"Be prepared to self-rescue"; those were the words of advice from the park ranger at Hans Flat when we made our back-country reservations for three days and two nights of riding, hiking and camping in and around Ernie's Country, south of The Maze, Canyonlands National Park.
The plan was to trailer two WR250R's from Baton Rouge, pick up my son who was flying into Albuquerque, drive to Moab and spend 8 days riding in SE Utah, camping and hiking, before heading back home. Day 1: Albuquerque. Had 8 extra hours waiting for my son's delayed plane, so rode around the Sandia Mountains:
Top of Sandia Crest:
Day 2 Long Canyon-White Rim Trail
Yes, another boring trip report about Moab. Been there before, mnt biking the Slickrock trail and hiking Arches, but never on motorcycles. We settled on the White Rim Trail via Long Canyon.
Preparing for the long day:
We rode from Moab to 279 to Long Canyon to Dead Horse Point Road to the Shafer Trail to the White Rim Trail, which we tackled clockwise.
Climbing Long Canyon:
Up Long Canyon with La Sal Mnts in the background:
Steep sandy section of Pucker Pass:
My son was first trying the toughest section of Pucker Pass. Didn't make it.
Somewhere above Long Canyon on our way to the top of Shafer Trail:
I think this is on the first section of the Shafer Trail way down from the Islands In The Sky Visitor Center after we purchased our permits for the WRT. Note: half way on the WRT, we did get stopped by a park ranger to show our permits.
Riding on a ledge, on the way to the famous switchbacks. We figured if we made it through Long Canyon, we would make it through the WRT.
Top of Shafer, looking down at the portion of the Shafer Trail connecting with the WRT:
We each had to get a pic here:
I was the first to go down the Shafer Switchbacks. I ought to photoshop-out that green jeep:
There, no jeep, now you are not distracted and can see me coming down:
I then stopped half way down and took a picture of my son from where he took the picture above. You can only see the white speck of his helmet directly above the switchback on this picure, two thirds up on the face of the wall. It takes a bit to get used to the heights while riding, but it must have taken real guts to build the roads:
And here he is riding down. If you compare the two pictures, the white speck of the helmet above is now gone:
Anyway, the dimension, the perspective, the scale of this place is beyond anything pictures can capture yadayadayada.
About to hook up with the WRT:
Not many words needed for the WRT:
Obligatory walk over Musselman Arch:
You can't even see the WRs, etc.
A couple we met on the latter part of the WRT, Mr. and Mrs. Ector each riding their motorcycles, going up Murphy Hogback:
My son and I, top of Murphy:
And down:
Up Hardscrabble, I think. I did drop the WR within 2 feet of conquering the hard part of the climb half way. I stalled on 2nd gear. I had read guys change the front sprocket of the WR. Now I know why.
So one fall each for the day. Not bad for two noob's as this was our first real ride on dirt-worthy bikes and more challenging trails. We had been riding F650's in the past and got tired of turning around when the roads got more technical. F650's had horrible suspension, were heavy, etc. They are great for gravel roads and hwys, but difficult to handle on harder stuff. With the WR's, you just point and click with the bikes do the rest. Amazing.
And down Hardscrabble:
Hang on. Almost done with another boring WRT report:
Up the Mineral Bottom Road Switchbacks:
Refreshing at 70MPH on Mineral Bottom Road on our way to our hotel in Moab for pizza, pasta and Polygamy beer.
Day 3 The Maze
So we took Edward Abbey's advice of Desert Solitaire that can be applied to a lesser degree to motorcycles:
"In the first place, you can't see anything from a car; you've got to get out of the goddamned contraption and walk, better yet crawl, on hands and knees, over the sandstone and through the thornbush and cactus. When traces of blood begin to mark your trail you'll see something, maybe. Probably not."
Our plan was to trailer the WR's over to Hanksville west of Moab on the other side of the river and use that as a base to ride and hike around The Maze for a few days and then around the Henry Mountains for the rest of the trip. Hanksville is nothing like the town of Moab, but you can eat on a couple of burger joints, there is a supermarket, gas, two motels, the basics.
We took Poison Spring Canyon to a section of Canyonlands National Park in the Maze District called Earnies Country. Preparations at Hanksville's Whispering Sands Hotel:
Start of Poison Spring:
You ride pretty much the whole time on the dry river bed:
As you go deeper into the canyon, walls naturally grow taller:
Climbing up and down various side canyons tributaries to Poison Spring:
Crossing the Dirty Devil River:
Entering North Hatch Canyon:
On the way to Teapot Rock:
Probably the most technical stretch of our trip: from Teapot to Mother and Child: slickrock, lose rock, ledges, etc.
Trail gets easier a couple of miles thereafter:
Late in the afternoon we arrived at the trailhead below Mother and Child, which you can see in the background:
After 4 hours of hiking we arrived at our campsite around midnight in Earnies Country:
Day 4 Hiking Earnies Country:
I know this is not a hiking site, so I won't bore you with too many hiking pics.
Sunrise on our campsite near one of two springs in several square miles:
Relaxing behind the spring:
Filtering water with the trusty Katadyn Hiker Pro from the spring, which is literally one drop per second filling two half barrels:
We hiked south toward the Colorado River outlook:
Down the dry wash:
Cataract Canyon with the Colorado way down the face of the cliff and thunderstorms approaching so we chickened out and turnaround quickly:
Then we hiked north toward an area called The Fins:
A little rain as a front went by:
Sunset by the campsite with temps dropping to the mid 40's:
Day 5 Maze Overlook-Hite
Plan today was hike out of Earnies Country mid morning, ride to the Maze Overlook and return to Hite for gas via Flint Trail/Andy Miller Flats, then get back to base at Hanksville for burgers and Whispering Sands Hotel.
