UCE3 - Utah Cruiser Expedition 3

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I posted this report in another forum where people aren't as familiar with the individuals so there's some info here that a lot of you will already know but it's easier to just cut and paste so here you go.

UTAH CRUISER EXPEDITION
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Let's start with a little background. Utah is just plain cool and a dreamworld for anyone who's into backcountry travel whether it's on foot, bike, cycle, truck, skis, you name it, Utah's got it. I'm fortunate enough to live here and have been off-roading in Utah and other western states extensively since 1996. Over the past 18 years I've become friends with some great guys with similar interests. We've created a local chapter of the Toyota Land Cruiser Association back in 1999 and have been wheeling with that club since, and occasionally we get a smaller group together for a "special" trip. There have been trips to the Rubicon, or the San Juan mountains in Colorado, and countless trips around Utah.
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The Utah Cruiser Expedition began as an informal trip by a couple of the guys when they wanted to see if they could traverse the state of Utah from west to east entirely on dirt roads without ever touching pavement. They were almost successful, with just a few miles of pavement that was just unavoidable. Then they wanted to do something that felt a little more "official" and invite a few more to participate. About a year later, a similar trip was done traveling north to south across the state. That was the first UCE. It has become an invitation only adventure because trips like these over hundreds of miles offroad in a relatively short time can be exhausting and difficult for individuals, let alone a large group. At most we've had about 8 trucks on one of these trips.
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Back in 2010 I was finally able to attend even though I'd been invited on previous trips. UCE2 in 2010 needed to be different from the west to east traversal and the north to south traversal. UCE2 started at the 4 corners area where Utah, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico meet. The route was over 1000 miles offroad diagonally across the state to the NW corner near City of Rocks in Southern Idaho.
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Having crossed the state in 3 different directions, UCE3 would be a route starting at the lowest elevation in Utah at Beaver Dam Wash in the SW corner of the state at an elevation around 2000' above sea level and travel to the highest point accessible by vehicle at an elevation of 11,500' above sea level.
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Each of these trips has been the brain child of Dave Connors. So now's a good time to give a little more info on the people involved.
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Vehicle #1 - Dave Connors, Will Carroll , UZJ100 Toyota Land Cruiser

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Dave Connors has been offroading since he could drive with a FJ60 wagon. He's had a bunch of Land Cruisers and is a devout Toyota loyalist. He's owned FJ60's, FJ40's, a Tacoma, an FZJ80, and now a UZJ100 series Land Cruiser. He has driven to Alaska multiple times and is constantly exploring the deserts and mountains of the western US. Back in 2007 he began planning his biggest adventure. Expedition Americas http://www.expeditionamericas.com/ where he travelled from Salt Lake City, Utah to Banff, Canada and then south through the US and Central America to the southern tip of South America at Ushuaia, Argentina. He did this mostly solo in a 1997 FZJ80 Land Cruiser. Dave is also a driver/co-driver for Canguro Racing a small grassroots desert race team racing a Class 5 offroad race car. They've raced in the Mint 400 part of the Best in the Desert Series, Vegas to Reno and last November raced in the peninsula run of the Baja 1000 and took 3rd place in the sportsman class. http://canguroracing.com/
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Will Carroll is a Toyota Wizard. He's been an offroader for many years and has wheeled in just about every model Land Cruiser and Toyota pickup. He is a certified Toyota Master Technician and is a corporate regional trainer for Toyota Techinicians in the the western states. He is hands down one of the most knowledgable and skilled Toyota mechanics in the country. He most recently has been offroading in an FZJ80 Land Cruiser until a few years ago and now drives a UZJ100 Land Cruiser. He is also a driver/co-driver for Canguro Racing.

 

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Vehicle #2 - Kurt Williams, Ryan Davis UZJ100 Toyota Land Cruiser

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Kurt Williams is the owner of Cruiser Outfitters a Utah company known worldwide for supplying OE and aftermarket parts for Land Cruisers and other Toyota 4x4s. They are one of the best dealers of ARB/OME products for Toyotas in the US. Kurt has an extensive fleet of Toyota 4x4s and a wealth of knowledge and experience. He recently has been participating in the E7 round-the-world Expedition with Expeditions 7 and has travelled through Canada, Greenland, Russia on the road of bones, Australia, and Africa with E7. There is a long list of other things I could tell you about Kurt. He is also a driver/co-driver for Canguro Racing.
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Ryan Davis is a master of all things electrical. He owns his own home theater and automation company called Ratio AV. He's an avid Toyota enthusiast and offroader. He primarily spends his time offroad in a highly modified FJ40 Land Cruiser, but has owned several other Toyotas as well. He is an outstanding mechanic with an impressive home shop where lots of us have spent countless hours working on trucks and it's the primary shop location for Canguro Racing. Ryan is our communications expert and handles comms for Canguro as well. He is also a driver/co-driver for Canguro Racing.

