You'd sure be welcome. I'd even provide the camping gear. Ya'd have to git yer own food though.

 

Well yesterday I was at the CU at 9:00 then on my way. Almost 9:00 now so I guess I should head out. Ifin yer scratchin yer head, this is from the old Pass Patrol days when Larry had a 100 days of trips every year. They started the day at 9:00 AM every day. And ta prove it they had one of thse cardboard clocks ya could move the hands anyplace ya wanted. So they just stuck the hands at 9:00 and that's where they were all the time.

 

Woooooooo hooooooooooooo! In Green River WY tonight. Green is still shifting the same. Should slip down into CO tomorrow. Might be in Denver as early as Monday night. Green made right at 20mpg on one day last week. Have to see how tomorrow and Monday go. Larry has to work in Denver Wednesday. He wants to be in Denver Monday night. I want to be at the campsite east of Breckenridge by Thursday. If I go to Denver this week I want two nights at a roomin house. I want an early check in and 24 hours to sleep/cleanup before I see Bob and we go ouy and eat and he shows me where to buy a big bottle of Bulliet. Then another night to sleep and a late check out. Dp laundry and shopping. The out to camp. If I can't get in Denver in time for all that I may just wait to see Bob next week. Depends if we get lost or not. I'll post more later.

 

Well this is a map of kinda sorta where I was at. There is a bit more we did on the 19th. And it doesn't include the trip from Wichita, KS across Nebraska to the startin point. And a section from Lander on the highway SW. Guess Why o wyoming lost it's perfect record. Up to now every time I have been in that state I have had trouble with my truck. Maybe Why o wyoming is countin the puter problem and sayin it has a perfect record agin me.

 

Dennis is a good driver. Told him he was hired. See's all the stuff I can't. Did a great job on Tincup yesterday. A first timer notched a pass road yesterday. The first of many I would guess.

 

An old wheeling group is having a reunion August 21, 22, and 23rd near Denver. Camping and light wheeling is the plan. Base camp will be at 10, 600 ft. I have an open seat.

 

I received word that the reunion was a kick back camping trip. Folks showed up Friday and Saturday and just mostly set around the campfire. They did explore a ghost town near camp. No wheeling.

Seems there is a plan to go to St. Elmo next Friday (Sept. 11th). Then wheeling Saturday and Sunday. Miners Run on Saturday (Tincup Pass, Cumberland Pass, and Hancock Pass. Then maybe up to the Mary Murphy Mine on Sunday before folks head back.

It is an easy days drive from my house. 560 miles. About 10 hours drive time. We gain an hour going out. Loose an hour on the return. If we left at noon Friday we'd be at camp about 9:00 Colorado time. If we left noon on Sunday we'd be back in Wichita about 11:00 Sunday night.

I have all the camping equipment. Someone would just need a change of clothes and an ice chest with your food and drink for Saturday and Sunday AM. Maybe a pillow ifn' ya use one. Plan fer cold wet weather.

I could do this without a driver/co-driver it just wouldn't be as much fun.

 

Right now I'm just going to plan one trip next year. Don't if I will make it or not but I'm gonna try. It will be to Utah. Colorado is just too hard on me. I will most likely camp at a different spot every night. Surface every few days for fuel and supplies and maybe a shower. It will be a spring or fall trip as summer is way too hot for me.

There is a side trip in the GS/ENM north of Hwy 89 between Kanab and Page, AZ north on Cottonwood Canyon rd. and over through Coyote creek to the top of Brigham Young plain and connect back up to Cottonwood Canyon rd. I really want to do that again and gets some pic's of Green dropping down to Cottonwood Rd. It is awsome

Right now folks are talking about the area know as the Arizona strip between Mesquite, NV and Toro Weep also known as the Grand Canyon/Parrashant NM. That route will be aprox. 260 miles from Mesquite, NV to Kanab, UT. Extra fuel may be needed.

Sundance did a write up on the Kaiba NF to the east of the above area. That area is near the tourist spot refered to the North Rim.


I welcome a driver. I like to set and watch the sites instead of the road.

