Pappy's 2024 Adventure 2: NM, AZ, UT

[pappy]

Part two. In the middle of October I jumped in the truck for another "short" trip. This time, 2 weeks. I started out on the border in the Peloncillo Mountains in the NM bootheel. Why? Because there are cool plants down there and I was on the hunt for one.

Who doesn't get a grin when you see a sign like this. Geronimo Trail National Scenic Byway.

My camp in the Peloncillo Mountains.

The reason I was down there. Madrean yucca has very few records for NM. I thought I would need to hunt for this. I didn't. It was all over the place. Damn botanist are slacking.

The Peloncillo Mountains are very interesting botanically. Several Mexican species cross the border in this section of NM and AZ. Two other plants I found were Chihuahuan pine, and Mexican pinon pine.

Chihuahuan pine.

Mexican pinon pine. Our SW pinon is a two needle pine. The Mexican pinon is a three needle pine. From a distance they look sort of the same.

 

[pappy]

The only flower I found down there was desert fuchsia. A fall bloomer that is popular with hummingbirds.

 

[pappy]

From the Peloncillo's I picked up US191 at the Mex/AZ border ... just because I could. My goal was to drive it to Green River, UT, sort of. One night on the way up was spent in the mountains south of Alpine, AZ. The second night was off UT95 south of Blanding. Third night was on the UT BDR in the La Sal Mountains.

At Justin's showing Steve said something about a state highway in CO that was kinda cool. So, instead of jumping over the pass in the La Sals to Moab, I went east to Naturita and picked up scenic CO141 and took it north to Gateway. From there I went west on dirt to UT128 in Castle Valley. This dumped me out on US191 north of Moab.

From there it was a beeline to Green River, and south to Pappy's happy place on the west side of the Green River.

Castle Valley from on high.

Horseshoe Canyon. It flash flooded in August. I swear the wash level was 3ft lower in places.

Great Gallery.

Red-spotted toad.

One of three additions this trip. Starlink Mini. I wasn't sure how I would use this. That is still evolving.

 

[juane]

Awesome, Jon!

 

[pappy]

The plan was to drive up into the Henry Mtns, cut across to the Burr Trail, play around in Capitol Reef NP, dump out at Boulder, UT, then decide what to do from there. Unfortunately, the weather went to crap.

My view of the Henry Mts from Hanksville. It didn't seem like a good idea to drive up there, especially since the forecast was for three days of weather. For the record, it was four days of weather. I decided to blast over to Calf Creek and see if I could get a campsite to hold out the weather.

I already had one night of rain in Canyonlands. In Calf Creek I had two more nights of rain. The forecast was for a fourth night of weather. I fired up the Starlink in the campground, and on day three of rain I said f'it and made a reservation at a motel in Kanab, UT. On the way to Kanab I stopped by Bryce Canyon NP and played tourist. The trails were soupy mud, so I didn't do much except have lunch at Ruby's Cafe.

 

[pappy]

Sitting in the campground at Calf Creek I did some Starlink action, working on a Plan B. I decided to check out Vermillion Cliffs National Monument. One area that was mentioned was White Pocket. Normally I would not say someplace like this by name, but I can tell you that place was not a secret. When I arrived there were 8 cars in the large parking lot, and one camper further up the road. That night, and the next morning, I had the place to myself.

Selfie.

White Pocket campsite.

Pano.

 

[pappy]

More White Pocket. I spent two hours wandering around the rocks. I had the place to myself.

Rock art.

Ponderosa pine reflection.

 

[pappy]

After White Pocket I decided to drive a loop around the perimeter of the Monument. The website was very clear ... 4WD only, no AWD "know the difference." Ya, folks didn't listen. The issue was sand. Deep to China sand. Fortunately, it was wet and not much of an issue.

A 1942 6-by truck of some kind.

The flat-head 6 under the hood.

The PTO setup on this. You actually had to remove one of the rear driveshafts, and hook it up to the accessory input.

What it was hooked to.

Serial number off the engine block. This is how I came to 1942.

 

[pappy]

Assorted pics.

Vermillion Cliffs camp.

Winter Rd.

View across the Paria River.

Paria River to Navajo Mtn.

 

[pappy]

Maps. Southern route.

UT and AZ.

 

[Mauser]

The cab of that truck looks like an International. The front clip is looks like something else welded on.

 

[pappy]

The cab of that truck looks like an International. The front clip is looks like something else welded on.

I just did the Google thing on that serial number. I assumed the D42 related to the model year. Plus, the way the hood opens suggest pre-1946. Turns out the D42 is a 228ci Dodge car engine from 1951-52. So, it sounds like the engine is a transplant.

 

[Poupon]

Amazing Pappy!

 

[5speed addict]

The cab of that truck looks like an International. The front clip is looks like something else welded on.

think its a dodge WC62 6x6 with a cab welded on since the dodge was an open cab, the way these old 6x6s got repurposed post war has always been fascinating to me. I watch two guys youtube with old ww2 6x6s backyardalaskan and alaskatrucker, super cool trucks especially the ones up in alaska on chained up giant airplane tires