14 days, 13 states & extreme rock crawling

[GONOVRIT]

On Saturday August 27 my wife and I pulled out of our driveway at 6:15am and headed straight for St. George, Utah. We got little sleep the night before due to seeing Cory Morrow @Pucketts Farm Equipment in Charlotte the night before with some great friends of ours. It was a great time and we had no regrets about staying out late.




We had decided to take the southern route to I-40 in Memphis to change up the usual up and down across TN. It was going to be very similar on time and mileage. I won't do this route again. It involves some terrible roads in AL & MS.

We made it 900 miles before we had a blowout on the trailer in AR. Melissa was driving and quickly got it off the rd. We had a block ready to drive up on and a 1/2" impact. In less than 20min from the time it blew we were rolling again. This was our 4th time towing out west, we weren't going to let a trailer flat slow us down.

 

[GONOVRIT]

Our first stop for fuel was in OK. While filling up I noticed that the tire that blew and the one I replaced it with were D rated while the others were E rated and had less sidewall bulge. I took our other spare out from under the trailer and it was a new e rated so I swapped it on in place of the D right there. This setup of 4 good E rated tires completed the rest of the trip without any issues.

Some info about the rest of the setup. The truck was my 2012 CTD 2500 4x4, 4dr, LB, auto. We ended up with 115# in the airbags. We were loaded down heavy with 105gal fuel capacity, spares, tools, camping gear, etc. The truck did great averaging over 10mpg.

The trailer was a 24' Kaufman deck over with a pintle hitch and 7200# axles. Our buggys fit on the trailer without an inch to spare!

 

[GONOVRIT]

We made it to St. George driving straight through in 34hrs. We got settled in the hotel we'd be staying In for the next 3 nights and dropped the trailer. We had dinner at a normal hr and were in bed by 9:30 or so, this wouldn't happen again for the rest of the trip.

Monday 8/22- Zion National Park
We got up at 6am and had an awesome breakfast at the hotel. It was a simple continental but they had everything! Went straight to the park and headed up Angels Landing. Trail traffic was heavy and even though we were early there were already people coming down. We made it through the first set of chains to the saddle and took in the view. We decided if we continued to the top we probably wouldnt be able to do the narrows like we wanted so we snapped some pics and headed back down.

 

[GONOVRIT]

Got up early on Tuesday 8/30 and drove the mt. Carmel hwy through Zion Np before going to sand hollow SP to wheel. This was a very scenic drive that took you through a mile long tunnel built in the 1920's by REAL men. It had a low ceiling and "windows" cut into the hillside, no lights in this tunnel.

After that we met Ben and his family to hit a few trails at sand hollow after lunch. We hit some tough obstacles but the traction was crazy unless there was sand on the rock. This seemed even better than the slick rock in Moab. One drawback to this place was there was hardly any signage at all. With a lot looking the same it would be very easy to get lost or in a bad situation.

We wheeled until about 4:30pm when Bens rig didn't want to play anymore. Reverse wasn't pulling, battery went dead a couple times, starter wasn't working without help and his fuel pump wasn't pushing enough. I had a spare pump with me so we got that on his rig, by the Time we figured everything out or fixed it was after 7pm. They had their 2yr old twins with them and it was time to go.

 

[GONOVRIT]

Wednesday 8/31 we left st. George and drove to the Hoover Dam for a tour. We drove over the new bridge 3 times in 2011 and never stopped. I did some research before we left and learned a lot. I left my guns and knives at the hotel but stayed amused at the thought that they would likely search my truck, which was loaded down with camping gear, spare parts and tools. We stopped at the check point and were waved through at first but before I could pull off they told me to pull off to the side where a group of 5-6 gov employees were doing searches. Melissa and I both started laughing knowing this could take all day.
They had me unlock the camper top and 4 of them peered inside. A couple questions were asked and an older gentlemen told the rest that he would handle this and they walked off. He told me he wasn't trying to be an asshole but asked if I could get inside and lift up one large tote. I told him I'd try and I knew it was heavy. I had trouble moving it and he asked what was inside. I explained it was some tools and vehicle fluids and he said never mind, come on out. He apologized saying he didn't mean to hold us up and I told him no problem at all, you're just doing your job and I appreciate it. Then he talked for a couple minutes giving us some tips and information about the bridge and damn. After the tour we walked the Vegas strip for the rest of the day and enjoyed some .99 PBR pints!

