[MDarius]

There have been a few really great trip reports lately. I wont pretend to be up to par with them, but wanted to post anyways.

My Sister-In-Law took her family to a place called Devil'e Playground for Easter. Lot's of rock formations, great places for the kids to climb and explore, and remote. Somewhere in the west desert. I've been looking for an out of the way cruiser trip, and this fit the ticket. My son jacob turned 9 on the 11th and this was just the time for a Father / Son camping trip.

I did my research online and found what I thought might be the place. It is on BLM land and not maintained by any parks department, so details were scarce, limited pretty much to internet trip reports and a brief, if not vague, description on the BLM site. I narrowed the location down to a location along Emigrants Pass and using Google Earth to pick out a prominent and likely rock formation, came up with GPS coordinates:
N41*31'30'', W133*41'27''.

It truly is in the middle of nowhere. I was a little nervous about being 100 miles from civilization without communication, and without a second vehicle. I couldn't find a close friend to go with that had a capable off road vehicle, so we put our trust in Ed, the LC, took some extra fuel, and hit the road.

[MDarius]

...continued:

No camping trip, or Father/Son day, is complete without a trip to Smith and Edwards. For those of you unfamiliar, I am sorry. There is no adequate way to describe Smith and Edwards. It's the only war surplus store with a bridal registry. The store is a couple acres, the surplus yard is several acres, and you can buy everything from lingerie to tank treads...and the tank to go with them. A real redneck paradise. While there I found this great 3 gallon water jug on a mounting bracket. It is designated as a decontamination kid, but the jug is ready for potable water and the kit storage location is great for recovery straps and whatever else you want back there.

I didn't buy any, but they had a ton and they were asking about $15.00. There are no holes drilled in the thing, but it could be easily fabbed for anything you've got. It might even fit in a standard jerry can bracket.

After Smith and Edwards we headed to the great unknown. Once we past Promontory Point (east meets west railroad historic point) we were in territory I had never entered. it was truly a wasteland.


...But we all know that when you are 9, wastelands are cool.

[MDarius]

We took breaks along the way for obligatory IH8MUD pictures, butt breaks, and to see a historical marker here and there. The Immigrant Trail follows the old Railroad grade and the pioneer trail from to California. A lot of history was made along here.

[MDarius]

Over the course of approx. 80-100 miles of dirt road, there's not much need for a lift or a winch. A lot of Sagebrush, washboard, whoop-dee's, and a Ghost town or 2. A real good time for a boy and his dad to get to know each other a little better over junk food and beef jerky.

[MDarius]

Once we hit Hwy. 30 off the immigrant trail, I had seen enough desert at speeds below 45 MPH. We had been on the trail for about 3 hours and had another hour to look forward to before getting to some phantom location on the map that I GUESSED was Devil's Playground. We took another look and there is a trail marked on the map in the Utah Atlas and gazetteer (big red map book by DeLorme) at approx. N41*29'50'' W113*38'00''. We decided to go for it. It looked more interesting at least. At best it would give us a few miles on the paved Highway. The trail entrance is marked only by a bright red gate held shut with a chain. Not locked, so we went in.

The problem with the big map books is they only show the main trails. There is a maze in there. Jake learned some compass, GPS, and map reading skills on this trip as my navigator. I learned that my boy has a pretty good head on his shoulders and is a better problem solver than I thought.

The first ''wrong turn'' we took was a decent trail, narrow for an 80 but we pinstriped it last year, so no worries. A few ruts and off camber situations, but not too bad. It ended in a great camp site not far more than a mile or so off the hwy. Clean and unlittered. Since this wasn't our final destination, we marked it as a waypoint and moved on. Lot's of exploring and climbing to be done here on a follow up trip. This location made us decide the 100 miles of dirt and sagebrush was worth the drive.

[MDarius]

Heading NW from here we saw some cool rock formations and mountains, several interesting side trails, and not another single soul. All told, we had seen 12 people since we left Promontory over 3 and a half hours earlier. 6 of those were on the highway. We were pretty sure the rest were phantoms.

[MDarius]

We picked a trail that looked likely to take us to what we thought was the main attraction along the way. We had heard stories of finding rattlesnakes (the REAL attraction here) and extremely cool caves and rocks to climb on. We knew we were close, just not sure how to get there from here. The road got more disused and with that came overgrowth, ruts, and more off camber spots. I regretted my Jerry can location on top of the rack more than once, though they held on just fine. I really need a rear bumper upgrade!

By the way, at this point I was at half a tank and didn't know how much further I had to go, what would happen if we got lost, and the only sure gas stop was Snowville, about 100 miles on the highway. I was really glad to have the extra fuel.

In this pic the DS rear was fully extended, I could brush the sand away underneath, and the front didn't have much contact either. When I heard wheel spin I got off the gas immediately, got out for the obligatory pic, then put it in low and crawled right out. No fear, no worries. Go Ed!

