Pre-Staging:
BLUF: DidnÆt go well for anyone

Dustin (DBaird) û couldnÆt get Friday & Saturday off
Glen (Knothead) û had the battery die and hood release became inop so the plan was to get the sawsall out
Brooke (Trooperian) û Failed emissionsààà.plan, go for it and deal with it later.
Jeff (Zubicon) û What didnÆt go wrong?! Pre-load on the throwout bearing and the distributor went bonkers all within 100 miles of the warranty expiring causing the engine to be completely torn down twice the week of departure to diagnose the issue, Solution the ditributor replaced the day before departure. (Talk about trusting your mechanic.)

Staging Area (Moab) û Obviously no Dustin, no sign of Glen as well with rumors he would catch up with us on Saturday. Brooke/Holly and I took off and arrived in Moab without a hitch, had dinner and tipped a few at the Moab Brewery and hit the sack to get a goodÆs nightÆs rest.

Launch day û Stop by the City Market and stock up at first light. Problem one: City market had no Red Snapper (OK, not a crisis but it sucks when you called ahead to ask if they had it and they stated yes, so you brought everything to cook Blacken Cajun Red Snapper at the campground to include your heavy cast iron skillet). Lesson learned: get it at HarmonÆs and freeze it before you go. Second lesson learned that we didnÆt know after 4 or 5 dozen trips to Moab; if you buy groceries at CM they will give you free dry ice. Pretty coolà..no pun intended.

So we get off late and head towards Blanding for out first stop West water Ruins. Pretty cool even for the fact that the locals have absolutely polluted the hell out of it with trash.

We finish up at West water and we head towards the harder of the trails during this trip, Hotel Rock.

Photo: Brooke accessing the backside of the double waterfall



Photo: The trail's namesake


Photo: Your's truely heading down the second tier of the double


Photo: Arch on Hotel Rock




With only Brooke and me we made great time up and back while still enjoying the trail and sites. Due to both rigs being so low with all the camping gear we decided to maintain street pressure which in conjunction with the fact that there is no, and I do mean no, tread left on my rear tires I met my demise coming down on the back side of the double waterfall. It would be the first and last time during the trip that any rocks had to be stacked. We got off the trail about an hour before sunset, set up camp on Comb Wash just a few feet south of Rt 95. We ended the night with some homemade black bean soup and one killer bonfire.

Saturday morning I awoke at 0330hrs to 29 degree temps and shortly after awoke Brooke as well with the blazing fire I started again, so we had a few cups of Joe, packed up camp and headed out to Butler Wash Ruin.

Photo: Butler Wash Ruin


Photo: Butler Wash Ruin


This ruin is very, very well preserved and only a half mile hike from Rt 95. After we finished up there we headed to Cottonwood Trail, to Blue Mountain, to Cottonwood Canyon, to Beef Basin, then to BobbyÆs Hole. BobbyÆs Hole, although it doesnÆt have as many obstacles as Elephant Hill, probably though has the hardest, that being Impossible Hill. ItÆs not that big of a deal going down it, but I would suspect that it would give folks fits getting up it. (Sorry, no pics of it, my one and only shot of it have streaks all over it for some reason). BH as well is far superior in scenery than EH.

Photo: Bobby's Hole - Anasazi Tower


Photo: Bobby's Hole


Photo: Bobby's Hole


We finished up BobbyÆs Hole and headed to Elephant Hill which lead us to the one and only minor planning mistake. I knew EH was one way, but for some stupid reason I planned it the wrong way, so we had to turn around and basically did the trail 1.67 times.

Photo: Elephant Hill
[img]http://zutah.com/albums/Southern-Utah-Ultimate-Adventure-07/Picture_095.sized.jpg[/img]

We ended the trail early enough to head on over to the Needles Outpost for refueling ($4.25 a gallon), ice, and restock. We met the owners, had a pleasant conversation with them, and unlike Kurt and his run had no issues what so ever getting fuel, food or anything else. In fact they even went out back about 300 or 400 yards out, fired up their compressor so that we could air up. We even found out that they are avid Jeepers and oddly enough their friends were camped right beside us on our first night. After an exhausting, bone jarring second day we decided to head back to Moab and fore go Lockhart Basin fore a good nights sleep and a more local trail. On the way to Moab my engine light comes on at exactly 36,500 miles. No symptom, just the light (as of now). We get into Moab and still no Glen, come to find out the hood issues have evolved into more issues which led to the cancellation of the trip for Knothead. NOTE: You missed one heck of a trip!

