Floridians do Utah (a traverse plus some other stuff)

[40TUDE]

As a precursor, I would like to say thank you to those who have posted trip reports and information. Sites such as expeditionportal, and expeditionutah, advrider, and Ih8mud, made this trip possible. And a special thanks to xjblue whose route I borrowed much from (the first several days) and for answering many of my questions.

D-Day (Day 1 and Day 2)
June 13, 2012 - June 14, 2012

We enter our coordinates in the driveway: Lutz, FL to Hoover Dam. 39hrs. 54mins...2542 miles to reach the starting point of our journey. This is after months and months of preparation (and lots of discussion with a worried wife) for our first real adventure. Maybe I will add a build thread at some point. Our home and life support for the next few weeks is our 20 year old Land Cruiser with 210,201 miles and the ORIGINAL HEAD GASKET!!!!! (LORD SAVE US!)

Hopefully, everything is ready and we haven’t forgotten anything, the day starts out with an oil change early in the morning thanks to my father, while I went in to work. Here goes nothing.
I start the first leg of driving...I75 through the rest of FL (yay). One outstanding thing is this part of the journey was spotting a fellow Floridian in a murdered out Subaru Forester will a snorkel (AWESOME), the vehicle was also apparently protected by snapping turtles.

The rest of the southeast is much the same...bugs, heat, pine trees, flat land, and more bugs. Whether it is the adrenaline (doubt it) or the thirst to get out west (too cheap to spend money on a hotel) we decide to push on through the night. The one memorable place in the southeast was the town, Grosse Teete (the name provided mild entertainment at 3 am), but memorable for all the wrong reasons. It felt like we were in a different country or maybe planet.

We kept driving westward bound. We ate at a Jack in the Box -pretty yum-in (spicy chicken sandwiches not a good idea on road trip) New Mexico. Well, we kept on driving more until we reached Petrified Forest National Park, and Mrs. 40tude was adamant on stopping even though we had just been there in March (on our trip back from buying the Cruiser is Tucson). We drove through the teepees and headed to the Crystal Forest trail.

Light and easy trails, but majestic scenery. And Mrs. 40tude had to do her signature handstands every 50 feet of the trail.

Again, we didn’t spend enough time there because we (I) were dead tired and just wanting to get to Utah. We drove and drove, and drove some more till we finally reached the Hoover Dam at 11:30pm. We tried to get a hotel room in the Boulder Dam Hotel, but unfortunalety there were no vacancies. After trying several other hotels and avoiding the seedy ones, we had to drive to Henderson, NV to a Holiday Inn Express for the night, or rather early morning. A rest...FINALLY!

 

[40TUDE]

Day 3 June 15, 2012
To start the day, we saw this truck in the parking lot (gotta be on Expo member), after that we made our way to the Hoover Dam.

Long story short... we got mad at the state of affairs and left disappointed but glad we can check it off the list. If you go there make sure you have used the restroom and have plenty of cold water. They charge for everything...except for the two water fountains out in the middle of the blazing sun. The water was 98.8 degrees.

Now, we were really ready to hit the dirt! This required several more hours of driving up Hwy 93 and passing through Vegas, but we made of final fuel stop at a real hidden gem if you are in the area. This Sinclair fuel station in Caliente, Nevada, doesn’t look like much from the outside, but once you get inside it a nearly as well stocked as a full on grocery store. It is a fantastic place to fill up on fuel and supplies.

Soon we were in the dirt heading for the Utah border on Bunker Pass. One thing that quickly became apparent was how quickly and amazingly the landscape changes here. EVERYTHING CAN LOOK COMPLETELY DIFFERENT EVERY 5 MINUTES! INSANITY!

Nevada

Going into Utah

We soon hit the much anticipated border of which we had been dreaming for months on end.

We also quickly learned that all of Southern Utah is open range for cattle. Lots of roaming cows.

The next goal was to find a good spot to settle in for the night. We soon ended up in a dreamscape, though the pictures are good they do not do it justice. The grasses looked like metallic silver and gold shimmering in the wind. I still can’t shake these images from my mind, easily the most beautiful thing I have seen. I am glad the sun decided to put on this performance for us.

Next we passed through a Joshua tree forest, but because we were chasing daylight and knew that later in the trip we would be driving on the Joshua Tree Scenic Backway, we did not slow down and enjoy it or take the amount of pictures that we should have. I think we have 2 from the unofficial Joshua Tree Scenic road. For the record there are many more Joshua trees on Bunker pass than the Joshua Tree Scenic Backway.