 

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Vehicle #3 - Paul May 5th Gen Toyota 4Runner

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Paul May is the owner of Equipt Expedition Outfitters http://www.equipt1.com/ . He is a distributor of high end expedition equipment including Eezi-Awn tents, awnings and roofracks. National Luna fridges and dual battery systems among other high quality gear. He is also a dealer of Adventure Trailers. He has also participated in the E7 Expedition and has been to Africa and Central and South America. He wheels in a FJ40 and has spent the last several years wheeling a UZJ100 Land Cruiser and recently made the change to the new Trail Edition 4Runner. He is part of the Canguro Racing Chase crew. He's also the chuckwagon on the UCE trips and handles all the food.
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Vehicle #4 - Adam Tolman, Bjornn Tolman and Liam Tolman - 1st Gen Toyota Tacoma Doublecab

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Adam Tolman (yeah that's me so I won't bore you with many details). I'm an Art Director for Disney's Interactive division making video games. I've been wheeling Land Cruisers and Toyotas since I could drive. I'm a founding member of Wasatch Cruisers a chapter of the TLCA. I get photography duties on these trips although most of the other guys take pics too. I also help on the Canguro Racing Chase Crew
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Bjornn Tolman is my 12 year old son. He's been wheeling with me since he was 3 months old. He's learning to drive in my Tacoma (offroad only of course).
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Liam Tolman is my 10 year old son who has also been wheeling with me since he was 3 months.

 

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Vehicle #5 - Cody McKendrick, Dan Lockington - 2nd Gen Toyota Tacoma Doublecab SB

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Cody McKendrick owns his own brewing supply company in Salt Lake City. He has participated in past UCE trips as a rio and this was his first year driving his own truck. He has several years of wheeling experience, much of that spent in Jeep Grand Cherokees. He is also part of the Canguro Racing Chase Crew.
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Dan Lockington works for a Utah printing company that does vinyl printing and vehicle wraps. He has wheeled in Toyotas as well and is part of the Canguro Racing Chase Crew.
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Last but not least.....
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Vehicle #6 - J Ralls, Troy Demill - Lexus LX450

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J Ralls is a sales rep for Hewlett Packard specializing in displays (monitors) and color calibration. He has been friends with Dave Connors for years and they have wheeled a lot together. Dave is the one turned Ja onto wheeling and Ja started out with a 1st Gen Tacoma that he promptly destroyed the rocker panels on. He also has the Lexus LX450 that he has on this trip. He is also part of the Canguro Racing Chase Crew.
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Troy Demill is an audiologist in SLC and a member of Wasatch Cruisers. He has had a couple FJ40's but his main wheeling truck is a modified Lexus LX450. He has participated in several UCE trips and has lots of years of experience offroad growing up hunting in central Utah. He is also part of the Canguro Racing Chase Crew.
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You can probably see that this a group of guys with TONS of experience and knowledge which is why I feel totally privileged to be a part of these trips. I told them I feel like the down-syndrome kid that is the charity pick on the baseball team. I'm just glad these guys have the heart to keep inviting me because these UCE trips have become some of my absolute favorite wheeling experiences. Rock crawling can be a blast and day trip trail runs are fun too, but there is something about these longer self-sustained trips over terrain and conditions that we are unfamiliar with that is very fulfilling. The scenery is spectacular, and the unexpected challenges can be nerve wracking but getting through them becomes the most satisfying part.

UCE trips are not intended to be challenging necessarily. Most of the route is on somewhat maintained public roads that are generally pretty high-speed. The object of the trips are more about achieving the end goal with as few miles on pavement as possible. But in doing so we end up travelling backroads that none of us have ever been on so we cannot foresee some of the challenges that may exist. This trip was no exception. At the time the trip started Utah had had several days of statewide heavy rain that caused some major flooding. This is the same storm system that caused the massive flooding in Colorado that killed several people and destroyed homes. There was still heavy rain in the forecast when we started the trip so we know we were possibly in for some real work ahead.

