3000 Miles Through Utah's Landscape and the San Juans

Well this is my first trip report and background so bear with me guys

My idea for this trip started almost a year and a half ago after seeing a photo of vehicle going down Black Bear Pass. I just graduated college and was working at my first job, at this point I was already into camping and driving to far off locations with my wife. Problem was we only owned sedans and when our Nissan Sentra couldn't take us up to Prewitt Ridge last year I knew I needed a a more capable vehicle.

Hence since last September I've owned a 2017 Tacoma OR 4x4 SB in Barcelona Red and have been in love with since then. Not a rich man myself so the only mods that have been made so far are rock sliders from @Shmellmopwho, a Snugtop Rebel with driver side windoor with a self built bed platform and recently purchased Falken Wildpeaks AT3W 265/75/16.



So enough about me, back to the trip report. For over a year I've been obsessed with going to Colorado and exploring the San Juans in particular. Finally last December the wife and I committed to going no matter what. As the time of our trip grew closer (June28th) concerns arose about the fires that were plaguing the area; the 416 Fire and Burro Fire and things looked really bleak when they closed all of San Juan NF to the public.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/11/us/colorado-wildfire/index.html
Luckily the Forest Service lifted the Stage 3 restrictions and our plans were good to go.

The plan was to leave June 27th (Wednesday) from Orange County, CA and arrive 6hrs later at a dispersed camping location just outside of St. George Utah. Unfortunately things don't always go as planned and we left 3hrs after our intended departure and arriving to our spot at 4a.m. Though we tried our best to sleep for a couple hours we couldn't resist watching the sun rise on where we stopped.



Soon afterward we hit the road on our way to Zion although crowded the views were spectacular. After some time there we decided to hit the road and head to our campsite for the night before sunset. After refueling and resupplying in Big Water, Utah we made our way to our campsite. At this point I was a bit tired from driving on the road and my wife wanted to practice her off road driving skills, stopping along the way to take photos on some interesting rock formations.




After an hour or so my wife realized we wouldn't make our destination in daylight if she continued to drive and so she handed the car to me where proceeded to speed down the dirt road. Soon enough we reached our intended destination by 1 mile where things got a bit technical and confusing for us hence no photos.

After some careful maneuvering we got to the perfect spot and were literally the only people around for the rest of the night. Eating our dinner of al pastor and asada tacos as we watched the sun cast a shadow over the lake.



The next morning I got up just before sunrise just to witness it all again.




Packing up we left our amazing camp site stopping along the way to take picture of our surroundings and wildlife.

You don't realize how high you are until you see from a different perspective


Along the way we spotting jack rabbits and even a coyote, although we didn't get to capture a photo of it, but we did get paw prints





After stopping at Page, AZ for fuel we headed to our next destination Monument Valley and Eastern Utah.

After about 2hrs we reached Monument Valley and although its full of tourists and sedans ripping off their skid plates on the dirt it was still quite the experience.





After going through the designated route we headed out to our next stop: Natural Bridges National Monument.

But not before making one stop...I was pretty tired at this point...almost went home


Rather than take the more established route up the State Route 191 and then west. We decided to take a funner detour up the Moki Dugway where the views were quite nice.




After a fun climb we reach NBNM and were faced with a dilemma, sunset was 2-3hrs away and our intended destination was around 2hrs away. As much as we wanted to spend time at Bridges we instead did a quick loop and some took some snapshots blasting out of there as soon as we finished.

Fortunately my wife is a speed demon when it came to driving on pavement, unfortunately that got her in trouble with the Sheriff at Blanding, UT going 5mph over the speed limit. Thankfully the Sheriff was nice and only let us go with a warning.

Now at a more reasonable pace, we soon reached where we would be staying, Manti Le-Sal NF. As we climbed high and deeper into the forest to escape the desert heat we came across a herd of cow, who at refused to move out of the way



After getting past the smelly obstacle we reach our destination for the night by the lake preparing dinner and falling asleep to the sounds of mooing cows in the distance. Excited about what lied ahead.





Thanks for reading part 1 of my adventure, I should have part 2 within the next few days.

 

Super rad!!!!

 

I'm looking into doing something similar in Nov.

