Canyonlands Maze District Oct 2010

[dzJeepChic 2,441]

Various weather conditions was the theme of this adventure; can't wait to tell you all about it. The vehicles did well; everything we asked of them. We explored how to camp in harsh conditions.

 

Only one teaser for you now:

 

Lots more to come and a good story as soon as work allows. d

[theksmith 3,849]

What a trip!

 

[dzJeepChic 2,441]

ORP’s October 2010 Canyonlands Maze trip began as many trips do, at McDonalds at the crack of dawn. 2 rigs and 5 people were on this adventure: theksmith (Kristoffer) in his WJ had his mom, Jenny and his cousin Sheila, and George and I in Clifford. Our objective that day was get to Hite, UT for fuel & ice early enough to leave pavement and find a campsite before dark. It intermittently rained on the drive up, and we took a few detours along the way; the Dinosaur Tracks near Tuba City and on the trail to Mexican Hat Rock.

 

Must've been little dinosaurs:

 

 

 

 

 

By the time we got to Hite, the store was closed and we couldn’t buy ice, but the weather looked like we wouldn’t need extra, and the pumps took credit-cards, so we topped off our tanks and cans and headed out. It was cloudy, cold and nearly dark by the time we reached the air-down kiosk. We determined the location of BLM land on the map there, and it wasn’t far. Along the way we met a group who’d left from Hite that morning and tried to make the Dollhouse, but the trail was too much for them. They said it had rained and was windy camping at Hite the night before. We knew rain was imminent, so we camped on slabs and put up tarps to help keep our stuff dry. We managed to get a little hotdog-roasting fire going, ate, watched it go out and went to sleep.

 

Friday we woke up to the cold wet world we would soon be too acquainted with. Our reservation that night was at the Maze Overlook; about 50 miles away, so we bugged out fast. The trail was drenched. George and I found that our plan to fabricate fenders on Clifford is imperative! Any speed above 10 mph sent showers of mud onto the Jeep; the whole thing covered in no time. While I could still put the window down I got a few pictures of the landscape.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Continued

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[dzJeepChic 2,441]

From the first main intersection on the road from Hite, Teapot Rock & the Dollhouse are to the right; the Maze Overlook is straight ahead. This road ascends and hugs the side of a tall rocky ridge. It’s one of those trails that get your attention being shelf-like and narrow, and as we crossed it in the rain on Friday, it was also slick! We really took our time here – most of the turns slant toward the mountainside, but a few are angled toward the cliff. It felt all too likely that you’d slip off the edge if you went too fast.

 

 

Particularly tricky to drive on was wet bentonite: natural clay which has the characteristic of swelling many times its dry size when it becomes wet. This stuff offered no traction whatsoever, so our vehicles slid now and then – not what you want to have happen on a shelf-road! We also noticed places where rainwater was running in rivulets through holes in the roadbed that were washing out by the minute. At this point images of the current damage to the White Rim trail were flashing through my head. We met another on-coming group in XJ’s who were on their way from the Maze Overlook to the Dollhouse; we warned them about the slick trail ahead.

 

 

 

 

After the turn-off to the Maze Overlook, we stopped at the Golden Stairs campsite before driving down into Elaterite Basin. The ‘bathtub’ we’d taken pictures of during our last visit was full of water, and George scooped bucketsful to rinse mud off Clifford. The weather cleared for the rest of the afternoon, and the drive to the Maze Overlook was uneventful and scenic; the plants, rocks and surrounding canyon walls were brighter than usual due to being wet. We met an on-coming vehicle; two men in a stock Toyota T-100 on street tires. They wanted to know if we’d come down the Flint Trail – the one with the switchbacks we’d done a year ago. We told them we’d come in at Hite, and that road was slippery enough; we advised against driving the switchbacks under these conditions.

 

 

 

 

Continued

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[dzJeepChic 2,441]

We arrived at the Maze Overlook around 5 PM. We found tubs full of water on the slabs where we could rinse the mud off both Jeeps before setting up camp on an adjacent slab. The soft ground we enjoyed camping on last year was thick slick mud now, so we avoided it. More rain was on the way, so again we raised tarps to keep things dry. Later our ‘tarp patio’ turned out to be a nice place to hang out while cooking and eating dinner. It got breezy and cold fast that evening.

 

 

 

When the sun rose Saturday morning the sky was blue. We watched sunlight stream across the maze and took our time breaking camp and packing. Now for the long drive back to Teapot Rock and on to the Dollhouse, nearly 40 miles! Having to re-cross the slippery ridge we’d traversed yesterday, we were thankful it wasn’t raining, and hopeful it wouldn’t start until after we passed that section. The trail wasn’t nearly as slick as the day before, but it was still a little slippery. The erosion holes in the road were still there, and when theksmith stopped to take a picture of one I was mentally chanting: ‘Hurry up Kris’ because theoretically, the road could still collapse!

 

 

Teapot Rock in the background:

 

 

 

 

We made it to Teapot Rock by 1 PM, and stopped there for a quick, chilly lunch – I guess it’s always windy at Teapot Rock! Then it was on to the ‘technical section’ and beyond. What was scenic on our last trip was breathtaking on this trip – again colors were more vibrant because wet. We met the 2 XJs we’d seen the day before on their way out, and chatted a bit before moving on.

