TheSamba.com :: View topic - 5/13/14 PDX to Teh Moabs~The Long and Winding Roads o~

Thu Apr 03, 2014 7:11 pm

Thinking of leaving Tuesday May 13th evening and getting a few miles behind us. Maybe Meachum @ 3 1/2 hrs.....maybe not....just get the flock out of town...this is the plan. Hell, Hood River or Teh Dalles is far enough for me 8)

Day 2 Wednesday May 14th get to SLC earlier. Meet up with some SLC crew and head towards the hills the back way to Teh Moabs.

At this juncture, quite open to suggestions. I know of at least 5 of us that are commuting that way and I live to make every journey, just a little more special.

So far, Dustin(Jahbah~D), Carterzest.....

Hoping to get a jump on the drive and start things off on a positive!

PDX~SOLSTICE GOERS....... This is your "Pre-Approved" Thread.

What say YE?

Of course, the end result is this thing and we are planning on having it go early and late, so....what are your plans PDX folks?

I/We, the Hanky Crew, must be home by late Wednesday the 21st......

Thu Apr 03, 2014 7:36 pm

I'll be able to leave Wednesday after work any time. I'll look for some good routes down and the way I drove home last year was pretty fun to I70. Route goes through some sand dunes which I want to explore more http://www.duneguide.com/sand_dune_guide_whitewash_dunes.htm

Thu Apr 03, 2014 10:32 pm

hans j wrote: I'll be able to leave Wednesday after work any time. I'll look for some good routes down and the way I drove home last year was pretty fun to I70. Route goes through some sand dunes which I want to explore more http://www.duneguide.com/sand_dune_guide_whitewash_dunes.htm
I'm headed to SLC on Wed evening to visit a buddy there and spend the night, heading down Thursday morning. It'd be great to catch up with you guys along the route.

Fri Apr 04, 2014 4:56 am

Ill do the last 35 miles with you, if you are at Cresent Junction when I get there :D

Fri Apr 04, 2014 9:21 pm

I'll probably be heading to Moab on Monday to meet up with a friend from Grand Junction, maybe earlier. I can probably stay down there for a few days after SS.

Wed Apr 09, 2014 2:11 pm

Had a great trip through San Raf Swell last year. Perhaps you all should hit up 'the Wedge', Buckhorn Wash, Temple Mountain Road to Goblin Valley, lots of options for a side trippin' in SanRaf.

TeamJ will already be in Moab at that point-- camping, drinking, floating, and hurling down difficult terrain on our mountain bi-cycles.

The desert is our friend.

Wed Apr 09, 2014 3:12 pm

Planning to leave sometime Thursday Morning from Spanish Fork, then up the canyon towards Price.

I don't plan to travel fast. So you may Catch -------> Pass me :lol:

I am excited to make some new friends and tour places in Moab that I have not been. My son in law will be bringing the family in their 2wd Westy also. This will be our first campout for the season as a group.

Fun! 8) Fun!

Wed Apr 09, 2014 8:06 pm

Love My Westy wrote: I'll probably be heading to Moab on Monday to meet up with a friend from Grand Junction, maybe earlier. I can probably stay down there for a few days after SS.
Well, I guess that answers THAT question that I was going to ask you :D
See you in Moab, Rich!
Camp&Ride wrote: Had a great trip through San Raf Swell last year. Perhaps you all should hit up 'the Wedge', Buckhorn Wash, Temple Mountain Road to Goblin Valley, lots of options for a side trippin' in SanRaf.

TeamJ will already be in Moab at that point-- camping, drinking, floating, and hurling down difficult terrain on our mountain bi-cycles.

The desert is our friend.
Thanks for the tips. I was hoping for a local who knew those routes to do the trek with us. Sounds like exactly the line in that we seek.
Our goal is to get out of town on Tuesday evening. I get off work at 6:00PM and will meet up with Dustin(Jahbah~BO) and any others wanting to caravan from the area. We will make it out of town on Tuesday night and get perhaps 3-4 hours up the road-hoping for Meachum, top of the hill outside of Pendleton.

The plan for Wednesday is to make it to SLC and stay the night. Looking for a yard or driveway or campground to make home for the night(so far just 2 vans but hopefully growing to more) From SLC, I was hoping to do a more indirect route to Teh Moabs as mentioned above.

