guaco.supreme's truck build, trailer build, trip reports, and BS

Update on regear:

Ho.lee.chit! It's a whole new truck!

I finished the initial break-in period, changed diff oil and retuned to the 5.29 OTT Lite/Mild tune. It drives so much better. 6th gear and it no longer gear hunts, no longer downshifts going over an small simple overpass. MPGs have stayed roughly the same.

Hooked up the camper trailer (~1800 lbs) for trailer break in period. S5 and zero gear hunting, TC stays locked even with light increase in load when going up a hill.

This may have turned my opinion around about the truck. I was on the fence and if the regear didn't help bring the truck to where I was happy I was going to look at trading it for a gladi diesel, but so far I am 100% happy with the regear. We have a trip to CO and UT in a couple weeks, so we will see how it performs pulling the trailer through mtns.

 

Gearing update #2: I'm about to wrap up my first full tank after break in and 5.29 tune was completed. I've noticed a bump in mpgs. Average mpgs used to read mid 15's before, now its mid 17's. So far trip mileage the truck is reading is about the same as GPS trip, so we will see what it hand calcs out to. I did go with the lite/mild OTT tune this time vs mild/medium I had before.

Cap update: It's installed!

Finally got the cap portion of the RTT build finished, or at least to where it's mounted on the truck and now it's just looking for things to fix or improve on. It's raining today, and the drive to work I had slight leaks from where the rear door seal meets the tailgate. The little designs in the top plastic piece of the tailgate allow water to leak past the seal, so I'll need to address that.

Frame is painted satin black with matte clear. Panels are wrapped in matte black, and I plan to have a compass I designed for my trailer to be cut out of gloss black vinyl and added to the doors. Not sure how well the wrap is going to hold up because A) I had no idea what I was doing, and B) it didnt take much to scratch a test panel I did.

Today after work I will be wiring up a third brakelight on the rear door, as well as installing the Wolfbox mirror/camera system.

 

Man that thing is looking great! I’m glad to hear you’re liking the gears so much too. That makes me more sure that I’ll do a re-gear if I go up to 285’s next year.

 

Trip Report: West We Go 2024

(I used to take way too many photos on trips and as I get older I don't like to feel like I'm always behind the camera, so I took limited photos. Now I wish I had taken more.)

We took our first big trip with the taco since I bought it in January 2024. I was a little nervous going into this trip because I hadn't towed our camper this far, or with the new gearing other than the break-in period, so I wasn't sure what to expect.

The 5.29 gears made this trip enjoyable. I can't imagine trying to tow through the mountains with the factory gearing, I would have gone mad! S5 was plenty for most places, I would see some gear hunting on hills if using cruise, but otherwise it performed great. While towing in the mountains was mostly S4 to stay closer to the powerband, anything 8% grade or higher was usually S3. Fuel economy was a big concern of mine coming from my X5 that got 30mpg highway not towing my trailer, and up to 22mpg while towing, but we averaged 14.2 mpg for the entire trip. Not bad, only a couple mpg drop from normal.

This was also the maiden voyage for the cap I built. I literally got it installed just a couple days before we left, so I had no idea if it was going to seal well or anything. It actually did great! I had some sand/dust at the tailgate but that was it, and nothing alarming. We didn't come across any rain, but washing the truck after we got home and I don't see any leaks.

I installed a

$250 Wolfbox G900 WOLFBOX 12" Rear View Mirror Camera, 4K Mirror Dash Cam Front and Rear with 2.5K Rear camera, Smart Full Touch Screen backup camera for car, Dash Cam with WDR Camera,Night Vision,Free 64GB Card & GPS

Wolfbox G900 so I could see behind me, with a camera on the cap and on the back of the trailer. This worked out well except my disconnect plug I wired in so I could switch between truck and trailer was acting up. I'll make a post about that once I replace the connector.

Now... the trip!

3058 miles total
MN -> WY -> UT -> CO -> MN

Our first day was crossing MN and SD on our way to the Belle Fourche Reservoir. Everything was going great until half ways across SD we encountered a significant headwind. S4 and 55mph was about all I could do! The Bell Fourche Reservoir is pretty exposed with little to no trees for wind breaks, so we ended up nixing that spot and instead found on spot in the Black Hills along Roosevelt Road. This turned out to be a great spot with no one else around. We woke up to deer wandering through our site which made the Mrs happy.



