Hanksville Utah Trip
Posted: Fri May 18, 2007 3:37 pmWe left the house late (as usual) our goal was to make it to Albuquerque the first day. It was late when we got there but not too late since we picked up an extra hour. The following day we made a detour out to monument valley. It was a great detour to take, you could just picture John Wayne riding past your windshield.
We continued onto Mexican Hat and up thru the Moki Dugway We didn't know what the Dugway was until we got there, our map didn't mention it, but it was steep dirt road with switchbacks. It climbs 1100ft in 3 miles. I made the mistake of telling my wife, "it's only 3 miles, we can white knuckle it for 3 miles." I (as most of you know) don't get along with heights so having a sheer drop off on one side of what is essentially a one lane road scared the crap out of me. I just hoped that there was no oncoming traffic.
After the Dugway, we encountered another hazard, cows. There are signs that say open range but we never actually saw any cows. Right after the climb, we were tooling down the road at 55mph and Whoa! there are cows in the middle of the road. We continue on and stop at an observation place that overlooked the road that we were just on, the observation place has no fences so I didn't go near the edge of the cliff (yeah I'm a chicken). We crossed this bridge near Hite, UT.
After the observation area, the road looked like this as we would wind in and out of the rocks on our way out of the canyon.
Got to Hanksville during the daylight hours (which is rare for us) setup camp and had dinner. Heard the bad news that one of the T@B folks lost his trailer about 10 miles from the camp ground. He was OK but his trailer and dog weren't, last I heard the dog was at the vet's. We visited for a while but I was tired. It was a cool night, I was exhausted so I slept like a "Rock" well, I guess I sleep like that all the time.
The following day we went out to explore nearby Capitol Reef National Park. This is another Chimney Rock
Came back to camp to find out that our EZ-up was blown away. Some of our fellow campers managed to save it for which I am grateful. I'm also glad that it didn't blow into someone else's car or hurt someone. I was thinking about staking it down but the ground was so hard that I don't know if the stakes would go in very far. I started getting ready for the potluck while Mel took a nap. It was a great event, met some new people, and saw old friends. Bruce posted his pics of the event, mine look similar to his so I won't post em again.
We left on Sunday, we stopped by Goblin Valley State park. We were pulled over taking pictures when we saw this camper drive by.
It was a really interesting place. The pictures don't do it justice, I knew that it wouldn't be as dramatic with the afternoon light.
Some more "Goblins"
We headed out to Boulder to visit my sister. On the way there the temps dropped to the 30's and there was still some snow on the ground. What a shock after spending a few days in the desert.
A parting shot:
I would like to thanks Paul "Yogi Bear" for putting the event on. It was a bit of a drive but it was well worth it. We've never been out to that part of the country. This was a great opportunity to see it.
We continued onto Mexican Hat and up thru the Moki Dugway We didn't know what the Dugway was until we got there, our map didn't mention it, but it was steep dirt road with switchbacks. It climbs 1100ft in 3 miles. I made the mistake of telling my wife, "it's only 3 miles, we can white knuckle it for 3 miles." I (as most of you know) don't get along with heights so having a sheer drop off on one side of what is essentially a one lane road scared the crap out of me. I just hoped that there was no oncoming traffic.
After the Dugway, we encountered another hazard, cows. There are signs that say open range but we never actually saw any cows. Right after the climb, we were tooling down the road at 55mph and Whoa! there are cows in the middle of the road. We continue on and stop at an observation place that overlooked the road that we were just on, the observation place has no fences so I didn't go near the edge of the cliff (yeah I'm a chicken). We crossed this bridge near Hite, UT.
After the observation area, the road looked like this as we would wind in and out of the rocks on our way out of the canyon.
Got to Hanksville during the daylight hours (which is rare for us) setup camp and had dinner. Heard the bad news that one of the T@B folks lost his trailer about 10 miles from the camp ground. He was OK but his trailer and dog weren't, last I heard the dog was at the vet's. We visited for a while but I was tired. It was a cool night, I was exhausted so I slept like a "Rock" well, I guess I sleep like that all the time.
The following day we went out to explore nearby Capitol Reef National Park. This is another Chimney Rock
Came back to camp to find out that our EZ-up was blown away. Some of our fellow campers managed to save it for which I am grateful. I'm also glad that it didn't blow into someone else's car or hurt someone. I was thinking about staking it down but the ground was so hard that I don't know if the stakes would go in very far. I started getting ready for the potluck while Mel took a nap. It was a great event, met some new people, and saw old friends. Bruce posted his pics of the event, mine look similar to his so I won't post em again.
We left on Sunday, we stopped by Goblin Valley State park. We were pulled over taking pictures when we saw this camper drive by.
It was a really interesting place. The pictures don't do it justice, I knew that it wouldn't be as dramatic with the afternoon light.
Some more "Goblins"
We headed out to Boulder to visit my sister. On the way there the temps dropped to the 30's and there was still some snow on the ground. What a shock after spending a few days in the desert.
A parting shot:
I would like to thanks Paul "Yogi Bear" for putting the event on. It was a bit of a drive but it was well worth it. We've never been out to that part of the country. This was a great opportunity to see it.
Thanks Rocky. You have some great pictures.
although I still think that stretch between Torrey and Bryce Canyon is one of the coolest drives around. It was a pleasure meeting you and your wife!