 

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Day 1 - Beaver Dam Wash to Millford.
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The trip began by travelling south from Salt Lake City to St George on Wednesday to spend a night in Ryan's family condo before the real journey began. As I said before there were still heavy rains in the forecast and the 5 hour drive down I-15 to St George brought a few blinding thunderstorms with VERY heavy rain. Spending a night in a dry bed before the fun began was a nice luxury.
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Beaver Dam wash is about 20 min outside of Mesquite, Nevada. We gassed up early Thursday morning and grabbed some McDonalds and hit the road to meet Paul May who would be coming up from Prescott, Arizona to meet us near the start of the route. We located Paul and made our way to the wash. Finally, no more pavement and the beginning of the dirt and mud that would be the source of joy and a little stress for the next 3 days. The dirt road at the start of the route travels under high voltage power lines through a forest of Joshua Trees. An absolutely beautiful stretch of desert.

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Beaver Dam wash is a wide flood plane and we could tell the flow had been severe over the past several days with deadfall and driftwood scattered through the entire wash. The water was relatively low thankfully with the deepest sections only a couple feet deep. We wound our way through the wash to the lowest elevation of the trip, crossing the river dozens of times. It was common for water to splash over the hood and onto the windshields of the trucks as we crossed back and forth through the water. After about 40 min we reached the lowest point and snapped a few photos of the group at the lowest point in Utah to mark the official start of the trip.
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The group at the lowest point in Utah 0 2000; above sea level

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It was a good time for my boys to skip a few rocks while we took pics and made our plans

 

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we drove in the wash for several miles and finally made our way up and out and started to climb. Making our way up into the southern Utah hills in the wet weather was already getting muddy, especially in my Tacoma. My recent mod of adding some Spidertrax wheel spacers was revealing a downside to the mod. While the increased stability on the road and in the rocks had already proved valuable with the spacers it also pushed the tires out past the extents of the fender flares so I was throwing mud all over the truck, all over my RTT and the gear in the bed of the truck. Fortunately the gear in the truck was either in weather proof bins or didnt really matter if it was exposed to the elements.

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This really was a beautiful stretch of road and reminded me why I love the Utah desert so much.

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We continued until we came to a tiny little community out in the middle of nowhere. The people who lived there farmed and raised cattle but it would be a hard existence as they were miles and miles from anything. I'm sure they loved it. You could tell that you would feel totally "off-the-grid" out there. But as we can through the little community we found our first real challenge. The rains had washed out the road and left a gaping ravine about 20' wide and at least 8' deep. We were stopped while we figured out how to cross.

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as we took a look at the washout and saw no obvious way around we hatched a plan to dig away at the banks on either side to create some kind of ramp so we could drop into the ravine and get back out the other side. Obviously it was still going to be a steep drop and steep climb out with saturated, loose dirt on both sides. We had 3 pairs of Maxxtrax in the group and winches and figured we could make it work.
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Then a few in the group found what might be an alternate path that dropped us into a smaller stream bed and exited up a steep loose climb just above where the washout was. After some discussion we decided it was a better option and could likely be done without any of the recovery equipment. So we got after it.
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Ryan and Kurt eye the streambed and discuss the new route around the washout that would take us up the hill behind them to get back on the road.

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Kurt makes is down the streambed and starts the turn up the bank in his 100 series and up the steep climb out.

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Paul May pilots his 4Runner up out of the wash

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Dave Connors

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Me and the Tacoma taking our turn

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Everyone made it out successfully without much trouble and we were back on our way. We continued to climb and eventually stopped for some lunch in the mountains north of Beaver Dam Wash. It's a good time to compliment Paul May and his preparation of the food for the trip. We kept the lunches fairly basic with sandwiches and wraps, but his dinners were impressive with Fajitas complete with all the expected ingredients, and Grilled Chicken Pesto and Asian Stir Fry. Paul really does an excellent job with the food.

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After a quick lunch we were back on the road to try to make up some time that had been lost by a few wrong turns that morning in the wash and the delay getting through the washout. More climbing up higher into the mountains.

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We were soon out of the Joshua trees and cactus and into sage brush and junipers in the higher elevations. It always amazes me and the variety of landscape that Utah has to offer.

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We passed a small reservior on our way to Enterprise with a really cool old dam.