From there we headed south to Laramie WY to meet up with my cousin for lunch, and then headed into the Medicine Bow National Forest. The area we were heading towards is known as "The Snowies". We hoped to find a FCFS spot at the Sugarloaf Campground so we could be close to the trails that we wanted to hike. Well we found a spot that was open, so I asked the camp host if it was indeed available and he stated that the folks that reserved it never showed up yesterday, and after 24 hours you forfeit the site, so it was available! We got the trailer backed into the site, and as I was getting ready to unhook some folks pulled up stating they had that site reserved, that they were late because of delayed flights. After discussing with the camphost I decided to let them keep the site and we would find something else. I had a few dispersed areas already mapped out, so we went on our way.

The first place I wanted to check was a lake that I've seen some photos of. It's a few miles down a low maintenance forest road with numerous dispersed camping spots along the way. Well it happened to be Labor Day Weekend and it was BUSY, as we started down the forest road every spot was full and then some. After about a mile the road got really narrow and rocky, nothing the taco couldn't handle but it was slow moving, and with how busy it already was I didn't want to spend the next 30 minutes on the trail to get to the lake only to find it was full as well, so we turned around to check out another spot I knew about.

The next spot was down another forest road, this one much shorter and little to zero maintenance. When finding the road it appeared to go through a small clearing and then into the woods. Travel trailers were scattered all over the clearing and you could see some in the woods as well, but I decided to give it a try. It was rocky, I wasn't seeing any open spots, at the other end of the clearing the trail seemed to get pretty small and looked like it didn't go much farther. I was about to turn around but a couple came out of the woods on bike, so I asked them if there were any available spots farther down. They stated there were a couple towards the end, we would have to go through a pretty rough water crossing but the taco shouldn't have any issues with it. We continued on and found the water crossing, it was a low spot in a bog about 40 feet long, with some large rocks throughout. At first I was going to walk it to check it out, but then I saw multiple travel trailers on the other side, as well as a Porsche Cayenne that pulled a trailer through, so I was no longer concerned. We proceeded through, the rocks made it pretty rough and we tossed back and forth plenty, but a slow crawl and it was no issue. We continued down the trail to find a great fairly open spot that was perfect for a base camp. After setting up camp we walked the rest of the trail, it wasn't very far to the end and we found an old abandoned cabin.







The next day we planned to hike the Gap Lakes Trail. We ate breakfast, jumped in the truck and made our way down the trail towards the highway. When we reached the water crossing where we found a Rav4 buried up the the frame in mud. Turns out the night before these folks went around the water crossing and made it through the grassy bog part, but on their back through this morning they were not so lucky. Farther down the trail I found them, offered to give a hand, and back-tracked back down the trail to the stuck vehicle. We first planned to pull then out from the front, but they could not find their tow hook attachment, so I then crossed back through the water crossing to pull them from behind. I didn't want to pull them all the way back because they would then be on the wrong side of the crossing again, so instead we pulled them back just enough to get the car out of the holes they created, then filled the holes with firewood and we were able to work it forward and eventually get free. I then informed them they have the wrong vehicle with the wrong tires to be trying this kind of stuff, and they agreed and decided to park their vehicle near the highway and just walk to camp from now on.

One thing that irritated me the most about this whole stuck vehicle situation, there were multiple other camps right there with 4x4 trucks, all sitting around their camps watching, and not a single person offered help. No one offered them help before we arrived, and no one offered help during. I get it, they were stupid and never should have drive that vehicle back there, but we were all young and dumb once, we all have probably been stuck in some stupid ways at one point in time. I couldn't believe it.

We then headed for the trailhead once again. When we arrived it was busy, so busy we had to park a good 1/2 mile from the trailhead and walk the rest. The trail climbs between Medicine Bow Peak and Browns Peak, passing multiple smaller lakes before reaching South Gap lake. Each lake you could see small trout jumping through the surface, and quite a few folks fly fishing. When you continue past South Gap Lake you will crest over the ridge that connects the two peaks and find North Gap Lake nestled up above the trees. Beyond North Gap Lake is rolling hills of pine forests, grassy fields, and large shrub fields, perfect moose and bear country. We spent an hour or so at North Gap Lake eating lunch and just lounging before making our way back the truck. On our way out we came across a bull moose just lounging in the grass.







Once back to the truck we decided to drive around the area and explore looking for more moose. We drove down Forest Road 332 for some good mountain views, but no moose.



But then, on our way back to the campsite we spotted two more moose laying in a field along the highway!



Back at camp we made dinner and relaxed around the campfire. Our camp neighbors happened to have a 4Runner and a super cute dog, so we spent a few minutes talking to them.

