Westwater and the Bookcliffs; July, 2011

[Greg]

I took a fairly large road trip today, left Fruita headed to Cisco, then down to Westwater. I found some Petroglyphs down by the river, pretty sure they're genuine, but someone decided to modify them.

From Westwater I used parts of the Kokopelli trail to get to Rabbit Valley and on the North side of the freeway by going thru a muddy, wet wash. I hopped on the old Highway, then turned North just over the UT/CO border, headed for the Bookcliffs. It has been storming off & on, so I knew that if it got too wet, I'd be wise to turn around. The road was pretty decent, so continued on, climbing the steep switchbacks as the skies opened up on the valley below.

I parked at the high point to get a few pictures of the area and scared up a couple of large bucks... so I started shooting. -

I ended up running up the Atchee Ridge road all the way up towards Dragon, Utah before I could start heading South towards Baxter Pass, then over into the Grand Valley and on home.

Ended up with 200 miles on the odometer today, with 3/4's of that being in the dirt. Great way to spend a Saturday!

And here's a link to my Spot Adventures page, if you'd like to see the track from the day-
http://www.spotadventures.com/trip/view?trip_id=264743

 

[muleskinner]

Cool, great pics! I've been on that road many times. I have spent weeks at a time exploring and hunting out there. I absolutely love that area.

 

[Greg]

Cool, great pics! I've been on that road many times. I have spent weeks at a time exploring and hunting out there. I absolutely love that area.

Thanks Scott! It's an amazing area, there is so much land out there! I was hoping to see more animals, but the 2 bucks were about it. I bet the hunting out there can provide some great game. I would love to spend more time out there exploring, hopefully I can squeeze an overnighter or 2 up there before Winter.

The roads are awesome.... remote, scenic and fun! I honestly can't wait until my next trip out there.

 

[Grim]

great pics/ report, as always

 

[sled_guy]

I hunted that area up over Atchee last year and have a permit for it again this year. That is one of Colorado's best deer areas. I've been on the river down Westwater a couple of times this year and wondered about coming up that way on to the Atchee ridge.

Thanks for the report.

sled_guy

 

[Brosiph4x4]

Great Pics Greg i would love to join you some time on your excursions

 

[Badbuggy]

You may have to take a few of us along someday.

 

[Greg]

great pics/ report, as always

Thanks kindly!

I hunted that area up over Atchee last year and have a permit for it again this year. That is one of Colorado's best deer areas. I've been on the river down Westwater a couple of times this year and wondered about coming up that way on to the Atchee ridge.

Thanks for the report.

sled_guy

Glad you liked it, good luck on your hunt!

Great Pics Greg i would love to join you some time on your excursions

You may have to take a few of us along someday.

So lets plan something! It would be easy to spend a long day up there and just explore. Should also be a great place to escape the summer heat in the valley.

 

[roverrocks]

Very nice. Great pictures.

 

[Greg]

Very nice. Great pictures.

Thanks!


So this is a bit of a continuation of this trip report.... today I loaded up the Lexus with my wife Catherine and our Weim Daisy and headed back into the Bookcliffs at the CO/UT border. We took the same route going up to the summit, then took a slightly different route, heading North towards Bonanza, Utah.

I wanted to see what Big Park was all about... it's a odd little square of land that seems to be a National Forest. Getting there was pretty exciting, coming thru Cooper Canyon, just South of Big Park, we ran into several large washouts. I walked each one checking the washout for the best line and since we were wheelin' solo I had to be sure not to get us stuck. We made it thru each obstacle as we came to it... but I sure wished I had a shovel, winch and winch anchor, just in case!

We made it into and thru Big Park, which really wasn't much... on the way thru we scared up a small herd of Elk that were bedded down. 3 cows and 3 calves! They jumped over a fence next to the road we were on and the last little calf grazed the top of the fence and fell down in the road right in front of us.... it was funny to see how awkward the little thing was.

As we passed Rainbow, Utah we saw the gaping old Gilsonite trench... despite the warning signs, I had to walk over and take some pics. It was deep, probably 60-70' deep where I was.

We continued on North until reaching the White River... found some more washed out roads (miles and miles of them! It was quite fun, to be honest) and eventually hopped on Highway 45 to see the bridge over the White River.

We hopped onto Dragon Road, headed South towards Baxter Pass about 40 miles away. We made a quick stop at the town of Dragon for some pics, then up over the summit of Baxter Pass, with a quick stop at Atchee and the Machine Shop there, then down into the Grand Valley towards home!

We ended up with over 180 miles on the odometer, with 95% of that being in the dirt. We left home at 9 am and were back at 5 pm... 9 hours of awesome desert & mountain driving! Here's a link to the semi-complete GPS track, courtesy of Google Maps. - http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=204701716052948630608.0004a9f4c7f2e9b314469&msa=0

 

[muleskinner]

Great pics! I've looked into those veins before, they are pretty deep. The Gilsonite rocks laying around will burn if you light them. Pretty cool stuff.

 

[Houndoc]

always jealous of your outings!

 

[DAA]

.

- DAA

 

[Tacoma]

just reading this again, since I'm out here and considering a run over to Rainbow and Dragon. Your pics came up in a Google Images search of Bonanza. I used to come in south of Randlett, cross the Ouray and head east to my rigs. If I kept going, I ended up in Bonanza.

anyway.

 

[Greg]

just reading this again, since I'm out here and considering a run over to Rainbow and Dragon. Your pics came up in a Google Images search of Bonanza. I used to come in south of Randlett, cross the Ouray and head east to my rigs. If I kept going, I ended up in Bonanza.

anyway.

Cool! If you go out that way, make sure you don't go out when it's wet, or has any chance of being wet. The mud out there is NASTY, I've nearly spent the night out there one evening, thanks to a wet, muddy hill. Take a capable 4x4 with GOOD tires and if chains are available, I'd recommend bringing them too. Being that it's the end of Feb and it's warming up, some of the snow may be melting off, making for nasty conditions.

There isn't much to see of Dragon, but it's interesting none the less.

I love that area, there are so many roads and lots of strange things to see. It's a large area, but there are a handful of main roads that are decently maintained and with the terrain and the Native American Reservation, it's easy enough to navigate... just bring enough fuel if you go for a long drive!

Since you're researching the area, don't forget about these other reports from the area. -

Getting Lost; Oil field roads, Petroglyphs and Canyons

Exploring The Crookedest Railroad in the West

Too funny about the pics!

 

[DAA]

I put over 700 miles of dirt under my tires in The Books this past fall, in three trips, between scouting and hunting. Drove most of the "main" roads and a bunch of not so main ones. Saw a bunch of gorgeous country, a lot of animals, killed a lot of coyotes and one decent mule deer buck. Good times!

- DAA

 

[Greg]

I put over 700 miles of dirt under my tires in The Books this past fall, in three trips, between scouting and hunting. Drove most of the "main" roads and a bunch of not so main ones. Saw a bunch of gorgeous country, a lot of animals, killed a lot of coyotes and one decent mule deer buck. Good times!

- DAA

700 miles is a LOT of ground covered! I'm sure all 3 trips were memorable, it's a great area.

 

[nrspence]

Great trip reports, i love the book cliffs, I really need to get out there and do some more exploring! thanks for the motivation!

 

[Greg]

Great trip reports, i love the book cliffs, I really need to get out there and do some more exploring! thanks for the motivation!

You bet! I need to get back up there again, I tried a few weeks ago and got denied due to snow & mud. As warm as it's been recently, I'm thinking it won't be long before the roads are clear enough to travel.