Medlinaround's Build

On Havasu or Lone Rock on Lake Powell?

BTW, budget season is kicking my ass at work, so unfortunately, I'm not gonna be able to come play in Moab with you next week

 

That sucks man, was looking forward to some wheeling. Lake Pleasant outside of Phoenix!

 

Yeah, I'm not pleased. Plus I just found out ai get to spend my Sunday flying to Boston for an 8 am Monday meeting

 

2.5 weeks and over 5,000 miles of excitement. I started out from Richmond, KY and headed West early Thursday morning on September 6th. I had planned this route and adventure for around 8 months. Had purchased truck parts, extra camping gear i may need, etc.

Day 1 Drove 16 hours from Richmond, KY to Colorado Springs that day.

Day 2-3
after i arrived was nothing short of amazement. Woke up to eat breakfast at Garden of the Gods located in Colorado Springs, then visited Pikes Peak National Park for a 15K mile ride up the mountain! The weather in Colorful Colorado was nothing short of great. Every day there was mid to upper 70's with a low of mid 50's! Perfect for camping!

 

Night 3 Was trying to get to Ouray, so i hit up the Alpine Loop and took Engineer Pass over to mountain to try to get to Ouray, CO. The pass was awesome! Tight trails, right not he side of the mountain, but doing it at dusk/dark alone, wasn't the greatest plan i've ever had. Some sketchy spots to hit alone for the first time and some really tight curves right on the edge of cliffs, but what some excitement.

While working my way over to Ouray, I came through a couple mining roads near Silverton. With great views of the Canyon through the narrow winding road, I came up on Tacoma that had ran off the bluff. As I came up on the truck I noticed a couple dirt bikes that were on the road looking down. While I stopped and talked to the couple, the Tacoma that had went over the edge of the road was their son from a couple days prior. He worked in the mines there and had fallen asleep while leaving work early one morning. He was very, very lucky that the truck had not rolled but had went straight over the bluff instead. Still have no idea after looking how steep the drop off was that he didn't roll. Luckily he walked away with no injuries.


Day 4 i met up with @In4aride in Ouray, CO to hit up Black Bear Pass and Imogene Pass! We started out early that morning with Black Bear Pass first, hit the trail, then stopped at the end of Black Bear in Telleride, CO for some Pizza and to catch a little football while we ate lunch. After eating, we hit up Imogene Pass that evening for some more trails and excitement.



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I didn't camp up on any passes. Camped in Ouray when i got off Engineer Pass.

 

Nope, came around that dang cliff drop off at dark. My butt was puckered the whole time. Slept next to town.

 

@In4aride do you have any more photos that you took of our ride? Like the one of me standing by my truck on that rock? I'm trying to go through all the hundreds of pictures and vids to post that I took to talk about the days.

 

Top of the World Trail, Moab

 

Holy shit! Where did you find that?

 

It looks nice and clean now. I got one of them there fancy boxes you can buy

 

I haven't even had time to really pull up all my pics and vids yet! I need to sit down and grab some good ones!

 

Some more shots from Day's 1-4 in Colorado! I couldn't get over how beautiful the backcountry of Colorado was!







On top of Black Bear Pass




Million Dollar Highway




Bridal Veil Falls Telluride





Looking back up Black Bear Pass before dropping down into Telluride




Pikes Peak









@In4aride and I on top of Imogene Pass

 

After leaving Telluride I made my way down to Mesa Verde for day 5 of the trip! Checked out Mesa Verde and pitched camp right outside of the park!

 

Day 6 I left Mesa Verde and headed towards Valley of the Gods and Monument Valley! Loved seeing the Red Rock come out of no where to standing tall in the middle of the desert. After leaving Valley of the Gods and arriving at Monument Valley, I got to talk and buy some goods off of some people from the Navajo Indian tribe. Very friendly people as I stood around and talked to them while watching everyone try to run into the middle of the road to get the famous "Run, Forrest, Run shot"

 

Day 7 & 8

I had some time to kill so after leaving Monument Valley area I headed towards Flagstaff, Arizona to camp for the evening. After talking to some locals, I added Sedona on my list to stop by while I had time to kill before picking up my friends in Phoenix, AZ! After a few beers and some info, I headed towards Sedona to find camp for the evening. While pulling off for camp my truck died! The truck would start up but wouldn't continue running. I knew it was getting fire, just seemed to not be getting gas. So I checked over everything I thought it could be and couldn't seem to find the problem. I began to think possibly my fuel pump was starting to go out or possibly had blown the fuse. Being 1500 miles from home that's all I needed was a fuel pump to go out. So I began to look over again and noticed my clamp to my intake had slid off and the intake had came off of engine! After throwing it back on, the truck began to run fine again. All the wheeling I had done the prior week and 1 small bump knocked the intake off!. After camp I headed towards Sedona, really enjoyed the small beautiful town for the day with some of the local food and shops. Even took a few hikes.

 

Pictures!?

WHAT ARE THOSE?!

 

Day 8-9

After arriving near Phoenix a day early, I found a lake outside of town by the name of Lake Pleasant. Arriving during the week I had the whole bank practically to myself. Which worked out really well with 110+ degree dry heat of the Phoenix area. I set up camp the evening and got to enjoy the Lake before heading to pick up my friends in Phoenix! Worked well for another well needed bath/rinse!

 

Stay tuned for the second half of the trip!