unURBAN Adventures - Alaska to Argentina to AFRICA!

[unURBAN]

More Moab

Promised to post a few more pics from Moab in the previous post. Not much new, but as Malin has only seen pictures from the areas around Moab, we took a trip up to Sand Flats Recreation Area and played around in Fins & Things and Hell's Revenge.

A familiar place... Fins & Things

...pics never look steep. Duh...

Moab slickrock

Ok, ok, ok... it wasn't that steep, but this is what it feels like! :wink_animate: (but the decent isn't tilted...)

And one more time through the entrance of Hell's Revenge

And looking out through my window I discoverd dino-tracks in Hell's Revenge too!

Have to admit that I was hoping to do some new trails, but so far not. Long story... The next day we stopped by Chip''s Tires and wanted to get a new set as we soon head south to Central and South America. the 35" GY MT/R have now about 30 000 miles, and I'm a little worried about the load index (C rated 3 ply) and they are on 15" wheels. Ordered new 37x12,5-17 BFG MT KM2, and started looking for available wheels. Not so easy, but thanks to a bunch of phone calls by Jeff and Chip, we eventually found some alternatives that could ship right away. Anyway, as it took 3-4 days to get the wheels sent to Moab, we suddenly decided to take another little detour. So we packed up and started driving for Telluride and Imogene Pass. More about that in the next post! And that was the reason for not playing around in some new trails around Moab. That was something we should do when we came back for the tires. Unfortunately, that didnt happpen either. The Patrol needs a center bore of 110 mm. The biggest 6 bolt 5,5" wheels produced for the US market is 108 mm. F...! Wheels now sent to be machined out. And this would allow us for a couple of days playing around in the trails? Nope. As the spare wheel on my rear bumber was purchased when I got to US, this also has 108 mm center bore. So We have been driving around for about 15 000 miles with a spare that doesnt fit! Luckily we never needed it....

Well. Still hanging out in Moab waiting for our new wheels. Actually, we are kind of happy about finding this out now, and not in Guatemala. And Jeff and Chip is really working hard to help us out. Crossing fingers for tomorrow..

So! In the next post we're running into a snow over Imogene Pass!
E&M

 

[jpvm]

Dude, you should have used ******** Cepek DC-1 wheels (like mines) , 15x10 , 6 nuts and they do fit perfectly to Y61's centerbores.

 

[unURBAN]

Dude, you should have used ******** Cepek DC-1 wheels (like mines) , 15x10 , 6 nuts and they do fit perfectly to Y61's centerbores.

According to the tire shop, the biggest center bore of any 6 bolt 5,5 wheel in North America is 108 mm. Back home in Norway and Europe, all the cool wheels is possible to get to the Patrol (with 110 mm center bore). Found this a bit strange, so I started googling. Found that serveral manufacturers have a different serial/product number for wheels ment for Patrols, even if they are identical with the wheels i find in US stores. It looks as they machine a series of wheels going to Europe, Australia, and perhaps Far/Middle East, and Central/South Am...?

So I have a feeling the DC-1 wheel would be the same if ordered from a US dealer, but I'm not sure. I wanted anyway to change my 15" wheels to a 17" wheel. Both for highway comfort and load range.
(And my girlfriend thought the DC wheel would look too tempting for the badguys.... It is just too cool!)

GT

 

[unURBAN]

Imogene Pass

Telluride is about three hours drive from Moab. It is really amazing how the terrain can change from dessert to alpine mountains in just about 100-120 miles. Vi got to Telluride in beautiful sunshine and went to bed after having watched the stars. The trip we had planned over the Imogene Pass looked REALLY promising. The next morning was grey, wet, and with low clouds... Not what we had hope for, but we decided to continue as planned.

On our way up to the pass we met a couple of cars comming down. We concluded that thes had turned around, as it was still early, and the trip over the pass is about 4 hours.

the road is an old mining road, built to transport people, supplies and gold to and from (the gold only from obviously...) the mine. the pass takes you over the mountain from telluride to Ouray. This is a very nice road, and, we have heard, has a fantastic view. Didn't see much of that, but still, the drive was great. Got kind of narrow and speep some places too.

And the fall is definitely comming to North America (at least 9000 feet above sea level..)

Parts of the road going up from Telluride goes through the old min area.

Had rain most of the way going up over the pass, and we were a little worried about snow at higher altitude. At some points when the clouds cleared for a few seconds, we thought we could see fresh snow up on the peaks. And I guess as Norwegians, we are not too worried about a few inches of snow, but as we got higher we saw that a slippery road could have consequences....