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I forgot to mention earlier that these trips have assignments for each vehicle to lead part of a day. One truck leads a morning-lunch portion, another leads the afternoon-evening portion. That way everyone gets a chance to use their navigation skills to try not to get the group lost.
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This first day we were still in the portion assigned to the Day1 morning team which happened to be Dave Connors and Will Carroll. We were hours behind schedule already but still making progress. We had a chance to make up lost time now as we came out of the canyon near Enterprise. We would be on graded roads through some small towns and one that parralleled the railroad tracks past Lund, Utah for several miles that should allow us to increase our speeds dramatically and make up some time.
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Dave and Will were in the lead truck and I was second in line about 1/4 mile back as we got to the road the parralleled the railroad we were clipping along now at ~60mph. Then Dave got on the radio and said I'd be crossing a cattle guard and better be at full power when I crossed the cattle guard. I couldn't see him for the dust, but I didn't get any more description from him. I looked down and realized I was in 2WD and dropped into 4H just as I crested the cattle guard at about 40mph. The frontage road dropped a few feet and there was a low section for a mile or so. the heavy rains and basically created a muddy lake of the road and as I crossed the cattle guard I was committed. I plunged into the mud that sent a wave over the truck blinding us as the windshield was covered. I couldn't see and the wipers just smeared the mud so I had no idea where I was going or how long the mud hole was. I floored the truck and pushed hard not wanting to get stuck out in the middle. I caught a glimpse of Dave who had bailed out the side of the road in the sage brush. I drove past him throwing 20' roosters of mud all over the truck. Have I ever told you I HATE MUD!!!
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My progress slowed as the mud got thicker but I sawed the wheel back and forth and kept moving forward and before I new it I had made it out the other side of a mud hole that stretched at least 1/4 mile.

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By the time I stopped Dave and Will had already bailed out the side in their UZJ100, and Ja and Troy had done the same in their LX450. Cody and Dan were trying to make it in their Tacoma with Kurt and Ryan close behind as Paul hit the beginning of the mud hole.

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Pretty quickly Cody and Dan had bailed out but Kurt, Ryan and Paul were still trying.

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Paul ended up stuck sideways as Kurt and Ryan called it quits and ditched out the side.

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Paul was able to get unstuck and out the side so everyone tried to regroup in the sage brush while I waited at the front.

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We took a minute to observe the damage....

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Then we were off again.

 

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Once we got out of the mud is was pretty smooth sailing again. We were finally close to Millford, Utah which was where we were supposed to switch to the afternoon trail leader. By the time we pulled into Millford to gas up it was after 7pm. We were a good 5-6 hours behind schedule. We were already tired and not looking forward to hours and hours on the trail to pull into camp after midnight. The plan had been to camp in the mountains near Signal Peak, just south of I-70 very near where the highest point of our route would take us. But there was no way we'd make it that far tonight. So plans were made to camp somewhere close to Millford, have a good meal and a good night's rest and try to make up the time the next day.
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We looked at the map and found a camping area about 15 min away called Rock Corral. It turned out to be an awesome place with huge limestone rocks jutting up out of the landscape all around us. We set up camp and I grabbed some photos so I could show my wife since I'll definitely be bringing her back to Rock Corral to camp sometime in the future.
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We had finally made it to the end of Day 1.

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Day 2 - Millford to Bryce
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Day 2 began with a couple changes to the route. We needed to make up some time so the route was tweaked slightly for our morning section. Turned out that this next portion of the trip was mine to lead. I was slightly handicapped because every other truck in the group with leading duties had a seasoned co-driver/navigator. I had my two boys with me who had been given a crash course in map reading before the trip but in reality I was on my own with the map and I wasn't using a GPS. I was hoping not to lose any time we were trying to gain with the new route by getting the group lost.
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A few in the group wanted to make the short drive back into Millford to get actual fountain drinks with ice to start the day (it's the small luxuries on a trip like this that you sometimes need to make happen). So we headed back into Millford and stopped at the gas station where we had filled up the night before. As we pulled up I noticed a a large puddle forming quickly underneath Ja's LX450. Anyone familiar with 80 Series Land Cruisers/LX450's knows about the PHH, or pesky heater hose. It's a short section of hose in the cooling system where coolant is routed for the heater. It is in a very inconvenient place on the back of the motor and hard to get to. Of course this hose like other hoses can dry and crack over time. It just happened that today was the day the PHH on Ja's truck decided to give up. He was losing coolant and losing it fast. We weren't going anywhere until we got this fixed. So much for making up lost time.
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The group went into repair mode and out came the tools and a hilift. It was about now that we were reminded how awesome it is to have a close friend and member of the group that is a Toyota Master Technician that isn't just a master of Camry's or Corrollas. He's a Cruiser guy and knows this stuff in and out. Ja did not have a spare hose so a quick parts run was made. While a hose was sourced, we got the truck jacked up and the wheel pulled as the quickest way to get to the hose is through the fenderwell. It takes a double jointed arm to get to the hose which of course the Master Tech had. Don't forget that the wheel well is filled with dried mud from the day before. Fun!