 

 

 

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[dzJeepChic 2,441]

A few pictures from the 'technical' section:

 

 

 

 

Now we were in the area known as ‘The Land of Standing Rocks’, and passed ‘The Wall’, ‘Standing Rock’ and ‘Chimney Rock’ before the turn down to ‘The Dollhouse’. The views past ‘Mother and Child’, our turnaround last year, astonished us: we were on the other side of the Maze. The ‘Chocolate Drops’ formation, which is immense from the Maze Overlook, is tiny from here, while ‘Woody Woodpecker’, miniscule from the Overlook, is easily spotted from here. It was fun to point out various landmarks from a different viewpoint.

 

 

 

The Dollhouse is difficult to describe. The standing rocks there are completely different from rocks elsewhere in the park; they’re multi-color layered rocks, roundish and squat, that tower over you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[dzJeepChic 2,441]

We had our choice of Dollhouse campsites 1 & 2, which were similarly placed in the rocks; however site 2 offered more space and less wind. No slabs here, it was all sandy, and although calm as we set up, we raised tarps, sure there would be more rain. Kris’ crew tested his OBHS system while George and I washed our hair with stove-heated water. The only comment I heard from theksmith camp was Kris shouting ‘Where are my clothes?’ His mom had moved them when it started to rain as he showered. The rain fell steadily as we cooked and ate dinner, and we were glad to have a dry place to sit under our tarp-porch.

 

 

Home Sweet Home:

 

 

 

 

At the Dollhouse:

 

 

 



 









 

 

 

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[dzJeepChic 2,441]

Our original plan was to spend Sunday at the Dollhouse hiking and exploring, but the weather changed our minds. We decided to reach Hite by Sunday night and find a place to camp so we could get home Monday. We enjoyed the scenery as we reversed our tracks and came back past the Maze. Lunch was at Teapot Rock again, this time inside the Jeeps because it was so cold.

 

Leaving the Dollhouse:

 

 

 

 

From Dollhouse 3 looking east to the Needles District:

 

 

 

Going back past the southern end of the Maze:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we got on the road where you can get up some speed, it wasn’t very long before Kris heard loud squealing coming from his Jeep. He thought it was the front axle on the passenger side, but it turned out to be coming from the rear passenger side.

 

 

 

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[dzJeepChic 2,441]

George drove it for a while and suggested we stop, take it apart, and see what was going on. We stopped at the first solid place we could jack it up, and took the wheel off.

 

 

 

After removing the rotor, we found a tiny pebble wedged between the dust shield and the brake rotor.

 

 

 

 

 

Then it was on to Hite where we fueled and foolishly aired-up before studying the map in search of BLM land for camping. We found a trail along White Cliffs Canyon a few miles away, and decided to make camp a few miles in, and do the loop in the morning. Several miles in we took a lesser trail to an area of juniper and slabs, and found a place to make camp. We were treated to a spectacular sunset, and made a campfire since we were in BLM.

 

 

 

Whoops, air down again. . .

Another Mexican Hat!

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[dzJeepChic 2,441]

As we slept gale-force winds came with rain. George and I in the Cherokee were soundly sleeping until wind blew our spare-tire carrier and shook the rig. We could hear the wind howling and we wondered how Kris’ Mom and Cousin were faring in their tent. We woke up to pouring rain, and set about to break camp as quickly as possible. We all left with no coffee and no breakfast, and went to the White Cliffs trail.

 

Mud soon became Clifford’s enemy again; he was completely covered and we couldn’t see out. Somewhere we stopped for a break and discovered that even the door handles were covered in mud. The trail we calculated at 10 miles was longer; it wound up mountainsides along the north of Utah 95. Soon it was snowing and I was thinking this is crazy! How long is this trail? Then Kris found a lesser trail he said would take us to the highway; it followed the base of a ridge along the western end of Natural Bridges State Park.

 

 

 

 

The weather cleared as we came down off the mountain. We could see Highway 95 when Kris radioed that he’d come to a river. Thinking we could wash Clifford in it, I responded, “Good deal!” He replied, “No, I mean a river we have to ford”, and naturally, I thought he was joking. He wasn’t though; there really was a fairly fast flowing river to cross, that we negotiated it no problems.

 

 

 

 

After that he radioed: “I hope this gate isn’t locked!” “Ha-ha”, I said, but that wasn’t a joke either; thank goodness it wasn’t locked!

 

 

We aired up, re-connected, and were on our way down the long highway to home. Much to our dismay it didn't rain anymore on the way home, so the mud dried on real good.

 

 

 

 

It took George all one day to clean Clifford up, and we just got everything put away yesterday. Looking back on the trip, even though the weather was a challenge, we learned a lot about exploring the backcountry in harsh conditions. We're feeling pretty happy to discover we can both sleep comfortably in Clifford even in wind and rain, and have ideas for an easier awning.

 

I worried a few times that Kris' Mom & Cousin were in for more than they'd bargained for, but those southern girls were troopers! Neither ever had a cross word to say and they looked like they were enjoying themselves in spite of the weather.

 

It was a trip I won't soon forget, but it sure was nice to get home! d