Utah in the fall 2015 - 9 days, 475 off-road miles, and 14 hours of digging! (PICS!)

[RIDGE]

After Left Hand Collet, we made our way to Hole In The Rock. The speed limit was posted at 35...but it was WAY too smooth for that. It was a fun road and we made good time until we passed the grader.



Most people would never drive through this without a four wheel drive. Heck, at first I was leery to drive into these with the front engaged and the rear locker on! After a few of them I stopped putting it in four wheel drive and was surprised how easily it drove through.




More of this...it was a long road!




The Mormon settlers probably saw this as a sign from God, "Go this way"...




Until they got closer...




Cuss words were said!




You know the wives (there's a joke in there somewhere but I'll leave it be) were standing there, with one hand on their hips and the other pointing, "I TOLD YOU THIS WASN'T THE RIGHT WAY! YOU SHOULD'VE ASKED THAT NICE INDIAN FOR DIRECTIONS".

John probably knew he had made a mistake, but instead, he whipped out some dynamite and rope...and the rest is history.
(Read this, it's gnarly!)


We camped a couple hundred yards from the entrance and prepared for a storm rolling in. The next day was going to be wet for sure.

 

[silvrzuki77]

Is it just me or the pics don't work? My friend is just about to pull the trigger on the agile kit.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[RIDGE]

Is it just me or the pics don't work? My friend is just about to pull the trigger on the agile kit.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I hope those pics are working!

I wouldn't push the Agile kit as hard as I do if it didn't work as well as it does. I've said it before and I'm not kidding, it's the best money I've ever spent on a modification.

 

[mph]

Congrats...You hit the road after a grader? Game on...
I have enjoyed reading and viewing your journey! Grand time!

 

[mk216v]

Wow, impressive. Looking forward to more!
PS--thx for helping the wascally wabbit.

 

[SmoothLC]

That's a fun road to drive! Looks like a great trip. Looking forward to more.

 

[1leglance]

No van for me...sucked water in the engine...rocking a 70 Burb no, old iron all the way...

And your trip report just keeps getting better, can't wait to read the rest!

 

[Guitarsail1]

Awesome read!

 

[chicken corners]

Great stuff Ridge. Have I seen you on VitalMX? Love the Van, and the Caselli 66 sticker in the back windiow

 

[RIDGE]

Great stuff Ridge. Have I seen you on VitalMX? Love the Van, and the Caselli 66 sticker in the back windiow

Yeah man, I'm on Vital. After 36 years...still can't get enough of moto, but I hardly race anymore, just trails and Baja.

 

[Questor]

Great report so far.
Waiting for MOAR?

Q~

 

[RememberTheFallen]

Yes, I am waiting too!

I saw some of your photos leaked on sportsmobile forum and I am excited to hear about the whole digging story!

 

[RIDGE]

Sorry for taking so long. I'm getting my truck ready for a 10k mile trip before Christmas (I'm a truck driver)...leaving tonight.

I'll post some pics up in a few minutes.

 

[RIDGE]

Day 3
October 29th

We left Hole In The Rock in a light rain and headed for Escalante to fuel up, eat, and discuss where exactly we were going over the next few days. Like I said, we were sort of following someone else's trip report...but mostly we were winging it!

The rain started coming down hard and I was excited about the challenges that lay ahead. We had some pavement to pound before playing in the mud, but it was very scenic.

 

[RIDGE]

HWY 12 led us to Burr Trail and Moody Canyons, which is all part of the Wolverine Loop (I believe.) Horse Canyon looked to be a real fun one, but it is closed now.

For quite a while there weren't any challenging obstacles but it was a great drive. For as much rain as we were in, I expected more water on the ground and quite a bit of mud...but it wasn't bad.




















The rain hadn't stopped and it was time to start scouting out a campsite. We came to an intersection near Seven Falls. Dennis and Kyle decided to head back towards town on the Burr Trail Road because they were tenting it...and it was looking to be a very cold and wet night.

Kristal and decided to scope out Moody Canyon and meet up with Dennis around lunch time. We didn't have cell service and we should've thought this out a little better, nothing happened this time, but it had potential to be a real cluster.

Since Kristal and I could just pull over and camp, and we weren't going to sit out in the rain by a fire, we pushed on to see what kind of trouble we could get into. The trail was getting harder and harder to follow, no more tire tracks. The rain ruts and washouts were getting bigger...it was looking to get interesting!