Sunday, woke up, met up with Dustin and the three of us decided to head out to Hey Joe Canyon via Spring Bottom. I you are afraid of shelf roads than steer very, very far away from Spring Bottom.

Photo: Spring Canyon Bottom
[img]http://zutah.com/albums/Southern-Utah-Ultimate-Adventure-07/Picture_103.sized.jpg[/img]

Photo: Spring Canyon Bottom - a pick up that decided to take a few hundred feet plunge
[img]http://zutah.com/albums/Southern-Utah-Ultimate-Adventure-07/Picture_104.sized.jpg[/img]

Photo: Brooke coming down the shelf
[img]http://zutah.com/albums/Southern-Utah-Ultimate-Adventure-07/Picture_108.sized.jpg[/img]

Photo: Spring Bottom

[img]http://zutah.com/albums/Southern-Utah-Ultimate-Adventure-07/Picture_111.sized.jpg[/img]
Photo: Brooke picking his way through Hey Joe Canyon

[img]http://zutah.com/albums/Southern-Utah-Ultimate-Adventure-07/Picture_113.sized.jpg[/img]

Photo: For Sale, One Owner, needs minor body work
[img]http://zutah.com/albums/Southern-Utah-Ultimate-Adventure-07/Picture_118.sized.jpg[/img]

Photo: Uranium splunking anyone!
[img]http://zutah.com/albums/Southern-Utah-Ultimate-Adventure-07/Picture_121.sized.jpg[/img]



Photo: Tres Amigos coming out of Hey Joe Canyon
[img]http://zutah.com/albums/Southern-Utah-Ultimate-Adventure-07/Picture_127.sized.jpg[/img]

Photo: Chad H.........bring back any memories
[img]http://zutah.com/albums/Southern-Utah-Ultimate-Adventure-07/Picture_131.sized.jpg[/img]

If you like your paint to be actually adhered to your sheet metal than you should avoid Hey Joe Canyon. It has the worst concentration of tamarick that I have ever seen. DONÆT reference Charles Wells Guide for this trail. IÆm a huge fan of his guide book but this trail has completely changed since he wrote about it. The two areas that used to have obstacles has nothing, nada, zilch. There are though now 5 areas that have obstacles. The obstacles are nothing major but are the type where the rocks are just big enough where a rig with a moderate lift cannot go up and over and they force you to go around them via other rocks, which then tip you into the bigger rocks. WeÆll Brooke and I escaped any damage but Dustin got bitten twice, once in the front corner and once in the side rear. On the way out we met up with a bone stock Nissan Frontier that was about to meet their demise if we didnÆt convince them and help them to turn around right then and there. Monday Brooke and I packed up and headed home. I was nearly at my house when that engine light (O2 Sensorà..allegedly) acted up. Every time I would hit 3,250 RPM the engine would shutter as if I hit a brick wall. Anyway that was the trip. If you would like waypoints, timing/mileage chart, and marked maps of the entire trip let me know because I scanned it all in a PDF file. Warning: The file is enormous!

All in all one of the better runs of my wheeling experience!

Awesome post; what more can I say? One for the Trailrides! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

Nice!

Visited Moab in 2005 with my Trooper, want to go back to test the jeep!

Great pics!! Thanks for sharing. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

Zubi, good report on Beef Basin trip! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />
I've been planning this same trip for several years, but either couldn't manage the time off to do it, or find another 4x4 enthusiast to tag along. Most thought the Beef Basin and Bobby's hole trails too easy to bother going. I guess if the trail doesn't have a Utah 4+ rating, Jeep guys don't want to bother with the Trail! Go figure? <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cyclops.gif" alt="" />
I enjoyed seeing the pictures of the Elephant Hill Area; It's been a while since I have been that way to see the convergence of the Green and Colorado Rivers.
Considering what I have accomplished in the past two months, In hindsight, I wish I had gone four wheeling instead. The Beef Basin Trail would have been just the venue I would have enjoyed! Thank you for taking the time to share the pictures, Zubi! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

Your right, these newbees..............what do you say 10, maybe 15 years or less of wheeling experience.......wouldn't dare be caught on a trail unless it is tagged "EXTREME". They don't have a clue what they are missing, which is alright by me because that leaves the traditional wheelers such as you and I to have the trail all to our lonesome. Works for me. Every year our Isuzu group (yeah have one of those two) head down to Moab in both May (was once the second largest permitted event in Moab)and November and the same folks do the same trails they have been doing for years and years...........BORING! This year I have completed over 2,000 trail miles and on, now with this last trip, more than 100 different trails. That's just this year....actually that just since mid February when our club started keeping track.