White Rim Road, Utah (11/03/22)

 

White Rim Rd is a remote road in Canyonlands National Park in Utah. Its roughly 100 miles long, and requires a permit just to drive the road. It also requires a 4WD vehicle, which we happen to have.

Although technically the road can be driven in one day (I have no idea how you could accomplish that) its much more fun to spend a night or two in the campgrounds along the road. The campgrounds are not for RVs- its tent camping only.

Our specific trip along White Rim Rd was several months in the making. Actually longer than that if you consider the fact that we had it fully booked for 2021 but our friends are from Canada, and the border wasn't open so we had to cancel. The campgrounds need to be booked 4 months in advance, and they sell out quickly. Our comrades on this trip were friends Brad and Marilyn, and Dolores. They both have 4WD trucks, although they only used Dolores's for this trip.

Marilyn secured our campground reservations (two nights) and then we waited until a few weeks before the trip to finish the planning.

We all had to have tents, and all that goes with that, plus food and water for the group. When it got really close to our trip, we realized that we would be dealing with temperatures below freezing, which added to our necessary gear.

Since Paul and I were coming from the house, it was easiest for all if we brought the food and the tools to cook it etc.

The night before our trip (wish I had a picture of us with our checklists) we had a meeting to go over last minute details, but also to decide whether we should actually attempt the adventure. Sadly, we had received almost an inch of rain in the last 24 hrs, which could affect the passability of the road. Ultimately we decided we could for sure make it as far as our first campground, 26 miles in on WWR. The first half of the road is easier and less mud prone, so that would give the rest time to dry out.

Up at at 'em not so early the next morning, the 5 of us packed the vehicles. It was quite cold and we (mistakenly) thought we had gobs of time to reach our destination. I guess we didn't allow enough time for all the ooing and aahhing we would be doing, because we had to rush at the end of the day to get to our campsite. Here's how Day One went:

After packing, we started down Potash Rd, which would take us to White Rim Rd. There is a lot to see on Potash Rd., so we made several stops (Marilyn is in this picture).

It wasn’t long before we came to our first bit of excitement- Paul followed the tire tracks through the middle of the “puddle”, which turned out to be a mistake, so we waited for the others to let them know that they should hug the fence.

One of the stops was "Thelma and Louise" point, which is where we had lunch.

And then We finally made it to White Rim Road.

The scenery we were passing by was incredible…

I called this Laundry Woman, Paul called it Preacher Woman, but it was still a really cool rock formation.

Sometimes  the two vehicles were one behind the other…

And other times, Paul and I scouted ahead and waited for the others at a convenient location. (We usually stopped when Paul said “uh oh, that wasn’t good- we should warn them”)

Our goal was to arrive at our campsite by 4 pm so we could set up, and eat before it started getting cold, and dark. I think we got there around 5:30, but dinner was easy (burgers and potato salad) and we all pitched in so we could get set up quickly. It went surprisingly smoothly for people who aren't used to tent camping.

The campsite itself was spectacular, on the edge of a chasm, with beautiful views.

After dinner we sat by the fire for a bit, but turned in early.

When we got up the next day, it was 28* outside, and everything was coated in ice. We were all awake long before we got up....waiting for daybreak so the sun would heat things up.

While Paul cooked a hearty breakfast of sausage, eggs and hash browns, the rest of us started breaking up camp.

On the road once more, we had a 24 ish mile drive to our next campsite. With it being so cold, we started a bit later in the day than we would have liked, but hey, we only had 24 miles to go!

Along those 24 miles was some of the most spectacular scenery we have ever seen. What also put us in awe is that so few people actually get to see it.

We stopped dozens of times to take pictures of the scenery, but also of each other as we navigated the "not so easy" to drive road.

If you zoom in, you can see the Jeep in this picture…

It was fun, and a bit of a challenge....until we reached Murphy Hogback.... the steep climb up the road was "interesting" and when we got to the top, we had to wait for a bunch of bicyclists before we could head down the hill.

It gave us an opportunity to enjoy the view.

Its funny to note two things...one is that when the going gets tough, I do NOT take pictures. My eyes are glued to the road even though I am not driving. When Paul points something of interest out to me on these roads, I am apt to yell "watch the road!!! Also, pictures do not depict adequately the steepness and narrowness of some of these areas.

Coming down from Murphy Hogback was probably the most exhilarating part of the day. Happy to say we all made it safely.

The guys were fascinated with throwing rocks over ledges, counting the seconds until impact.

Sometimes it was a very long wait. You can see people and vehicles in this picture.

Day 2 was probably the bumpiest of the 3 days, with plenty of bone jarring sections, guaranteed to give you a headache.

This was one of those places where we went through the puddle, and the water came up to the rims on the tires, and the boulders were so big, we told the others that the rocky area to the side of it was the lesser of two evils.

We arrived at our second campsite (Candlestick) a little earlier than the day before, and set up camp pretty efficiently.

Again, the scenery was spectacular, as was the sunset. But it was still cold. Not as cold as the night before, but cold.

We called it a night early, anticipating a long day ahead. We had about another 26 miles to get off of White Rim Rd, but the most difficult section was ahead.

We were all dismayed to hear the pitter patter of rain on the tents at about 2 am. At least one section of the road -Hardscrabble- could be treacherous if we got significant rain. I know we all laid awake, hoping it would stop....which it did, thankfully. At 4 am I asked Paul....should we just get up and go? Brad and Marilyn were having the same conversation. And then it started raining again, so we all went back to sleep.

When we did get up, we were pleased to note that rain on a tent can sound hellacious, but could just be a drizzle. Anyway, the ground was not wet, so after another filling breakfast we broke camp and headed out.

We started out the day driving at an impressive 11 miles per hour.  I tracked our trip, and our average moving speed was 7 mph- which gives an idea of the challenges the road presented.