[MDarius]

It was getting on to 5:00...dinner time, sunset, time to make camp. We still hadn't found the main attraction and Jake was a little disappointed, but happy to be there. Most repeated quotes were, ''This is the best day ever!'', ''I love Ed!'', and, ''Thanks, Dad.''

I let Jake pick a camping spot in a remote canyon up a knock around twisting narrow trail. I was ready for a break. He found a beauty of a spot for us.

Can you find the Land Cruiser hiding in the pic of the tent? Upper left for a hint.

[73fj]

Dude, that is so cool , my son will be here in aug, you are one lucky man.

[MDarius]

I have never experienced that kind of solitude and silence in my life. After a good hike up the mountain, lot of playing the arches and caves, a good campfire dinner and marshmallow's we hit the sack. The silence was painful. Not a cricket, jet, car, or bird made a sound. Even the wind was still. During the day you could hear the wind on the ridge to the South as it swept through the trees. That night was as close to ''nothing'' as I can imagine. I dreamed of noise and woke up to hear nothing. I truly thought I had gone deaf. Very remote, very cool.

At 6:30 I woke up and found I didn't even need a jacket. I started breakfast, we ate, cleaned up camp, and headed out. This boy of mine that is a pretty regular 9 year-old, was showing some pluck. At breakfast he taught me about Davy Crockett who said that his classroom was the lakes, rivers, and streams. His favorite teacher was the wind, rain, animals and woods. The only principal he ever knew was a cliff. He asked who my favorite teacher was. We talked for a long time. Who knew this kid had that kind of insight? I do now.

We headed out on a trail we saw from a higher elevation on our hike. It was a dead-end and we had no idea of how to proceed. I pulled out the GPS, he got the map, and I climbed on top of Ed to better see over the trees. he said, ''Dad, put your hand like this for a picture.''

[MDarius]

We spied a likely trail and headed back down, much faster this time since I was familiar with the road and it was downhill. ''This is awesome! Go Ed!'' says Jake. I was enjoying the driving too. Thanks Ed. Lot's of cool scenery, including the ''Alien-baboon-cat-monkey-head'' rock. I think that's what the pioneers called it anyways.

[MDarius]

After a few dead-ends we finally got to what was obviously the main attraction. I pulled up to an interesting spot and said, ''Shall we get out and explore or keep driving?''

''Eh, let's keep driving. Where we camped was WAY cooler than this.''
He was right. We found an open spot without too many cliffs or dangers and pulled out the artillery. This, along with seeing a rattlesnake, was the moment he had been waiting for. After some basic gub safety and cleaning lessons we set up our range and pulled out the .22. I fired for a while then he nervously took the pistol. After a few rounds he was feeling more comfortable and I felt free to step back and take a picture. Freedom, but not too much! We shot the BB's, the .22, and he got off 2 rounds from my 30-06. Sore shoulders today for both of us!

Feeling satisfied we headed out on the easy road, the immigrant trail, and back to the highway.

[MDarius]

I was really glad I had added my 10 gallons of gas that morning. It was obvious we would have been on the edge of out of gas by the time we hit civilization. On Hwy 30, ''Open range'' means just that. I have never driven through a cattle drive before. A new experience for both us city boys. The choice to take the highway home was the right one. The immigrant trail was a good once-in-a-lifetime experience. We'll do it again with the whole family in tow..after the feeling is restored in our butts.

I love my Land Cruiser! To quote (nearly) another board member, I realized that many of the best times in the lives of my family have been in a Toyota.

[1leglance]

great looking trip pic...
these are the memories he will treasure for years and years...
not to mention if you continue this way there shouldn't be any trouble with a teenager down the road.
strong work & keep it up

[projektdotnet]

Let me know when you go on your drag the whole family along. I might pack up a cooler and the 80 series and follow suit

[PabloCruise]

Nice write-up!

[MoCoNative]

Sounds like a great trip, not sure your exact homebase location, but there is so much country to see in Northern Utah, Southern Idaho, SW Wyoming and Western Colorado. You can literally go for days and days in that kind of country and never see a soul. Glad you had a fun time and found some new attractions.

And an expedition like that would not be complete without coming home on fumes in a cruiser. I've done it many times, wish a cruiser was nuclear powered so you could explore every road you see.

[El Perro Grande]

That's so awesome!!!! Thanks for sharing!

[M-80]

Cool trip! I might hit you up for a few directions later on. We will be hittiing northern Utah the middle of June, and this looks like a fun trip. We have done Promentory several times (my kids love anything to do with choo-choos). We ventured out to the Spiral Jetty this summer--not too much fun.

Do you have any ideas for more day trips? We will be staying in Tremonton. My brother in law will be working so we want to be home when he is off. We do have to keep some kiddos, ages 2 through 8, entertained during the day.

[jaysdead40]

City of Rocks is about 2.5 hrs North of you easy hikes to pro. climbs.

http://www.nps.gov/ciro/

Jay