AwesomeWorld Adventure

[JeepTreeHouse]

Of all the many times I have been to Sedona, I have never experienced it more intimately than I did this time. There is a Jeep Tour called, Pink Jeep Tour, that offers tourists the opportunity to ride in the backcountry of Sedona; however, if you have a vehicle of your own (such as us) that is equipped for the trails, you can drive the trails on your own…which we most definitely decided to do…and it was INCREDIBLE!! We drove on the most popular trail called, Broken Arrow.

The trail began with a little rock deterrent for 2wheel vehicles…while airing down our tires, we saw it actually deter a few stocked 4WD vehicles too…eeks!!

After the first initial “hump” the trail seemed to be quite harmless. It was a bit narrow at times, but absolutely beautiful. We came across a gaping hole (cave) in a rock that seemed to just drop down into the Earths Crest!

As we continued to drive down the trail, it quickly turned from harmless to adventurous! We began to drive on more rock slab and up more boulders than actual dirt road...

We stopped for a little bit to really just take in the beauty of Sedona and all it had to offer.

....and then back to the rock crawling.</b>

We finished Broken Arrow just as the sun was setting. It was absolutely stunning!

 

[JeepTreeHouse]

After our successful expedition on Broken Arrow, we splurged and treated ourselves to one of our favorite Western Restaurants that my grandparents had introduced us to the year before; Black Bart’s. Black Bart’s is located off the highway in Flagstaff, AZ. It is a cozy little steakhouse with an Old-Time Saloon atmosphere and Musical Entertainment...

...and the most delicious Fried Ice Cream!!!!

 

[Larry]

Great pictures! Looks like an epic trip for you two. Got more?

 

[JeepTreeHouse]

Larry, it definitly was! It will take some time to get all of it up but i should be able to get some of it up today.

 

[JeepTreeHouse]

We woke up in the morning at Flagstaff; our day’s destination was Lake Powell. As we were driving down the highway, we saw signs for Sunset Crater…. This was an absolute must

Words nor pictures can even begin to describe the enormity of the crater and its surroundings…

While exploring around the crater, we saw a sign for OHV Vehicles…. Should we do it?...Yup…. Lets absolutely do it !!!

The OHV trail slowly begun to turn into an ash/rock beach; the land just opened up with trees scattered here and there…it was incredible to experience.

As another storm was fast approaching and we did not know how ashy pebbles would turn when wet, we decided to find our way back to the main road (which surprisingly ended up being a bit of a challenge

Ahhhh... there's the road!

We stopped to stretch our legs and paws at a gorgeous over look.

 

[JeepTreeHouse]

We woke up Friday morning in Lake Powell, not knowing at all what the day would hold for us.

We were headed to Zion National Park in Utah. However, the weather forecast was looking grim over the next few days; winds forecasted up to 50mph and 6inches of snow with little to no visibility at times.

If the weather wasn’t enough to worry us, we were also starting to really get concerned with whether the government would be shutting down or not; if so, we would be looking for new places to see and stay…no government = no National Parks. If there is one thing that Josh and I have mastered during this road trip- it is adaptation. So off we went.

As we headed out of Lake Powell, we saw a Ford Explorer that looked like it was stuck on the side of the road. We decided to pull over and see if there was anything we could do to help. As we pulled up to the SUV, we saw two women on the ground trying to dig out their Explorer with coffee cups. Josh quickly assessed the situation and saw that he could hook up the tow strap and pull them out.

The women were very grateful that we were able to help.

 

[JeepTreeHouse]

We made excellent timing to Zion, and as we were still fearful of the Government shutting down and the snowstorm that had already begun, we decided to road trip for the day to Bryce then come back to Zion for the night.

As we entered Bryce Canyon, all of the roads/trails were closed except for one due to the snowstorm.

We drove up through “Point Lookout” (the only scenic overlook that had been plowed). The view was breathtakingly gorgeous! (Figuratively and literally) Just as we got to the top of the lookout the winds began to pick up and the snow started to come down again.

We didn’t let that stop us though from venturing out of the truck and hiking around a little bit, we even let little Salsa walk around a little bit.

Since the storm was really starting to pick up again, we thought it was probably a good/smart time to start heading back towards Zion for the night.

 

[JeepTreeHouse]

On our way back into Zion, we saw signs for a smaller unique canyon that was marked for OHV vehicles only. With time still to spare and the weather not being too bad, we deviated from our path and explored a little bit of Losee Canyon.

It was not long before the storm started to pick back up, so we continued on our way back to Zion. As we entered Zion, the snow clouds hovered on top of the peaks and down into the Canyon. It was indescribably awe-inspiring.

>

When we checked into the Hotel at the bottom of Zion, we were told that they hadn’t seen weather like “this” during this time of the year in over 15 years!! (Yay for us being part of History, lol)

After a long day of adventuring through South Western Utah, and with the great news that the Government would be staying open, we decided to order some Pizza and then immediately crashed; we were exhausted.

 

[JeepTreeHouse]

Since we had already seen all that we were capable of seeing in Bryce Canyon, we had the day to venture around Zion and find ourselves some adventure, regardless of the weather still being snowy, rainy, and windy.

