Tiffany's Visit - Death Valley

So I've now been on the road for over three months and was really wanting to see my significant other, Tiffany.  Convinced her to fly down to Vegas.  From there we'd head north and go through Death Valley via dirt and drop her off in Reno. She only has 5 days before she has to get back home to take off on a business trip.  After leaving Page, I had a few days before she was to arrive so I decided to head over to the south rim of the Grand Canyon for a few nights.  It has been over 25 years since I've been to the south rim and I was astounded as to the changes and the number of people.  New buildings, visitor center and a parking lot that looks like something at a professional sports venue.  I'll bet there were 25 tour buses in the lot when I arrived late that evening and the parking lot was full. With such large crowds, it just takes something away from the grandeur of the canyon. I've been to the north rim many times over the years and if you've got the time to make the drive around it is definitely the way to go.  Minimal development and far fewer crowds.  I had hoped to camp in the park but, needless to say, that didn't happen.  The campgrounds were packed.  Once you leave the park it is very easy to dry camp on National Forest land just outside the park boundaries. I had planned to go the rim for some pictures and would be there to well after the sun set so I scouted a few places to camp prior to entering the park.  After pulling over at a spot to make a sandwich and let Petey run around a little, I noted that he was acting really strange.  Didn't want to roam around much and ended up underneath the truck and didn't want to come out.   Sitting on the trailer eating my sandwich wondering what in the hell is wrong with him when I look up in the tree not 20 yards from the truck and note this guy. No wonder Petey was acting a little strange.  Was hoping he'd come down so I could get some additional pics but he was content to simply sit up there and watch me.  Pretty sure when I rolled up there I had awakened him from a deep sleep.  He seemed pretty groggy.  Took some shots of him watching me, finished the sandwich, drug Petey out from underneath the truck and we were on our way. Damn bear probably thought we'd never leave!

Drove up the rim and hung out till after sunset just enjoying the view.

After one night up at the Canyon I headed over to the Lake Mead area where I camped for one night waiting for Tiffany's flight to arrive the following morning. After fighting the traffic in Vegas I scooped up Tiffany at the airport and headed north towards Death Valley. We were going to drive up through Teakettle Junction to the Racetrack Playa with the moving rocks, over Lippincott Pass down to Saline Valley and then the Saline Valley Hot Springs.  Once you turn off on the gravel road headed towards Teakettle Junction it is all gravel/dirt roads until you come out on the north end.  Probably about 70 miles and the road coming over Lippincott Pass is definitely four wheel material.  The rest of it is washboards from hell!  Beautiful country but slow going especially since I was pulling a trailer.  I had been through this area a couple of times via motorcycle over the years and trust me, doing it on a motorcycle is much, much easier.  Our plan was to camp the first night just past Racetrack Playa near Lippincott Pass and then head down to the Hot Springs for our second night.  Would have spent a few more nights back in here but Tiffany was short on time and we had to make Reno to catch a flight.

Teakettle Junction on the road from hell getting here.  Easily the most wash board road I've ever been on.  Have been here 3 times now and the first two trips were via motorcycle.  I swear I'll never do this again in a truck pulling a trailer.

Camp the first night just north of the playa.  We hiked back to the playa the following morning to view the moving rock phenomena.  The mystery that was just recently solved by some scientist.

Rising moon on the range behind camp that night.

Rock trail on the playa

Petey flying across the playa

Later that morning we headed down Lippincott.   Sitting on top of the pass I kept telling myself to scout it on the bike but didn't listen to my gut.  It almost cost me.  This can be a very rough road and depending on conditions can be completley washed out or in really bad shape, even unpassable.  The park maps don't even list this road.  I was told by a ranger years ago that they don't depict it on their maps because they don't want people on it.  I had been over it twice before via dirt bike but never in a truck.  On a dirt bike, it may be rough but you'll get through unless some catastrophic slide or something has occurred.   Had it of been washed out I don't think I could have gotten the trailer out.  Backing the truck up sans the trailer would have been painfully slow but doable.  I really think I would have had to simply push the trailer over the side in a couple of places had we not gotten through. This road is very narrow in places and once you start down you're committed, especially pulling a trailer.  No way to back up this nor anywhere to turn around.  I had to unhook the trailer and reposition the truck, hook back up, just to get around a switch back corner that wasn't even rough.  After a couple of miles we came to a section that was in really bad shape.  I was concerned about the trailer tires coming off the edge on a couple of areas where the road has previously washed out and the truck bottoming out.  If you get stuck, high centered or break down in here it can be bad, real bad.  AAA isn't going to come in here after you. With just the truck, it was four wheel driving but dragging the trailer compounded the "oh shit" factor.  With some of the step downs, we could have easily high centered.  Numerous places we had to haul rock to build up the road.  I had Tiffany walk ahead and spot me as we went down the worst areas.  I was very glad to get out of there. I realized I'd dodged a bullet and got lucky.   It took us about 3 hours to go 5 miles!  Luckily no one was coming up as there is simply no room in places to pass.  Someone would have had to do some serious backing up.  We didn't see another vehicle all day.  Never again will I not listen to my gut instinct about scouting something first, nor will I ever allow my dumb ass to drag a trailer down Lippincott!  Had I scouted it I would have never started down with the trailer.  You know it was bad when I didn't even take the camera out.  When I'm not taking pictures you know something has my full attention.  I was so concerned about getting us out of there the camera never crossed my mind.  Lesson learned!

