Back in Colorado

Back in Colorado, the Stoner State....back to reality.  I hope its not too long till I can go boondocking again.

Been cleaning up UMA, the URRV and Scarlett from their travels.  Lots of Utah dirt on my driveway to be washed away.

And now, we resume the presentation of Colorado Sunsets.....

 Denver Skyline

 Clouds illuminated by the sunset

One last look at the Denver Skyline

UTB: Moab - Spring Bottom Canyon Uraling

Today's ride was down to the bottom of Spring Bottom Canyon road, one of my favorite rides here in the Moab, Utah area due to the scenery.

 I wanted to show how crowded the BLM area we

were boondocking in was getting.  

First though, there's a long ride on pavement along UT 313 to the turn off for Spring Bottom Canyon.  This is then a long dirt road with some bumps and dips that eventually leads the group of rigs to the top of the canyon walls.

We descended slowly as the going is quite steep and eventually we all were at the bottom of the canyon and uraling our way to a stand of cottonwood trees for a brief lunch break

Once ready and rested, we rode our ay back to the steep hill climb road and one by one made it all the way back to the top.

 Russ and Katherine

John

At the top of the canyon we posed the rigs in a line along the edge of the cliff:

After resting and pictures we rode back the way we came, ending back on UT 313 where folks split off on their own.  All the rigs and riders made it back to their campsites safely.  It was quite hot by now, in the mid to high 80s so the rest of the afternoon was spent by me resting in the shade at the campsite.

Updated the video to add material from fellow Uralista: Dan Kearney, photos and changed the music.

A good day of riding to end a good week's worth of riding.  I head home tomorrow.

UTB: Moab - Uraling to see the Merrimac and the Monitor Buttes

UTB: Utah Boondocking

Today was a down day, time to pull a little maintenance on our rigs.  Some, like John C. and Tim L. decided to go hiking to Delicate Arch within the Arches National Park.

One of our fellow Uralisti, Ed aka Mundo Bravo experienced catastrophic engine engines the day before.  His rig had been burning oil and finally the engine made unhealthy noises as he was nearing a U-Haul rental center.

So today, he rode home.  Hopefully it won't be too expensive an engine fix!

Ed's rig in the back of the U-Haul truck of shame.

I checked over the components involving air into the engine on Scarlett; hunting for a still elusive air leak which I suspect is causing a high idle when the engine is warm.  Found the left compliance fitting bolts a little loose, so tightened them but failed to find an air leak; at least the high idle is down from a high of 1320 rpm to just 1200 rmp....still high but its progress!

After doing the maintenance, I climbed the boulder-strewn hillside next to the campsite for this pic:

Noon came and I headed over to the Archview Campground as there were plans for a ride to Onion Creek.  However, as I headed to fuel up, I saw Dana, the usual organizer of these Ural gatherings, pulling in with his van and trailer!

No room at the inn within the campground so he decided to boondock and I led him to my campsite. 

Dana's camper van and trailer with his 2003 Patrol and Rokkon

Another fellow Uralista, Dan K., showed up near 3PM and parked his year 2000 Gulfstream Cavalier in back of Uma the URRV.

We has us our own little enclave now.  We didn't use the word compound, too negative a connotation it seems.

By the time they were settled in and setup, it was late afternoon and so we headed over to Archview to find out what was going on if anything.

Turns out, Tim L. and John C. did go to Onion creek (pics to follow soon hopefully).  No sign of the "jersey boys", Rich and Dave so they were probably off doing some riding. 

Dana visited with folks, went into town with Dan K. to say hello to the girls at the Quesadilla Truck while I chose to ride towards the Merrimac and Monitor Butte Scenic Overlook area for pictures:

 These rock piles caught my eye first, so I included them

in the shot of the Merrimac (left) and Monitor (right) buttes.

No way to really pose one's rig in the parking lot above, but a short ride down the UT 313 and I found a sandy trail that allowed this angle on the buttes.

Did I mention it was sandy?  Although you can see the spot was nice and scenic:

I also got Scarlett slightly stuck and buried in the loose sand where I'd chosen to park her.  Out came the shovel, some digging, some smoking of the clutch later, Scarlett was free and I started heading back to camp.

Here's rocky ridge with some cool looking rock formations formed by erosion.

Across the street there's something for the eye as well in terms of another rock formation.

Finally, a closer look at part of the rock formations across the highway:

Back at the Archview Campground, while Dana dealt with a flat pusher tire, I chatted with Tim L. and John C. who'd successfully returned from riding to Onion Creek (pics from Tim to follow as soon as he can process and uploaded them).

6PM came and went, we (Dana, Dan K. Tim L. and yours truly) to ride over to the boondocking site for dinner.

After dinner we sat in the cool evening temperature, discussing and solving the problems of the world, swapping ride tales and having a good time.

We'll see where we end up riding tomorrow, there remain perhaps 5 rigs in the campground.  The other group of Ural riders (from California) are leaving tomorrow; they chose to do their own riding as we tend to go down trails they prefer to not do.

Dan K. gave me a small bottle of fuel injector cleaner, I dumped about 3 ounces into my almost full gas tank, hoping it might help clear the high idle issue.