 

@rogue.tacoma: Well done! How did your platform work out? Any pics? Sorry I didnt see your question on my bed build post, the rear pieces just simply slide over the other. Did you make one like that? Love the Utah desert, but its neat to be able to go from that to montains too, hu? That contrast between the two is really neat.

 

Great read. It inspires me to do something similar thank you for posting

 

Jealous! That looks like an amazing trip!

 

Haha I've been lagging on that part 2, got a baby coming along the way and hadn't had time to go through the rest of my pics and compile a report. But I promise I'll try for this weekend

 

Part 2

June 30th, Saturday:

Sorry for the long wait for the 2nd half of this trip, a lot has happened within the past couple months with the birth of my child and work, but now things are getting back to normal (sitting at my desk bored ) and I can finally finish this trip report.

So back to where I left off, we spent the night in Manti-La Sal NF at higher elevations to escape the heat, it felt nice sleeping in cooler weather compared to desert heat of 105F+ at Alstrom Point.

Now besides exploring the west on this trip the other goal was to get to Denver in time to catch a Kenny Chesney concert my wife has been dying to go to, so after eating a quick bowl of cereal for breakfast we quickly descended the mountain and made our way to I-70 to Denver stopping by Arches NP for a quick pic.

July 1st, Sunday

After an amazing concert and spending a night at a hotel with well deserved hot showers, the wife and I packed up our belongings on our way to our next destination, Creede, CO.



Leaving at 10a.m., maps told us the drive would be around ~5hrs so we were hopeful to be there by mid afternoon, but as we made our way our of Denver an hour later an alert came up on our phone about road closure on highway 285 due to the Weston Pass Fire in the Buffalo Peaks Wilderness. Luckily there was a detour around the closure, but with all other vehicles being diverted through that detour our trip was extended by an hour.


If you'd like you can also see the fire on Google Maps: https://goo.gl/maps/5GCihsEqM9R2





After getting back on the intended route we floored it to make it to Creede in time to Explore with having lost an hour due to the detour.

As we made our way along Highway 285 clouds started to appear in the distance which concerned us about exploring Creede, but fortunately the showers were minimal as we passed through Del Norte, CO along the Rio Grande.






Eventually we got to our intended destination of the day, Creede, CO an old mining town with a rich history and the beginning point of exploring the San Juans, unfortunately by the time we got there around 4:30 most business were ready to close up shop so our time in town was cut short with the highlight watching chipmunks feed of other people's hands.



With limited time on our hands and a pregnant wife we did a portion of the Bachelor Loop right outside Creede soaking in the rich history sites of the old mining days. Next time I'll be sure to spend it longer in Creede.




Of course you need poser shots.




After exploring part of the Bachelor Loop, the wife and I headed off to find a campsite for the night finally settling the night along the Rio Grande. Dinner consisted grilled chicken, mashed potatoes and some canned beans.




Due to the dry conditions in the area for that summer all of our trip had no campfires, so after a long day we called it quits and climbed into our camper shell for the night excited for what lay ahead.

July 2nd, Monday

The next morning we awoke to a chilly start to our day by the river, with plenty of sights ahead of us we made ourselves a quick breakfast and headed to our next destination, Cinnamon Pass

The original plan was to spend days in the San Juans, but due to some constraints we were only able to spend 2 days and only the more mild trails due to a pregnant wife.

So after breakfast we leave our campsite and head for Lake City, CO for fuel and ice. Soon after we got on the trail stopping at Lake San Cristobal to take in the lake views.


After our we continued on the trail gawking at all the amazing views that surrounded us as we climbed

Can you spot the deer?





Eventually we reached the top of Cinnamon Pass, although I didn't experience much altitude sickness I did develop a slight headache which was remedied by some Tylenol.



Currently I have the rest of the photos from my trip as they're all over the place in different memory cards, so I'll try to continue the photo dump and mediocare story telling tomorrow.

Just wanted to update you guys and show you I'm not dead

 

@rogue.tacoma great trip report! What is the bag hanging off the bag of your truck?

 

Hey thanks! Its a Trasharoo, when planning this trip I realized that I didn't want to be carrying my trash inside the shell where our sleeping arrangement was or inside the cab. Instead I bought the this and odor defusing bags keeping the smell outside.

 

Thank you- I might have to get one of those.