Desert Trip VI: Trip Report starting on page 6

[Larry]

I hope you snagged In-N-Out in St. George! It's the last one as you head north on I-15, or at least it was a few years ago. My wife and I had to stop there as we were moving east from California, since we didn't know when the next time we'd be in In-N-Out country.

Ah, man! There is an In-N-Out in St. George? Well, we missed that one too and ended up eating dinner at Village Inn . We pulled out of St. George too early Saturday morning to be thinking about burgers anyway.


Day 8: Saturday, March 30th
Goal: Make our way across Utah

So Friday night I sat up in the hotel room playing with the mapping software to find the quickest route from St. George to Moab. Huh! Well, you just can’t get there from here in under 6-7 hours! Either you have to dip way to the south through Page, AZ or head North to I-70 then come back down to Moab. Either way is a full day’s drive. At that point I had to come to the realization that checking out the Moab Easter Jeep Safari just wasn’t going to happen this trip so we decided to just take the scenic route through the middle of Utah and take in all the beauty then camp someplace near the Colorado River.

Back in the snow somewhere East of Cedar City, UT

We passed through the Northern part of Brice National Park

There is no mistaken we are in Utah now….look at the red dirt!

Outside of Escalante, UT

So just before we left on this trip the latest issue of Truck Trend had come in the mail. In there was an article where Truck Trend had taken a new Power Wagon on the 75 mile Burr Trail from Boulder to Bullfrog at the Colorado River then took the ferry across to Hall Crossing (Ironically, when we got home from this trip I got the latest issue of Overland Journal in the mail and it too had an story on the Burr Trail). Well, as we were cruising Hwy 12 near Boulder, UT we saw the sign for the Burr Trail and instantly started slowing the big dog down. We made the split second decision to follow the same route as Truck Trend. This should be neat route as I have seen everything on the Hall Crossing side of the Colorado River over the years. In fact, Mosesburb and I were just at Hall Crossing last summer when we did the Hole in the Rock trail.

Pictures along the Burr Trail…..

Beginning of the Burr Trail

The Burr Trail is well groomed. Almost too well groomed for my liking. Not rough enough to keep the riffraff out.

Bullfrog marina coming into sight

So as we entered the Glen Canyon National Recreational Area we started getting a nervous feeling as every designated camp site off the road was closed. Before long we arrive at the park entry booth at Bullfrog where the nice lady told us how to get to the only open campsite in the park this time of year. I hesitantly asked the status of the ferry schedule and the nice little old lady said in the sweetest voice “Oh, no honey, the ferry doesn’t run this time of year”. AGH, WHAT!!! Great! Now we get to back track 50 some miles up Hwy 276 to Hwy 95 and cross the Colorado River at the Hite marina. Ultimately, we were going to catch Hwy 95 on the other side anyway to would will lead us to Blanding, UT to catch the road home.

At this point I am getting a bit pissy because it is starting to get late in the day and we have 40 some miles to get to Hwy 95 plus we still need to find a place to set up camp somewhere along the line. To make it worse, I only had 28 psi from of air in the tires from coming down the Burr Trail so I really needed to air up before taking on Hwy 276. After I pulled over the air up the tires, I thought…meh….they don’t look that low so we pushed on.

As we pushed North on Hwy 275 and about halfway to Hwy 95 we spotted a lonely road off to the left side of the truck with a sign of some recreational area. We whipped in there to see what it was about and it looked pretty promising for a place to call home for the night. We followed this trail up for a few miles and found a really cool spot. It didn't look like anybody had been up into this area for months.

When we first arrived at this spot and opened the camper the weather was beautiful. Within 20 minutes things got ugly fast. The wind started whipping and it got really cold with sprinkles of rain. Before long the mountains in the distance totally disappeared.

View off to the drive’s side of the truck

While MIL made some awesome chicken quesadillas with green chili for dinner I aired up the tires and dumped what was left in the fuel cans into the tank. About an hour later the storm passed and it was clear again, but still cold!