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A job that can easily take a few hours was masterfully completed and we were on our way in exactly 40 min. Truly impressive. We headed back up the canyon where we had camped and through the mountain pass of the Mineral Mountains and then north toward Sulfurdale where we would shortcut a few miles of dirt to now make up even more lost time by conceding to drive a short section of I-70.
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We encountered free-range cattle numerous times on the trip and the Mineral Mountains were no exception.

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The drive to Sulfurdale was uneventful and I only missed one turn as the leader. But concentrating on where we were going meant I wasn't able to take any photos. Once we hit the junction with I-70 we stopped briefly to relieve ourselves of the fountain drinks we got that morning and I snapped a quick photo just before we began a short stretch of highway that we begrudgingly agreed was now necessary.

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We exited I-70 near the entrance to the Freemont Indian State Park and backtracked west on the frontage road toward Kimberly. This road would pass underneath I-70 and climb rapidly toward Signal peak and what would be the highest point on our route. Along the way we would pass Kimberly Mine an active mining operation and stop at the Silver King Mine for lunch. Silver King Mine is a retired silver mine that is being restored as a historical site. The old cabins are being restored and there is a trail and markers showing different key parts to the mine and descriptions of its history. It was quite fascinating.
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Stopped at the Silver King Mine for lunch. There are primitive facilities at the site and we chatted with some ATV riders who were also there.

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Inside the cabin

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One of the mine entrances

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Old tracks for the ore cars

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Remnants of one of the Cabins referred to as the "honeymoon" suite where children were born to the couple working the mine.

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After lunch we continued our climb past Signal peak and above the tree line. We were at an elevation above 10,000' at this point. The view was spectacular.

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Not far past Signal Peak we would pass mount Baldy and reach Big John Flats where the road would reach the goal of our trip...the highest driveable point in the state of Utah. We gathered the truck is the point at an elevation of 11,500' and snapped the obligatory photos.
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Kurt and Paul climbing up to the highest point

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My truck at the top

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And Dave Connors 100 Series

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We made it!

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After some photos it was time to head down. Even though we had completed our goal, our trip was far from over. We still had many miles to cover over 2 more days. We loaded up and looked down into Big John Flats for the decent from the top. My leg of leading the journey was complete and Kurt and Ryan took over.

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Kurt ready to lead

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the road down Big John's Flat past Mud Lake

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The goal now was to get to Powell Point and camp for the night but the weather would have a different idea.

 

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We began our descent past Big John's Flat and the rain begain to lightly fall. The lower we got we past a few other campers that were on the mountain for the black powder rifle deer hunt.

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We continued toward the town of Circleville which turned out to be my least favorite road of the trip. It was still a dirt road but filled with matermellon sized rocks everywhere. It was a bumpy stretch to say the least. Too bumpy to go fast and not bumpy enough to really just crawl along. Uncomfortable to say the least.
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The upside was the scenery was still oustanding and soo we were passing a massive cliff and were able to see some Mountain Goats hopping around on the ledges.

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It wasn't too long later that we realized we'd missed a turn to take us down to Circleville and we had come to a dead end. This meant we had to backtrack down the crappy road that had shaken loose anything in the truck that wasn't bolted down. Fortunately the rain had stopped. For now.

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everyone got turned around but we noticed a narrow track that went up the side hill. Cody and I decided we would scout it out and see whether or not it would bypass the deadend and get us into the canyon out to Circleville so we didn't have to drive the bumpy road again.

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As Cody and I in our Tacomas got a little ways into the narrow track we were certain that is was an ATV trail and we were likely the only fullsize vehicles to ever drive it. It was a steep descent toward the canyon but looking at our maps it appeared that it would intersect the main trail in the bottom of the canyon and take us out to Circleville. The rest of the group backtracked while the two Tacomas negotiated the atv trail. The steep descent meant that there were several very tight switchbacks. They were 3-point turns at least and it was easy to get a wheel in the air making the tight turns.

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After some pinstriping from the tight trees we made it to the canyon bottom and were relieved that we had in fact met up with the main trail out of the canyon. We had lost radio contact with the rest of the group, but were able to make contact again as we came out of the canyon. They were waiting for us in Circleville.