By some miracle, we did survive and made our way to Saline Valley where we located the Hot Springs.  A couple of cold beers that night never tasted better.  Tiffany had some friends show up once we got camp set up. For some reason, this wild burro was fascinated with Tiffany.  There is a group of burro's that hang out here and can become a nuisance if you let them.  If not watched they'll get into your stuff.  They love cardboard and will consume it in large quantities if available.  This guy hung out with us in camp all afternoon and yes he got hold of the cereal box which he ate in short order.

We soaked that evening and the following morning it was over North Pass to exit Death Valley en-route to pavement and Bishop, California.

   

Overland Expo

Next stop was to be the Overland Expo Rally in Mormon Lake, Arizona via Flagstaff first.  I had been having perfect weather over the past few weeks minus the rain in Page yesterday. Figured since it was now into late May and headed south that this would hold.  How wrong I was.  I decided to stay at the KOA in Flagstaff as I was getting in late, needed a shower and the clean clothes pile was disappearing rapidly.  As I rolled into Flagstaff late that afternoon it began to snow.  The snow and the state of depression that was coming over because I had to stay in a KOA were almost overbearing.   KOA was packed with campers, screaming kids, barking dogs, boom boxes at level 10 and they wanted $38 a night.  If I wasn't in dire need of a shower and laundry facilities I would have stood on the gas pedal and been out of there.  Family next to me had been there for two weeks and told me they loved staying in KOA's.  I just stared at the guy and thought to myself.... good God almighty have you lost your friggin mind. My girlfriend tells me that I should be glad the masses like to camp like this otherwise they'd be out where I like to be in the middle of nowhere.  I have to remind myself of this when forced to stay in an established campground.  Spent the one night, showered and did laundry.  Was out of there before the herd arose for more of their camping experience.  After a breakfast at Denny's, it was south to Mormon Lake and the Overland Expo.  I had contacted them earlier in the year and signed up to be a volunteer.  I was going to help set up the audio visual stuff for the films and slide presentations so they wanted me there on Wednesday even though the event doesn't kick off till Friday.  Free camping comes with volunteering so I didn't mind showing up a couple of days early.  By arriving early, I had my choice of camping spots and boy did this pay huge dividends a few days later.  The forecast was for some heavy rain and the camping is basically done in a huge pasture area with a clay base.  When it gets wet it turns into something that can hardly be described.  Slick concrete comes to mind though.  The forecaster got it right and it not only rained but snowed, hailed, blew like hell.  It was an interesting week of weather but I had a great time.  Met some great people, saw lots of cool rigs, vendors were still displaying their wares despite the extreme weather, and got to talk with people that were on some great adventures.  Amazed me how many people though, who call themselves Adventurers, who bitched and cried about the conditions pack up and leave because of a little weather. Some who had paid good money to attend the event packed up and left after a day of it.  What's really funny is that they had the balls to ask for a weather refund.  I couldn't believe they expected a refund.  Like the event organizer had some kind of control over the weather.  There are some real dumb asses running around in the world.  I saw two people get up Saturday morning, throw their crap in their rig and simply leave the tent.  Made the announcement as they were driving off that they were leaving and anyone could have the tent as they didn't want to deal with packing it.  Real adventurers! 

Didn't take many pics other than the rigs due to the weather but here's a photo dump along with a drone video.  Video isn't mine as I took it off a FB post of the event.  Saw the drone flying over a few times during the event.  He got some good stuff.

I picked out the highest spot I could find in anticipation of the forecasted weather.  It paid off as I stayed fairly dry throughout the event.  Guys in the next picture.....not so lucky.  They were camped about 40 yards from me!

Great attitudes though.  They'd sit around in the their camp chairs in six inches of water/mud while consuming cocktails in the evening.  

Lots of really cool rigs!

My kitchen set up on the trailer Satuday morning.  Wet, miserable and cold but it could have been worse.  Could of not been here to experience it!