Soon enough, we reached the section called Hardscrabble.  The arrows in the picture point to vehicles climbing the side of the hill.

Although the view from the passengers seat in the Jeep looks innocuous enough, it was the steepest road Paul has ever had the Jeep on.

The view from the truck gives a better sense of it- our Jeep is in this picture.

Once at the top, Paul and I chatted with some bikers while waiting for the others.

Of course, what goes up, must come down.  Its nice when you can see far ahead on the road, since there are very few places to pass a vehicle coming from the other direction.  One of the brochures says you must be able to drive your vehicle in reverse.  Luckily we didn’t need to do that.

The back side of Hardscrabble, and the road beyond it, were the muddiest and I was glad there was time for it to dry out somewhat.

Soon thereafter it was time for lunch before making our way back to Moab.

This is the dirtiest the Jeep has ever been!

At the time, there were plenty of places I was nervous, or had my eyes closed, but overall, I had an absolute blast.  It gave us peace of mind to have a second vehicle with us, in case there was any problem, plus, having friends with us made it much more fun.

I also want to thank Marilyn and Dolores for sharing their pictures with me!

From East To West (10/22/22)

 Paul and I have driven across the United States literally more times than we can remember- and since we weren’t in a rush this particular time, we got out the maps and plotted a course that took us through areas we had not spent much time in.

The first part of our journey took us down the Natchez Trace Scenic Byway.  This road is 444 miles long- it starts near Nashville, TN and continues south to Natchez Mississippi. We have driven it once before, but it rained the entire time, so we didn’t stop much and didn’t see much.  This time the weather was great.

We drove all the way up to the northern terminus, to start there, because we wanted to check out the Loveless Cafe restaurant for breakfast. It gets great reviews, and it was extremely busy, with a 45 minute wait to be seated, but we felt it was more of a tourist attraction, so we wouldn’t bother going there again.

Once we were on the parkway, we stopped when anything caught our interest. The brochure suggests that you take a couple of days to drive the road, enjoying the history, and the fact that there are no houses, billboards, or anything else to detract from the scenery, and that’s what we did.

There are many short hiking trails, and a few long ones, along the parkway- there are also 3 free campgrounds.  This byway has been a road for so long that the original travelers, native Americans and early European settlers, either walked it, or rode it on horseback.  Several of the hiking trails are along the original “Trace”.

We spent our first night at the Meriwether Lewis ( of the famed “Lewis and Clark expeditions) Campground. It is named for him because he died here, under mysterious circumstances, and is buried here.

It’s an interesting story, which I “googled” when I had time. Short Version: After his expeditions, Lewis became governor of Louisiana- during the course of which, he fronted the War Dept money for some projects.  Before he could be repaid, his rival sent letters to Lewis’s superiors, accusing Lewis of fraud.  The mail being what it was, Lewis’s correspondence was too slow reaching his superiors, and he was denied the funds for the projects.  Once his creditors heard, they called in his notes, leaving him essentially penniless.

That’s the background to why he was buried here.  He was on his way to Washington DC with his journals, proving he was not a fraud. The night he stayed at the Griner Inn at this location, the innkeeper heard gunshots, investigated, and found Lewis, dying from gunshot wounds.  It was unclear if he was murdered, or he committed suicide.

Two years after his death, his estate was reimbursed for the expenses he was owed.

As we headed south into Mississippi, the scenery changed from northern woodlands to southern wetlands. One of our walks took us through a swamp.  Instead of pine trees, there were cypress trees.

 

Although they look like normal woods, the leaves are floating on water.

For our final night along the trace, we stayed in a state park In Tishomingo, MS.  There we hiked a 2 mile loop that started at a swinging bridge.  It was just one more example of the excellent work done by the CCC in the 1930s.

Moving westward off the Trace, our next major stop was Poverty Point World Heritage Site. Based on archeology, the first inhabitants lived here about 2000 BC. There are a series of “mounds”. They were built in a specific pattern, and were probably used as residences, and for rituals.   

 

What amazed me was the amount of “trinkets” (circa 2000 BC)that were discovered when they excavated.

Looking for another stop along our route to El Paso, we decided to stop in Carlsbad, NM to explore above ground in the area of Carlsbad Caverns.  We spent one night at the Elks lodge, where, during a conversation with locals, we learned about a nearby hiking trail that leads to a waterfall.  We decided to spend a second night so we could hike to Sitting Bull Falls.  It ended up being a very short walk, but the waterfall was awesome.  There are actually quite a few waterfalls here, fed by a spring. The whole area was gorgeous.

The following day we headed to the National Park. Our plan was to drive the scenic drive and do some short hikes along the way but we learned that the scenic drive, as well as most of the hiking trails, are closed due to flood damage.  Ah well.  Our back up plan was to drive further south and hike to Smith Spring.  Along the way, we came across some bighorn sheep.  This is the most bighorns we have ever seen in one group.  I counted, and there are at least 40 just in this picture.

Smith Spring is actually located in nearby Guadalupe Mountains National Park.  It is a short 2 mile loop, with a spring about halfway through the hike.  The shade was welcome after hiking in the sun.

I was going to finish this post by saying our “final stop” before getting home was…… and then I realized we had 3 final stops.

The first final stop was a 2 day stay in El Paso to check on Paul’s mom, who is doing pretty well for her age…

The second final stop, after we left there, was Hatch New Mexico, where we have been trying to visit because Hatch Chiles are the only ones we will use for our chile Rellenos, and they happen to be in season.  We left with a bunch of fresh chiles.  We actually watched them being roasted.

Our Final final stop was in Casa Grande to see some friends before we got home.  The rain was nonstop, but it was warm out, so we caved in and didn’t worry about getting wet.

And then we were home.  For a few days.