 

[GONOVRIT]

Thursday sept 1

Headed out of St. George early for Bryce Canyon. When entering the park the girl at the ticket booth took a long wide eyed stare back at the buggys and said, "you're not planning on driving those in here are you?" I laughed and told her no we were just passing through. She said they had people with atv's come there thinking they could ride them around. I believe we took a 3mi hike through the hoodoos. About halfway in it started raining on us, a COLD rain. We were not dressed for the chill or the rain so this sped up the hike quite a bit!

We left Bryce after the quick hike and headed to Escalante. We got checked into our cabin, dropped the trailer and headed 26mi down the dirt Hole in the rock Rd to hike Peakaboo gulch, a slot canyon. The trail was only marked by rock cairns, this wasn't an issue until we excited the end and had to make our way back lol. Getting up into the canyon proved fairly difficult but was all fun from there.

 

[GONOVRIT]

Friday sept 2

We left Escalante headed for Moab and made a point to stop by calf creek falls. Heading up the Rd there didn't appear to be any room to park the truck/trailer. We found a turnout a mile up the Rd and parked there. Walking completely downhill into the canyon we found plenty of parking that could not be seen from the Rd. Oh well, just made for a long up hill hike back to the truck. The waterfall and surrounding area were amazing and @7:30 am we had it to ourselves. We had a mostly very scenic drive to Moab from there.

We picked Sam @farmboy up at the Moab air field then got checked into our cabin at canyonlands CG and dropped our trailer. From there we went to find a waterfall/swimming hole. A Walmart truck driver was chatting with us in Oklahoma while we were fueling up and told us of the place, I wandered why I'd never heard of it and had Melissa look it up lol. Sure enough it's basically
Right across from potato salad hill! We hung out there for a while and met some cool people. That night we had Bbq and beers at the Blue Pig then went over to the brewery, all within walking distance of the campground.

 

[GONOVRIT]

Saturday Sept 3.

Walked to a good breakfast across the Rd from the cg, don't recall the name of the place. Came back and gathered our stuff to go down to hookup the trailer. Upon getting to the trailer we notice some asshole parked right in front of our trailer, WTF! Plenty of parking elsewhere for a compact car! Melissa stormed off going to every cabin, camper and tent site looking for said asshole while I went and had a word with mgmt. Mel didn't have any luck and I only got an apology. We had no choice, we moved their parking spot

We went to Pritchett and met some friends of friends from Colorado that wanted to wheel with us. We flawlessly made our way to the top of the canyon and had a snack and hung out for a while until clouds started rolling in. We started high tailing it out of there and Melissa got really lucky with a picture of a lightning strike. The rain went around us but soaked some people on Moab rim. Now that the sky was clear we went ahead and wheeled that trail since we were there.

We all had good food and service at Zax Restaurant that night. They had a pizza buffet that we took full advantage of.

 

[jeepinmatt]

.

 

[shawn]

We ended up with 115# in the airbags

 

[GONOVRIT]

Sunday Sept 4.

We loaded up all our stuff checked out of the campground and headed to BFE for the day. After a short discussion we decided to get big nasty helldorado out the way first. Upon getting to the trail entrance we noticed standing water everywhere so we decided to walk up to the waterfall and see how muddy it was. There was a mud hole at the base with 6-8" of standing water Melissa started digging a drain and it was working so we decided to let it sit and come back at the end of the day. About that time we heard a v8 rumbling towards us. It was Kevin Carroll from Red Dot Engineering. Super nice guy. After giving us some shit for being from the east coast he showed us a new line out of the canyon. It took some work but with his 42's, 24" ori's and rear steer he made it happen.