But we got to the top! 13114 feet! Both we and the 3 liter diesel was breathing quite heavily.... And the weather was unpleasent!

But we did have time to check for mail!

There was one set of tire tracks going to the top, but it didnt go across the short travers before the road starts going down on the other side. As a route description explained that the steepest part of the trail was right after the pass, we were a little bit nervous as the snow was wet and packed easily. Quite slippery if there is rock underneath. But it wasn't too steep, and it wasn't really any problem.

Started down on the other side. Still no views, so we continued down until the temperature got up on the right side of freezing. Stopped for a coffee and photo break a bit further down. Weather cleared just enough to get a few pics.. Amazing terrain!

The road going down to Ouray

Would of course have been nice if the weather coooperated a little more (and the weather forecast for the next days were of course excellent), but on the other hand we have had sun for 14 days and it was nice with a reminder... And the scenery was still fantastic!

And from Ouray we aimed for Silverton and Mesa Verde!
More soon!
E&M

 

[unURBAN]

Million Dollar Highway

Just wanted to post a few pictures of the Million Dollar Highway from Ouray to Silverton in the state of Colorado. A really scenic drive.

And a pit stop at Brown Bear Cafe in Silverton!

 

[LateNate]

Awesome man. We are right behind you, well I wouldn't say right. We are still in Fairbanks. Soon to be headed South. Check us out.

 

[unURBAN]

Oh, we are watching you guys! And if you keep up the pace, I'm pretty sure you'll catch up with us....

Safe travels!
E&M

 

[unURBAN]

Mesa Verde National Park

Mesa Verde was inhabited by Ancestral Puebloan people from 550 AD to about 1270 AD. First they built pit-houses on the mesa top and started farming the land around them. In 1200 AD they built cliff dwellings under rock overhangs along the canyons that split up the mesa top. It is these cliff dwellings Mesa Verde is famous for and that we have seen photos of. Now we wanted to see them in real life.

Some of the cliff dwellings are open to public and one can do self-guided tours like at Spruce Tree House. Other was only possible to have a closer look at if one joined a guided tour by the Park Rangers. On our day in Mesa Verde we joined in on guided tours to Balcony House and Cliff Palace.

Cliff Palace is the largest one of the cliff dwellings with 150 rooms and 23 kivas. Kivas were ceremonial rooms. It was nice to have the history explained by the rangers and learn about the people that used to inhabit this area more than a thousand years ago.

The Ancestral Puebloan people must have been really impressive climbers to move up and down over these cliffs with their harvest from the fields above.

For the tourist the Park Rangers had made ladders to climb and for some of the modern people it was still a struggle to get up and down. Mesa Verde was really worth the visit and it was impressive to see this villages built up underneath overhanging cliffs.

E&M

 

[unURBAN]

New shoes...

Okay! just have to post some pics of the Patrol...

Guess where these nice things are going???

New and old. Really looking forward to try the new BFG MT KM2s. And as the axles are geard for 37"s, the new tires are 37x12,5-17. The gearing is 5,42:1, and this will give me a slightly lower gearing than factory with "normal" tires (about 31").

And there is definitely a difference! They are a lot more quiet than the GYs, and they handle smoother. Feels like an AT tire. Will be interesting to monitor the fuel consumption te next couple of weeks.

Posing at Hurrah Pass on our way out to Lockhart Basin. The new tires got to prove what they could do a little earlier than we had thought... More about that in the next post.

GT

 

[ttora4runner]

Nice. Did you all just run Imogene Pass or were you able to hit up some of the other trails in the Telluride/Ouray area?

 

[jpvm]

GT

Oh yes, marvelous, it looks fantastic with the blacked out package now.

The pictures as always , incredible, what a beautiful landcape you are in (put my envy face in here). That pass @ 13114 ft snowing was great ... did you have any problem with ice (sliding) ... rather spooky ! :wings:

 

[CRJeepin]

Outstanding trip report, thanks for sharing!

I just put a set of KM2's (34") on my Jeep LJ and agree with you completely -- they are almost All Terrain quiet, and excellent offroad.

How did you find information about all the places you have visited? I know there are some good books on offroad trails in Colorado and Utah, but I know nothing about Alaska and Canada. Did you just drive into town, pull out a map and ask "how do I get there, on dirt?" :smiley_drive:

Thanks again for the excellent reports, best regards and safe travels.

Chris

 

[mires]

I can't wait for the next installment. This has been absolutely amazing so far and I am truly jealous. The rig looks amazing with the new rollers also!

 

[Mr. Leary]

:lurk:

 

[E30RUNNER]

more please!