Link for the aerial drone footage:

Overland Expo Aerial Drone Video

The Big Smoky

So my last day in Escalante I'm sitting in a little coffee shop and a local sees my rig out front, comes in and asks who belongs to that Toyota out front.  Figuring I may have him blocked in or worse yet, he's backed into me, the cry goes out....it's mine.  He simply had been wanting to get a camper like mine for his rig so he plops down and begins to tell me about all the cool stuff to see in his neck of the woods, his life story and about his upcoming divorce.  Seeing as I had been to 90 percent of the stuff he was rambling on about and didn't have the time to hear his full life story, I quickly changed the subject to why he would like the camper set up I have.  He wants to go out and have a look so I cut my coffee break short and follow him out.  After going over every aspect of the camper, I begin to think of ways to politely get the hell out of here as I needed to start working my south towards the Overland Expo.  Plan was to head towards Page, Az. via the highway but he insists that I've got to take The Big Smoky road south out of Escalante which will dump me out in Big Water, Utah.  He states that it's 80 miles of dirt. He now has my undivided attention.  States that it goes through some of the most road accessible back country in the Grand Staircase National Monument. How could one possibly not take that. The Big Smoky it is then. Really glad I ran into this guy and he insisted that I hit this road.  Chance meetings with strangers are not only fun while traveling but can sometimes pay big dividends on out of the way spots to explore.  I spent two nights camped back on the Big Smoky and saw one other vehicle in the 80 miles of dirt it takes to pop out at Big Water. Was one of the off-road highlights of the trip.

Couple in this rig had been on the road since 1999.  They were from South Africa and had been around the world twice in it and still going.  We stopped and chatted awhile about their travels.  Wish now I had of gotten a picture of them.  Real interesting to talk with.  Only other rig I saw in two days and nights while on this road.

Map on the side of their rig showing their travels.  One thinks that they're on a pretty nice adventure until you run across people like this.

Shot this one of their rig as it was driving away.  Shows the scale of the canyons along this area.

The southern part of this road is pretty amazing.  It is known as the Kelly Grade and I can't imagine the guy that cut this in with a dozer.  Not much road in places with some serious exposure.

Bottom section of The Kelly Grade looking south towards Big Water, Utah.

Should have taken some more pictures in here as well as do some additional exploring in some of the canyons.  Only had a couple of days but certainly plan on doing this again.  Got back to pavement in Big Water and headed east to Page, Az.  Heavy rains for the two days I was here so didn't really see too much.  Basically just hung out and did some reading and hanging out.  Had hoped to take a tour of Antelope Canyon on the reservation but the weather just didn't co-operate.  Didn't feel like paying the admission fee and not be able to get any decent pictures.  Did, however, go the bend on the Colorado River just outside Page where the weather cleared for a couple of hours.

Escalante, Utah

Had been to the Escalante, Utah area a couple of times over the past ten years or so but there was still some areas I wanted to explore.  Namely Hole in the Rock Road which leads out to the historic Hole in the Rock.  It's about 124 miles of beat up washboard dirt road out of Escalante.  After 62 miles of it going in you get to turn around and do it all over again to get out. Was so rough in fact after about 30 miles going in I said the hell with this pulled over and unloaded the motorcycle.  Felt like the truck was going to rattle itself apart if I kept on pounding down the road.   Was much easier and faster on the bike.  Came back to the camper late that evening and camped in the area prior to getting back to Escalante the following day. The historic Hole in the Rock is where the Mormon party, in 1880, literally cut through the rock ledge which allowed them access down to the Colorado River. Once access was gained they crossed and continued on to establish Mormon settlements in other areas in the southwest. When standing at the top and looking down at to what they did is amazing.  Not only the actual feat of cutting the path of over 600 feet down to the river but they lowered wagons and livestock down this.  I crawled down about 3/4 of the way to the river and could not wrap my mind over what they had accomplished!  Crawling down and back up this makes you realize just what a feat it was. If you're into western history it's a must do trip to view it.  If into hiking and the outdoors Escalante is paradise.  Sooooooooo much to explore out here.

Prior to Escalante, I took a side trip through Capitol Reef National Park.  Not a lot of pictures while in Capital Reef but managed a few.

Hole in the rock.  The picture below doesn't do it justice.  This is one of those areas you've got to experience in person to truly appreciate the scale and steepness of the grade going down.  Getting a wagon and livestock team down this would have been a "real" adventure.  

Dance Hall Rock.  Natural rock structure where the Mormon party staged on the way out to Hole in the Rock.  The party would spend weeks here while the work was being performed about another 20 miles at Hole in the Rock.  (Sorry for the poor picture quality on the next few photos.  Camera setting was off but wanted to show the area so I utilized them anyway).

Road leading in.

 Camp for the night was set up back next to the slick rock.

There are some side roads to explore wherein you can gain access to some trails leading to Peek-a-Boo and Spooky slot canyons. If you're claustrophobic these are not hikes you'll enjoy.  Removal of the backpack and literally sliding along is required in places.  If caught in here during a flash flood it would be one of those "oh shit moments."

After exploring the Hole in the Rock Road and side canyons I got back out to Escalante and camped a couple more nights.  View from a great campsite on a bluff looking back towards Capitol Reef.  Big storms would roll in each evening and put on quite a show.