Syncro Jael wrote: Planning to leave sometime Thursday Morning from Spanish Fork, then up the canyon towards Price.

I don't plan to travel fast. So you may Catch -------> Pass me :lol:
Perhaps we may just take the EASY way as well :oops: Or, you could join up with us for the more scenic route into the area as mentioned above.

Still waiting for Jahbah~D to chime in on his ideas.

Wed Apr 09, 2014 9:36 pm

I'll be leaving PHX on Tuesday, headed to Goosenecks via Prescott on Wednesday, and into VanaMecca on Thursday, in case anyone wants to rendezvous.

Whoops! Title says PDX, not PHX. :twisted: :P :P

See y'all there. 8)

Thu Apr 10, 2014 10:30 pm

carterzest wrote:
The plan for Wednesday is to make it to SLC and stay the night. Looking for a yard or driveway or campground to make home for the night(so far just 2 vans but hopefully growing to more) From SLC, I was hoping to do a more indirect route to Teh Moabs as mentioned above.

I have a yard, and driveway! Should be able to accommodate :)

I'm looking into roads right now, I don't think Skyline Drive will be free from snow though, but we'll wait and see. Also thinking about doing this one I did last year but backwards: http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=2184695.

Looking at my atlas and thinking I-15 to US6 Eastbound, turn south on US89 to Fairview. Turn East on highway 31 to Huntington then on to dirt through Buckhorn Wash and stop at the pictographs and dinosaur foot print! http://www.utahoutside.com/2012/05/explore-buckhorn-wash-in-the-san-rafael-swell/. Then perhaps over to Black Dragon Canyon if I can confirm a syncro can make it :shock: but then it's under some tunnels to the other side, some freeway frontage road to Green River, then old US6 to link up to the map above that goes through White Wash Sand dunes and on to camp :D

Fri Apr 11, 2014 7:58 am

hans j wrote: Looking at my atlas and thinking I-15 to US6 Eastbound, turn south on US89 to Fairview. Turn East on highway 31 to Huntington then on to dirt through Buckhorn Wash and stop at the pictographs and dinosaur foot print! http://www.utahoutside.com/2012/05/explore-buckhorn-wash-in-the-san-rafael-swell/. Then perhaps over to Black Dragon Canyon if I can confirm a syncro can make it :shock: but then it's under some tunnels to the other side, some freeway frontage road to Green River, then old US6 to link up to the map above that goes through White Wash Sand dunes and on to camp :D

Another good route would be up Sp. Fork canyon, turn at Thistle Junc, to Fairview canyon. That would get rid of some of the 80mph freeway.
I was just up by Skyline drive, still snowmobile weather on top. :roll:

Huntington Canyon to Huntington, Castle Dale, then the Green River cutoff trail (401) to US 6 almost to Green River. About 65 miles of oiled dirt road. If the other roads are wet then...
:lol: Syncro :lol:
2wd :shock:

We could spend days getting to Moab once in the San Rafael area. Fun places :

Buckhorn Wash:
Black Dragon:

I could go one of these weekends and inspect roads off of 401 just to see how they are since winter. 401 is usually always good enough for anything to drive down.

Let me know what route you are thinking of. :idea

Fri Apr 11, 2014 7:01 pm

Huntington Canyon to Huntington, Castle Dale, then the Green River cutoff trail (401) to US 6 almost to Green River. About 65 miles of oiled dirt road. If the other roads are wet then...
:lol: Syncro :lol:
2wd :shock:

If you are on wet roads in the Swell, it doesn't much matter 2wd or 4wd. The clay will stick to your tires and you will be sliding around no matter what. I've been down there in my 2wd Vanagon and caught in a cloudburst and made it out sliding all over with BFG's that were clogged up to look like slicks. The same thing happened when I spent a night in the Swell and it rained all night and I was in my Dodge Dakota with 4wd and 4Wheel Camper. My tires clogged up with clay and I was sliding all over the road. I don't think there was much difference using 4wd.

Fri Apr 11, 2014 8:00 pm

If you're looking for some hiking while out and about the San Rafael swell has some seriously awesome hikes, Crack canyon and little wild horse canyon are quite awesome with just a bit of bouldering to get up and down, for something that is all hiking Chute canyon is well worth the drive, a little bit out of the way, but awesome for sure.

