On the Road Again

 Come with us to Moab, Utah and beyond.....

We have not travelled in our motorhome or attended any Jeep events since 2019.  Of course, Covid shut everything down in 2020. So, we were ready for a road trip to Moab, Utah to attend the annual Easter Jeep Safari (EJS) event.  We retrieved the motorhome from storage and packed it up for a 2 or 3 week adventure. 

 The EJS event was not as huge as in past years because Covid still had some restraints on gatherings in Utah but it was big enough and absolutely as fun on the trails.  Jack and I participated in 3 days of 4-wheeling on 3 different trails - Flat Iron Mesa, Golden Spike and Copper Ridge.  Along with driving some Jeep trails we enjoyed once again touring downtown and revisiting some of the beautiful scenic areas around town.

Trail 1: Flat Iron Mesa trail had massive views of the snow capped La Sal Mountains and lots of cliffs and canyons. The trail obstacles were just enough to keep us alert and still have fun.  

Scenic views from Flat Iron Mesa

Crawling down the ledges

Some rocks on the trail

Just us. La Sal Mtns in background

Trail 2: Golden Spike Trail had lots of slickrock, solid rock ledges, broken rock and dirt plus some very vertical sections. It had obstacles named Skyline Drive, Golden Crack, Golden Steps, The Wall, Double Whammy and Body Snatcher and we made it through them all.  Yeah!

Taking the stairs

Crossing Golden Crack

This way to the Launching Pad obstacle.

Trail 3: Copper Ridge Trail skirts the boundary of Arches National Park and was mostly dirt and rocky roads with a couple of stretches of slickrock and sandy wash bottom. 

Klondike Bluffs - Can you see the Tower Arch in the middle of the photo?

Good bye to Moab until next time

Once EJS was over we had an invitation to join some of the members of the Western Slopes Four Wheelers from Montrose, CO for a 3 day trail run near Kingman, AZ. Heck yes!  But before we headed to Kingman we enjoyed some down time near Bluff, Utah driving the dirt roads and hiking to Native American sites. The Butler Wash along the Comb Ridge area near Bluff is packed with Native American history and we did a couple of the hikes to explore the area on foot.

Double Stack/Balcony House ruins

Corn cobs still remain in the storage granary. 

Hand prints line the wall. If only the walls could talk.

Butler Wash Ruins is an Ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi) site & is
considered of the Pueblo III era constructed in the 1200's.

More Butler Wash Ruins

Monarch Cave Ruins are also Anasazi cliff dwellings

Lots of broken pottery, shards and corn cobs have been found
and left at the site.

Also not far from Bluff is the Valley of the Gods, a 17 mile dirt road loop.  The loop features a number of monoliths made from sandstone dating 250 million years old.  Navajo interpretation of Valley of the Gods rock formations is that the rock formations are places of power in which spirits reside. 

Seven Sailors in the background

The vast beauty is breathtaking

Setting Hen Butte

Of course there are geocaches along the route and one happened to be a heck of a risky climb and retrieval but Jack and I were up for a challenge. You will see from the photo below that the geocache container is safely sitting on a shelf of a large monolith formation. 

The arrow is the location of the cache ammo box. Look how small the vehicles
 are near the road where we parked.

After a couple days at Bluff, Utah we loaded up and headed to Kingman, AZ to meet up with friends to do some more off-roading. We happily joined  four other couples to explore around the Kingman area.

Day 1 - Chloride Mines Trail, Packsaddle Mountain Loop and El Dorado Trail.

Old gas station in the Town of Chloride, AZ
Chloride, established in 1863, is the oldest continuously inhabited mining town
in the state of Arizona.

Unique painted rock murals by notable Roy Purcell 
completed in 1966. Some very interesting murals along
our trail. 

Roy Purcell murals

View of Mineral Park Mine started in the 1870s and still in operation today.

Day 2: Hualapai Mountains Trail climbs above 7,000 feet and we enjoyed the cooler weather and pine tree lunch spot. We visited the historic Boriana Mine structures and foundations and found a large display of mining buildings.  To our surprise we found GOLD! Or should I say GOLDFISH in a nearby pond.

Hualapai Mtn. trail

Historic Boriana Mine. Tungsten, gold, silver and copper
were mined from this area.

Goldfish in a year round spring fed pond.

Day 3:   Portland Mine Trail offered us more remote desert trail driving while weaving through rock formations and mining areas until we reached the waters edge of Lake Mohave. Portland Mine was an open pit gold mine probably started in the early 1930's as an underground and surface mine.

Portland Mine Trail

Rest stop along the trail

Portland Mine pit.

We all enjoyed the water at the end of the trail including
Liane and her dog, Eddie.

After all the off-roading was done we stayed an extra day to play tourist and also find some geocaches in the area. Kingman, AZ has a lot of Route 66 history and we enjoyed taking some time to read about the history of the area.

Route 66 - I'll take the red one please.

The town is dotted with amazing murals.
I especially like this train on the water tower
along Route 66.

In Locomotive park sits steam engine #3759 built in 1928. 

This engine is huge! Look at the size of the driver wheels.

Built in 1909-1910 old Mohave County jail is now
surrounded by modern courthouse buildings.

Sign on old Jail. 

Well, I guess that is about all we have to share. We hope you enjoyed this outing as much as we enjoyed sharing it with you. As Johnny Cash said 'I hear that train a comin' It's rolling round the bend' - So I guess we better move on down the road. 

