Ambushed at Poughkeepsie Gulch

Good evening and welcome to day 2. Due to the incredible slowness of of the wifi here, I am going to tell the story as it happened, not how the fotos are positioned on the blog. To get to Poughkeepsie Gulch, you begin about 5 miles up the million dollar highway on the Engineer pass road. From my fading memory, this road was a mild easy trail you could coast up. Not anymore. Everyone I talked to agreed the trails are getting more difficult. Unlike Utah, where mini-vans are the new Jeep. We stopped at an old mine a few miles and took the bottom foto. It's so strange to see buildings and such from so long ago still surviving after so much time has passed.

 We continued the climb up the mountain to the turn off for the gulch. There are signs everywhere saying the trail is for modified 4x4's and lockers and winches are recommended. As usual, I didn't pay attention to it and plowed into the first mud pit I could find. Bob happened to tell me that there was mud coming in his side of the Jeep......I like to play like that. We climbed all the way up to the final obstacle and arrived at the hills. There are 3 ways up and the governing body of this area has kindly installed winch points to be used to help yourself if you don't make it. Well with all the rain and mud, the rock was slippery and I knew there was no way in hell I was going up those hills. I do take pride in that I was up there in a mostly stock Jeep. Everyone else, at the minimum, had Rubicon Jeeps and highly modified expensive built Jeeps. So ya, I was happy to be that far up yet sad because I couldn't do it. So, after taking a few minutes of video, we headed down the trail the way we had come and headed back up the mountain. The trail got better the closer to the top we got. We rounded a corner and what did we see????? 

 We saw a Subaru station wagon that had come up from the Animas Forks area. The trail out of Silverton to Animas Forks is a very easy trail. He was headed down and asked us if he was on the road to Ouray. I said yes and informed him there was no way in hell he was going to make it down in the Subaru. We continued up and Bob watched him go about 10 yards down the trail then get out and see for himself he wasn't gonna make it. Sure enough, as we sat and checked out an old mine area, here he comes flying up the road heading back to Silverton. We stopped in Animas Forks, took fotos and headed up California Gulch. Easy trail and it got us to 13000 feet. What a view. As we went down the trail, we took a road that led us to Corkscrew Gulch. From there, Red Mountain stood out like a sore thumb. All around you is a treeless, gray and green mountain range and then like that, you run into Red mountain, which is....red!

 We headed into the Red Mountain area and stopped to visit a few old mining structures. The head frame in the foto is Yankee Girl mine. I went inside and got some great shots of the building and all the surrounding areas. Yankee Girl is one of the most foto-graphed buildings around. But, most people do it from across the valley on the main road. They even built a nice new pull out for that sole purpose. Ya know, I would much rather see it up close and personal then shoot a foto from half a mile away. There is so much history in Ouray, you could spend weeks taking every trail to every site and not get bored.

Last but not least, I took a foto of Mr happy-face I'm certain most of you out there think it's stupid, but I don't.I kinda like him. Besides, he is yellow and matches the Jeep! Now I get to voice my opinion on stuff I saw today. Yes  its been 12 years since I was there, but the amount of ATV's was incredible. They were everywhere. I kinda miss the old days when all you saw on the trails were Jeeps and such. Another thing I noticed was Ouray has turned into Telluride. I have never seen that many people in the town except on the 4th of July party they have. I really don't like it. We didn't stop or anything, but there was hardly any parking on the road and wall to wall people walking the sidewalks. It used to be a quiet town and I liked it for that. OK, it's time to call it a night.... we have Black Bear pass to run tomorrow. Until tomorrow......Jeep on my friends.

Good evening and welcome to part 1 of the crazy things I do. This weekend was a spur of the moment, lets go to Ouray and Jeep the dark side idea so here I am. Before I go further, I must admit the foto above has no direct bearing on this trip. I had no opportunity to take any fotos on the way here due to really shitty weather. We left and it was sunny and hot. Got into Spanish Fork canyon and the tell tale clouds of doom decided to rain on our parade. By the time we got to Soldiers Summit, it was 62 and raining. Not fun. We made it into Price and and things mellowed out..... sort of. Between Price and Green River is nothing more than sand and a few odd varieties of plant life. The storm went from rain to wind and it was awful. It almost blew the glasses off my face. Finally after 20 or so miles beyond Green River it stopped and we ran in to another Utah favorite...... road construction. I-70 pretty much from that point on into Colorado was single lane. Colorado even has the disease, because it continued almost to Grand Junction. Crazy I tell ya. So I sit here in a Super 8 motel and write about day one of this adventure. Had to stop and buy super size garbage bags to cover the seats in the Jeep tonight so they stay dry. I don't mind getting wet during a trip, but starting out with a wet ass just sucks! So, tomorrow night will have new fotos of the adventure and who knows what else. Its bed time........ Jeep on my friends!