The next morning we packed up and headed to our next destination, one that I was super excited about, Moab! Well actually, Manti-La Sal National Forest outside Monticello, UT, but we got to go through Moab!

I ran our route down UT128. I had seen some photos of the drive along the Colorado River and knew it would be a good road, but wholly cow! It was beautiful! Highly recommend driving this road if you're going through the area, it will not disappoint! You can expect river canyon cliffs on both sides, the Colorado River in the middle with kayakers and rafters talking the rapids, and rocky monuments off in the distance. I didn't take many photos as I was driving and trying to make camp before dark, but I did snap this one...



We camped outside Monticello UT at the Dalton Springs Campground. I chose this campground because it was high enough elevation that it wouldn't be hot temps for this time of year, and it was along a section of the UTBDR that I wanted to check out. The campground was very nice, sites were private and spaced out, vault toilets were clean and didn't smell, and only a few others there. We set up camp, made dinner, and prepared for the following day, part of section 1 of the UTBDR.

Both mornings we stayed here we had deer in our camp. This made the Mrs very happy as she loves to see wildlife. These are mule deer, much smaller than white tails that I'm used to. Quite a few with faint spots still on them.



Todays route took us up and over the Manti-La Sal mountains and down into Blanding, then down the Butler Wash Road to UT163, and then finally through the Valley of the Gods. I wanted to see this area after reading @turbodb trip report of the UTBDR. I hadn't seen this type of landscape other than in photos, so I was pretty excited. We ate breakfast and climbed into the taco to kick off the day. Almost immediately after leaving the campground we saw a farm truck leave the trail we were heading for full of logs and other items, stacked a good 15-20 ft high, with children piled on top of it all! It looked like something you'd see in photos from 3rd world countries of people piled on trucks. I wish I could have gotten a photo, but by the time I realized what I had just seen it was already bookin' down the road and down the mountain.

We turned onto the trail, Forest Road 0079, which took us up and around Abajo Peak, around Jackson Ridge, then down the mountain towards Cooley Gulch and eventually onto the town of Blanding. This was a fun road, and the first real taste of an off-road "road" for the Mrs. Overall it was in good condition and very few spots that required slow moving. Plenty of dispersed camping along the way, when we reached where turbod camped during his trip report there were some guys in Jeeps breaking down their camps from the previous night. Overall a great but uneventful drive.

When we reached Blanding we headed west to check out the House on Fire ruins. We followed Google to where it said the trailhead was, but if you're going looking to check out the ruins it can be confusing where the "trailhead" is. Its parking along the road/trail and climbing down a small gulch to where the trailhead sign is kind of hidden in the trees, and the sign is pretty empty leaving you to wonder if you're in the right place. Well you are, so continue down the trail for about a mile or so.

The trail follows a dried up river bed that I assume gets pretty gnarly when it rains. Some spots were muddy and the mud smelled horrid, but you can easily avoid those areas. After 30 minutes or so hiking we reached the ruins. They are pretty cool to see, smaller that I imagined, and much more difficult to imagine living in. We snapped some photos, explored the rocks a little, signed the guest book found in an army ammo can, and headed back out.





Back at the truck we headed towards the Butler Wash Road. Once again, turbod stated he loved this area and the whole geological feature Comb Ridge that it follows along, so I wanted to see it for myself. It was much longer than I expected, a lot of sandy sections, rocky sections, but nothing of worry. We wanted to stop and see the Procession Panel petroglyphs, so we made our way to the trailhead.

We probably shouldn't have hiked to see the panel, it was 2pm, full sun and almost 100deg, but I was determined. We grabbed our waters, slathered sunscreen on and set off on the trail. The trail goes through a couple wadies before stretching on over solid rock. Follow the rock cairns for the path. We climbed our way up into the meat and potatoes of the ridge and were following foot prints and cairns, and eventually came upon a sign post that pointed us in the right direction, only it didn't. We lost the cairn trail and spent far too long in the heat and sun trying to rediscover it. I wasn't worried about getting lost and not being able to find our way out, there's literally only one way out, so I searched around and eventually tried climbing some of the big rock slopes in hopes I could spot something. All I spotted was an awesome view of the other side of the ridge.



Exhausted, hot, frustrated and ready to accept defeat we started making our way back down the ridge when I spotted a small cairn we hadn't seen before. Not too far from that another one, and then another one. We found the trail! Determined to make the effort worthwhile we followed the cairns up and up until we finally came across the panel. I wish I had spent more time at the panel, but we were beyond exhausted, running low on water, it was pushing 530pm and we still needed to hike back down, and the Mrs had a look on her face that said she would murder me if I said anything other than "lets go back to the truck", so I snapped a couple photos and we headed back. The hike back was rough, our legs were jello and climbing back out of the wadies left us a little light headed, so it was good we left when we did.