Happy Travels,

Jack and Deb

Taking The Long Way Home

 Oregon to Arizona - Summer 2020

The year 2020 has been plagued with Covid-19, causing financial and mental hardships throughout the Country and Oregon had another obstacle to deal with - Fires! (and other western States also)  

As we were getting close to heading back to Arizona we began to experience the smoke coming in from the California fires plus in the same week, a number of fires ignited in Oregon and Southern Washington adding to the already smoky air.

Our last day with relatives was September 9th (my birthday). The celebration was dinner at River's Edge Restaurant. We sat on the outside patio as the Rogue River flowed by to add to the ambiance by playing the background sound of water rapids. We ate like Kings & Queens and it was a great day and we all had a good time. Cheers!

The next morning it was time to start the adventure home. We found out that most places were being effected by fires or smoke from the fires. So the photos do not display the real beauty of the areas as we spent most of our travels in very dense smoke filled skies.

 

Leaving Grants Pass - Very smoky

We still found unique stops along the way, smoke or no smoke.  I had planned out a couple of geocaching stops along the way that turned out to be fun interesting stops.

Geocache stop: Found the geocache in a nearby tree in front of this old barn with sheep in the field and one llama on guard.  This is where we learned that a llama's natural instinct is to protect their territory and have an ability to bond with the sheep making llamas naturally effective at standing guard. This huge guy was laying down but as soon as we were closer to the fence he came to check us out and say hi... he seemed to like us.

As we made our way out to the coast a couple of things we like to do seem to be common to the same locations... we like to check out the coastal lighthouses and they seem to have geocaches at or near them.  

The Umpqua River Lighthouse located at Winchester Bay, OR was built in 1894 and stands 65 feet tall with a lens weighing 2 tons that can be seen for 19 miles.

Umpqua River Ligthouse

Current Museum and cafe, near lighthouse which use to be a coastguard station

While stopping on the side of road for a geocache we were surprised by this view of the Heceta Head Lighthouse just north of Florence OR.  Even through the smoke you can see the flash of the lens in the lighthouse.  We're not lost!

Heceta Head Lighthouse in the fog...no, smoke !

Yaquina Bay Lighthouse in Newport, Oregon was built in 1871 and restored in 1996.  It is the oldest structure in Newport and the only historic wooden Oregon lighthouse still standing.  

Yaquina Bay lighthouse

We enjoyed a night at Newport, Oregon with beachfront accommodations. We even slept with the window partially open just to hear the roar of the Pacific Ocean as our 'lo-la-by'. Newport is known for its beautiful beaches, aquarium, old town and pier districts.  Yes - there were a number of geocaches to be found.

Newport Bridge

Boat going out to the ocean from the old harbor area

One big happy family until one of them tries to move.

 Well, it was time to start heading inland and home as we had to make directional changes daily as the quick fire flare ups closed roads and towns throughout Oregon.  Having to leave the coast, the majority of our route was straight east on State Route 30 from eastern Oregon through Idaho & Wyoming.  This route followed much of the original wagon track of the Oregon Trail, which took us by old bridges, waterfalls, deep canyons and bubbling brooks.  Below is a fast track of photos of our adventure back to Arizona.

Oregon

Lunch stop in Sankey Park
Weddle Bridge was built in 1937 & is 120 feet long. This bridge was disassembled in its original home of Scio, OR in 1987 and in 1989 residents of Sweet Home, OR (27 miles away) moved, reassembled and restored the bridge in Sankey Park.

Short Bridge built in 1945 over the S Fork Santiam River

Geocache hidden within these fake old town storefronts.

Historical marker on old storefronts. HaHa

Thinking about trading the Jeep Grand Cherokee in on this big wagon - NOT!

Near Baker City, Oregon we stopped to get some understanding of the 
hardship that the pioneers went through forging their way 2,170 miles from east
to west. 

Look at the number of pioneers that travelled the Oregon Trail for
a better life out west.

Actual photo in the Interpretive Center

Life size displays throughout the building.

Ruts of the Oregon Trail

IDAHO

Shoshone Falls - Twin Falls, Idaho. Called the Niagara of the West.  It is 212 feet high and flows over a rim nearly 1000 foot wide.  We were there during low flow.  I can't imagine how much more spectacular it would be with even more water.

Shoshone Falls - Twin Falls, Idaho

Falls complete with rainbow

Tourist

Soda Springs, Idaho - Known for numerous natural springs of carbonated water located around the city. It was a famous Oregon Trail landmark for the settlers.

Here we are at Hooper Springs just north of Soda Springs. We did 
taste a sample of  the water and let's just say I will stay with my
Mountain Dew for now.

WYOMING & UTAH

We ventured to Rock Springs, Wyoming so that we could follow the Green River through the Flaming Gorge National Recreational area.  Flaming Gorge encompasses both Wyoming and Utah. The part of the Green River was named Flaming Gorge in May 26, 1869 by Major John Wesley Powell after he and his men saw the sun reflecting off the red rocks. 

Above Flaming Gorge Dam looking up lake.

Flaming Gorge Bridge

Overlook at Red Canyon Visitor Center

Overlook at Red Canyon Visitor Center looking up lake.

COLORADO

Instead of going straight through Utah and then on into Arizona we decided to make a quick drive through the edge of Colorado for some much needed mountain time before reaching the desert of Arizona.

After traveling through 5 states and 2,200 miles we made it home. We appreciate all of you following along with us as we tell our story.  Until next time - Happy Traveling !

Jack & Deb