From there we went to Brittany Spears. Having ran this trail before Sam and I had a clean run. Matt wasn't so lucky and had a nasty rollover. We got Matt all straightened out and wheeled the rest of the day before going back to helldorado that evening. We all climbed suicide hill but the waterfall on helldorado proved to be too muddy after some attempts. We loaded up there and headed towards Montrose, CO stopping about an hour outside at a motel.

 

[jeepinmatt]

Wednesday 8/31 we left st. George and drove to the Hoover Dam for a tour. We drove over the new bridge 3 times in 2011 and never stopped. I did some research before we left and learned a lot. I left my guns and knives at the hotel but stayed amused at the thought that they would likely search my truck, which was loaded down with camping gear, spare parts and tools. We stopped at the check point and were waved through at first but before I could pull off they told me to pull off to the side where a group of 5-6 gov employees were doing searches. Melissa and I both started laughing knowing this could take all day.
They had me unlock the camper top and 4 of them peered inside. A couple questions were asked and an older gentlemen told the rest that he would handle this and they walked off. He told me he wasn't trying to be an asshole but asked if I could get inside and lift up one large tote. I told him I'd try and I knew it was heavy. I had trouble moving it and he asked what was inside. I explained it was some tools and vehicle fluids and he said never mind, come on out. He apologized saying he didn't mean to hold us up and I told him no problem at all, you're just doing your job and I appreciate it. Then he talked for a couple minutes giving us some tips and information about the bridge and damn. After the tour we walked the Vegas strip for the rest of the day and enjoyed some .99 PBR pints!

Cute shirt Josh!

 

[1-tonmudder]

We had decided to take the southern route to I-40 in Memphis to change up the usual up and down across TN.

That stretch between Nashville and Memphis sucks ass.

 

[GONOVRIT]

That stretch between Nashville and Memphis sucks ass.

I know some people that dislike it. It's never really bothered me. I remember on the return drive from koh in 2011 seeing a dirt road running parallel to the east bound side through there. I had never been so happy to see hardwoods and red dirt in my life.

 

[1-tonmudder]

Ive only been that way 2/3 times but the last time I had already driven from Oklahoma city Ok.We straight thru to home,about 980 miles,so that might have contributed to my opinion a lil.

 

[BRUISER]

awesome pics.. I cant wait to go back

 

[GONOVRIT]

I'm going to try to finish posting this trip before 2017! Much of it has been done from a tree stand, all of it from my phone.

 

[justjeepin86]

I have seen this post, but never looked through it. Killer pics. I hope I can do a trip like this one day.

 

[YotaOnRocks]

Looks awesome except for all that hiking stuff. I do good to make it up stairs without falling

 

[karatejosh]

Very cool i may need some advice about a simaler trip soon

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[GONOVRIT]

Very cool i may need some advice about a simaler trip soon

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

I'd be happy to help any way I can. I wish more people would/could do trips like this. I'm going to try to do more trip reports in 2017 of rides as those are lacking on every site I visit.

 

[obullfish]

Don't know how I missed this thread from the start. Looks like it was a great trip. Planning ahead to a similar trip in 2018.

 

[karatejosh]

I'd be happy to help any way I can. I wish more people would/could do trips like this. I'm going to try to do more trip reports in 2017 of rides as those are lacking on every site I visit.

Awsome i will be in touch

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[upnover]

Damn Josh, I had missed this thread until tonight! Thanks! It's a trip I'd love to make one day myself, but I would really like to make the trip with someone who knows where to go and what to do!
I appreciate the time you took to write all of this! AWESOME

 

[broncosbybart]

Looks awesome except for all that hiking stuff. I do good to make it up stairs without falling

Man, I'd rather do the hiking over the riding if I had to choose between the two. Cool pics!!