Back at he truck and in the A/C we sat for a few minutes cooling off before making our way down the rest of the road towards UT163, and then on to The Valley of the Gods. I really wasn't prepared for what I was about to see.

If you haven't been here, as you approach from the east you come up and over a hill, and as you crest that hill the entire valley is laid out before you. The best way I can describe it is like entering a whole new world. Everything feels like it's out of a fantasy movie. I kept envisioning massive ancient cities carved into the cliffs like you would see in Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones. I can understand where they got the name "Valley of the Gods", it really is quite breathtaking.

It was getting late as we drove through the valley, and the setting sun left some beautiful colors on the cliffs that my phone just simply doesn't give justice. We saw a few camping spots along the trail that I will absolutely be trying to stay at during my next trip out there in Oct.







After the valley we wanted to head further south on UT163 to see where Forest Gump said "I think I'm gonna go home now", but it was late and the sun was almost set, so we started back towards camp. A 1.5 hour drive seeing the sunset over all the canyons was pretty awesome.

The next morning we started packing up camp to head to our next spot in Colorado. This ended up being a long process...

First, there were 3 adventure bike riders from Mexico City a couple sites down from us that were having bike problems with one of their bikes. The battery was toast, wouldn't accept a charge and the bike wouldn't start. After multiple attempts to start the bike with my jump pack and push starts, we were about to give up when it finally cranked just hard enough to pop off and start. They then set off for Moab hoping to find a new battery.

Second, there was a dog roaming the campground. It was hanging out with the bikers, once they left it came to our site. He was a beautiful brown Aussie, very shy and kept his distance from everyone, everyone except me. For this story I will call him Dalton, named after the campground. As I went down to use the bathroom Dalton slowly came up to me, allowed me to pet him, and then followed me everywhere. At first I thought he belonged to the folks that were camped at the last site up the hill, but they were gone when I walked up there to ask. So I then went to talk with the camp hosts. Turns out he belonged to the cattle farmer that owned all the free range cattle in that area, and he had run off while trying to round up cattle. This was the second time this had happened, so the farmer gave the hosts his number and a leash in the event someone could catch him. The hosts had been trying to catch him for a couple days, but he would never let anyone get close to him. So I got him on the leash, hosts called the farmer, and I brought him to our site until the farmer arrived. While at our site he grew quite fond of the Mrs., wouldn't leave her side but also didn't like when I was out of sight. After about 40 minutes the farmer arrived, an older Hispanic gentleman, and Dalton did NOT want to go back with him. The hosts said the first time the farmer had to come get him Dalton jumped right up in the truck, but he was not interested in leaving this time. We eventually got him in the truck and the farmer went on his way. The entire drive to Colorado I felt horrible, what if the farmer was abusive? He didn't come off as abusive, but you never know. What if Dalton was trying to get away and felt he could trust us, and now I broke that trust? Looking back I wish we had just asked the farmer if we could take him, I'm sure he would have let us since he stated he wouldn't run him as a cattle dog anymore.



Camp packed up we headed to Silverton Colorado. Another area I was excited for as I LOVE big mountains, and I knew the San Juans were exactly that, and with plenty of 4x4 trails.

When I first started planning this trip I stumbled upon The Opus Hut. This is a place along the Ophir Pass Trail that you can stay at, its at 11,000ft, off-grid, has options for 3 person, 4 person rooms, and individual bunks in the loft. I was a little skeptical at first, little worried about the trail up to there, little worried it'd be strange people, but it turned out to be absolutely awesome! The hut is in a beautiful location high in the mountains. The hosts cook for you and its all locally grown, organic, and healthy food. They have their own liquor license and selection of wines and such. There's a wood fired sauna, hiking trails right out the door. It was a great break from the camper trailer. I originally wanted to check it out to see if it was someplace we could reserve the entire hut to get married at, and if it wasn't so high in elevation and a rough trail to get to, this would be perfect (no, the Mrs. and I aren't married yet, but I still call her the Mrs.), but I know my mother and some of our family wouldn't do well at that elevation.






The next day was a relax day. We went into Silverton to do some laundry and take much needed showers. (If you're ever in the area and looking for facilities, Silverton has Capitol Laundromat, and right across the street are public showers, $5 for 5 min.) We got to see the steam locomotive that they use for tours, we explored the town a little, and then headed up the road to Animas Forks, an old abandoned mining town.