I don't mind spending a night in a rooming house on the way out or on the way back long as it's under $50. The more under, the more likely I am to stay there.

Denver is a option for a stop over on the way out or back.

There are some NF campgrounds off of US 50 on the way out or back that can be stops also. Last time I was through Canyon City they had $34 rooms sun-thur.

No date at this time but some are trying for the last part of April so it's pretty much up to who wants to go and when. This will most likely change after it starts and where we go will depend on how folks feel when they get up in the morning on the trail.

I am also willing to go early and stay late to do others stuff in that area.

 

UPPY DATE!
K so I may do more than one trip. Larry wants to do HITR in April. Looks like that may be April 26th and 27th. He wants to do the whole trail from Escalante to Bluff. The section on the two dates listed will be the very difficult section between Cottonwood Hill and The Fort south of Halls Crossing. Don't know what the rest of the schedule is yet. I'm going to try to get Jr. ready for the trip. That means a new engine and AC stuff. If I can't get Jr. ready I'll just drive Green out and skip those two days. Just too much work and too hard on Green the way it is set up now.

 

More uppu date: Got this from Larry this mornin.

We have April built into the following house of shifting sand. So far, it is HITR (Hole in the Rock). For those of you who are not familiar with the trail, think about Hotel Rock and doing it over and over from daylight to dark. It is the most extreme trail I ever did in a factory equipped 4x4. On the other hand, I have been in there with all kinds of vehicles.



Fri April 23rd - Wander on out to Utah.

Sat 24th - Watch you (caveman) hike out to the arch.

Sun 25th - Wander on down to the Fort camp with time in Blanding to stock up on supplies. Will need enough for a few days.

The old route into HITR is said to now be gated due to flood damage. The new route uses the road past the half track. BLM says it is signed and easy to find the new route.

Mon 26th - wander on in to HITR. Boss and his group are supposed to be there. We may not travel at the same pace as they do. Happy Jack and I are figuring this to be our last trip into HITR so we plan to spend some time in there. He wants to visit the Rincon too. We plan to spend one or two nights on the trail behind the fort.

Tue 27th - Maybe still in HITR or maybe spending the night at the Fort. When we get out, we will be looking for a bathhouse.

Wed 28th - Drive to Escalante with a couple distractions or what we frequently call short cuts.

Thur 29th - Drive into Hole in the Rock on the west side. Not sure if we will stay overnight in there or go both ways the same day.

Fri 30th - Open but ending up back at the Fort on the east side.

Sat 1st - Drive the trail from the fort to Bluff.

Sun 2nd - Go home.



We are expecting the schedule will go nothing like the plan but gotta have a starting place. My objective is to collect enough info for three stories covering the trail from Escalante to Bluff. If you (Caveman) do not want to do the hike, we may do the Escalante side first. Might even leave on Thurs instead of Fri. Everything is built on shifting sands.

 

Afternoon uppy date. Looks like Caveman does not want to take his Heepie in HITR as he has not driven it in a few years. The hike Caveman wants to do has it's destination about 11.5 miles south southeast of Hanksville as the crow fly's. Halls Crossing is the closest thing to the roughest section of HITR and it is 63.5 miles south of Hanksville as the crow fly's.

Well, lets blow some more sand away from the foundation and turn the schedule around. What we could do is back the schedule up to the 17th. to look like this.

Sat: April 17th - run out to Robbers Roost.
Sun: 18th: Watch you and yours find the arch.
Mon: 19th: Take the short cuts to Escalante. Set up camp.
Tue: 20th: Go in HITR on the west side and camp at the end.
Wed: 21st: Back out and camp at the UFO landing site.
Thu: 22nd: Drive to the Fort with stops for showers and supplies.
Fri: 23rd: Explore the wagon route from the Fort to Bluff.
Sat: 24th This is a spare day. I would like to explore the idea of renting a boat and go across the lake to the bottom of HITR and Signature Rock. Probably costs too much. Otherwise, just kick back for a while or explore some other roads.
Sun: 25th Play around going in HITR. I would like to explore some side stuff once the new detour connects to the old road.
Mon: 26th Go on in and camp on Cottonwood Hill.
Tue: 27th Go back out.
Wed: 28th Go home.

 

Well this has changed a whole bunch. Larry was gonna go back east to see his mom the first of this month. That has been moved to the first of April. And he's looking for a different truck to take on this. Not sure if Mike still wants to do the hike to the arch on Robbers Roost or not. But right now it looks like we'll most likely start this with near the 26th of April. Maybe a guess would be for me to leave Wichita Thursday the 26th.

 

Right now the plan is to leave Wichita on Wednesday April 21. That is 3 weeks from tomorrow. Wednesday night I will get a room in a motel most likely in Walsenburg or Alamosa. Then thursdsy drive out and camp near comb ridge west of Blanding Utah. I'll be out that way for a while. Don't plan to start home till monday May 3rd.

Any takers?

 

Man.. I wish!! all my vacation time is already spoken for.

 

Things are lookin good so far. Man I love this cool weather and wish I was leaving today. But I have more to do and will just have to wait two weeks. I put 95 miles on Jr. then filled up. The fuel gauge goes way over full when filled then shows empty just under 1/2 a tank so I use the trip meter and put another 230 miles on it. Looks like on that tank it made just over 14 mpg. Should be north of 15 on the next fill up when I change the oil again at 500 miles. Purdy good ifn ya ask me fer a rig thet is built for the trail not the highway. That heat the last two weeks has me worried. The AC on Jr. don't work. Hope to get that fixed this week. Along with the vent run for the tranny and the shifter adjusted. Really need to install a real temp gauge to see how hot the engine is really getting. Thinking about new fuel pumps before I go. The frame rail pump Clint says looks like oem. But the guage being off makes me wonder if someone replaced the intank pump before and miss adjusted the float. Kind of like to have the brakes power blead. They seem a little spongie to me. I have a bunch of little stuff on the list to do but those are not trip enders. The drivers side switch will not run the passangers side window. We replace the switch and thats not it. The speedo is set for the 235 tires and with the 33's it is running 59.5 mph when the speedo says 55. The back up lights don't work. The tag light may not pass inspection. Clint just put two led bolt lights to hold the tag on and there are no hoods to direct the lights down on the tag. They just shine straight back. The exhaust makes a funny noise to me and I don't know if it's a leak ur what. Not real bad just bugs me a little. Was doing the same thing before we rebuilt the engine.

I am sooooo ready to jump in the truck and head that way.

Tentative trip schedule for April trip. It can be changed in a heartbeat.

April 21 - Wed Leave Wichita, KS

April 22 - Thurs Drive to Comb Ridge and set up camp..Use that camp Thurs, Fri, and Sat nights

April 23 - Fri Larry will be working on a mag story so he will be covering the Hole in the Rock Trail from the Fort to Bluff, Utah. This is the easy part of the trail

April 24 - Sat Finish that same section.

April 25 - Sun We will be checking out the Fort and the trails around it. Weekenders can go home. We will find a place for showers and supplies along the way.

We will camp somewhere near the beginning of the Hole in the Rock trail. I am thinking maybe at the Half Track.

April 26 - Mon We will begin the Hole in the Rock Trail. Camp somewhere. Cottonwood Hill is the most scenic campsite if the wind is not blowing. We hope that works out. We expect to meet Boss and his group somewhere this day.

April 27 - Tues Spend the day filming the trail going out.

April 28 - Wed Finish Hole in the Rock Trail and drive to Escalante. Get showers along the way. Camp at Hole in the Rock Trail near Escalante

April 29 - Thurs Drive all the way in to Hole in the Rock, West side, and camp somewhere along the way back. This will go slow since a the filming will be going in this direction.

April 30 - Fri Drive back out of Hole in the Rock. This should go pretty quick. Get showers in Hanksville. See how tired we are. Maybe go to the Wedge to camp.

Us old farts may be exhausted by this time. If not, we will begin work on filming the Castlegate Getaway Route.

May 1 - Sat same trail

May 2 - Sun same trail

May 3 - Mon Go home.

We may be using CB radios if enough people have them. We use channel 13. If not, we will be using GMRS radios. Everyone should at least have GMRS. We use channel 15.15