All is Swell in the Swell

Hey truck nuts,

Been a long while since I've posted anything here, and since then I've relocated from the cold and wooded shores of Lake Superior to the dry and open land of Utah. After some time to settle in and finish out ski season with a bang, I finally got a chance to rip around in the desert.

Last weekend I took a quick trip to San Rafael Swell. I went in blind, with nothing other than On-X, a paper map, and some here-say from folks on the internet. That certainly led me down some trails I would have never touched, slightly beyond my confidence level, but 4-lo is an impressive beast, and I'm still riding the high from last weekend. After all, confidence will never grow if you don't step outside the comfort zone every now and again.

After a late start Friday, mixed with the usual throngs of adventure minded folks mass exiting the city on the weekend, my ETA to the Swell was well later than I had intended... But when was the last time I actually left for a camping trip on time?

Anyways, here's some photos and trip reflections.


long shadows along UT-10

Take a late start and little to no knowledge of the area, combine that with the game of telephone between On-X and Google Maps, and I completely botched my intended first night campsite. Wasn't too worried about it, I had no trouble finding a secluded spot along the San Rafael River at Mexican Mountain Wilderness.


Woke up like this

After coffee, a quick breakfast, airing down, and the pup rolling in a massive pile of steaming cow shit... we hit the road.


Hummin' down washboards, kicking up dust


Under i-70 we go


rocks n stuff

Honestly it was difficult to look around, my eyes were constantly focused on the track, but when I managed to peel my eyes away from the road, I was never disappointed.


The day peaked as I took a trip down Eagle Canyon, in hopes of finding arches and cool bridges. Was a grueling, slow descent, but I was not disappointed with the views.


lunchtime down in Eagle Canyon, in the shade of i-70


Pup chilled hard


We saw many pictographs -- Creepy yet cool.


And then we both chilled in a nice campsite in Buckhorn Wash


Day two we hit Black Dragon Canyon before airing up and heading home.



You think it'll buff out??

All in all, this was an amazing trip that did exactly what I wanted it to. Introduce me to Utah off-roading, gain some trail confidence, while simultaneously getting me hooked on being in the Desert.

My friend warned me before the trip, " Be careful, the bond between man and machine strengthens after those rock crawling moments!" Pfft, I laughed that off... But as I patted the ol' truck on the dashboard while crawling up some highway on the way home, thanking it for being a trooper this weekend, I immediately got goosebumps. No turning back now...

 

in 2020 we took a family cross country trip, the desert is calling us back. My wife has been adamant, the Taco was not comfortable enough for long rides cross country, so we needed a 4runner and build it so we can visit out west yearly if time is available. I hope to get out to Utha next June, as the son graduates this year.

 

Well if ya make it to Utah, I recommend you spend some time in San Rafael Swell! Granted I haven't been anywhere else yet... but for a spring weekend, I was blown away that it felt like I had most of the trails to myself. Plus a great variety of trails for all skill levels, as well as multiple different types of landscapes, from white sand, to deep red canyons, to cedar lined ridges, and everything in-between!

 

Map of route can be found HERE

~200 miles over 3 days, and I hardly scratched the surface.

 

good stuff! I love Utah

 

Awesome sauce, what are you shooting with. Nice camera work.

 

Thanks Lastmanstanding! These were all shot on a Fuijifilm x70 or my iphone. Not sure why all the iphone pics ended up looking faded..

 

i was gonna ask if you had presets or if you did the coloring in post. I kinda dig the look, matches the dusty desert scenery.

 

The fujifilm has some internal presets that I really like that were used in these photos. Other than that, I didn't touch any of them in post, besides grouping the iphone images together -- I wonder if somehow in that process I messed something up? But I agree, they work!