Where's the adventure?

So our destination was to get to Hole in the Rock Trail for a bit of some off roading. Heres you a map if your wondering where this is. So our plan was to drive to around Goblin Valley camp one night then head south to the trail the next day. We started early and it sounded like the other 2 vechicles were leaving earlier then we though. Well as the day went by and my wife and I got down and found a camp, the others still had not left. They were trying to get some last minute work done on there truck before they gave up and headed up to meet us. Well now we had a few hours to kill before they were going to get there….. way after dark. We decided to see where Little Wild Horse road ended up going. It was the first time I have been on this road in a while, now that it is paved I guess it will always be a croweded area. We went past Ding and Dang, and for a Thursday both Trail heads had a bit of a crowd. The road seems to be more of a dry river bed, which would not be a good place if it rained. We climbed up and over and though we ended up on a different planet. There were smooth rolling hills of red, grey, and purple dirt. It was a sweet view! The road took us to Muddy Creek, which didn’t live up to its name. That water was very clear. After we got to a bit of some deep sand we turned back to check out Muddy Creek Ranch.

We camped just up Temple Mountain road a bit so our famliy could find us easy. It looked like a popular spot with fire rings built everywhere. And I had never noticed the art up on the wall before. The vandals have taken a toll on it over the years. I took a bunch of photos while waiting for the crew to get there.

After a sleepless night cause the dogs that came along were up all night chasing everything we were on the road. We made it to Bullfrog and played a the lake till the next Ferry was going to arrive. The cost is $25 cash only each way so make sure you have some $$ with you. It was a quick ride across the lake and we only had about 15 miles to the trailhead. Make sure you have enough gas cause it is a bit of a drive, and the first section we took at a ton of deep sand sucking that gas down. There were a couple of old vehicles out on the trail to stop and look at. But the next stop was to find a campsite somewhere out on the trail. We ran into some guys that didn’t have enough gas for all of there jeeps to get out and they were on a mad dash back to Halls Crossing and back down the trail to get there 2 jeeps off the trail. After about 17 miles on the bumpy road we ran into a snag. We were already tired and ready to stop, but adding a broken tension wheel into the mix just sucked. We were next to a dead end road so we just made camp on the road. Lucky for us the guys that were going back to get the jeep out of gas had the same engine and said we could have the part off his jeep once they got back to where they loaded it up on a trailer. Only 9 miles back, but it wasn’t till the next morning till they went back to get the part.

The next morning I woke up with the tent spinning! I couldn’t lay on my side or the spins would start up again. I couldn’t figure out what was going on. I drank tons of water, ate enough food. I was fine if I kept my head straight. But if I turned my head sideways, or looked up or down then I was in some nasty vertigo. We started the day making plans to get the part and move on with our plans. It was a HOT and sunny day. While we waited for the others to drive back to get the new part we didn’t know how long we were going to be waiting. We figured sometime late afternoon if they needed to go get extra gas too. But as we were making lunch here they came back! It took about 3 hours for them to do it. Now that the truck was fixed I was the next problem. I still had my spins and going out on a bumpy ride wasn’t exciting me. I took some ibuprofens and a power nap and woke up feeling great! So we hit the trail. At this point we weren’t going to make it to the end of the trail. We didn’t have enough time or gas for one of the trucks. So we just drove down and checked out the trail till we figured we better turn back. It was a nice day and evening. All was looking good.

The next morning the spins were back! I figured I had slept odd or had some sore muscles from bouncing around in the truck. I loaded up on some ibuprofens again, but it didn’t work as well as yesterday. I felt ok enough to hit the road. Which we packed up and headed back north. We stopped at the Lake again and relaxed in the water. It was a toasty one outside and that cool water felt excellent. We were planning on stopping back at Temple Mount Road camp again that night and heading home in the morning. However one of guys had to be back for a suprise class at 7am. He tried getting a hold of anyone running this thing to see if he could get out of it. But the millitary set it up and it could be bad if he missed it. He was planning on driving back alone late! We all decided to head with him since we didn’t want to set up camp after dark. It was a nice trip even with the problems, but as I look at the map of where we went I would like to go back and finish the trail. Someday…..

Here is a video I put together of the trip…

I have been counting down to this trip, mainly cause we haven’t been out on one for way to long. I planned something for everyday and being our first trip of the year I was worried that we wouldn’t be able to do it all! And we didn’t, but we made a good effort. We left Wed night to get to Goblin Valley where I had reserved a campsite at the park. My wife and I got there earlier to get the tent setup and wait for my sister and brother in law who wouldn’t get there till late. It was a bit breezy but wasn’t to bad, other then a storm that was blowing in for Thursday. The ranger said it would be a good idea to no go hike the slot canyons cause of the rain that was on its way. We were going to check out Ding and Dang canyon since none of us had been there and I have hiked litte Wild Horse/Bell loop many times. Through the night I woke up and took some pictures of the stars since the sky cleared up a bit. I tried lighting up the rocks with my head lamp but I didn’t like the color. I used the red light on it and liked it a bit better. The sunrise wasn’t to bad, but the clouds that rolled in hit the sun a bit, however it was a nice morning. We thought about hiking the canyons anyway, but played it safe and hiked around in the Goblins before we headed to our next destination…. Hole in the Rock Road.