We finally found a small little spot where we could pull off the trail to set up for the first night out.

 

[Korasher]

Just a BTW, the pics aren't working and only link back to EP which are unviewable to non-members.

 

[40TUDE]

Pictures working now?

 

[Korasher]

Pictures working now?

Yup. nice work and nice shots. looking forward to more!

 

[TRchieD]

Your off to a great start hope we get to see more!

 

[Gwagg]

Wow what an adventure.

 

[FJCRAWLER]

Nice , nice , nice , looks and sounds like you two had a good time .

Did you see any UFO's ?

 

[40TUDE]

We may have gotten a few pictures of some...stay tuned

 

[40TUDE]

Day 4
Had a great nights sleep and woke up ready for more. We took Bunker Pass to Indian Springs trail which brought us across a great wash. There were some clouds in the sky off to the southeast, these were the only clouds we saw for the entire time we were in Utah. We could see the TV Tower Hill in the distance which was the goal for the morning.

After crossing the wash. We happened upon a cowboy on his trusty steed looking for a lost cow (apparently we are not in FL).

TV Tower Hill is a “Jeep Trail” up to the top of a hill where the television broadcast towers for St. George are located. It was fairly steep but not challenging. The views were amazing though, we could see into Arizona and Nevada from where we were, we could also see the trail we had just travelled hours across.

We then followed Hell Hole Pass until we hit Old Hwy 91 for a quick 9 mile jaunt down the pavement to the aforementioned Mojave Desert/ Joshua Tree scenic Backway.

Not too many Joshua Trees in this backway. It looked like at one time there were more Joshua trees along the route but a fire had taken many of them.

Next up was Hollow Wash Road which provided some fantastic views and some mild wheeling, St. George seemed very close in the distance but that was deceiving.

Hollow Wash Road ends up dumping you out right into the middle of a subdivision in St. George. Right along the street in the middle of the subdivision was a huge boulder covered in ancient petroglyphs.

Since we were back in civilization we decided to get a bite to eat. We stopped at a place called Irmita’s which was amazingly good. Mrs. 40tude had a Hawaiian torta. If you are in St. George go here. I would eat at this place nearly every day if I lived nearby.

Next step was crisscrossing St. George to get back on the dirt. We soon found ourselves on the Honeymoon Trail (this was the path that many Mormons used to take to get married in St. George), and a sand pit of sorts. It was Mrs. 40tude’s first time in sand and she proclaimed that she was stuck. I thought oh well, I will get out and assess. This is how deep she was stuck.

Mild use of the gas pedal was the emergency extraction device. We continued on until hitting Ft. Peirce. It was extremely hot at this point and the engine temps were showing it. We had to keep our speed up and AC off to keep the engine cool.

There was a sign for dinosaur tracks along the trail, but previous explorers stated that they could not find them, so we kept going.

Very soon after this we had to engage the diff locks for the first time. A tree and a boulder had fallen in the path and getting past them required some throttle and tire spin in the sand.

After feeling that we had just succeeded, we quickly got a bit lost. There were small trails in many direction and it took us nearly an hour to figure out where our route was supposed to be going- turning around, backtracking, and diverging of paths all while trying to keep the engine cool driving in the desert sands. We were a bit stressed at this point I must admit.

We found the continuation of the Honeymoon Trail. Lockers on butt cheeks clenched and go for it. Fairly loose rocks with a path not much wider than the truck and a sheer drop on the passenger side. Mormons are no joke. Period. Made it up no problem (or so I thought) the Mrs. didn’t seem to be all that thrilled with being in the middle of nowhere bouncing along the edge of cliff (nothing that couldn’t be cured by doing it 20 more times down the road). Anyhow we now refer to Honeymoon Trail as the Trail of Tears.

Continuing on we quickly ended up on Hwy. 59 and added another 2 miles of pavement to the day. We jumped onto the Smithsonian Butte Scenic Backway which was full of fantastic views of Zion NP.

At this point it was getting late and we knew we wanted to get going early to do the Narrows hike in Zion. Somehow we were able to get the last hotel room in Springdale at the Pioneer Lodge. (Yes I know wimpy, but it was the only hotel stay that was non emergency related.) We also decided to throw in a load of laundry because we didn’t know when we would be able to next. That might have been more of a stress than the Trail of Tears...people leaving their clothes long after their load is done, coins getting stuck in the machine, and dryers not drying properly. By 11:30, we had finally done one load and hit the sack.