The road up to Animas was fine but rocky and bumpy. The BLM website states it can be done in a 2wd vehicle, which is technically true, but there were plenty of spots that you need high clearance for. When we got up there it was busy with SxS and Jeeps/trucks. Thats one thing I noticed, I was very much outnumbered by Jeeps in the Silverton area. Jeeps everywhere! I saw a couple tacos and a couple tundras, but we were def the minority. Animas Forks is also where Cinnamon Pass and Engineer Pass meet, so that explains why it was especially busy with off-roaders.
















It was also quite popular with the fox

After exploring the mining town we headed back down towards Silverton. Plan was to get ice cream in town before heading back to the hut (I forgot to stop for ice cream).









On our way up the trail to the hut we decided to continue on up to Ophir Pass. It wasn't much farther than the hut. When we arrived there were a couple Jeeps taking photos, and a gentleman from Montana on his adventure bike. He stated he came from the other side of the pass, the Ophir side, and it was a much more sketchy and interesting trail than the side we used coming from Silverton. I had heard it wasn't as nice as the Silverton side and it's the reason why we didn't come from the Ophir side (the Mrs. isn't fond of the rough trails).




Ophir Pass viewed from the Opus Hut

Back at the hut we spent some time in the sauna, had dinner ( a really good Greek inspired rice salad type thing), and went to bed anticipating needing to be on the road by 8am. The next morning we said our goodbyes, headed down the trail to our trailer we stashed at the bottom, and headed out towards Ouray and then onto Aspen, Independence Pass, and finally Twin Lakes, Colorado.


A quick stop at the gas station to clean out garbage and such and I had to snap this photo.

Twin Lakes is a beautiful place. I had been through here in the past but never spent any time in the area. We camped off a 4x4 road with quite a few dispersed spots along it, and the spot we managed to snag had the best views of any of our camp spots of the trip.





We wanted to summit Mt Elbert while we were there, the tallest mountain in Colorado and the 2nd tallest in the lower 48 after Mt Whitney, but a summit attempt meant getting up at 5am to hit the trail by 530 or 6. It was roughly a 7-8 hour hike and 14 miles round trip to summit and neither of us were really sure we were up for it. Instead we woke up whenever we woke up, ate breakfast and enjoyed the morning, and set off on the trail around 11am with the intent to just hike 3 hours before turning around.

The trail started off easy. It follows the Colorado Trail and Continental Divide Trail for while before branching off to head up Mt Elbert. It starts to get steep while climbing Elbert, and I was expecting this to really hit us and slow us down but surprisingly it didn't. We made it roughly 2/3 the way up the mountain in 2.5 hours before we found a spot just before getting above tree line with a fantastic view to eat lunch (I do know the last bit above tree line is steep, rocky, and challenging, so THAT would have slowed us down a lot). While eating we decided we weren't going to go any farther, and to save the rest of the trail for another day when we will summit. So after we ate we headed back down the mountain.







About 10 minutes before we started heading back a couple passed us on their way down from the summit. She was moving slow with a limp and stated she tweaked her knee pretty bad. They kept moving and I knew we would pass them on our way down, so I found a good hiking stick to give her as we passed to hopefully make it easier for her. Not 2 minutes after giving it to her and continuing on our way I hear her yell down the mountain "it's already so much better!"

Back at camp we spent our last night of the trip relaxing. Before heading to bed I took this photo of the clouds over the mountains and felt is was the perfect ending to our trip.



In the morning we would pack up and head for home, with a stop at a rec area along the Missouri River to break up the drive, but as we neared the rec area I was plenty awake and feeling good, so we pushed through and drove all the way home. We got home around 4am, crawled into bed, and I was out before I even realized it, dead to the world for the next 6 hours. It was a great trip, and I can't wait for the next one.





Speaking of the next one... I'll be heading back to Utah in October with a friend of mine for a roughly 500 mile, mostly off pavement, trip across southern Utah. I've got a few things I'm doing to the taco to prep for that trip. I'll update as I go!

 

Great trip report! Man, you hit some fantastic places along the way. Love the fox at Animas.

These are small. No one ever lived in them, they were granaries and used for storage. There are some living quarters further up the canyon, some of them extremely high in the cliffs and unreachable, but many fun to poke around if you can find them.

 

Hey nice looking truck and super nice mods you're putting on!

Sweet looking plan for the rear spring squeaks. How many miles has it been squeak-free? I see that you did that work in May 2024....

 

Thanks!