Oh, I would like to add that I was a bit disappointed in the Burr Trail after all of the magazine hoopla. The mags make the Burr Trail out to be an off-road route. Maybe I was just expecting more. Yes, it was a beautiful drive no doubt about it, but of the 75 miles we traveled only about 12 miles (if that) were actually dirt and even at that, the dirt was like pavement. It was a total waste of time to air down the tires in the first place. I don’t regret traveling the Burr Trail but it sure isn’t the off-road trail I was expecting. Simply put....The Burr Trail is a Prius and minivan road


That is it for day 8….

More later….

 

[Larry]

Day 9: Easter Sunday, March 31th
Goal: Complete the final leg home

We woke up to a beautiful Easter Sunday. It was warm and sunny!

You could even see the mountain that was barely visible the night before

MIL going bananas with the hoola hoop one last time before we begin the 11 hour drive home.

We stopped at the Colorado River overlook above and across the river from the Hite Marina.

An extremely dry Hite Marina. When we were there in 2010 the water was all the way up the boat ramp. The mighty Colorado wasn’t even flowing this day!

1.5 day saw tooth route through the core of Utah

Our last picture of the trip as we passed through the San Luis Valley of Southern Colorado. From here it was a few more hours home. Little Elvis was so tired from trip he slept the entire way home.

We pulled into the driveway at straight up 7 PM Easter Sunday. So there it is! That is what 2,435 miles through a big chunk of the Southwestern Desert looks like from the front seat of a 35 year old truck. We really enjoy this trip while already making plans for next year’s destinations.

While I really enjoyed seeing Death Valley (definitely a bucket list destination), I must say I have no immediate interest to return. It is just too far and the beauty just wasn’t there like what our neighboring state of Utah has to offer. There are so many areas of Utah’s Canyonlands yet to explore not to mention what Arizona holds for future desert trips. On the other hand, the Mojave Desert was very cool and I would definitely like to check out more of that. It was also a great week to reconnect with my old High School buddy, Ty and his brother, as well as getting to know a new friend like Richard and the Mighty Dodge Ram. MIL and Little Elvis also had a great time but glad to be home and Jake the Snake is probably hissed off because I forgot he is still in the Trasheroo this very second, whoops!


The deserts of the Southwest are such a great way to charge your batteries and get away from it all!

Here is a link to the SPOT Adventures summary page. I plan to update SPOT Adventures with photos showing where some of the pictures were taken along the way. The orange markers are the locations we camped along the way.


That’s it!

Might have more pictures to add once I get the flash drive in the mail from my buddy Ty….

 

[Smokinthehippies]

any thoughts of going further north next year? maybe see some of the sierras? which dont really count as desert tho.

 

[Larry]

any thoughts of going further north next year? maybe see some of the sierras? which dont really count as desert tho.

Yeah, my buddy Bill (that I usually do these trips with) and I have talked about going further North like up into Western WY, UT, ID, and NV at some point. But really, we have mountains here that we are tired of visiting (I know, how ungrateful we sound to live in God's country).


Next year’s plan isn’t set in stone yet ( we have a baby on the way that will be calling the shots shortly so plans could change in an instant ) but I would like to go back to Utah Canyonlands Maze District. Basically a similar trip to what we did in 2010. There is an area back there called the Doll House that is powerful and just a great place to get away from people.

 

[bigred88]

There is an area back there called the Doll House

So is your MIL not going next year? Because I thought you passed a similar place this time around and she nixed it...

 

[Larry]

So is your MIL not going next year? Because I thought you passed a similar place this time around and she nixed it...

Hehe, yea, she will probably be going again next year. She would be running behind the truck like a dog chasing a passing car if I left on a trip without her.

This is the other Doll House… Neat place with lots of places to hike. The Grand Canyon is just behind these gobblins. Very remote with not many yearly visitors. Pictures from July 2010

 

[Highpsi]

This thread is awesome. Thanks so much for taking the time to record your trip with us here and share it. Love that rig too.

 

[pblaze725]

That was awesome Larry.

I can relate with the MIL as mine is an adventurer and wants to hit the trails with me.

When I go down a trail I'm not familiar with I don't air down until I drive a ways down it to feel it out.

I really admire how you take your very reliable rig out in the middle of Tim buck too and use it for it soul purpose.
I don't know how I would handle the Joshua tree trail with a paint job that nice.

 

[Larry]

This thread is awesome. Thanks so much for taking the time to record your trip with us here and share it. Love that rig too.

