2 Guys on a Road Trip

Saturday- May 27, 2017

Visit with the girls at the park in Spanish Fork with the Taggs.

Finish packing and Jon finished up doing bike repairs.

Departure 3pm-ish. Headed for Glenwood Springs, Colorado.

Filled up in Price and got a blue slush drink and snacks.

Driving out of Price, Jon noticed Nine Mile Canyon and had heard cool things but had never gone. I turned the car around and said, “Let’s do it”. We started to drive out there and were surprised by how many dips there were in the road.

We got to the first site and got out to investigate. We were so astonished by how many petroglyphs there were! We climbed around a bit and took pictures. We were running back and Jon misjudged the side of the road and totally wiped out scraping up his leg.

We continued on and saw this cool balanced rock. We spent quite a while climbing around and trying to find a way to get to the top. Eventually we just took some pictures and gave up.

As we drove we kept pulling over and finding more petroglyphs. We hiked around and took pictures. At one point, we decided to be like zombies and got some funny videos.

We hiked up to the Fremont Village and it was really neat. The view was super as well.

We then made it to the Great Hunt Wall turn off but in our way, was the river crossing the road. Jon got out and after sizing it up we felt like I could make it in the BMW. I picked my path and went for it. I made it! We parked and bounced from rock to rock down the trail to the site of the Great Hunt Wall. It was impressive. This whole time Jon and I wondered what the story behind all of these petroglyphs was. Who did them? Why did they do them? What do they mean?

We got back in the car and continued up the road. We were now 45 miles in the canyon. All of a sudden, the pavement ended and the road turned to dirt and gravel. There were still mile signs so we decided to press on and eventually it would take us back to the main highway, or so we thought. We continued onward until we came to a fork in the road. We tried looking up the directions but had no service. Our offline maps sort of helped but we still weren’t sure. Just then, a truck came down the road on the left and stopped to see if we needed help. We told him where we were going and he said the road on the right would get us there but it was rough, steep, and probably covered in snow. He advised not doing it at this time of year and especially in our car. We thanked him for his help and then decided to make it an adventure and check it out. For the first hour or so the road was just fine. 

We got to a muddy section and didn’t make it through on the first go. We backed up, gunned it, and made it through. As we kept driving forward and upward, things finally opened up as we leveled out on top of a mesa. Jon jumped out to find some snow to play on. Up ahead we saw some wild horses. We kept on driving and drove right past them. They just stared us down as we drove by and then walked off. It was really cool to see them and be so close. We got back into the trees and around 9500 feet we came upon snow in the road. It was just a patch and so we got out and explored the road to see if it started to descend soon and if we could make it through if we cleared out this patch of snow. Sure enough there was more snow ahead and we came to the decision we needed to turn back.  Jon guided me as I backed up and found a spot I could turn around. When I backed up I tried to avoid running over a bush but ended up mostly going over it. I put the car in drive and pushed on the gas. Nothing. I didn’t move at all. The tires just spun but nothing happened. We tried for over an hour to shove sticks and branches under the tires so hopefully it would get some traction. We rocked it back and forth. Everything we tried failed. The tires spinning on a log got it to start smoking. Things just muddier and we weren’t making any progress. Finally, around 11pm we called it quits for the night and decided to set up camp behind the car and deal with it in the morning.

Sunday- May 28, 2017

Even though it got down to freezing, we had warm enough bags and clothing and slept pretty well. We then worked for about 2 hours digging out the front part of the car that was stuck on the bush and pile of dirt. I remembered I had my ice axe in the trunk. We busted it out and it made the task much easier. I found some flat rocks and put those under the tires. The car was able to move an inch or two forwards and backwards but that was it. I looked back in the trunk to see what else I might have that could help. I found some webbing and thought I might be able to tie a stick to the tire to help give it some leverage. The only problem was that there wasn’t any room for a stick big enough to help in the wheel well. I got a quick draw and a carabiner and tried using that around the tire. It just barely fit and we tried again. This time it just slapped the rocks underneath the tires and just slid past. We took the rocks out and I started to feel some traction. I told Jon to get out of the way and went for it. It worked! We made it out! We whooped and hollered with joy. We weren’t stuck anymore!

We started our way back down and were hungry. We thought our trip into Nine Mile Canyon would only take a few hours and we would get dinner on the way out. Then all the fun happened and our plans changed. We were headed back and I had the thought to take our road trip to Vernal instead of Colorado. We took the road that told us it went to Deschene.  We had followed a truck with a bunch of hound dogs until the turn off. They then appeared behind us and we ended up having a non-spoken race all the way to Vernal. It was pretty fast. I won. Jon looked up church locations and we may have broke some recommended speeds posted on certain signs to get to a 1 o’clock church on time. But we made it right on time. It felt good.

After church we went over to Max and Joyce Hutcheon’s to say hi and take a shower. We met up with Alan and had lunch. It was good to catch up and be there for support. He is going through some really hard things in his life and I’m glad we were able to make it up his way to be there for him.

Went out to Red Fleet State Park to the dinosaur tracks. It is so cool that my grandpa discovered those! When we got back to the car we looked across the street at the battleships and couldn’t pass it up. We took off after them and made it up in no time. It was so sweet!

Headed back into town to relax. Bought a pizza at Dominos. Jon’s phone slid off the car door and broke the screen.

Watched Guardians of the Galaxy. The theater was interesting. The girls at the desk were laughing at us (maybe even thought we were on a date) because we bought our tickets while still wearing our running shorts.

Tried to find the Moonshine Arch trailhead in the dark. We went down the wrong road and then gave up. Threw out a tarp and the sleeping bags just off a dirt road down by the Dino Tracks trailhead back at Red Fleet.

Monday- May 29, 2017

Woke up and it was so calm and gorgeous. You could see the rocks, the mountains, and the water. Started to drive back and found the road for the Moonshine Arch.

Moonshine Arch was a quick trail run that didn’t even last a mile. When we got to it we were really impressed with how beautiful and massive it was. It was fun to climb around on the rocks and explore around it. We could even run on top of it.

Coming back we cruised back into town at rested a bit at the outdoor sporting goods store. It was nice to rinse off with the bathroom sink too.

Got directions from the locals and drove out to Dinosaur National Monument. Jon hadn’t ever been and I was super stoked to show him. I knew he would love it. He bought a Parks pass when we got to the gate. I was surprised how expensive it was. One time entry was $20!

As we were driving back along the Green River we were amazed by how full it was. It was really wide and had a lot of water! We pulled over to try and go swimming but it was too cold. Then an idea came to float it. We didn’t have anything with us to do that but remembered a sweet deal on air mattresses at Walmart. We went back into town, bought two air mattresses and a pump, and headed back out. We went to the bridge out past Naples. Looking at the map we thought it would be fun to put in there and then go for a while maybe even getting all the way around Horseshoe Bend. There was a road that went alongside the river so we could pull out at any time and then take the road back to the car. 

Floating the river was awesome. It was taking us along at about 3 mph. It felt slow and steady but looking at the things we were passing we were actually moving at a pretty good pace. We went for almost an hour and then got out at a bend. It was nice we could deflate the air mattresses and through them on our backs to walk back. I had my Cotopaxi backpack and it even fit perfectly in it. I kept expecting a car to pass us that we could hitch a ride back with but no luck. We walked the entire way back.

Drove home happy after having such a great weekend. It was so good to get out and adventure.

Life is really hard right now for both of us. This was such a great opportunity to have a break and live life to the fullest again. It has been a long time since I have said that. It has been a long time since I have felt like I was myself.