Rear spring squeak plan didn't work as well as hoped. I'm probably close to 8k miles on them. They now squeak, not loudly and nothing that bothers me, but they do. It's more bushing creak than a squeak though. I usually don't hear it unless I have music off and I'm slow rolling through something, and it's not all the time. I'm planning to loosen and retighten bushing bolts before my Utah trip in a couple weeks, see if that does it.

 

I see, I was hoping you found the key. I did find that my leaf springs squeak at the front bushing. I can hit it with wd40 and I'll be good for a couple weeks, I wish someone could figure this out, and I really wonder why the bushing manufacturers haven't really dug into this one.

 

West We Go Round 2 - Exploring Utah

I headed back to Utah with a buddy of mine to do some off-road exploring, myself in the Taco, and my buddy in his WK2 Cherokee. While we aren't new to off-road by any means, neither of us have spent a lot of time in these vehicles yet, so we kept it pretty easy sticking to roads or trails that are rated 5 or lower in OnX. What we found was this was not challenging as far as routes, so we will start adding some more challenging locations in our future trips. I didn't take as many photos as I wanted to, especially the first couple days, but I can still tell the story.

It took us 2 days to get from MN to UT, with a stop an overnight stop in Nebraska. That drive is pretty boring, so I'll skip that part.

We started in Valley of the Gods. I had been here previously (as noted in my past trip report), but I had not stayed here. When I had visited here in August it was rather empty of campers, so I was a little surprised to find it quite busy. I had planned to get about half ways through the loop to camp spot I had seen my previous visit, but as soon as we entered the trail camp spots were already full. Everything was full for the first mile or two, and I was starting to get worried we would get to the spot I wanted to find it full. We ended up getting a spot at the base of the Hen and Rooster that was tucked back a bit off the trail through some washes. A great spot for stargazing, at least I would assume it is, but we unfortunately had a full moon so the starts weren't great. But we did get surprised when the comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS was visible! We had completely forgotten about it!






A breakfast rainbow before we packed up camp and headed towards the dugway.

The next day we didn't do much for photos, unfortunately. I think we were pretty focused on staying ahead of a storm that was rolling in from the SW. We tried to stop at the Kane Gulch Ranger Station to see if they offered walk-in permits for Moonhouse, but contrary to what the BLM website states, they were not open. Luckily a couple of workers where there as they stopped on their way to a trailhead, so we were able to get some info about trail conditions. We then took Snow Flats Road all the way to Comb Wash, and then Comb Wash up to RTE 95. We saw a couple sxs, some folks parked at Moonhouse, but otherwise empty and uneventful.

While on Comb Wash we stopped to check out some petrogyphs and an old shack that was once used for shelter while running cattle. We decided to camp at the north end of Comb Wash. We ended up trying three sites, the first one we should have kept, it was big flat, and open. The second one we tried in an attempt to find something better, but it ended up being overrun with baby mosquitos!. Luckily they weren't biting, but the swarms were so bad it was miserable. We attempted to go back to the first site but it had been occupied in the 15 minutes since we were last there. Oh well.


Baby mosquitos everywhere!


I picked up a portable propane fire pit. A great purchase!


The next day was a day to take out time. We headed into Blanding for fuel and a few supplies (I had forgotten my SD card for the GoPro, and we wanted some better bed sheets for the tents). One thing I overlooked is the size of my propane tank for the fire pit. I picked up a 5lb tank hoping it would last a while, but it will only last a couple hours. So we stopped at a tire place to re-fill. The guy working said he can fill no problem and he'd be out there in a minute. After seeing we had a 5lb tank he made a rude comment that he should have told us no for only 1 gallon of propane. He filled the tank, we paid him over double what he charged us, and you could see on his face he was eating his previous statement. I won't be stopping there again.

We left town and headed for the Butler Wash Dinosaur Tracks. I wanted to see these last time I was in the area but I could not find the spot. Turns out we drove right past them, actually almost right over them, the signs and parking area were just not where the map said they would be.









Next we headed to House on Fire. I had been here on my last trip, but @turbodb stated there were more ruins farther down the canyon, so I wanted to check those out. We stopped at the House on Fire so my buddy could see it and there was a gentleman there waiting for the noon sun. I mentioned there were more ruins and he decided to join us on our search, but unfortunately I couldn't remember how far Dan said the other ruins were and we didn't go far enough before turning around. So I guess I'll be going back for round three.