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There was no gas station in Circleville and my tank was empty so I used one of the 5 gallon Scepter cans I was carrying and we were off again. to hit the Freemont trail in hopes of making it to Powell Point that night. It was already almost 6pm and we had 3 hours at least to go.
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The Freemont trail was beautiful with several stream crossings. This was the first time I turned on the GoPro and caught some trail footage. The rain had returned but fortunately it was only a drizzle.

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The rain had picked up and the trail was getting very wet again. And by now it was starting to get dark. It was looking unlikely that we were going to make Powell Point tonight to camp.
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After several miles we came to another washout in the road. This one was nearly as bad as ones we had encountered earlier but was still going to require a little work. We broke out the shovels and got to work on knocking down the bank on both sides so that we could drive both in and out of the washout.

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The rain made this crossing more difficult that it would have been in dry weather for sure, but we finally had done enough "road-work" that we felt we were ready to try to get across. Kurt and Ryan were still leading in the Cruiser Outfitters UZJ100 and Kurt dropped the cruiser into the washout.

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As the front tires came up the other side the rear bumper got hung up and the rear axle was suspended leaving the rear tires spinning.
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With a little help Kurt was able to get the rear bumper off the bank but the heavy cruiser was struggling to make the exit out of the washout.

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It required a bit more roadbuilding as the Cruiser slid over to a steep part of the bank

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Then it was time to break out the winch.

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Kurt made it through and Paul followed with a little help

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After a bit more road building my 12 year old decided he would try driving my Tacoma across.

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my 12 and 10 year olds getting after it.

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They slid a bit in the bottom and got some instruction from Dave. Turned on the rear locker and up they went.

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We were rewarded after everyone crossed the washout with a break in the rain and a killer scene in the sky. But the rain wouldn't stay away for long.

 

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It wasn't long after we crossed the washout that the sun was down and it got dark quick. Almost like the weather had planned it with the darkness, once the sun went down the rains picked up again. It was never a total downpour but enough to keep the already saturated ground wet and sticky. Low areas that were soft became a challenge.
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The trail had started to wind through some switchbacks with exposures and the wet sloppy trail made it sketchy as it was difficult to keep the trucks going in a straight line.
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Over the radio we got the call for shovels and Maxxtrax. Kurt had come to another washout and the trail on either side was sloppy clay. We needed to somehow fill the section that had washed out. It became apparent that the line we needed to take was the high lefthand line as the righthand side got deeper and farther to cross and was also off-camber. I apologize for not a lot of photos through this section since it was dark and raining.
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Everyone that was out helping to move rocks, place maxxtrax etc was covered in mud as it was really getting sloppy. We found some logs that we placed in the ditch and Kurt tried to inch his way across. But as his tires got close to the edge the bank started to give way risking a sideways flop into the ditch.

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We found a stump up the hill and hooked up the winch, partly as a safety line and also to help drag the heavy cruiser through the slippery muck.

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Soon the front tires were across but the trail was still breaking down. Rather than make it a worse situation for the rest of the trucks we did a little more road building before Kurt made it all the way across.

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It worked and Kurt successfully winched across. The trail made a right turn just after the ditch so winching from the trail would pull trucks into the deep part of the ditch rather than across. Kurt positioned his truck about 50' up the trail pointing back at the ditch and we ran a snatch block over the the stump that Kurt had winched from. This game us a straight line pull across the ditch for the other trucks. We had used all of our recovery equipment in the spot. Shovels, straps, winch, maxxtrax, lockers and a decent amount of roadbuilding. While the snatch block was set up we found a couple more large logs to place in the ditch. This helped stabilize the crossing and give a better route. Cody and Dan and Ja and Troy both made it across with some extra help from the winch. As each truck crossed it churned the mud on either side of the ditch making it extra soupy. Paul May was the most challenged here with his BFG ATs. He couldn't quite enough traction and he was also winched across.

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Then it was my turn. As I looked at it I figured I could make it across without the winch. I wasn't worried about taking a winchline but we were hours behind schedule again. It was almost 11pm and raining. I just wanted to get us through as quickly as possible. I was able to keep a decent (although somewhat sideways) line through the muddy approach and then hit the gas. The front went across and as the rear came across I could feel it slide sideways and the passenger rear tire dropped into the deeper part of the ditch. Don't ask me how but I got lucky and with a good amount of throttle I clawed my way across unassisted. Dave Connors was the only truck left and he was able to do the same.
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Then the search started for the 6 Maxtrax that were buried somewhere in the muck.