UTB: Moab - Kane Creek Road

UTB: Utah Boondocking

Sunrise shot:

Willow Springs BLM campsite

Today's ride was on Kane Creek Road, going to Hurrah Pass and Chicken Corner.

It was to prove, I'm told, a fun but challenging ride, for all concerned and some mechanical issues for one of the riders.

I had to bail out of the ride early on due to work issues and would not rejoin the group until after 5PM when I went looking for them as they'd not returned.

Turns out there were several mechanical issues, all dealt with, that caused delays.
All the rigs that went out, came back so we'll call it a successful ride.

 Rich working on his sidecar wheel

photo courtesy Tim Laughlin

 Nice silhouetting of the rigs atop a ridge

photo courtesy Tim Laughlin

 photo courtesy Tim Laughlin

 photo courtesy Tim Laughlin

 Russ negotiating one of many rock ledges

photo courtesy Tim Laughlin

 Casey M. conquering a rock obstacle

photo courtesy Tim Laughlin

Rich working on yet another mechanical

issue on his rig.

photo courtesy Tim Laughlin

As I missed out on Hurrah Pass (which is apparently pretty challenging, especially on the way back), I'm hoping Tim L. will have had a chance to take pictures of that portion of the ride.

When I did find the group, they were on their way back to Moab, and I rode for a bit with the last three rigs to make sure all was well.  I then told them to forge ahead and I was going to meander a bit for pictures.

Kane Creek Road is a beautifully scenic canyon road!  I'm definitely going to have to go back one day to do the whole thing.  There's also several RV campgrounds on the way to Hurrah Pass but no cell coverage that I could find.

Some of the scenery I saw coming back:

Once Tim L. has had a chance to process the pictures he took, I'll add them with his permission to this blog posting.  It's hard work for him, leading the ride, tracking riders AND taking pictures!

UTB: Moab - Tusher Canyon Uraling (+)

UTB: Utah Boondocking.
Update: Added pics from Tim Laughlin

Not a bad sunrise, especially since I'd managed to wake up before the alarm....

Today's riding would involve 7 other rigs besides Scarlett.  I would ride sweep as I had Sena Headphone comms with Tim L. who was leading the ride.

Here's a cool one from Tim

from the Shafer's Trail Ride that I missed.

photo courtesy of Tim Laughlin

We rode north along US191 out of the Archview campground and soon turned left onto the parking lot which leads to Cotter Mine Road.

Atop one of the hills overlooking US191 on

Cotter Mine Road

photo courtesy of Tim Laughlin

We rode into the sand filled roads, with a healthy leavening of rocks, slick rock stretches, more sand, some whoop-de-doos thrown in for good measure.  Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.  The sun was out, and it wasn't too hot, yet.

 Chris and daughter Jessie

photo courtesy of Tim Laughlin

 Katherine and Russ

photo courtesy of Tim Laughlin

 Rich aka BinderSmokeDat on SS

photo courtesy of Tim Laughlin

Chris and daughter Jessie with Chris behind them

photo courtesy of Tim Laughlin

Riding atop slickrock
photo courtesy of Tim Laughlin

John, relaxing in "Marlboro Man" mode

photo courtesy of Tim Laughlin

I separated from the group shortly before 11AM at an area where I had good reception to take a work call.  They went on ahead and I would catch up with them after the call.

 Today's office during the call

As I made haste to join back up, I missed one turns sign and ended up in a rather gnarly area.  When I came upon six foot high ledges, I figured Tim would have never led the group down that mess so I turned around and found the sign for Tusher Canyon!

In my efforts to catch up, no pics were taken as I passed the Determination Towers but you'll still see them.

Still, I made it and rested with them as they had stopped in the shade of the massive rock formations that form "the gap".

A satellite view from google maps

Showing the towers and the gap.

 The rigs with the Determination Towers in 

the background

 The northern edge of the gap

you can see some of the riders near

it's base for size comparison

photo courtesy of Tim Laughlin

 Katherine and Russ lunching.

 A view of the southern edge of the gap

After lunch, more sandy whoop-de-doos, a few rocky spots, some wet stuff within Tusher Canyon where narrow terrain caused a traffic jam with some incoming ATVs.

 Puddling along in Tusher Canyon

photo courtesy of Tim Laughlin

Dave from PA, handling the sand dunes

well on his Ural CT Rig

photo courtesy of Tim Laughlin

Everyone made it to US191 with no issues, I rushed back to the campsite for more meetings and some work.  8 rigs went out, 8 rigs came back.  Success!

After work, I went to the Archview campground to visit with Tim L. and get his movie of the river crossing.  The wifi system in the campground is quite congested with all the folks staying there; so I left him struggling to upload all the pics he took today while he was also leading the ride.

As usual, I'll add his pics as soon as they're available as updates to this posting.

Courthouse Rock

The above picture I took on my way back to camp this evening.  It's a BLM campsite (fee area) near Courthouse Rock, about 1.5 miles north of where I'm staying at.  You use Mill Canyon Road to get to it.  Nice parking area for campers and good 4G reception for Verizon users anyways.

It doesn't show up yet on the allstays.com app though.  Just google it, it'll show up.