So, today we took the Blazer out, passed the infamous spot where I found the frame cracks yesterday, and ventured further onto FR160. There was a lot of wayfinding and scouting involved, since neither FRS map nor USGS topomap are complete. We found where FR160 ascends out of Sycamore canyon but to get out of Otero Canyon would have required rockcrawling a boulder obstacle in the middle of the wash. We think it is doable (for the Blazer anyway), but it just didn't seem to be a good idea in a sole vehicle when you definitely want to be back in town by 4pm. Both canyons are very scenic (gotta ignore the Winchester fest at the FR160 entry), relatively little traveled, saw a blue heron and two eagles. 
Sycamore creek had water and the trail ended in a mudbog that required a bypass over river rock boulders (not too big).
So we had lunch and then came out over a very rough, LONG abandoned trail that had substantial overgrowth. Not a FR road, for sure. Fortunately enough, the gate indicated on the map was OPEN. It would have been a pain to return all the way we came.
Since we had a bit of time left, we took FR11 through Mesquite wash that connects to the Four Peaks Road. It is very scenic except for the fire damage, which is substantial. The short stretch of shelf road also has washouts that make this more difficult than the official 2 rating. We were back in town 3:20.
Our new little eTrex Legend GPS came in quite handy on the trail finding excercises (after a year of nagging me about one, Michael had finally mustered enough justification to get one after the Lake Pleasant run
), I have to admit it's nifty. We were so busy orientating, we didn't take any pictures, but now have the waypoints. ;p
Unfortunately, now we have to get back to real life and go to work
Happy New Year to all of you; if you go to a Safeway (haven't seen it anywhere else), check out the February issue of "Offroad Magazine", it features "Blazer Bash in Moab" co-written by Michael, and I snuck my cruiser in
Hope to see some of you at Cruise Moab.
Sycamore creek had water and the trail ended in a mudbog that required a bypass over river rock boulders (not too big).So we had lunch and then came out over a very rough, LONG abandoned trail that had substantial overgrowth. Not a FR road, for sure. Fortunately enough, the gate indicated on the map was OPEN. It would have been a pain to return all the way we came.
Since we had a bit of time left, we took FR11 through Mesquite wash that connects to the Four Peaks Road. It is very scenic except for the fire damage, which is substantial. The short stretch of shelf road also has washouts that make this more difficult than the official 2 rating. We were back in town 3:20.
Our new little eTrex Legend GPS came in quite handy on the trail finding excercises (after a year of nagging me about one, Michael had finally mustered enough justification to get one after the Lake Pleasant run
), I have to admit it's nifty. We were so busy orientating, we didn't take any pictures, but now have the waypoints. ;p Unfortunately, now we have to get back to real life and go to work
Happy New Year to all of you; if you go to a Safeway (haven't seen it anywhere else), check out the February issue of "Offroad Magazine", it features "Blazer Bash in Moab" co-written by Michael, and I snuck my cruiser in
Hope to see some of you at Cruise Moab.