It actually was fun to write and reminisce over the week. Given my memory six months from now I will read some of this and think "oh, yeah! I forgot about that part"

That was awesome Larry.

I can relate with the MIL as mine is an adventurer and wants to hit the trails with me.

When I go down a trail I'm not familiar with I don't air down until I drive a ways down it to feel it out.

I really admire how you take your very reliable rig out in the middle of Tim buck too and use it for it soul purpose.
I don't know how I would handle the Joshua tree trail with a paint job that nice.

Yeah, it seems odd to take a MIL, of all the people in the world, but some are actually pretty fun to hang out with. I am lucky to have Lynn as a MIL. Heck, most of the time she is easier to be around than her daughter! You would be surprised if you knew how old Lynn was. Much older than you think. Her oldest daughter is almost 50.


I agree, usually I too feel out a trail before airing down but in the case of the Burr Trail the rags made it out to be a challenging trail. After a few years of tootling around other areas of Canyonlands, I aired down as a normal reflex action. Meh, not too worried about the paint. Over the years it has been subjected to a lot worse, the quasar blue just hides the desert pin-striping well. Once it is cleaned, clay bar’d, and buffed it will look like new again. Got to have some war wounds to show it is not a parking lot queen like a lot of people think it is. Desert pin striping doesn't bother me much...it adds character. Trail rash and dents..now that is a different story although it has a small amount of those too!

 

[83ChevyK5Blazer]

Thanks for a great write up larry

 

[NotLaw]

Burr trail really seems to depend on the time of year. I was out there with my dad in his XJ in early august 3 years ago, and thanks to the rain the area seems to always get that time of year, there were several places that were badly washed out (the concrete bridge at the base of the first decent probably had about 2-3 ft high sandbars on either end)
there were also a number of large boulders on the switch-backs, and a few places on the descent that were about 1/3 as wide as they should have been.

It still was not that challenging though, other then one or two badly washed out areas.


Love the write-up though. I don't post hardly at all, but I read alot, and I really enjoyed going through your write-up.

 

[woodchk502]

Love the write-up though. I don't post hardly at all, but I read alot, and I really enjoyed going through your write-up.

I am the same way. I won't normally post unless I feel I can contribute something worthwhile. That being said I really enjoyed the write up as well, the scenery is amazing, and your truck is really sweet.

I have a lot of family in CO, most in Pueblo but I have some more outside Denver. My uncle from outside Denver has a pretty sweet '75 blazer. They spend a lot of time camping wheelin and riding outside of Pitkin. I hope to make it in the next few years. Ever been in the area?

Jim

 

[Larry]

Burr trail really seems to depend on the time of year. I was out there with my dad in his XJ in early august 3 years ago, and thanks to the rain the area seems to always get that time of year, there were several places that were badly washed out (the concrete bridge at the base of the first decent probably had about 2-3 ft high sandbars on either end)
there were also a number of large boulders on the switch-backs, and a few places on the descent that were about 1/3 as wide as they should have been.

It still was not that challenging though, other then one or two badly washed out areas.


Love the write-up though. I don't post hardly at all, but I read alot, and I really enjoyed going through your write-up.

Thanks! Good info on the Burr Trail. My buddy and I usually go play in Canyonlands in July. We’ve seen rain fall from the sky but it never hits the ground. Always figured the water could be pretty violent if it ever did hit the ground while we were in some of those canyons. Glad to help bring out you of lurk mode.

I am the same way. I won't normally post unless I feel I can contribute something worthwhile. That being said I really enjoyed the write up as well, the scenery is amazing, and your truck is really sweet.

I have a lot of family in CO, most in Pueblo but I have some more outside Denver. My uncle from outside Denver has a pretty sweet '75 blazer. They spend a lot of time camping wheelin and riding outside of Pitkin. I hope to make it in the next few years. Ever been in the area?

Jim

Cool, thanks! WOW, family in Pueblo? Oddly enough, I used to live in Michigan although Pueblo is my home town. Spent 6 years in the Detroit suburban of Rochester and worked downtown at the RenCen. I still get back to Michigan often. Usually Coldwater/Sturgis/Elkhart, IN area.