After House on Fire we wanted to check out Natural Bridges, but as we approached the info center to buy our passes we found it closed. There was a sign with a QR code to scan and purchase passes online, but there's no cell signal and no public Wifi so that doesn't do much good. FAIL! We could have just entered and explored without buying passes, but I was feeling a little bitter and we decided to just move on to the next part of the trip.

Our route took us northwest on RTE 95. When I was planning this trip I really wasn't sure about this section. I'll admit I really didn't research this stretch of highway much outside of looking at the map, finding a couple off-road trails to research, and determining where I could get fuel, so I was anticipating flat high desert. Boy was I wrong! Not far from Natural Bridges the highway drops down into huge expansive views of canyons and cathedral cliffs. The scenery was absolutely stunning! We stopped a few times along this stretch for photos.




Hard to see, but Jacobs Chair is atop the left-center. We had thought about taking Jacobs Chair trail that goes through this area, but reports made it look like it gets quite narrow so we decided t osave it for another trip.

We arrived at our next off-road spot, Blue Notch Road. My research showed this is a well maintained road that goes down to Lake Powell, or what was left of the lake. I knew the first couple miles were steep as you climbed over the notch, but I was concerned the rest of it would be kind of boring. It turned out to be a really fun drive. Climbing the notch is indeed steep, and narrow. As you climb there are very few spots wide enough for another vehicle to pass, so hope you don't meet oncoming traffic or one of you is backing up for a ways.

The road was well maintained as expected, but it twists and turns and cuts in and out over and over making it a fun road to just relax on. About 9 miles in and again at about 12 miles theres a sign that states the area is closed past the end of the designated road. Where the official end of the road is I have no clue, but we continued on until the road stopped on OnX and Google and made our camp where we found a few previous fire rings. There was a road/trail that continued on past that spot, but it wasn't on OnX or Google so we assumed that was the "official" end.

This camp spot was pretty rad. Big cathedral cliffs surrounding us and we could see a little bit of Lake Powell off in the distance. This whole area was clearly once under water, as the ground was covered in old shells. While we made dinner we could hear thunder in the distance, and we watched as a storm rolled through just to the north of us. We stayed dry, but we grew a little concerned about what the road conditions may be as we headed out tomorrow, but luckily no rain to flood or wash anything out. Just crazy clouds, thunder, and lightening. Twas a great spot.















The next morning we wandered some of the washes before packing up and heading back to RTE 95. We found some cool eroded rocks, agates, old shell fossils in rocks, etc.








When we got back to the highway we turned left to keep heading north on RTE 95. We did the typical tourist things, stopping and taking photos and being overly excited about the views.


Above the Colorado River




Growing up in Minnesota lakes and rivers are nothing new to me, and those water levels seldom ever change enough to really see, but seeing this spot where Lake Powell used to be just blows my mind. The concrete you see in the middle of the next photo used to be a popular marina and boat launch.



Eventually we made it to Hanksville where we fueled up and then headed west to see something that is out of this world...

We went to Mars!



Not far outside Hanksville is the MDRS, Mars Desert Research Station.

From their website; https://mdrs.marssociety.org/

"The Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS), owned and operated by the Mars
Society, is a space analog facility in Utah that supports Earth-based
research in pursuit of the technology, operations, and science
required for human space exploration."

The landscape here was completely different from anything else we had seen, and I can definitely see how it could be considered similar to what we would expect on Mars. I didn't get photos of this area, but I did have the GoPro recording as we drove though, and I'll be uploading some videos later on.




We continued past the MDRS tothe end of the road at the Burpee Dinosaur Quarry, but no one was out there to show us around, so we hiked a short bit, found nothing exciting, and headed back to the trucks.




Next we headed back towards Hanksville, and then north to the San Rafael Swell. This was an area mu buddy really wanted to check out, nd it turned out pretty awesome. This is a massive area, with well maintained gravel roads throughout, numerous dispersed camping spots, and 4x4 trails heading in all sorts of directions. After yo climb up into the swell it becomes a large open high desert/plains type area with big rolling hills. This would be a great place to find a base camp and explore from there for multiple days.

Our camp was planned for below Tomsich Butte, so we made are way through the swell and down into Reds Canyon. As you come down the canyon your landscape changes from the high desert plains to cliffs and canyons. The Muddy Creek runs at the base of Tomsich Butte creating an oasis of green vegetation. As we headed down the canyon and were almost to our camp spot we noticed an old mine hidden against the butte. Turns out this is an old uranium mine that operated in the 1950s.















After exploring the exterior area of the mine we headed down and set up what would be our favorite camp of the trip. The moon was out again and super bright, so the stars weren't very visible, but we probably took 100 photos that evening the moon lighting up the cliffs. The problem we had, was the night mode on our phones was just too good, and our photos look like they were taking mid-day.