If you're looking for something with some rock climbing but mostly all hiking, the ding and dang canyon loop is severely awesome!

Fri Apr 11, 2014 10:21 pm

Thinking something along these lines: https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zPwn4b04L3Sg.kO9rwUVJV4PQ Some freeway and then on to Floy road where we can drive to camp on all dirt after playing on White Wash sand dunes.

I've asked around if the canyon is syncroable. The rest should be fine for 2wd.

Sat Apr 12, 2014 7:35 am

hans j wrote: Thinking something along these lines: https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zPwn4b04L3Sg.kO9rwUVJV4PQ

Access denied, permission needed.

Sat Apr 12, 2014 8:16 am

jackbombay wrote: hans j wrote: Thinking something along these lines: https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zPwn4b04L3Sg.kO9rwUVJV4PQ

Access denied, permission needed.

Fixed it. And Ding and Dang canyons have been on my list for a while!

Sat Apr 12, 2014 9:52 am

Hey guys,

Hans thanks for looking into some sweet routes through the swell. We did the buckhorn wash route last year with Pam and Jeremy, minus dragon canyon. The drive from slc to moab was certainly a highlight of the whole trip. We may roll into town with four or five vans. So we could arrive in moab via the back route with eight? Hope to connect with synchronicity for the tail end.
So the idea is leave salt lake in the am on Thursday and arrive to SSolstice on Friday morning or.....?
The vans mostly dialed in just figuring out some last bits and pieces. We're going have some good times! 8)

Sat Apr 12, 2014 10:25 am

hans j wrote:
Fixed it. And Ding and Dang canyons have been on my list for a while!

Yep, works now.

You're probably pretty familiar with it, but you will need a short rope for a hand line for one section in dang canyon IIRC, the one that is further to the southwest. The swell was quite crowded when we were there last fall due to the fed shutdown, but there was nobody hiking ding and dang because it does have a bit of climbing, and some COLD water, but not past your hips (you can stem over it, but its really a lot easier to just get wet), traveling through 2 epic slot canyons in 6 mile loop is quite memorable!

Mon Apr 14, 2014 7:46 am

Jahbah wrote: Hey guys,

Hans thanks for looking into some sweet routes through the swell. We did the buckhorn wash route last year with Pam and Jeremy, minus dragon canyon. The drive from slc to moab was certainly a highlight of the whole trip. We may roll into town with four or five vans. So we could arrive in moab via the back route with eight? Hope to connect with synchronicity for the tail end.
So the idea is leave salt lake in the am on Thursday and arrive to SSolstice on Friday morning or.....?
The vans mostly dialed in just figuring out some last bits and pieces. We're going have some good times! 8)

I just took a quick trip down through the San Rafael Swell on Saturday to see how the roads were. My grandson went with me and we stopped at the Dinosaur quarry out passed Cleveland, then back to Castle Dale to grab a couple Subways and fuel, and at the museum in Castle Dale so he could see some more Dinosaur stuff.

Headed out on the Green River cutoff road then turned down Buckhorn wash so he could see the Petroglyphs and Pictographs

then all the way down to I-70. It was getting later so we did not go to Black Dragon, but did head back towards Price on 191 then turned back off on the Green River Cutoff road before Woodside. This part of the road was like I remembered it, narrow and pretty rough for many miles. Chimney rock road. The road got better to where you could drive along at 40pmh again once you get passed the "Pancake Boulders" out on the flat.

Then turned off on the Lower Cedar Mtn Road 335 passed the "Kiln"

and to see the Boulder petroglyphs.

Then across Buckhorn Flat again to Buckhorn Draw Road passing the Buckhorn reservoir back to Cleveland.

Fun trip again. Not much traffic and the roads were in great shape. There were the spots of "Flour" dirt stretches along the route that would be a challenge if it were really rainy. But none of these roads are anything a 2wd cannot handle. So come with us. 8)

Mon Apr 14, 2014 8:17 am

Black Dragon Canyon may be pretty rough from what I have heard. Definitely want body protection!

There is also another route that would include a river crossing at Fuller Bottom. That could be fun but puts us pretty far West on the freeway which is what I don't want.