I haven’t exactly been to Pitkin but I spent a lot of time in nearby Chaffee County fishing and wheeling. Lots of fishing and places to trail ride in that area. Very beautiful over there.

 

[Larry]

Spent the last two days cleaning up the old pig. $14 spent at the car wash, interior laundry done, clay bar’d, and buffed. All of the Joshua Tree scratches even buffed off. It looks like it never even left the house for 2,435 mile trip to the desert.

Now time to change the oil, rip apart the rear axle for an inspection and replace the transfercase before taking off to Flagstaff next month

 

[kellyjohn]

One of the nicest rigs in the forum!!

Great to see it still looking like new Larry!

Thanks again for taking the time to post your trip report, I checked in often anticipating your updates.

Nicely done.

Does the navigation software you use on the laptop have a subscription or user fees, and would you recommend it?

It would be a nice future addition to the Burb for our travels.

 

[Larry]

Great to see it still looking like new Larry!

Thanks again for taking the time to post your trip report, I checked in often anticipating your updates.

Nicely done.

Does the navigation software you use on the laptop have a subscription or user fees, and would you recommend it?

It would be a nice future addition to the Burb for our travels.

Nah, the mapping software on the laptop doesn’t require any fees. Funny though, I bought this high dollar, Delorme, mapping software with toppo maps, USGS, blah, blah, blah. Everybody just raves how great this software is…..except me! I can’t figure out how to use it and there are no instructions. On top of that it will only run on my laptop about 15 minutes before causing a blue screen of death. I deleted it and tossed the CD in the drawer with other worthless software.

On the other hand, I have this old 2006 copy of Microsoft Streets & Trips. That is all is use . For cheap software it gives GPS coordinates, speed, altitude, and it will trace the places we have been. There have been very few trails we have been on that didn’t appear on Streets and Trips. Heck, I would just get the latest copy of Microsoft Streets and Trips from Wal-Mart and call it good. It works for Canada too and the software is pretty cheap. I think around $50 or less. Then you would need a GPS puck which can be purchased just about anywhere.

The SPOT GPS tracker does have an annual fee though. I think $150

 

[kellyjohn]

Thanks Larry!!!!!

I wouldn't have guessed that..

I'll be shopping for it sooner than I thought wit it being that reasonably priced.

I figured since I keep the laptop with me now due to the Fast fuel system, it may as well have a GPS too.?

Great info Sir!!!

 

[y5mgisi]

I was telling little scuba Steve about your trip and he said he is second cousins with little elvis! Small world.

 

[magik235]

The rig looks extremely good after being cleaned. Thanks for the trip details.

 

[mosesburb]

Nah, the mapping software on the laptop doesn’t require any fees. Funny though, I bought this high dollar, Delorme, mapping software with toppo maps, USGS, blah, blah, blah. Everybody just raves how great this software is…..except me! I can’t figure out how to use it and there are no instructions. On top of that it will only run on my laptop about 15 minutes before causing a blue screen of death. I deleted it and tossed the CD in the drawer with other worthless software.

On the other hand, I have this old 2006 copy of Microsoft Streets & Trips. That is all is use . For cheap software it gives GPS coordinates, speed, altitude, and it will trace the places we have been. There have been very few trails we have been on that didn’t appear on Streets and Trips. Heck, I would just get the latest copy of Microsoft Streets and Trips from Wal-Mart and call it good. It works for Canada too and the software is pretty cheap. I think around $50 or less. Then you would need a GPS puck which can be purchased just about anywhere.

The SPOT GPS tracker does have an annual fee though. I think $150

I bet you're not missing too much with the Delorme vs Streets and Trips. I have Delorme running when we are on the trail, but I rarely look at it. I am almost always looking at the Oziexplorer on the trail. It uses the USGS topo maps and puts a track line and an arrow where you are. I like that a lot because there is so much old information on it. The name of that mine over there. The gravel pit over that hill. All kinds of neat info that is "lost" on new maps. I was having problems with it on our travels with you last summer, but I got it working now (with Lance's help of course) and I love it. I do like the Delorme for highway/city travel. It has the utilitarian info like a Garmin or Tomtom--gas station, hospital etc, but if streets and trips has that, then you aren't missing much.