3 Jeeps and a quest for mud

 Welcome to another adventure of the fun kind. These past few days have brought some much needed rain to the state of Utah. Of course, we all know that with rain you get lots of mud. So, being the type of person to take advantage of the situation, we decided a Jeep trip was most definitely needed. Sam, Bob, and her mom joined up with me, myself and I and headed to the hills. The trip started up Blacksmith canyon and then onto the left hand fork trail. I must admit, things were not looking promising as we began the the trip up the trail. After all the rain, we couldn't find anything other than a few meaningless, tiny puddles that brought no joy to the drivers. Things were not looking good at all. 

 We took the trail to the crossroads and followed it to the east and Old Ephriam's grave. Still, the lack of mud was appalling. We pulled out of that site, heading north to the Temple peak trail, and kept up the search for the elusive mud hold. As we headed east, the trees in this area do not allow a lot of sun to reach the ground and this in turn, helped in our our quest immensely. Winding our way through the trees, we began to find more and more puddles that were actually decent sized and fun to play in. They seemed to get better and better as we climbed in altitude in search of our holy grail. Coming up to the summit of the trail, we struck it rich and found a great place to
 play and proceeded to have a great time. We spent a good half hour in the mud hole trying to see who could cover their vehicle the best. Sam was the winner of this game, turning her white Unlimited into a brown muddy mess. I honestly think she would be a great race car driver. She hit the hole the fastest and covered her Jeep the best. I took it slow trying to see if I could actually get stuck in it. Not a chance. The little old Jeep pulled itself through in 2 wheel drive with out missing a beat. We took some video of the Jeeps going through the mud hole, but for some dumb ass reason, they ended up being sideways and I know not why.

After our fun in the mud, the trip kept getting better. We headed north to the Peter's sink trail and again found a plethora of mud. For those of you who don't know what Peters sink is, well,....... its claim to fame is that it is the coldest spot in the lower 48 states. They have recorded temperatures in this area in the winter at -69 degrees. That's pretty freaking cold. Funny thing about the trip is that on that trail, the temp dropped almost 15 degrees. As I watched the Jeeps thermometer during the day, it stayed in the high 70's and low 80's. During our time in the sink area the gauge read in the low 60's. Weird huh? We were gonna drop down to Bear lake, but from our view on top of the mountain it appeared that they were getting one hell of a rain storm so, we headed to Logan for dinner and then home. All in all, it was a great trip. Found some more trails I wanna follow and who knows what I will find when I do. Until next time, Jeep on my friends!

This is getting old..........

Welcome to another adventure. Today's trip is the last one for a while. Samantha is getting her tonsils out Tuesday so we decided to head out and play. My " this is getting old" title was chosen today because, again, our stupid government has once again taken a great 4x4 trail and "subaru'ed it. Yes that is a word. The Mt Logan trail in years past was a good rock crawling trail. The final mile was a blast. Not anymore! They have cut a brand new trail that yes, even a Subaru could do. So so sad. Anyways, as you can see, there is still some spots of snow left. Kinda hard to believe, due to the lack of snow we received.

The town you can see in the distance is Logan Utah. I can't remember how high the peak is, but it is up there. OK I just looked it up. It's 9710 feet above sea level. I thought it was higher, but what the hell do I know? The view is spectacular and you can see forever. Granted, you will be trying to see over all the non-Jeep vehicles that are parked there, but climb on a hood and look over the valleys below. The last time I was up there I rode the Predator and it was a blast. Today's trip up was less than exciting. Oh well, what can one do? We headed out back down the trail  and took the road south to explore regions yet unexplored by the yellow Jeep.

Providence canyon was closed so we stayed on the trail heading south and ended up at Millville canyon. At the top of it we found this little mud hole and played. It wasn't a lot of mud but we did have some fun. The trip down the canyon was fun. It is a steep canyon with lots of loose rocks which meant we got to finally use 4-low. Going down was exciting, but I'm thinking going up would even be funner. So maybe in a few weeks when Sam has recovered, we will go up the canyon just for shits and giggles. I am almost in the mood to move somewhere where the government leaves the trails alone. It seems that all of the trails east of Logan have become.... for lack of a better word: Sissy-fied. I know, I made it up but who cares, right? In the past, you needed a good 4x4 to see these interesting places but now..... sigh! Well that's enough. Enjoy yourselves and, as I always say......

Jeep on, my friends.

Stupid trees suck.......

 Welcome to another adventure! Memorial day has always been a four wheeling day and this years was no exception. We headed south this trip hoping to find left over mud from all the rain we had the last 2 days. What a disappointment. All we got was dust till we hit the 9000 foot level. So not right! But, the rain did manage to get a few cacti blooming. For such an ugly plant the flowers are so pretty.

One of the mines had a little cut out and Samantha fit in just right. Kinda looks like she is in jail. We also went into another mine a ways so I could show everybody the little stalagmites that are growing in the old mines About this time, we headed up an ATV trail and the title of this blog came in to play. I miss judged a part of the trail and after 30 years of wheeling did some major damage to the Jeep. I am not posting a foto on here, but there is one on my facebook page.. It tried to stop me, but I did prevail and made it to the top of the trail! Stupid tree!