 

[indianporfavor]

2 months and you still havent finished?

btw any more pictures of you with your shirt off?

 

[40TUDE]

Ya ya it took me 3 hrs at least to get this far

 

[40TUDE]

Day 5
June 17, 2012

We woke up bright and early and headed for breakfast in the Pioneer Lodge Restaurant. Mrs. 40tude sustained the first known injury of the trip. She had to get chapstick from the car, and decided to jump over a waist high fence, but was unsuccessful. Her shin hit the fence instead of clearing it. A large hematoma formed with a gash, but some blood was not going to stop her from hiking the narrows-the hike she had been talking about nonstop (or eating pancakes).

After breakfast we took the bus from Springdale to Zion, and headed straight to Sinaweva Temple, which was the last stop. The bus had a nice little audio tour guide and we learned some new information about the park. About 15 minutes later, we walked along a paved trail which took us straight to the Virgin River and the start of the Narrows. It was an amazing hike and required hiking in the river up the canyon the entire time, wade through freezing waters (had I been an inch shorter it could have been worse).

We didn’t rent the walking sticks or canyoneering shoes (MISTAKE! they recommend these things on this hike for a reason). We just wore our chacos and it worked out OK, we just couldn’t fly through the Virgin (ha) as quickly as the individuals who had the two pole set up and ankle support, they flew through the Virgin (snicker). We hiked 3.0 miles in and hiked 3.0 miles back.

Mrs. 40tude wanted to do Angel’s Landing as well, but time was of the essence (I was tuckered out) so we went back to Springdale to hit the road again. By far Zion was the best of the populated NP we have been to. On our future trips to Utah, a longer stay in Zion is a requirement. The hike was breathtaking the entire time. I spotted a deer and some turkeys along with a bobcat later in the day.

Next up for the day was Elephant Cove Rd. (we continuously got a kick out of what are referred to as “roads” in Utah). There are never any signs ANYWHERE let alone signs telling travellers that 4wd is required. This section was SANDY,

I called on my Scandinavian roots for insane rally driving skills. This section was soft sand for 20-30 miles. I did not know this at the beginning and therefore didn’t air down, keeping speed up was key. All was going well until....my famous last words, “Hey look at those pretty flowers....” FORWARD MOMENTUM STOP...SIDEWAYS MOMENTUM ACCELERATED... UH OH! We were stuck...precariously stuck. The picture doesn’t do it justice (as usual). We needed to go uphill, but with any spin of the tires the Cruiser was sliding sideways of the hill in a bad bad way. (Yes I should have aired down_)Hmmm... assess the situation. Nothing to winch to...unless I want to bury the spare tire...no. Early birthday present of MaxTrax from my beautiful wife, seems like as good a time as any to test them out. I stuck them under the front tires first in an effort to at least get the truck pointed back uphill. IT WORKED...well still stuck but pointing uphill and feeling much safer. Threw them under the back tires and voila we got right out. BEST PRESENT EVER!

Not long after this the road follows a dry river bed for several miles (I do not think there are any real rivers in Southern Utah, those blue lines on the map are just to tease you). Just as we were nearing the finish we came to a fence stretching across the entire trail. Dangit...I did not want to backtrack 30 miles of sand. But tada, we only backtracked about ½ mile and found the way around. If you travel this way do not be discouraged.

Next we hopped onto Glendale Bench Rd./Skutumpah Rd. which had fantastic views of the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument.

While out taking pictures I noticed a small exhaust issue, the tailpipe had gotten smashed up into the rear bumper the day before probably from one of those wrong turns on the Trail of Tears (aka Honeymoon Trail).

Later at camp I stuck my axe handle up the exhaust and bent it back down. No big deal (Right?)


We found a little campsite off of the side of the road which was fantastic. First and only fire of the trip. We soon found out about the fire ban. Shame on us for that night’s fire.

 

[40TUDE]

Day 6
June 18, 2012

After waking up from another fantastic nights sleep we hopped onto Cottonwood Canyon Road.

First stop was Grosvenor Arch (which was breathtaking).

We made it here early enough in the morning to be serenaded by the local coyotes while traipsing around as the sun started to peak over the arch. It made it all the better that we had it all to ourselves. It felt like we had Utah all to ourselves most of time.