 

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We had gathered all our gear and the rain continued to fall.

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That wasn't the end of it. Less than 1/4 mile later we rounded a hill with a steep exposure and everyone stopped. We got out to take a look and Kurt's Cruiser had gotten a little sideways on the narrow trail around the hill. His rear tire was just a few inches from the very soft, muddy edge of the trail with a steep slope dropping a good 100' down into the bottom of the canyon.
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J put a strap onto the rear of Kurt's truck to keep the rear end from sliding further down the hill. This was the spot that sold me on Maxxtrax. We used the Maxxtrax again here and they worked beautifully to provide enough traction for all the trucks to squeeze past the narrow section where Kurt had slid. Now I'm saving some money to buy myself a set of Maxxtrax. They are a recovery item that likely won't get used that often. But on this night, we would have been in a far worse predicament without them. This rare occasion where we needed them they paid for themselves.
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There were a few more sketchy sections and finally we were out of the canyon around midnight. We were still a good hour or more from Powell Point where we were supposed to camp......the night before. We cut our losses and took the road out to Panguitch to get gas and clean up. The only gas station that was open must have known we were coming and had a water hose outside. We used the hose to clean mud from the Maxtrax and all of our shoes and legs and other tools.
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We were near Bryce and the beautiful Bryce canyon national park now even though there was no way to see it in the darkness. Someone in the group new of a campground near the park and we bee-lined to the campground to try to get some much needed rest.

 

[Box Rocket]

The next morning we debated a warm breakfast at a local diner but instead settled for granola bars, coke and redbull in an effort to make up for more than an entire day of lost time. We headed out for Powell Point finally!
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Powell Point is breathtaking with an almost 360* view from the point. The drive up was just as enjoyable as the tight trail passed through pines and aspen that had started changing to the fall colors. The trail had many large puddles and waterholes on the way up. So more splashing around and getting muddy as if we hadn't had enough of that yet.
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Maybe as a subtle reminder of how the light of a new day had brought us renewed energy from the darkness of the night before, an aspen gave us a message.

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There is a small parking area near the point and a foottrail that leads the final 3/4 mile out to the point. We parked and started the short hike passing more pines and deadfall with several trees showing signs of lighting strikes.

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The view opened up as we neared the point and all of us were snapping pictures of the awesome view.

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Of course we needed the obligatory group shot here on the point.

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followed by posting to social media since we had rare cell coverage.

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Back at the parking area we snacked a bit and chatted about the day and took a few more photos

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It pays to be prepared

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Then it was time to go again. Another leader change, this time J and Troy would take the lead and take us over the Aquarius Plateau and Boulder Mountain, the highest forested plateau in the world. This would be one of my favorite sections of the trip.

 

[Box Rocket]

As we dropped down out of Powell Point we had a nice stretch of forested road that treated us to some quickly changing fall colors

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Boulder Mountain and the Aquarius Plateau is one of my favorite places in Utah. The fact that it's a plateau allows for some outstanding views with large meadows and lots of pine and aspen forests. The colors this time of year are breathtaking.

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Then we were stopped by a small obstacle. A tree had fallen across the road and needed to be removed before we could keep moving.

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With the tree out of the way we got moving again and the road improved so we could increase our speed and make up some time. The eastern rim of the plateau is the edge of Capital Reef National Park which also adds to the beauty.
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As we neared the top of the climb to the plateau the road opened up into a nice meadow and the visibly storm clouds gave us a brief warning that more rain was coming

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[Box Rocket]

Boulder mountain is covered with small lakes and it's a haven for fishermen and hunters. I shot my first deer down here on Boulder Mountain when I was 15 years old. Lots of good memories of this area.

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We stopped for some lunch discussed our route again which would take us on a couple of roads that none of us had ever been on. The ARB and Eezi-Awn Awnings on Paul and Kurt's trucks made a nice shelter from the light rain while we ate.

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The rain started to fall harder which told us it was time to load up and get moving again. No sooner had we started down the road that the rains really started giving us the business. This took an already wet trail and turned it into dozens of small lakes that we needed to cross. We were still trying to make good time so at the speed we were travelling it was like a constant series of wave after wave of water covering the windshield.

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After about an hour we got a small break in the rain. It kept falling but not nearly as hard.