We started first by visiting a little ghost town called Grafton. It was very quaint and a tad bit eerie. Upon entering, we were first greeted by about ten conspicuous cameras, which properly set the spooky feeling for a ghost town. We never actually got out and walked around the town though because it was a tad bit muddy.

After Grafton, we saw a sign for Buttes Smithsonian…it sounded intriguing so we thought we would check it out. With our adventurous spirits, we headed up the mountain towards the Smithsonian; little did we know what awaited us on the road ahead

As we began to creep up the mountain, the dirt became mud, mud became deep mud, and deep mud came close to being quick sand. The only difference between almost quick sand and actual quick sand is that this muddy sand was sticking to our tires/truck. Even with having the most aggressive off road tires, we were unable to shed the mud from our tread blocks.

In first gear and flooring it, the truck was barely accelerating. In second gear, it would slow down to 10 mph again forcing the truck back into first gear. The accumulated weight of the muddy clay was beginning to weigh the truck down.

With nowhere really to turn around we at first reluctantly continued a little ways, hoping that this mountain would level off.  But with no guardrails and a slimming, twisty, windy road ahead, we began to feel threatened by the road, or really, lack there of.

In a pivotal moment, Josh veered the truck left, let off the gas and hit the breaks simultaneously in order to stop our forward progress but also to keep the truck from sliding backwards off the mountain. When truck came to a stop, I looked to Josh and told him to take a deep breath, a drink of water and to say a prayer before he attempted to turn the truck around.


During the several point turn around, going forward inch at a time was ok, but when in reverse, Josh would let off the break just enough to crawl backwards slightly before hitting the breaks again… but the truck would continue sliding each time he hit the breaks. After about three minutes and countless point turns we were finally turned around! The worse was over. At this point, the clouds became to really start lowering in on us and we still had this treacherous mountain to crawl back down.

The tires were completely embedded with mud; there was no rubber to be seen anymore on the tires nor could you see the rims. We were carrying about 150 lbs of mud on the truck back down the mountain. We slowly crept and slid safely back down to the bottom, where we immediately drove to a car wash 30 miles away and spent 25 dollars or more cleaning off the truck. (We are still currently knocking dried up mud out from the undercarriage of the truck).

As we headed back up Zion the sun began to shine through the snow clouds and the blue sky began to appear.

 

[JeepTreeHouse]

We felt as though we sufficiently experienced enough adventure for one day, and began to head back to Lake Powell. Our drive back through Zion was absolutely incredible.

We stopped for a few moments to enjoy the beauty around us… well, I enjoyed the beauty around us while Josh was making snowballs to throw at me.

 

[JeepTreeHouse]

Antelope Canyon is located in Page Arizona, near Lake Powell. The Canyon use to be open to the public but was closed down in the 80s due to vandalism. Individuals had used the canyon as a shooting range and dump. It was not until the 90s that the Navajo decided to re-open the Canyon to the public- entrance only permitted with a Navajo Tour Guide.

The canyon is completely made of SandStone and is absolutely majestic !!

It is said that the only feature of the canyon that ever changes is its floor. When it rains, it only takes a quarter inch of rain to flood the canyon!

The below picture is the heart of the canyon... INCREDIBLE

Our tour guide was super awesome. He asked to see my camera, stood us here, and when he gave me my camera back he says, "See, there is a flame between you two!" .... so awesome!!

 

[JeepTreeHouse]

On our way back into Utah we ventured through Monument Valley, the most magnificent valley I have ever seen, it was absolutely mesmerizing. Other then the “Oooos” and “Ahhhs” the only other sounds heard while driving through the valley was the wind blowing, the engine roaring, and the camera clicking.

We were really lucky to have been able to drive through Monument Valley at its most serene time of day... Sunset.

 

[JeepTreeHouse]

We made our way from Monument Valley into Bluff, Utah. We stayed in a cozy little Lodge that was located directly in front of the San Juan River.

After we settled in, we took Salsa on a walk to see the sunset on the San Juan River.

For dinner I was able to enjoy a yummy taco on Authentic Indian Fry Bread- it was the most gigantic taco I have ever seen!

 

[JeepTreeHouse]

We woke up in Bluff Utah and headed straight for Canyonlands. Our plans were to camp inside of Canyonlands for the night so that we could wake up Wednesday morning, go get our permit, and begin our 100-mile stretch of our off-roading adventure.

The weather forecast looked promising (just a slight chance of thunderstorms and occasional strong gusts of wind for the evening). So we set up camp and began to make some dinner.

Just as we were finishing up part of dinner, we could hear a sound similar to cars zooming by on the freeway…but there was no freeway where we were, there were no cars near where we were…it was the sound of the wind in the distance.

It was the strangest sound ever, you could hear that the wind was coming but couldn’t tell from what direction or how far away it was. It came quickly and came strongly! We started to feel rain drops… at that point we scurried to get everything in the truck and put the fire out before the storm hit us. We headed up on top of the truck into our tent for the night. Luckily it never did thunderstorm, just a few raindrops throughout the night with lots of wind.

 

[RAKY0311]

thanks for share! awesome pictures!