Southern Utah Traverse (S.U.T.) August 13th-19th, 2017

Oh man, you're kidding me. I guess I should have read the entire thread. I thought it was next week! I'll actually be in Utah the first part of September, but a little farther North - SLC. What is the exact date? I'll see how it coincides with my trip and if I can make it happen I will.

 

@LaRue Shooter the OP couldn't make his dates and cancelled. But this is a trip I want to do so picked it up and ran with it. Didn't start my own thread because I would end up with too many trucks. We have 5 confirmed as of now. 3 Tundras @osidepunker @KevinK 1 4Runner and 1 Taco. Have 3 spots left.

 

@n2deep It doesn't look like it's going to work for me. I'll be in SLC during that time. I'll see if anything changes by then, and if there's still a spot available, I'll definitely come along. My dog would love to do a trip like that.

 

Can't wait!

 

yeeehaw!!!

 

you a cowboy now? Those damn icons have gone to your head

 

That sucks - as I plan it more there are some amazing things in the area so I am sure I will be making another trip to the area - maybe in the spring.

 

And just like that, I am out. Health issues with my Mom back east, so driving back to the east coast (September 6) for awhile to seal up some final memories, hit Overland Expo East, a handful of other places, and come back home to AZ October 11.

 

@Techoma Sorry to hear that and wish her well.
Anybody else interested in a 4 day Overland trip across some incredible terrain shoot me a message.
Dates are Sept- 28th thru Oct 1st.

 

Can you guys after ur trip post ur tracks for those who will do this at later dates? wonder if we should start threads with posting kmz files for all to share of all trips so people can explore and share stuff would be cool

 

PM me after I post the trip report and I can get them to ya.

 

awesome thanks man. will defiantly do.

 

Well, just wrapped up our trip across southern Utah. What an amazing time this was! Started out in a rush but added 4 days to the trip overall. Allowed us to visit Big Bend NP and the Grand Canyon!

We are on our way back to south Texas and should hit town on Friday. I'll post some pics and a trip summary when I get back to home wifi.

 

Alright. So ended up evacuating Victoria on Friday. Prospect of a category 4 hurricane and a direct hit made me move my ass, LoL. So we left Friday around 1pm with the outer bands starting to produce rain. Drove until around 10pm and ended up 2.5 hrs from Big Bend NP (this is our safe place for stuff hitting the fan scenarios.) got a small, cheap hotel rm in Marathon, TX. Woke up and headed into the park. Nice, sunny day and set up camp.


We ended up staying here for a couple of nights while we waited to hear from home if we needed to deal with house damage.
Really love this part of Texas.


On Sunday, the major part of the storm passed over the house with nothing major happening. So, we headed north with no real plans, just cautiously waiting for flood news. More to come.

 

From Big Bend, we headed toward Las Cruces, NM. My daughter LOVES koa camps and swimming, so we stayed at one in Las Cruces. She spent the afternoon swimming and playing with other kiddos from the park.

This KoA was on top of a hill overlooking the town. Nice, but unfortunately one of the main roads was close so we could hear traffic all night.
Next day we went to White Sands National Monument on the recommendation of one of the families we met in Las Cruces. This place was something to see! It's a huge gypsum dune field. We rented discs for sliding down the the dunes and spent a few hours in the sand. One neat fact is that despite the heat, the sand was cool to walk on. Not like beach sand.


At this point, we heard that the flooding back home had not affected our home, so we decided to start vacationing! We had always wanted to see the Grand Canyon but we never were close enough to actually go. We decided we had the time so off to Arizona! Some amazing stuff out in NM desert. Saw the audio observatory. SETI site, I believe.
Oh, pro tip: if anyone is planning to visit the national park systems like we did, the annual pass is the way to go. Ended up saving a bit of money on entry fees. Pays for itself after 3 parks.
So, on the way to the Grand Canyon, we had no real plans other than to drive. So as night fell, we ended up sleeping in Cibolla National Forest. It was late and were only passing small towns so we headed down a forest service road and when I thought it was safe enough, we found a site for camp and set up in the dark. Really loving the RTT at this point.
I honestly don't remember the exact location, but I know we were close to Magdalena, NM. Woke up to a chilly morning and found us in a nice spot.


Next stop, the friggin Grand Canyon.

 

Could do some send me the gps track file of these route??