The Ayers Trip to Colorado/Utah 4/1/99-4/11/99 By Jeff Ayers

On Thursday morning we headed south from Butternut, WI in my fully loaded '92 Jeep Cherokee bound for southwest Colorado and eastern Utah. The Jeep carried 4 people and their luggage, 4 bicycles on the roof, a long car top carrier filled with camping gear also on the roof, and a water can, propane tank, spare 31" tire and 4 lawn chairs securely mounted to the custom rear bumper! Like I said, we were fully loaded! The Jeep also sports 6" of lift, 33x9.5x15 BFG AT's, 4.56 gears, dual air lockers, and several other modifications.

During the trip south and west on the freeways, we experienced much wind resistance and wind buffeting, but eventually neared Colorado Springs on Friday afternoon. As we neared the Springs, we were caught in a late winter snowstorm that forced us to stop there for the night. The next day saw us visiting The Royal Gorge suspension bridge, passing through the San Luis valley, driving over Wolf Creek Pass and stopping at the ski area at the pass for a look see, and ending in Durango, CO. The suspension bridge was spectacular! My boys and I had fun throwing snowballs into the Arkansas River 1050' below. Wolf Creek Pass had the chain law in effect and was very filled with snow. Apparently the winter had been pretty mild and the recent snow dump was one of the biggest all winter. Easter Sunday saw us visit one of Durango's churches before checking out the steam train and visiting Trimble Hot Springs. Lounging in the Hot Springs with snow falling on us was quite an experience! That afternoon saw us climbing the steep mountain road leading into Mesa Verde NP. The landscape was covered in sparkling white and very beautiful as we toured the ancient Indian ruins. I would recommend visiting Mesa Verde to anyone.

That evening found us in Cortez, CO staying at another motel. The weather was not conducive to tent camping yet. Monday, we stopped at the Four Corners monument, explored part of Hovenweep National Monument, made our way into Blanding, UT on dirt roads, and took the highway west to Arch Canyon. We set up camp just inside the canyon before heading back to the entrance to check out the trail to Hotel Rock. It was already getting late, but I was itching to utilize four-wheel-drive!

The trail to Hotel Rock goes across the creek before entering Arch Canyon and heads up the rocky hill to the left. There were many paths and it was hard to tell which one was supposed to be the trail. After one wrong turn led us back to the main road in Comb Wash, we simply took the path that headed up. After climbing for a short distance across broken rock, we came to an overlook of Arch Canyon. Many feet below lie our camp! The trail didn't continue from here, so we backtracked until we spotted another path heading up and to the right. This path headed toward a deep crack and then passed along the edge of this crack on a narrow rock slab.

In one spot I stopped and checked out the well-flexed suspension.

A little further up the hill, we came to another overlook of Arch Canyon. The land is really awesome here with huge rock outcroppings and weathered sandstone formations. Just past the overlook is a formidable obstacle consisting of two short climbs and descents up and over some rock ridges. As I was alone, I was apprehensive to try it, but my sense of adventure got the best of me, so onward I traveled! My wife wouldn't ride with us, but she did snap one picture as we prepared for the first climb.

With both air lockers engaged, we actually climbed the first ridge and crawled into the valley to line up for the second ridge. We managed to surmount this one too and I was very excited! I had never attempted anything this tough before. The trail then wound around and between Juniper trees on the mesa top for quite awhile before we finally pulled up beneath Hotel Rock. We quickly took a look at the Anasazi ruins that give the formation its name before heading back. As we approached the major obstacle again, we smelled smoke and noticed a nearby Juniper tree on fire! Upon further investigation, we found a campfire beneath the tree had started back up and lit the tree on fire. I used my 5-gallon water jug to put it out. Be Careful out there! After that fiasco, we hit the ridge with both lockers engaged and after two tries, we were up. Then we had to go down. My wife was watching from the ridge and as we carefully dropped off the ridge, we heard a blood-curdling scream as the LR tire caught some air. My wife can not handle this type of action! She had visions of her two sons and me rolling end over end out here in the middle of no where! After crawling back down the trail, we returned to camp.

Tuesday, we explored Arch Canyon. Here the trail simply follows the sandy bottom of the 12-mile long canyon till you hit National Forest land. The trail crosses the creek numerous times and twists back and forth along the canyon bottom. It is relatively easy and very scenic. The canyon walls are littered with ancient Indian ruins and we explored a few. At the end of motorized travel, lies Cathedral Arch. You can continue up the canyon on a walking path where you will shortly come to Angel Arch. There is also a hiking trail leading up Texas Canyon to the southwest from the end of the motorized route. I would definitely recommend visiting Arch Canyon and doing some hiking past the end of the Jeep route.

Wednesday morning, we broke camp and headed north towards Moab. Along the way, were some of the snow covered La Sal mountains shining in the bright sun. Once in Moab, we tried out the world famous slickrock bike trail with our bicycles. We had fun, but this is a Tough trail for some flatlanders on their first ride of the season! With the strong wind, the practice loop proved enough. That afternoon, we made a short tour of Arches National Park with a couple hikes to certain arches.

Thursday, the boys and I headed to the City Market parking lot bright and early to see if we could find a group to tag along with. We first met a group heading to Green River, UT by way of dirt roads, but I wanted to experience something more challenging, as my time was limited. We eventually hooked up with a small group from the Family Motorcoach Fourwheelers. These guys were all retirees who towed their Jeeps behind motorhomes and traveled around the country. That sounds like a cool plan! We did Hells Revenge that day as they had a veteran with them that knew the trail well. The first "problem" of the day was the Bump Dump. I was the only one to attempt the hard line and didn't get anywhere past bumping my rear tires against the rock while my front ones came a foot off the ground! After taking the easier route up the rock, the trail began looping across slickrock and sandy two track with some short climbs and descents thrown in here and there. One of the Jeeps in our group sported the new Warn Coil Conversion suspension.

Hells gate was a ridiculously steep chute down, around a slickrock fin, and back up another very steep chute. Only two in our group did it. I rode with our leader, Bill, in his wrangler and it seemed easy as we walked down and back up, even when the right front tire lifted two feet in the air!

The pic on the right is another vehicle lifting a tire on the way up while Bill spots.

Tip Over Challenge was quite unnerving, but I crawled the whole thing. The spot with the most pucker factor is when the right rear tire drops in the crack about half way up and tips you way to the right.

We drove past the two hot tubs on the trail but only went into the larger one. That smaller one looks extreme! This is me coming out of the large hot tub taking the steeper line.

This is a stock height wrangler and me on the slickrock with the La Sals in the background.

We were off the trail by 2pm and headed to Dairy Queen for an ice cream treat under the warm southwest sun. My boys and I explored Long Canyon and the Gemini Bridges road the rest of the afternoon.

I had wanted to link up with the Family Motorcoach Fourwheelers again on Friday and do the Golden Spike with them, but time dictated otherwise. Instead, David and I went out to Fins n things that morning. This is a fun trail that loops back and forth hitting numerous slickrock fins with short sections of sandy two track in between the fins.

The pic above shows my Jeep on the trail with a proliferation of petrified sand dunes in the background.

On the way back to the motel from the trail, we passed by the Bump Dump again and I gave it several more tries as a short snow squall hit us. No, I didn't make it then either!

Once packed, we headed north to I70 and then east towards home. We hit snow on Vail Pass and saw a semi in the ditch wrapped around some trees, several cars in the median and one Landcruiser upside down in the median. Once past Denver, we were once again buffeted by high winds all the way back to the Northwoods and the protective cover of trees. Home is nice, but I do miss the trails out West!!