After spending a while at the arch we rolled back onto Cottonwood Cyn Road, which provided us with what seemed like endless geological delights. Every place we looked, looked completely different than the place right next to it (this was fun and never ending).

Next stop was Big Water to fill up on fuel and water before heading over to Lake Powell (and beyond!) So we pull into the gas station to fill up, but alas they have no fuel. This required us to make a short trip down into Arizona again to Colorado City to fill. If you are looking for polygamist souvenirs this is your one stop shop!

Next turn was onto NPS 230 and into the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. The landscape was gnarly, completely lunar, and so so hot. There was nothing here and no one around but wild rocks in this crazy moonscape...until we happened upon this. Meth lab get together?

We followed this track out to the end of Alstrom Point which gives gorgeous views of Lake Powell. I could not have imagined it to be as breathtaking as it was. And yes we had it all to ourselves.

Croton Road was next on the list. We had been joking before and calling it “Crouton” Road etc., that was until we got onto it. This road needed me to put on my big boy pants. I do not think I have had such elevated adrenaline levels for such a long period of time in my life. This road is no joke, it is nerve wracking as hell. For the first 30 or so mile it skirts the edges of the cliffs climbing higher and higher (this was not the big deal). At every switchback and turn there was a washout, and a washout on the edge of a cliff means tipping over way too far for comfort waaaaayyyy too often. Remember we are Floridians...not really used to elevation. Not much was done in the way of photography along here as nerves were high. I should also mention for those that have not been in the area that this is seriously remote, hiking out would take multiple days, and the heat was well over 100F. The likelihood of someone else driving along is also extremely low (I would think maybe once a week at most). This all added to our nerves. (Of course, there was no sign at all stating 4wd was necessary.)

There is a point where it levels off a bit and we were able to calm down and pick up our speed a little, the Mrs. was a bit frazzled. Left Hand Collet Rd was the next turn and one that we desperately needed. It takes you down through a little canyon that is just spectacular, it was full of more geologic delights. I really enjoyed this little road and it really brightened our moods.

Well we just got done going roughly 60 miles in low range, I must say this was a first for me, coming from Florida such a thing is unheard of.

Next was Hole in the Rock Road, I HATE Hole in the Rock Rd. I was exhausted and the incessant washboard was not what I needed, but we persevered to the Journey Through Time Scenic Byway. This was a short bit of pavement but provided a nice break and great views as always.

We stopped for dinner at the Burr Trail Grill and parked next to a pretty sweet ride.

Food was ok, pie was great, price tag was way higher than I thought. ($7 for a piece of pie with a dollup of ice cream). Boulder, UT is a cool little place that I wish I had gotten to see more of.

At this point the sun was setting fast and we needed to quickly find a campsite. Luckily, a few miles down the Burr Trail Scenic Backway we found quite a lovely one (fantastic views, a great sunset, and all to ourselves.)

 

[1988fj62]

i love watching other people traveling through my home state being blown away by the amazing diversity of it. i really enjoy living here in st.george. im truly spoiled with all of the places and things available at just a 5 minutes drive away. keep up your adventures and maybe someday we can all meet up.

 

[40TUDE]

Day 7 June 19, 2012

We started the day with a lovely (but short) drive the Burr Trail to Wolverine loop.

The plan was to drive down Horse Canyon. I had seen Horse Canyon talked about in the thread by xjblue, he had said that it was the highlight of his Utah trip, but he along with others believed it to be closed. With much hope and optimism we decided to give it a go. (As a side note Horse Canyon is not shown to be a trail or road on any of the maps I have looked at.)

I noticed this morning that I now had another issue with my exhaust, the tailpipe which I had bent back down, had broken off of the resonator. I assume that it had rattled off during my way too fast drive down the washboard of Hole in the Rock Road.

From looking at it, I assessed it to not be a big deal as it looks as if the vast majority of the exhaust would still exit below the bumper. The corner of the bumper was getting hot, and it was cooking the grease out of the tire carrier spindle. (I thought no big deal, that won’t hurt the bumper, the spindle will be fine...everything is fine...right?)

Shortly we arrived at Horse Canyon and proceeded the drive down, thinking at any moment we would come to a gate, AND WE DID! IT HAD A CHAIN BUT...... NO LOCK! HA! Happily we plodded along.

The track is basically a dry riverbed with gorgeous canyon walls on each side. This was a true delight, and as usual on this trip we could not believe it was open for vehicular traffic, on the East Coast everything is covered in cement or cordoned off. Horse Canyon is 13 miles in, and then 13 miles right back out (very cool and very worth it).

