White Rim Adventure with a Little Mud Thrown in for Good Measure

About a month ago a group of friends got together to run the White Rim road in Canyonlands NP. Present was me, @Speedytech7, @drr and his father Richard.

Zane and I arrived on Sunday afternoon after a 2 day drive from Spokane.

This is the Dome Plateau Overlook, our first camp spot of the trip. It used to have this amazing camping area right down near the cliff edge. Since I was there last (several years ago) the BLM has changed access so it is no longer possible to get down to the lower ledge area in a vehicle.

Though not nearly as cool as it used to be, still great views from the higher up camp spot they created.



That lighter colored area in the foreground of this VVV photograph is where we used to be able to camp.



IMG_8788-Pano by Speedytech7, on Flickr

edit: Added this photograph from Zane's Flickr album.

 

The following morning, Dan and Richard showed up after driving 20 hour straight from Seattle.

Richard took quite a large number of photographs (way more than me) that I will be posting throughout this report. These next four are ones he took the morning they showed up at Dome Plateau.




The last time I was here, it was with @Blackdawg and @turbodb. This photograph shows the slab of rock they competed for to see who could setup their tent closest to the cliff edge. IIRC, they both ended up parking there rigs within inches of each other (and the edge).

They wont be doing that again.



Looking back from the cliff edge you can see where the BLM moved the camping area to. That white speck is Zane's truck.

 

Here's a few from our next campsite that wasn't very far from Dome Plateau. This one happened to overlook the backside of Arches NP.

 

You know in all our adventures I'm amazed we still haven't found Carmen Sandiego.

 

The following day we took the scenic route into Moab with the plan to run some of the trails in the Sand Flats recreation area.

 

This time it was Fins & Things.

After Dan did this obstacle, Zane and I were warned we might want to consider doing the left hand line instead of the center one.



This must be one of the 'things'...

 

We had previously decided that we would run the White Rim road starting from Potash road on the Colorado River side. This meant an early start so we could reach our Potato Bottom campsite before sunset. This plan would also allow us to complete the road early enough the following day to have enough time to get down to the Needles district to camp.

 

Up to this point we had been blessed with some great weather. Like mid-60s during the day. But the weather was changing. We could see the storms coming in from the west as we turned north to head up the Green River side of the White Rim.

 

The following day was a rainy one, with the hint of snow in the air.

 

looks like a good time. Wish I could have gone. I have so much PTO now and no way to use it.

Oh well.

Can quite tell from the photo. Is the ledge gone or the path to it just collapsed on dome plateau?

 

The ledge and path are there, but they have erected a barrier keeping you from starting on the path and they've added fallen branches and whatnot to make it not look like a road. I walked out there though, can still do that.

 

ah. Bummer. Well was cool while it was.

guess I need to edit those photos since it was cool then.

 

When we finished the White Rim road, we headed south to the Needles District to a campsite we had found 18 months prior with our friend Ben @m3bassman Unfortunately the weather was getting worse. Cold and kind of dreary, just what one would expect on one of our adventures.

 

The campsite is a great desert campsite, tucked up in a canyon. Unfortunately is has one flaw which we had overlooked although the signs were all around us.



We had setup camp and the storm that had been threatening all afternoon finally arrived. It started to rain so Dan deployed his new 270° awning for us to have some refuge. And it rained and rained and rained. It rained for several hours then it started to snow. I guess we were all ok with this but then we hear this new noise. It was the sound of rushing water.

Yes, were were camped in a canyon that was also a desert wash. The water in the wash didn't turn out to be a huge deal as we had somehow avoided being parked in the very worst positions. Nonetheless, it was somewhat of a wake up call and a lesson learned.

I don't have an photos of all of these events as it had gotten dark. Richard didn't either. Maybe Zane or Dan do.