UTCO Vacation, 08.17
Last year about this time I took a two week road trip through the four corners region with a 200 Series Land Cruiser (#200LCDC) meet in the middle of it where we explored Ouray, CO. This year the 200 meet was in Breckenridge with a smaller group meeting up in Moab UT first. This post (part one) will cover the Moab portion of the trip.
I asked my girlfriend Beth if she wanted to go on this little trek and she said yes, she hadn't taken vacation in a long time and hadn't ever been through any of southern Utah. We started making plans for VACATION!
Whenever I get to drive through southern Utah there are two must-dos along the way. The scenic highway 12 and Goblin Valley. As we made our way towards that direction from here in SoCal, we stopped along the way in Vegas for lunch and a walk-through of the Bellagio to stretch our legs before stopping at our destination for the day in St. George. We wandered the town a bit, checked out some of the historic buildings, got thundered and rainstormed on as we got close to the old Mormon church there. We were up early the next morning (a developing theme) to start seeing the sights. We covered a lot of ground that day including: Cedar Breaks, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, Goblin Valley, Highway 12! (Part Three of this story will be landscape highlights, the pics in Parts One and Two are mostly snapshots.)
The first day of trails in Moab was pretty ideal, we ran the Hells Revenge trail, the truck did great, only one minor tupperware incident. Love the slickrock there and we had a great day all around.
Day two in Moab was a bit more intense. We learned a lot. To be honest we were on a trail system that we probably shouldn't have been on, but the group of trucks was fully committed at a certain point and had to keep moving forward. I'll likely write up a piece about those specific exploits in the future. (Beth, apologies again, we don't ever need to do that again, lol.) The truck performed albeit the rear bumper is pretty well scrap. Poison Spider to Golden Spike to Gold Bar Rim. We got back to pavement at 1:30AM, it was a long day... (But I bought the stickers lol.) Stay tuned for the landscape pics from this segment, we were in a spectacular spot as the sun was setting.
After those exploits we took a day off and made our way towards Breckenridge. I was gassed and Beth drove the highway miles which was super nice. Along the way we stopped at Grand Junction, CO and really enjoyed walking the downtown area, seeing all the art work (especially the stained glass) and browsing the shops. PLUS we happened across a giant independent Lego store called eBricks! Had to make some room in the truck for a nice addition to Fredbricksburg.
Onto Breckenridge, CO
Breckenridge, CO is where we met up with the 200 Series Destination Club (200LCDC) for a few days of more scenic four-wheeling in the area. After the high temps in Moab it was really nice to enjoy some cool weather.
With more than 30 (not sure of the exact count, perhaps closer to 40 trucks) lined up that first morning in the predawn light, it was a pretty neat few moments to visit with friends, and to meet new ones.
Once the photos were taken the groups lined up in rows and the whole 200 train got underway. That morning there were 4 or 5 different groups in a range of builds from stock up through mild lift and then a number of big builds as well. Our group on the first day was 5 or 6 trucks, an ideal size and we ran Mosquito Pass (appropriately named) and then Birdseye Gulch. Green, lush forests forever. After those trails we wandered over to Leadville and explored the town, its coffee shops and an old church with large stained glass windows.
There was an art fair happening in Breckenridge that weekend as well, so we had a nice time wandering through the booths and saw some favorites, especially some stained glass work by Moun-Tin Designs and some tiny little painting collages called Treenie Weenies. We wrapped the day with a tasting at the Continental Divide Winery tasting room and picking up light dinner snacks at a nice cheese shop / charcuterie.
The next couple of days were nice wheeling days with only occasional technical sections and LOTS of great views. We ran Webster Pass, up Saint Johns and then back down the Middle Fork of the Swan. Wonderfully full days.
The next day we began the trek back home and we made our way through back through Utah and stopped in Springdale, right outside of Zion, NP. Up early the next morning we spent a few hours in the park enjoying the sights and our escape from the OC.
Along the way we gathered wildflowers and pressed them into a little notebook. That will be something we do with each trip from now on. We've seen LOADS of wildflowers this year and wish that we would have collected more along the way. It was a great week+ together and we're already scheming about another trip through Southern UT in the spring.