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We all began to realize why this place was called Boulder Mountain. The entire landscape was covered with boulders of all sizes and the road was littered with the rocks as well. This made for some slow going and pretty soon we found ourselves on road 117 better known as Chokecherry Point trail. This trail was clearly not used very often as the track was barely visible in some areas where it crossed the meadows. When the trail went into the trees it was some legitimate rock crawling which was a real change from most of the terrain we had covered up to this point. This was slow low range crawling for at least a couple hours. As we looked at our maps the topo lines indicated that the road we were on would essentially drop off the edge of a cliff. We wouldn't see for the trees but pressed on. Then sure enough we came to a series of rock strewn switchbacks that dropped dramatically off the top of the plateau.
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It's difficult to get a sense of the slope in the photos but it was VERY steep going down with steep wooded slopes on either side.

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It remained steep but the switchbacks stopped and the trail continued to drop through the trees.

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It took us a good hour to make the descent down Chokecherry Point off the top of the plateau and then we hit the highway just north of Boulder Utah.

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Several of us were low on fuel so we drove the dozen or so miles down the highway toward Boulder for gas and to stretch our legs. Once we had filled our tanks we entered the Grand Staircase of the Escalante National Park. This is a controversial area that was part of an illegal land grab by the Clinton administration. Without following proper protocol for National Park designation Bill Clinton made an executive order to designate the are as a national park. An area that had been used for over a hundred years by farmers and ranchers was suddenly closed off to them forcing them to move their herds elsewhere. Many of those ranchers went bankrupt and lost their livelihood. The area is also one rich with oil shale and a proverbial gold mine of natural resources. Liberal environmentalists desperately wanted the area closed down to eliminate any possibility of drilling for oil or mining oil shale in the future. This pressure and lots of money from environmentalist groups motivated President Clinton to make it one of the nations newest National Parks. Nevertheless, the Grand Staircase of the Escalante is an area of incredible beauty there is no doubt about it. Without getting to political it is very reasonable for parts of this area to remain protected and still be able to take advantage of the vast amounts of natural resources with almost no trace. But the political process was thrown aside and the area snatched up.
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In becoming a national park, it also meant that miles and miles of once public access dirt roads were either permanently closed or paved. I personally feel that the pavement of many of the roads (specifically sections of the Burr Trail) show a much great impact from humans than the condition of the area prior to being made a NP or from any impact from the gathering of natural resources. But that's one guy's opinion.

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We found a beautiful campsite for the night and made some final changes to our route. The original plan took us into the La Sal Mountains east of Moab near to the Colorado border, but instead we would take the rest of the Burr trail out to Hanksville south of the San Rafael Swell and north of Lake Powell. Hanksville would be our official end of the trip and the group would likely split up and head home via the highways back to the Salt Lake City area. But we still had one more awesome night in some beautiful country.

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[Box Rocket]

The next morning brought ample sunshine which was a welcome change and began with several more miles of pavement on the Burr Trail before it finally returned to dirt. There are some dramatic changes in elevation in the Grand Staircase area that presented us with some really cool switchbacks and wide open flatlands.

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Days of rain made for some very wet and soft sections of the trail. There were mud holes and washouts everywhere. Some of the washouts had tall banks that required some careful driving to cross. Dave Connors got unlucky on one particular washout as he was climbing out of it and the soft soil gave way and his cruiser sank to the frame.

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A tug from the strap was all that was needed to free his cruiser and we were moving again over more miles of some of the best Utah has to offer.

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By lunchtime we were in Hanksville and refuelling for the drive home. We said our goodbyes to each other as we each had different routes planned for the drive home. My boys had never been to Goblin Valley which is a wild place with thousands and thousands of wacky shaped sandstone formations formed over thousands of years of errosion. It is a popular tourist stop but worth the effort to see it. We hopped on the highway that would be intersected by a fun trail that cut across the desert to Goblin Valley.
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As my boys and I came to the trail intersection we found Dave Connors and Will Carroll stopped there and they flagged us down. They had a Japanese couple with them who were on vacation. They had planned to see Goblin Valley and the GPS in their rental VW Jetta had taken them down the desert trail. They only got a mile or so down the road and realized it clearly was not where they wanted to be. They had tried to turn around but got stuck in the soft wet sand. They had no cell coverage and were a bit panicked. They had walked back out to the highway and were looking for help when Dave and Will came by. They stopped to help them and that's when we pulled up. They climbed into Dave's cruiser and we set off to find their car. It really wasn't in a bad place but it was definitely too much for the Jetta to handle. We hooked up a strap and pulled them out and got them turned back around to head out to the highway. Even though they hardly spoke english, I could tell they were very grateful to have the help.

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