Michael And Nat's Western US travels

[MichaelH]

We are in California now and spent some time in Utah on our way out here from Colorado. We didn't have a whole lot of time so I decided to route through Moab where we spent some time out in the Jeep playground and also visited Arches National Park. The real fun came with a serendipitous trip to Canyonlands National Park. I didn't really have a good game plan for Utah so stopped in the Visitor Center at Moab and picked up a copy of "Moab, Utah Backroads & 4-Wheel Drive Trails". Canyonlands was not even on my radar, but I was looking for an off road trail that was difficult but something the Jeep could handle. The book mentioned Elephant Hill with a description that seemed to fit the bill. AND, there was apparently camping.

Once we got to Elephant Hill, I found out I would need a backcountry camping permit so we stopped by the office. All sites were full, but once the ranger understood I was driving, she pointed me to a couple of open Jeep/4x4 only sites so I chose a site called Horsehoof. The computers were having issues and they had no way of charging fees so this would be for free. Sweet!.

The description in the book undersold the Elephant Hill trail. Holy smokes. The Jeep was really at the limit of what it could handle but that made it extremely interesting and fun. We totally lucked out on our timing. The weather was absolutely perfect and the views were stunning. 4x4 only destinations like this are exactly why I bought the Jeep. It's not the only vehicle that can get to a destination like Horsehoof, but it's on a short list of capable vehicles. Following are a few photos from our time out in Canyonlands.


This is a fairly difficult section after Elephant Hill. I took this on our way back. Once we got to the top, I hiked over to a nice overlook and took this panorama. It doesn't look like much, but it is.


On the way out, fun road.




tight squeeze

 

[MichaelH]

Horsehoof Campground - 1

We got to Horsehoof a little bit before sunset so got setup (took about 5 minutes) then explored for a while.








Let me introduce you to my friend. Actually, not sure who was more lucky, me or the snake. I was out taking that second picture and the thought that I should be careful with snakes did cross my mind. I happened to look down....at my feet..so comfortable in their flip-flops.... when I saw this fella slithering away less than 12 inches from my foot. I could have easily stepped on him (he blended in with the rock nicely) and the snake could have easily given me a bite. He slithered off shortly after taking the photo.

 

[MichaelH]

Sunset at Horsehoof

I thought the sunset would provide some dramatic shots on the rock formations but the colors just didn't happen. The sunset itself, though, was beautiful.

 

[MichaelH]

Night at Horsehoof!!

Nights like this don't come along all that often. Crystal clear, no moon for the first part of the evening, comfortable temperatures and absolutely no wind. Wow. The moon came up later in the evening though, so made for some interesting shots around 5am when I got up for the sunrise. I got another nice timelapse using my standby Sony RX100M3 with the timelaps app. Forced to use that as my GoPro Hero 4 gave up after only a month and a half of light use. I shot the night shots also with my RX100M3 using ISO 3200 and 20 second shutter. I could get a lower ISO (and less noise) with a 30 second shutter but there was noticeable star movement.


These first two images were shot in the same direction. There very cool thing..and I had no idea the object was there when I shot it, is that the Andromeda Galaxy is visible in both shots. Much better gear would provide a better view, but not bad for a point and shoot (ok, higher end point and shoot).




This is THE type of shot I have been wanting to get on this trip. I couldn't believe how much the Milky Way lit up for my little Sony. I stood back a bit and turned my phone screen on, but held my hand over the screen letting just a bit of light through so the Jeep could get slightly illuminated.


Pretty cool little pic. Took this around 5am. Lit completely by moonlight. This is much brighter than the way it looked since I left the shutter open, but it is a cool effect.


A little bit later and this is EXACTLY what it looked like. Beautiful.

Dawned on me that I should take the opportunity to try a timelapse so got things set up and hoped for the best. The GoPro would have done a much better job but the result out of the RX100 turned out pretty nice.

 

[MichaelH]

Elephant Hill return trip


Heading out in the morning but..


Stop off and do The Joint Trail (this and next 2 photos).




The color in this photo happened as I took this photo.




This and next photo is section called Silver Steps. Challenging, fun, and beautiful




Does that look steep? Not really, but it was.


If THIS looks steep, it was look at those rocks that we had to get over compared to my tires (keep in mind the Jeep has a slight lift on stock size tires). 4x4's are freakin cool! This is the road we HAD to use to come back from our campsite. Love it. Nat and I have learned a lot about off-roading since our first trails in Colorado. As a spotter, she puts me exactly where I need to be. We haven't used the winch though so maybe we haven't tried hard enough?

 

[MichaelH]

Much more to Utah, we know... Unfortunately..Won't happen on this trip though.

Next destination was California. This trip is as much about getting to out of the way places as it is visiting popular landmarks so Yosemite, King's Canyon, and Sequoia was next on our agenda. We drove a long way from Canyonlands and that took us into Nevada for an evening stop. Finding the "right" stop took a couple attempts.....


Pulled off onto a Forest Service road and drove for a few miles. I found a pretty cool and secluded spot but Nat wasn't all that comfortable with my choice so we drove back to the highway. Fairly close to the road, we saw this big guy and his harem of around 8-10 "girls". They were not all that thrilled with the Jeep and took off eventually crossing over the road with this male in chase. We were cruising along at about 5-10 mph during this time. Magnificent animal.


Further down the road I saw what looked like a lake and a sign for Lunar Crater Country Byway so we drove out to see what was there. We thought about parking right out in the middle but a storm looked to be brewing so bailed and drove in to Tonopah.

Tonopah was totally booked up on a week night..can you believe that? It was night at this point and Mizpah hotel was kind enough to let us park in the back. It got cold and that storm kicked up with heavy rain into the morning. Big thanks to the folks at Mizpah. Restaurant there isn't too bad either (can't report on rooms). Glad we decided to drive on from the dry lake bed.

 

[Vortex]

Awesome pics!

View attachment 305518
On the way up Mosquito Pass, saw these weird plants. Anyone know what they are? Didn't see them on the other passes.

It's Elk Thistle, there's a lot of thistle in the mountains out here, it's usually purple though.

At the end of your day, stop by Slow Groovin BBQ in Marble. What the heck is a great place like this doing there? Hands down, we have had our best meals on this trip in small towns.

We love that place too, eat there every time we're in the area. Excellent burgers.

http://slowgroovinbbq.com/

 

[MichaelH]

Awesome pics!



It's Elk Thistle, there's a lot of thistle in the mountains out here, it's usually purple though.



We love that place too, eat there every time we're in the area. Excellent burgers.

http://slowgroovinbbq.com/

Thanks for the compliment and the info on the Elk Thistle Vortex! Looks like it could have been a plant from the original Star Trek series Very cool. We really enjoyed our stay in your state.


Things are sort of winding down for us. Part time work calls me to Hawaii for a few weeks of that and visiting friends. Upon return we will slowly start heading back to Florida.

 

[MichaelH]

Well, our road trip is over having returned to Florida a few days ago. Fantastic trip that went pretty much as I planned. The Jeep in it's configuration ended up being the perfect vehicle for the trip. Nat and I learned quite a bit and really loved getting off-road. We still have one more bit of fun with a week of skiing in Montana at the beginning of December. If Nat does well and enjoys the experience we'll be back next year for an entire ski season.

With that in mind and after giving it a lot of thought, I'm going to put the Jeep back up for sale. We are returning to Thailand mid-December and will return in October sometime. Assuming our ski season plans work out, the Jeep in it's current configuration is overkill, but if it doesn't sell then I'll remove some items like the tent, awning, etc and we'll be set. Should have a post in the for sale section sometime today.