Bluff, UT Area Expo Trip (June)

It's that time of year again... my annual summer "mega" trip. Most of the trip will take place in the Bluff to Blanding area of Utah. We will focus of some smaller treats to include some petroglyphs, ruins, natural points of interest/scenery, a few short hikes, and a few solid 4x4 stretches. Lots of driving and exploring with camping in a different spot every night. Temps will mostly be on the warm side, 80s, with nice nights. Depending on progress, we might decide to hit Moab for 1 night to run Fins and Things and Hells Revenge. I say maybe 40/60 chance of that.

* June 1 - June 5
* 2 vehicles certain, 2 maybe
* Room for 1 -2 more (4x4)

 

Just a few more days, looks like we have 3 +1 maybe vehicles. We're skipping Moab because it'll be a madhouse with Rock Therapy and sticking to southeast Utah... since this is a more expo trip than trail running trip.

 

Have fun Chris. I'll keep my eyes open to and from Moab for my quick weekend to RT. And in the future once I start gathering some PTO.

 

Well, this turned out to be a warm but excellent trip. Lots of sights, no mech or other issues... just a great exploration.

Here is a small breakdown of the primary routes (with a lot of little side roads and spurs thrown in):

Day 1 - Johns Canyon Rd: Easy, fun, scenic… sort of a mini-White Rim Trail (2.0)
Day 2 - Trail of the Ancients: Driven off Cedar Mesa east into Comb Wash… Fairly short, definitely low range 4x4 but fun and nothing overly technical (3.0)
- Hotel Rock: Wow, the real deal… all technical 4x4, no rest, no pause, and moderately stressful. Decided we had enough and came back down maybe two-thirds in (4.0)
Day 3 - Arch Canyon: Super interesting with several points of interest… at least 35 water crossings and a bit sandy. Awesome trail (2.5)
- Comb Ridge Dugway: Steep shelf road… 4-lo crawling all the way up, really cool (3.5)
Day 4 - Butler Wash Rd: Nice graded road… access to many points of interest (1.5)
- Recapture Pocket area: Chimney rocks and nice wheeling (2.5)
- South Comb Wash Rd: This is the name I’ve given to a 4 mile trail that heads south of Highway 163 in Comb Wash to the San Juan River. It’s slow going but fun, and the San Juan River area is nice with several points of interest (3.0)
Day 5 - San Juan Overlook: This is the name I’ve given to a 5 mile road that heads south from Highway 163, passing an empty meander of the San Juan River and dead ends at an amazing overlook (2.0)

A sampling: