I woke up at 4 AM to the unmistakable tip tap of rain on my roof, the rain had not only not finished by the time I went to bed it was back. I tried my best to get back to sleep but I was pretty restless the rest of the night.
My lack of sleep was only interrupted by an increasing need to go and dig a pit in the rain so at 630 I relented and returned my Denny’s breakfast back to mother earth having completed its journey and accomplished its mission.
A quick breakfast, clean up of camp and we were off. It was forward or bust.
The rain had let up again by now and as we got back on the trail, much to my surprise and delight, it wasn’t muddy. Wet with patches of mud, sure, but mostly sand just as the BLM office had suggested.
In a shockingly short amount of time, we were off the bluff, past the cattle gate and down onto the valley floor, this was all going well so far, a little too well?
Actually no, things were finally going great and the fears I had about the lower drainage that was the valley we were in were completely unfounded. Not only was the trail not muddy, it was in PRIME condition. No dust, smooth as silk...this is much better. In fact, it was time for rush. You see, I found on the Kokopelli that Rush Fly By Night is about the perfect overlanding album and it was time to brush off the gloom of the previous night and jam to my feel good song. So as you read the rest of this, Jam to this tune and enjoy the great emotions I was experiencing at this time.
Getting further and further down in the valley we start to see the needles district in the far distance. Overwhelmed with good feels I nearly forget that we still have a creek crossing up ahead.
Still, seeing the sky again sure felt great. As we got closer to the creek we saw a Wrangler Rubicon coming the other way and it didn’t look as it had just battled a raging river, things, again were looking up...and then at last....
Uh...yeah, that’s not going to be a problem. I guess the other clue would have been the VW Passat about a mile before this.
About the only thing to do now was to enjoy the seasonal waterfall a bit and figure out what to do with our surplus time.
Consulting the rangers we met in the needles district later in the day (whom I called before I left and were zero help) they say the creek only really runs for 12 hours or so max during intense melting or rain.
Well, time to crack on, cross this torrent and get on with the day!
Whew.
Back on the highway again, headed towards needles district and the strange little plot of land juuust outside the park - the Needles Outpost.
Its basically a campground, $5 a gallon gas, and the least convenient store ever.
The young man in the University of Utah sweater working the counter was nice, and he didn’t seem to mind us browsing the “store” and making calls on the Verizon hotspot. Neither did he mind us not buying their gas but instead using their parking lot to fill up from our cans and air up. Oh and also for wade to unstuff his stuffed exhaust pipe that had by now melted a little bit of his fender.
I couldn’t figure out his lack of care, given the reputation this place had until I got home and did a little digging.
Leased to couple in 1997 it was turned into a commercial property but that broke down, so they rebuilt it and made it better! That was washed away in a flash flood, so they rebuilt it again, and the third one stayed up! Even still the land owners quadrupled the rent and its speculated they were trying to railroad the couple out, who by now had become legendary disagreeable people -Almost anyone who spoke of the needles outpost before now spoke of a mean old woman berating them on the phone or in person, in fact the couple was later involved in a string of minor crimes including throwing a roll of quarters as someone and throwing rocks through windows. Well intentioned they may have been, however, the state won out and as of now they are out and a temporary Moab based company is running the show until this august when the land will be sold off at a public auction where the reserve price has been set at one million. Their story really is fascinating and I urge you to read a little about it here and about the likely buyers, a land grabbing real estate speculator under the guise of agriculture here.
My thoughts on Utah and the sale of public lands is well documented so I wont go into it here, but I should say Im just glad they can’t have the needles, or Lockhart.
So, air and fueled up we decided that our next stop should be lunch, then someplace in Needles. We head into the ranger station and have a nice lunch and then decide that a trail called Colorado Canyon Overlook would be our last trail of the trip. We could have done Beef Basin still like we planned, or down into Lavender Canyon but those options took more time that we really wanted to spend.
Turning right out of the parking lot we are back on dirt and this dirt...this is good dirt.
One of the things I love about the needles area is the roads offer an amazing blend of technical and flowy roads and so far this is one flowy road and we are LOVING IT!
About 1 mile from the end of this road is back to low range, as it gets significantly slower
There are even a few spots we spot, but we don’t stop to take pictures, just make sure we aren’t going to do something stupid. Its a lot more intense than we’re expecting but fun.
At the top we are greeted with the remnants of the recent storms in tiny pools in the foreground to some great views in every direction.
The views of the river, as promised on the tin, aren’t bad either.
Even offering a chance to look down on some empty jet boat tour boats. do they offer pickups? cause I want in on that!
Have I mentioned I love this place? I love this place.
To the south is the Needles and Chesler park
To the west is island in the sky, the white rim and white crack
And southwest is the confluence, the Dollhouse and the Maze
I said it every time I come down here, but the heart of Canyonlands is almost mythically powerfully to me, I keep getting called back here again and again. I can’t tell you why, but there is some kind of voodoo crack magic out here for me.
Underwear though...again with the underwear. I must not be the only one tapping into this voodoo crack magic.
Time to head back down the trail I stop to snap a few pics. A little convoy action and a little flex action.
I wasn’t even close to being fully flexed out thanks to the sway bar disconnects that, as Wade reminded me later in camp, were probably not worth all the trouble. After all, the whole mess with the brakes started after i had longer front lines installed to avoid tearing them flexed up. Dumb luck I suppose, still something to think about. Never-the-less, now that I was, more or less, working I was glad to have it. It made trails less intense and it made challenges that extra little but less challenging.
Back to Lockhart road...I feel like I was just here...
and to our amazing campsite. Seriously, love this spot.
Low traffic, lots of room, and the nice sun beating down finally warm enough to try out my ghetto camp shower.
The “shower” was a 10 liter dromidary bag that was on top of my truck all day heating, then hung from my hilift handle which swung out nicely and then a 1/2 hose attached. I went down the hill a little to get a gravity boost and I simply put my thumb on the hose for off, and took it off for on. 10 liters didn’t last too long and the water wasn’t exactly warm (though not cold) but it did the trick and it felt great. Im coming around to the idea that a camp shower is almost a necessity for morale and reseting the body. This solution could use a little refinement, but I think it will be my standard going forward.
We got into camp early and all unanimously and silently decided that a little down time would be a good thing.
Nothing to do now but enjoy Tom’s Dutch oven chicken, and watch the sun set over the hill.
And look back over the towering bluffs of lockhart basin that seemed so imposing just a scant 24 hours earlier.
Yeah, I wish I had taken more pictures like these the rest of the trip. Then again, maybe its fitting that the best came last, hard to say.
I sleep great, finally.
Brady and Riley are out first, with a pressing need to be back and we aren’t far behind them.
Back on the road, the brakes are starting to act up again...I can’t go faster than 65 without a LOT of wheel shake as the rear calipers are locking on (Likely a result of the caliber seals and LSP valve seals being swollen and sticking)
Luckily I’ve got some good friends who stick with my the whole way, Wade pretends that its about going slowly to save gas with his big draggy RTT, but I know better...Wade you big softy.
It was an adventure, this trip -
new brakes
bad weather
lost pictures
Great teamwork
New friends
New places
I owe my travel companions a million apologies and thanks for sticking with my in spite of my problems both physically and other.
Another piece of the puzzle and another one for the books.
Check out parts 1 and 2 here if you haven’t (part 2 has been updated with new pictures.)