As we made our way down the road I have always wanted to check out the black dunes out at Factory Butte OHV area. So we made a quick stop to drive some of the hills and mess around a bit. Someone was taking our pictures, must of been jealous of us playing in the trucks…. I really wanted to jump something but with a loaded bed, and my wife in the truck I figured I better not. That would be a fun area with some Motorcycles for sure! I put on both my Gopro cameras and only have the footage from one, but the spot it was at was very wobbly. As for the other footage, more on that later…..

We finally ran into a storm that kept us from hiking some slot canyons this day but it wasn’t till we were going over Boulder Mountain. Not only rain, but snow too hit us most the way over the mountain and even down most of Hole in the Rock. At least by that time it was a light rain which the dirt soaked right up. We got out and ran around the rocks at Devils Garden. Mason my bro in law was like a kid at the park climbing and runing over everything. I did a bit a video here, but not sure if it will see the light of day…. We made our way down the past Dance Hall rock to the Sooner Rocks where we had a nice big campsite. We set up camp and then hiked around the rocks up the wash to a huge pothole. It was about 200ft across and deep…. did any of us pack a camera though? No! The wind was blowing a bit this night and some sweet clouds where flying by. I did some timelapse of it and hoped for a sweet sunset, but the clouds blocked out some nice color. This night the wind blew so hard I thought I was going to wake up in the land of OZ. The sand found its way into both tents and covered everything. Made for a tough night of sleeping. I didn’t realize till a couple nights later, but it put a permanent bend in my tent poles. Now that new tent is a little lopsided.

Friday we drove down to Hole in the Rock, and today the Sun was shining and the wind wasn’t to bad. Last time I went down this part of the road it was very wash board and slow going. It was almost the best part of the road this time and we got the the end in no time. There were a handful of people there climbing around up top and as we hiked down we only passed on group of older people. We had the place to ourselves. I couldn’t wait to do some fishing! This is one of my favorite spots to go on Lake Powell, well for fishing. I ended up catching just over 30 Smallmouth and 1 Largemouth Bass. The water was still a bit cold for swimming in, but that didn’t keep us from jumping it. This is where the trip became a little depressing for me. I put on my new GoPro camera on the head strap and held onto it as I jumped into the water. Once I hit that water though it came out of my hand and sunk! I tried to look for it as I was out in the water, but it was so cold I had to get out. I think the shock of the water made me let go. We spend a bit of time looking for it, but no luck. It was down about 15-20ft just out of view I am guessing. So if anyone goes to Hole in the Rock at Lake Powell you might find a surprise. I was more sad about what was on the card vs the camera. I have had Lake Powell ruin 2 other camera of mine over the years due to the blowing sand, but never lost one in the water. We might be going back by boat the first week of June. So I hope the lake drains a bit and we can find it! We will see…

The last time my GoPro was seen.

The next day we were going to do a day hike into Coyote Gluch, but with the Sunburns and my back which started hurting the day before we decided to play it safe and not make either of those worse. We decided to go hike Peek a boo and Spooky a day earlier, but once we got to the trailhead it was packed! We ended up getting a camp spot about 5 miles away just off the road and planned to hike that the next morning without the crowds. We headed into town where I was able to buy a long sleeve white shirt for a $1.50 at a trift store to cover up my burt arms. Althought it was a 3xl it worked well and kept me sain out in the baking sun for the next hike. We did a simple flat hike to Escalante Natural Bridge. Having the river to go in and out of made for a nice cool hike. We only passed a few people on this trail. However I was amazed on the people that didn’t know what they were hiking. One guy started in Escalante and got up to us when we were almost back to the car 15 miles way from where he started, and he asked where the arch was….? He must have been running the trail not looking for anything. I sent him back about a mile. Then the next people asked if we hiked to the Waterfall? We said “you mean Calf Creek?” Thats not on this trail. Or maybe I was the lost one

Looking at a Hummingbird nest

Hiking the river back

Our final night out we had a bit of wood to burn, plus the extra that the girls found. We had to have a bon fire! It was a nice calm night, and you could hear some coyotes in the background. I think that scared the ladies a little cause they didn’t want to go off to the bathroom alone now. We had a fun time around the fire and roasted some hot dogs for dinner. It was a good night for star trails too. I took a ton of photos this night. I am sure people could have seen this fire if they were driving down the road from a couple miles. It was a nice calm night.

The next morning we were off to Peek a Boo and Spooky, this time there were only a couple cars there. We were able to have both canyons almost to ourselves. We ran into only 2 people the whole time. We went up Peek a boo and out the back. There was no water anywhere in the canyons, which made it a simple hike. We came through the backside of Spooky and then ran into something that makes me made. Someone wrote on the side of the canyon! They out their names ages and the date. That was one day before we got there. People like that need smacked! Once we got to the boulder section of the hike I forgot out tight this place was. We had to pick our route through the rocks and down carefully. I didn’t want to have to turn around and hike back up the sand hill. We made it through just fine though. This is a fun canyon, just a pain if you have a pack cause you will have to carry most of the time. At the mouth of the canyon there were more drawings on the wall, which I am sure it was the same morons from what we came across earlier. After a quick break we hiked out and made our way back to camp and loaded up. To bad it was time to head home. Other then losing a camera it was a good trip.