough to let us by when the time came.

 

[Blackdawg]

While we were waiting, the 4runner moved over to let the jeep by.

M~D~U-17.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

I jumped back in the truck thinking he'd let us all by

IMG_1877 by mike digirat, on Flickr
IMG_1878 by mike digirat, on Flickr
IMG_1879 by mike digirat, on Flickr
IMG_1881a by mike digirat, on Flickr
IMG_1884 by mike digirat, on Flickr
IMG_1885 by mike digirat, on Flickr

I was wrong though. Once the jeep past the 4runner, he went back to work on navigating the rocking down hill section.

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

So mike caught back up and we waited again.

M~D~U-22.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-19.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
M~D~U-20.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_1892 by mike digirat, on Flickr
IMG_1895 by mike digirat, on Flickr

Finally with enough wiggle room, we set off down the switch back

IMG_1898 by mike digirat, on Flickr
IMG_1899 by mike digirat, on Flickr
IMG_1905 by mike digirat, on Flickr
IMG_1906 by mike digirat, on Flickr
IMG_1907 by mike digirat, on Flickr
IMG_1908 by mike digirat, on Flickr

Thankfully, the pull out where you turn the right way around after backing down the switch back was very large. The 4runner folks were kind enough to let us by at this point.

While I waited for Mike I poked fun at them.

“That thing looks brand new! You drive from the showroom floor to here?” I said with grin.

“ha! No it's acutually 2 years old!”

“wow, in great shape. Probably won't be after this!”

“Nah, we can get him through it. We've both done it a few times but he has never driven it so we decided to come down make a trip out of it.”

“well good luck! Have fun and thanks guys!”

“You bet, you guys have some nice rigs!”

“Thanks!”

With the Jeep no where in sight, we figured we would be good to go!

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