We then took Wolverine Loop around to Moody Canyon Road. Wolverine Loop provided more crazy lunar rock formations everywhere. Getting lost out here on purpose or on accident would be sooo easy.

Following Moody Canyon Road brought us to the entrance of Capitol Reef National Park (Mrs. 40tude didn’t know we hit a National Park, so she was a happy camper. Anything that has the word “national” in it seems to tickle her just right ), where we quickly took a left onto Upper Muley Twist Canyon Trail. This little 3 mile trail is so awesome.

Fun 4x4 driving coupled with stunning rock formations equals excellence. We pretty much had the place to ourselves except for a bicyclist. I couldn’t imagine.

We took a quick break for lunch under the shade of one of the few trees in Southern Utah and then took the Notom Bullfrog Road north.

This road is washboard bumps after washboard bumps. The long days of driving, along with the heat, along with the washboard were creating the perfect storm brewing in the passenger seat next to me. I knew it was coming she was exhausted and needed a break and frankly so did I. We had learned at this point that our pace was too fast, the days too long, but honestly it would be hard to do it differently at this time of the year. The heat is so strong and it is extremely difficult to find shade, which means pushing it in the car from morning till night.

I had a look at the map and made an executive decision to deviate from our long day of off highway driving that lay ahead. We needed a break right now. We headed north and took 24 to Hanksville where we were able to fill up on supplies, and fit in a second lunch which included monstrous milkshakes (mood enhancers). With moods enhanced, I pulled the map out again and decided to head straight to Natural Bridges National Monument while my copilot napped. This was the only pavement section of any length we took in all of Utah but it was needed at the time. Of course she woke up just in time to demand we stop and check out Natural Bridges “NATIONAL” Monument.

After spending a very short time at Natural Bridges (the Sun was already setting), we headed up to the Bears Ears in the Manti-La Sal National Forest to find camp. We kept getting higher and higher and suddenly ended up in Colorado? We emerged from the desert rocks into a lush forest full of swaying aspens (so weird this Utah is).

A little further and we found an amazing scenery packed pulloff. We got out, it was chilly and the winds were high! “Ok lets make dinner and shower real quick.” I go to the back, open the hatch, TAILGATE WONT OPEN! (I have a drawer system in the rear which contains all the cooking gear and ALL OF MY TOOLS! The tailgate completely blocks me from being able to open the drawers from being able to get to any of it.

TIRED, HUNGRY, CRANKY Why in the world won’t this open? OH NO! The exhaust had heated up the back corner of the Cruiser so much that the tail light was melted, the insulation burned off the license plate light, AND THE PLASTIC INSIDE THE TAILGATE CATCH! (Apparently the exhaust situation was not “fine”)

I realized I had stuck my leatherman inside of my backpack, this allowed me to get the two tops screws out of the tail light, and luckily on the lower one (which I would not have been able to get) the plastic had completely melted away. With the tail light out I had access to to catch and was able to unscrew it. The catch was toast (I guess one will have to do).

OK step one complete, now I have tools. Time to do something with the exhaust. (At this point it is getting dark fast and the winds are howling. I know if I don’t fix it now I won’t sleep. Good thing I have my York compressor and pneumatic angle grinder (this should be quick). Turn on the engine, turn on compressor, and watch the compressor shake everywhere. The two front bolts that hold the York on had snapped off. Ok now I have to remove my compressor (so much for quick).

Ok I had a hacksaw, time to lay down a tarp and get to work.

After spending quite a while removing the resonator, I hacksawed the exhaust off in such a way that I hoped most of it would get blown out from underneath the vehicle (Man, if it were only a few more inches longer). AHA!

This was the FIX and now my exhaust had to last till I could make it to Moab several days later. There was no rear exhaust hanger. With fingers crossed I would take it slowly.

 

[40TUDE]

600 views and 1 reply from someone I don't know? Lame

 

[FJam]

Sick trip , just did mine in my 71 fj40 from Florida in july ,Utah was amazing and want to get back and get more scenic views

 

[Griffin]

Just started the beginning of a trip I hope to take next Summer with my oldest son. I have friends in Arizona and was planning on hooking up with them before heading north in Utah.

I'll be noting down some of your trip info. Good times, thanks for posting.

 

[scottryana]

Awesome looking trip! Very envious!