These next three photos were taken at night... the first one is as close as I could get to what the naked eye was seeing, however it's still a little too bright.



And these next photos are were taken at night, but with our phones night mode with different ISO and shutter speed settings. It's crazy what cameras can do these days.

 

West We Go Round 2 - Part 2

The next day we headed north towards I70. Our route took us down E Red Canyon Loop that follows a river bed almost the entire length of the trail. If it were wet this would be impassible, but since it was dry it was a fun trail. A lot of sharp rocks to watch out for, but plenty of room to avoid them. Just the other side of Tomsich Butte from our camp we came across an old mining truck engine and cab. What do you think, full restoration?!





E Reds Canyon was another place I didn't get photos, but the GoPro was running for the majority of it. It will be part of my video when I finish it and upload it.

Not far from I70 we came across Swasey Cabin. Another place used as shelter when moving cattle.






From here was pretty uneventful as we made out way to I70, to Green River for fuel, and then towards Moab for our next portion of off-road. As we neared Moab we decided to check out Mill Canyon Dinosaur Tracks and Bones Trail. I figured this would be pretty small and insignificant, but it turned out to be pretty cool and well worth the stop. I wont upload all of the photos, but here were some highlights.















We then headed towards one of my bucket list drives, Schafer Canyon. I had been wanting to drive this for a few years now, and I knew the Mrs wouldn't enjoy it so I saved it for this trip. Another one that the GoPro was recording.






As we got to the bottom my buddy tried driving over this boulder without realizing it. Luckily we caught it in time, but he scraped up some undercarriage and damaged some bumper.



After descending Schafer we continued on Schafer Trail towards Moab. Out of all of the roads and trails we drove, this was the "worst". Not bad or difficult, but the most surface change and slowest moving. It was also the busiest, with everything from stock SUVs to well modded trucks and Jeeps. Along the trail were plenty of photo ops.






This was where Thelma and Loise drove their car off the cliff in the movie



Our last camp was a paid site along the Colorado River before we got back to Moab. It was an easy place to stop that allowed us to stop in Moab on the way out in the morning. While trying to cook dinner the wind and sprinkles kept coming in waves making it difficult to get anything accomplished. Between having to hold the awning down, keep stuff out of the rain, and cooking it took almost 40 minutes to heat up some dang soup. Ridiculous. But we eventually crawled into our tents for our last sleep in Utah. We planned to get up around 7am, eat breakfast, and be on the road by 8, but woke at around 6am to some crazy wind gusts so we decided to just get up and break camp down. We crawled outside to some black skies, nasty clouds to the south, lightening, and wind. We fought to break down the tents in the wind, and just as we closed them up it started hailing, so we jumped in the vehicles and made the plan to head into town to fuel up and start making our way home. It rained, on and off hailed, thundered and flashed lightening until we were almost all the way out the other side of Dewey on HWY128 before it cleared up for a while. Wind was still nasty and tanked our fuel economy until we were half ways into Colorado though.



Utah is an amazing place. I have so many places I want to check out, and I haven't even been north of I70 yet. I can't wait to go back.

Now that I'm done with trips for a little while, I'll be posting up some of the work I've done to the truck to prepare for these trips. More to come soon!

 

I’m in the initial planning stages of a 2025 Moab trip….thanks so much for posting these pics and especially the signage. Very cool stuff!

 

Do you use OnX? I can share my Utah map with you. I cleared our routes, but it has a bunch of camp sites and points of interest on it.

 

Yep! I sure do, I use it a lot actually.

I use that and Gaia but I find OnX to be the most helpful.

That would be super cool!

 

Welp, I ended up trading the taco in on a 2022 Jeep Gladiator Rubicon Diesel. It was a great run with the Taco and I really did love the truck, but I needed something with more power and better economy for my long trips. I plan to stick around on here though as I do like this place.

If theres any interest I can keep updating this thread with my Jeep build and updates.

 

I enjoyed your posts over the last few months, and really liked what you’d done with the Taco. But, it sounds like you’re set up for some good times with the new rig, so best of luck, have fun, and stay right-side up out there!

 

Fun story, my Tacoma was purchased by another forum member! Congrats on the new ride and welcome to the forum @MrCouch

 

Thank you! Happy to carry the torch from the east coast! Helluva story I read up on today here with your adventures. With a 1 & 2 year old it will be a while before I can use the truck as it has but it WILL be when they get a little older.