Since we hiked in at night, we were able to see what we missed hiking out during daylight:
Scrambling out of the wash to get to the motorcycles:
One of several large arches in Earnies Country. Pictures don't do justice to the scale, etc. etc.:
Biggest Nike ever:
Back at Mother and Child:
A particularly nasty section near Teapot Rock:
Sunset Pass in the background to the right, which we crossed on our way from Poison Spring Canyon to Teapot Rock a few days beforehand:
Climbing from Waterhole Flat to the Flint Trail as we make our way toward the Maze Overlook. Vistas here are as spectacular as the WRT:
La Sal Mnts, near Moab, in the background:
Motorcycle on the upper left area of the pic:
Maze Overlook camping area; Elaterite Butte in the background:
Maze below.
Chocolate Drops to the left: these must be the four unnamed formations that Edward Abbey wrote about in Desert Solitaire. He had considered several options: Altars of the Moon, Tablets of the Sun, Tombs of Ishtar, Shiva the Destroyer...He decides to leave them unnamed as the most sensate things to do, despite Rainer Maria Rilke's admonition that if the poet does not name something, it doesn't exist. And look what someone else did anyway: Chocolate Drops... :baldy
Pictures, of course, don't do any justice to The Maze or anything in SE Utah for that matter.
White Rim Trail in the background beyond The Maze; La Sal Mountains in the distance in second picture below:
Somewhere along the way back to Hite via 676/Andy Miller Flats:
Gas at Hite:
Obligatory Colorado River Overlook pic north of Hite before the treck back to Hanksville for burgers and a hotel bed:
Day 6 Henry Mountains
Plan to day was to approach the Henry Mountains via Giles Ghost Town-Town Wash-Blue Valley Benches-Bull Creek Wash.
From Hanksville, we rode west toward Caineville on UT 24 and turned south on an unmarked dirtroad, crossed the Freemont River and made our way to Giles. Not much left. The town was abandoned after the Freemont river flooded several years and wiped out the settler's crops. Still interesting little-used approach to the Henry's as an alternative to the direct route via Hanksville:
Blue Valley Benches:
Henry Mountains in the distance:
The saddle between both mountains is Wickiup Pass:
Topping off our tanks with extra gas we carried, near Fairview Ranch. We cached the empty can and headed up to Wickiup Pass:
Start of the climb to Wickiup Pass; Blue Valley in the distance:
Not sure who comes up with the names...This is near Lonesome Beaver
Had to manouver around fallen trees on the road...so we knew we were the only ones up there :clap
On our way to the Wickiup Pass overlook:
Trying to make our way around to Bull Pass to locate a camping spot behind Mount Ellen. We had to turnaround due to snow but found another way.
Not sure why I look so much bigger than the bike...I can barely touch the ground tiptoeing...
Eventually we settled for a spot way up with good protection as the we had heard the forecast called for 40 MPH winds later in the evening and for the rest of our stay in the Henry's.
Just in time for sunset:
OK, not as good a sunset picture as one with a motorcycle:
Two more days to go!
Day 7 More Henry Mountains:
Our goal today was to explore as much of the Henry Mountains as we could, get gas at Torrey or Bull Frog, depending on which direction we ended up going, and get back to our campsite by nightfall. Navigation was more difficult than we expected and we never found our way to the south end of the Burr Trail. A good map would have helped, which we did not have. There a lot of dirt roads with little to no signage.
Early morning hike to Mnt Ellen's ridge above our campsite; our campsite in the foreground still in the shade and illuminated are Capitol Reef's Water Pocket Fold first and behind it, Boulder Mountain:
Cold and very windy at the ridge. Mount Pennell in the background:
Campsite in the distance:
Repairing broken brake lever bolt in my WR with trusty bailing wire:
Perfect!
On our way to complete the loop around Mnt Ellen; Mnt Pennell in the distance:
Dead end:
So we tried the other way via Bull Pass. Here is one of dozens of side trails to explore:
Filtering drinking water along the way:
Climbing to Bull Pass:
We were determined to be the first to complete the loop around Mnt Ellen this season. Traversing more snow:
Eventually we had to give up about 250 meters from completing the whole loop and turned around:
Playing around another side trail:
Now down the Henry's toward Bull Creek Pass Scenic Byway to connect with the Burr Trail:
Our campsite somewhere in the distance:
Stevens Narrows:
On our way back from Torrey near Sandy Creek Benches, sun starting to set. The 40 MPH winds wind blasted sand all over us the whole afternoon:
We took the shorter way back up to camp:
Arriving at the campsite just at sunset:
Day 8 Last day in the Henry Mountains:
Last day of the trip, plan was to explore southern Henry's, and attempt to connect with the Burr Trail (we never did) and head back to our hotel and car in Hanksville for the long drive home to Louisiana.
Somewhere around Mnt. Pennell pass:
Closing in on Mt. Hillers:
Mnt Hillers:
Mnt Holmes/Mnt Ellsworth in the distance:
Hitting a bit of pavement (UT 276) as we head back to Hanksville:
Last bit of dirt to pick up the empty gas can can we cached at Fairview Ranch Rd a few days ago...Hanksville, hotel, burgers and beer in the distance:
Short 10 min video highlights of parts of the trip: