Easter Jeep Safari 2017

Fun in Moab, Utah

at Easter Jeep Safari 2017

April 8th - 16th was a week packed with Jeepin' fun.  This was our 4th year to attend the Easter Jeep Safari organized by the Red Rock 4-Wheelers club.  Thousand of jeeps and off road vehicles sign up to participate in a number of trail runs known throughout the Moab area.  The scenery is made up of beautiful red rocks.  The Moab area is also known for Arches National Park, Dead Horse Point State Park and Canyonlands National Park.  With or without a 4-wheel drive it's well worth a visit.  The Easter Jeep Safari is also a great time to ooh and aah over all types of vehicles, from customized rock crawlers to the older seldom seen classic Jeeps.

We started our trip leaving Scottsdale on Saturday morning and not wanting to push it to make it all the way in one long 10 hour day, we stopped and spent the night in Bluff, Utah at the Cottonwoods RV park.  This gave us the chance to explore the area that we've driven through a number of times but never took the time to stop.  We found this rock formation called the locomotive rock. 

We found the Sand Island Petroglyph site and were able to see the many years of natives applying their art and stories to the rock walls

After a great morning exploring in Bluff, we headed on to Moab which was just a easy 2 hour drive on up the road and get checked into our spot in Moab.

We once again stayed in the Moab Rim Campark at the South end of Moab.  The park sits above Highway 191 which gives us a birds eye view of the rigs as they come and go from town.

 View from our RV site - LaSalle Mountains

We signed up for three club sponsored trail runs.  We enjoyed Dome Plateau, 3-D and Hells Revenge trails.  Below is a photo from Dome Plateau and one of a number of arches seem on this run.

A stop along the way on Dome Plateau trail was Cow Springs which had these large natural caves in the rock wall face and a natural spring coming out one which the local ranchers used to water a cattle pond.

Hells Revenge trail was a true 'Slickrock' trail and offered some good four wheeling challenges with tall near vertical climbs in which the 'lockers' had to be engaged but the JK accepted and passed all the challenges put at it all week!



On days in between trail runs, we like to explore on our own around the Moab area and this year we checked out Deadhorse State Park which is just Northwest of Moab and over looks the Colorado river and great views of the Canyonlands beyond for as far a one can see.  We could see the famous plateau and cliff named 'Thelma & Louise Cliff' which was where the movie scene were filmed where Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon drove the '66 Thunderbird over the edge at the end of the movie.

On the way back from Deadhorse State Park, we made a back roads detour and found Gemini natural bridge arches which are two arches side by side in the same rock but are separate arches as they have a large gap between them and we were able to walk across the tops of them.  In fact in the years past, they use to allow you to drive down and across them and actually park your Jeep on the top them.  Walking across was good enough for us!



We enjoyed our week in Moab filled with Jeeps, trails and beautiful scenery.  

Sign us up for next year.  

Until next time - Enjoy your adventure.

Gold In The Hills

September, 2016
Montrose, CO via Rimrocker Trail to Naturita, CO.
Return via back roads from Norwood to Dolores and back to Telluride, CO.

Gold in the hills ! Our eyes were on overload with the beauty of the golden color of fall leaves on our weekend trip from Montrose, CO via the newly opened Rimrocker Trail to Naturita, CO and return via Route 145 from Dolores to Telluride. 

 

The Rimrocker Trail is a road that allows you to enjoy 160 miles of off-pavement travel while experiencing the many different stunning landscapes that connect Montrose, Colorado to Moab, Utah. The roads on the eastern half are graded gravel roads that are two vehicles wide and would easily be traveled in a non four-wheel vehicle. We had heard that it was a fantastic destination to travel through the aspens during their fall color changes as well as some fantastic views at the overlooks. 

 

Between Montrose and Nucla, the roads travelled are mainly graded roads that would be suitable for most vehicles which started west of Montrose as the 'Divide Road' crossing the Uncompahgre Plateau at about 9500 foot in elevation.  Along this segment there are countless trail spurs on each side of the road that looked inviting to explore as the terrain is evergreen forest with a variety of aspen trees with many options for camping near green meadows.  Dropping off the higher plateau down in to red rock country to the town of Nucla.  The roads change from dirt to pavement as you pass through the town and then revert back to dirt nearing the canyon trails. Nucla is from an era of the start of the nuclear age in the 40's as Uranium mines dot the landscape with signs of mining equipment here and there. 

We decided to only drive the Colorado half of the Rimrocker trail, ending at Highway 141 and the Dolores River crossing.  We'll save the red rock and Utah portion for another weekend trip. 

 



View of the Delores River and Utah near the end of the Colorado portion of the  Rimrocker Trail at Highway 141.

Road shots of Delores River on return trip through Delores, Rico & Telluride.

Fall is an amazing and beautiful time in Colorado with the abundant of color experienced in the past four weeks.  The colors are slowly fading and falling from the trees to mark the start of winter.  We hope this will not be our last adventure to Colorado in the Fall.

 

Until next time - Enjoy your adventure.

Owl Creek Pass Fall Colors

Owl Creek Pass, Colorado
September 25, 2016

“Nature gives to every time and season some beauties of its own.”

— Charles Dickens

As we returned from the Gunnison area we decided to turn off on the Cimarron Road to take a quick 40 mile dirt road trip on the Owl Creek Pass through the Uncompahgre National Forest.  We had enjoyed this road during the summer and pledged that we would return for the Fall colors.  So let the photos begin.

The route offers many good views of the rock peaks known as Chimney Rock and Courthouse Mountain.

The colors of Colorado are beautiful.  We plan a couple more Fall trips before winter sets in.  Until next time get out there and enjoy an adventure.

“I am rich today with autumn’s gold.”

— Gladys Harp

Happy Fall Ya'll

Kebler Pass Road, Colorado
September 25, 2016

It's Fall in Colorado and we were exicted to get out there and celebrate the changing of the colors.  From Montrose, CO we traveled Highway 50 to Delta; St Rt 92 to Hotchkiss and then St Rt 133 to the Kebler Pass Road.  It took us about 1.5 hours to reach the turn off point enjoying the smalls towns as we went through along the way like Hochkiss, Paonia and Bowie.

 

References indicated that the Kebler Pass Road is an old railway grade.  The two-lane gravel road goes up and over Kebler Pass and currently is a popular route for anyone travelling between Crested Butte and Carbondale, Paonia, Delta or Montrose. Beautiful aspens, the surrounding West Elk Mountains and the Ruby Range create a scenic drive with endless photography options. The drive welcomed us with golden, brilliant orange and red leaf colors.  We found exactly what we were hoping to see.

 

Kebler Pass Road - Easy driving

 

 



Side excursion to Lost Lake. Beautiful area. Would be great for summer camping.

 



 

 



 

 

What is left of the Town of Baldwin. Founded in 1881 when gold was discovered. The whole town is privately owned with No Trespassing signs posted.  Too bad.  Would love to explore the old buildings.


 

  Our photos do not do the area justice on

 the magnitude of the colors offered during our drive.

Thanks for joining us on our Fall adventure. 

Enjoy your day!