05-27-13

As is often the case, today’s trip didn’t turn out quite as we had planned.

The plan was to follow the trail over Geyser Pass that is outlined in our back roads book so we could mark it off.
Then come back to Moab via La Sal Pass, which is the road that Sonny told me about.

We headed out around 9:00 and drove into Moab to the Phillips 66 station to get gas and a couple of Subway sandwiches.
From there we headed south and worked our way east to the La Sal Mountain Loop Road.

  
We followed that road up the mountains

until we got to the Geyser Pass Road where we turned south and continued climbing on the well graded gravel road.

We were beginning to think that maybe we had been on this road before but were possibly mistaken since we hadn’t marked it off in our book. 
The ride was scenic and we drove through several picturesque aspen groves.

As we got higher the road got smaller and we started seeing snow along the sides.

Then we found snow in the middle of the road. By then we were sure we had been here before.

About 2 miles from the pass and at an altitude of 9916 ft we came to a snow drift that effectively ended the road for us.

Fortunately there was a place to turn around at this spot so we did and headed back down the road.

 

We took a turn off to Gold Basin but it ended at a hiking trailhead.

As we were driving back down Geyser Pass Road we realized why we hadn’t crossed this drive off in the book. The last time we attempted this drive we were unable to complete it due to the snow.

On the way down the hill we decided to go south on highway 191 to highway 46, turn east

and try to get over La Sal Pass.
Just passed the small town of La Sal

we came to the La Sal Pass road and took it heading up the mountains  to the north.

We climbed for a long ways driving through Aspen groves

across a nice creek

and past a couple of small lakes.

 

We noticed as we got higher on the mountain that the Aspens hadn’t gotten their leaves yet.

 

We went over the pass at 10,135 ft. and started down the north side of the mountains. After less than a mile we came to a large snow drift that had been driven through but looked a little rough.

I stopped the jeep and walked down the road for a ways. We probably could have gotten through the first drift and maybe the second one but further down the trail it became impassable.
I went back to the jeep, turned it around and we went back to the top of the pass and stopped for lunch.

After lunch we headed back down the mountain.

 

At one point we could see the Rocky Mountains.

Like I said, the trip didn’t work out quite like we had planned but it was fun and scenic just the same.

05-26-13 extended

Today we moved to the OK RV Park.
The move was flawless.
After lunch Patti did laundry and I did some house work.

The real reason that I am doing this particular post is because on every ride we take Patti takes pictures of flowers.
In the last posts I haven’t fit the flower pictures into the narrative so here are Patti’s flower pictures.

Yucca

These flowers are actually a very light blue but the camera doesn’t capture the color.

A fairy ring of prickly pear with pink flowers.

These prickly pears have yellow flowers.

Yellow and pink prickly pear’s.

Okay, that’s Patti’s Utah flower pictures to date.

Tomorrow we are going to take a ride on the La Sal Pass Road.
My brother Sonny told me about it and as it turns out it is in our Moab Back Roads book and has not been crossed off yet.

05-26-13

Yesterday’s ride didn’t turn out the way we planned.

We were heading for a trail that went to the Bartlett Overlook but some how we misread the directions and missed the turnoff.
We drove along a good dirt road Trying to find a sand road that went off to the right. The directions said something about crossing a cattle guard then turning right on a sandy road.
We crossed a cattle guard and a short distance further we came to a sandy wash.
We turned right and followed the wash.

Eventually we came to some slickrock and climbed over it to more sand but never came to the steep ledge that was described in the directions.

We continued through the wash and came to some old buildings that were made out of railroad ties.

After taking some pictures of these buildings we continued in the sandy wash. Eventually we came to a dirt road going east/west.
By then we were sure that we were not on the trail we wanted.
We decided that it didn’t really matter as anywhere was good as long as we were out driving around the country side.
We turned east and drove for a short distance where a smaller dirt road entered from the north. We turned onto this trail and followed it to a quarry with no outlet. We drove back down the trail to the dirt road and turned west.
We followed this road for several miles enjoying the scenery, having given up on finding the Bartlett Overlook trail.

Eventually we came to some big bluffs.

We drove around to the west side of the bluffs and took a couple of right turns and came to a large area of slickrock.

The area looked familiar but it wasn’t until we stopped for lunch that we figured out where we were.

We were on the Rainbow Terrace.

We had been here a few years ago.
Oh well, it is a fun ride anyway. The only down side is that since we have done this trail before we can’t mark it off in the book.

After lunch we continued across the slickrock for a while and came to the end where the trail becomes a narrow sandy road.

We followed this road until we came to the Blue Hills Road where we turned east.

It was a good ride and we still have two more weeks here so we will try to get to Bartlett Overlook.

Today is moving day. We have to leave Moab Rim RV Park and will be  moving into the OK RV Park, a couple miles south of this park. 

05-25-13

Yesterdays ride was pretty easy.
We headed east of Moab on Sand Flats road and entered the Sand Flats Recreation area. There was a fee of $5.  
When we turned onto Sand Flats Road we got into the middle of a long line of rent-a-jeeps.

After we went past the pay booth we stopped on the side of the road and let the jeeps pass us.
We followed them up the road until they turned off at “Fins and Things” (a fun slick rock trail) that we had been on a couple of years ago.

 
We continued along the road for several miles taking in the views

 

 
until we came to the “Porcupine Rim Trail”.
I decided to give it a try so we turned left and started down the trail. At first it was a pretty standard dirt trail.

Then it got a little harder.

A short ways further it got even harder.

After about a mile we came to the first serious obstacle.

We made it over this it without too much trouble.
Looking down the road we could see that there were more and more difficult obstacles.

  

I decided that since we were alone and had no clue where the road went and there was just enough room to turn around where we were, that it would be smart to do so.
After backing and filling a couple of times we got turned around and headed back to the main road.

When we got to the main road we turned left. We followed Sand Flats Road enjoying the views.

Along the way we took a few side trails. One went to the Castle Valley overlook.

We followed another trail through the woods for awhile and turned around at a spot with a view to the west.

There were also some interesting rock formations visible from this trail.

Eventually we got to the paved La Sal Mountain Loop Road and followed it toward Moab.
After a few miles we turned onto the road to Oowah Lake. The road was well maintained gravel and climbed into the mountains. It wound through Pines and groves of Aspens

along a tumbling stream.

  

When we got to Oowah Lake

we decided that this was a good place to have lunch. We sat around there for a while after lunch and watched a few people fishing.

  

Eventually we headed back down the mountain to the the pavement and turned left toward Moab again.
Coming down through some “S” curves we could see an old dilapidated log cabin on a hill.

A little further down the road we passed a couple of farms with nice views of the Moab valley and the rocks to the west.

The zippers on our little green lunch box/soft cooler finally failed so when we got back to Moab we went to at a couple of places to see if we could replace it. We finally found a small one at The Family Dollar store. It doesn’t have as much room as the old one but it will work until we can get to a Walmart which is where we got the green one.

In the evening we could see the full moon rising behind the La Sal Mountains.

Today we are going to try the Bartlett Overlook trail. It is rated difficult in the back roads book. Most of it is rated moderate except for a short section that looks pretty difficult. We will see how far we get. Either way we will have a good time driving around in the country.