On top of the mountain Bob decided to try and go up and over this berm. As you can see it was a no go situation. Oops! Sam and Bob finally got it from its high centered position without having myself pull them off. It was funny!  Sorry Sam, but it was!

To add salt to the wound...... I showed him how it is done.... even with a wounded Jeep! You couldn't have asked for a better day of Jeeping. The sun was out and yes, I did get fried, but it was well worth it. I would love a job that allowed me to do this any time I wanted to. I am heading back to school Monday for the first time since '88. I have decided to do what I have always wanted to do and that is be a nurse. I am excited to do it but I also know it is gonna cut into the Jeeping. Mater of fact, I am going to sell it and in a few years start building another one. Well my friends, be happy  and and Jeep on!

A tail of 2 JEEPS!

Happy Easter all and welcome to another wonderful adventure! Samantha called last night and said we needed to Jeep and of course I said yes. I got to choose the trail and I chose one I haven't been on since Oct 2002. I figured it was time to go back to Boston Terrace out in the Newfoundland mountain range. This place is like out in the middle of no-where. It is accessible from 2 roads, one from the south and the other from the north. We go in from the north and it is quite a long drive. Sam showed up in a different Jeep this morning. I walked out the door and there it was: a red 2009 JK. It just so happens that her mother has caught the JEEP bug too. Can't say as I blame her...... so, off we went on our version of the Easter Jeep Safari.
The last time out there I was driving my red 95 Wrangler, and tho it did the job, this new yellow one kicks its ass! We started by taking a new trail I didn't try the last time and we came across this old stone house. It is bigger than the other house out there and its about 1/2 a mile away from it around the mountain. It was a fun new discovery for me. It is amazing that over the past 125 years, this thing is still standing. The town was, for lack of a better word, a colony of Swedish miners trying to make their dream come true. They lived out there in BFE and shipped their ore in on the Central Pacific railroad to Ogden where an agent sold it and put the money aside for them. Well, one winter they left and went to Ogden to see where they stood money wise only to find out the agent had taken it all and left them high and dry. They never returned to Boston Terrace and the "city" stayed hidden till the early 50's when it was rediscovered. They found everything like it was when the Swedes left. As of now, I can only account for 2 cabins, though I do believe there could be more
In the last decade, the Wildlife management division of Utah has transplanted numerous desert bighorn sheep out there. Today was my lucky day because I finally got to see one. He looks young but it was just cool to see one. As always, we saw the numerous antelope that roam free out there and a million lizards. The north end of the range is part of the same family of mountains in the Devils Playground. There are so many cool rock formations in the Newfoundlands that you could spend days out there just exploring. Maybe someday I will go out and spend a day or two and see what things I can find.
The trip is damn near 300 miles round trip and the majority of it is on dirt roads. Old yellow got over 18 mpg this trip which was awesome. Sad day for Big Red though. It didn't do well on the mpg. As you can see, it needed to be refueled on the trip back. HA HA HA! Anyway, it was a great day. I got myself a nice little truck driver tan and a ton of cool fotos. Well my friends, its bed time. The 12 hour trip was fun as hell and the new stuff I saw made it great. Take care and Jeep on my friends!

Following in the tire tracks!

I guess I should have posted a few weeks ago, but I didn't. You see, Sam decided to ditch the foreign car and get an all American JEEP! She bought herself a 2012 JEEP Unlimited and its NICE! So anyway, we decided to take it out and play today. We headed out to the Devils Playground in the west desert of Utah to test it out and play in the mud and snow. Our first stop was the lower area where the rock formations are wild. As you can see from the foto, they are bizarre! The trail in was quite muddy, but the best was yet to come.
Our next stop was one of the abandoned mines out there. This was a snow bound trail full of excitement. Sam got her first taste of off camber driving in snow on a steep trail where you can't make a mistake. I am proud to say she made it with minimal coaching and made me a proud dad! Due to no flashlight we didn't enter the mine, but we did enjoy the great view from the trail top.
After that we headed off to the southern end of the playground. the trails were snow/mud mix and a blast to drive. We tried to get to the hidden cabin but there was just to much snow on the trail. We headed up some other trails to this little rock pile. I know it's not much, but it was new to her and she conquered it in style! Way to go! I'm betting she will be better then me faster than I want to admit it. We played on the trail till we hit a dead end then headed out to explore new trails.
Our last trail of the day was a simple dirt road. Nothing exciting, we thought, till we got to the end. We found ourselves a new mine to explore. I actually didn't see the mine entrance due to the snow and steepness of the trail, but we found the base area and all of it's junk. No telling how long it has been abandoned but it seemed to be an efficient operation. There was a shaker table and various other things left there including an old front load tractor. It would be fun to fix it just to play with it. Be one hell of a great toy to have. Anyway, we finished the trip on that note and headed home. It was an awesome day. Hopefully we can continue our trips this year and explore all the back roads of the west. YOU DID GREAT SAM! JEEP on my friends!