Land of Standing Rocks Road

[ststephen]

I'm headed into the Dollhouse area the first week of April (5-11). I'm renting a 4-door Jeep Rubicon in SLC (flying in from SFO).

I know this is quite a challenging road. The vehicle I'm renting is stock, but I'm feeling pretty good about the Rubicon given that it has locking differentials, lower gear ratios and you can switch off the stabilizer to give more wheel travel.

Still, I'm not super-expert on 4WD driving and it would be nice to make the journey with another vehicle. Anybody heading out that way on 4/5?

We will camp at Chimney Rock on 4/5. Backpack for 2 nights (still deciding exactly where). Camp at the Dollhouse for 1 night. Backpack for 1 more night and then camp at the Wall for our last night.

[denaliguide]

you won't have any problem getting out to the land of standing rocks in that vehicle. providing the road is dry going down the flint trail and across the clay side hills to the 4-way junction of the teapot/hite/hansflat/sunrise pass roads. the bentonite clay can be nasty if its wet. if you just came in from the hite end you wouldn't even have to bother with it.

the road out around teapot rock and on to chimney rock is not that bad and a stock vehicle (especially a jeep) shouldn't have any problem with the difficulties. just go slow and use your low gear. i have done it several times in my stock 4 runner with no problems.

have fun and enjoy the ride.

[ststephen]

Thanks for the words of encouragement.

Yes, I'm preparing my family to understand it will be a *long* day of creeping over features and maybe even moving some rocks to make ramps. But, at least once we're there we've got many days of exploring and just soaking in the vibe of that wonderful area.

Good point about the clay layer. The night before we drive out we're staying in Hanksville. If it has been wet I'll call Hans Flat get my permit by phone and drive the long way 'round via Hite to avoid sliding down the Flint Trail.

Thanks for posting the pics too! It seems everyone takes a shot of that part where the road is on the ledge :-) I'm sure I'll do it too. Very cool.

[Hatchcanyon]

I'm headed into the Dollhouse area the first week of April (5-11). I'm renting a 4-door Jeep Rubicon in SLC (flying in from SFO).

I know this is quite a challenging road. The vehicle I'm renting is stock, but I'm feeling pretty good about the Rubicon given that it has locking differentials, lower gear ratios and you can switch off the stabilizer to give more wheel travel.

Still, I'm not super-expert on 4WD driving and it would be nice to make the journey with another vehicle. Anybody heading out that way on 4/5?

We will camp at Chimney Rock on 4/5. Backpack for 2 nights (still deciding exactly where). Camp at the Dollhouse for 1 night. Backpack for 1 more night and then camp at the Wall for our last night.

Hi,

We did this trail with several different vehicles. Pictures from a trip with an old Ford Exploren can be seen here: (http://hatchcanyon.eu/Inhalt/Utah/Dollhouse/dollhouse.html)

Some examples:

http://hatchcanyon.eu/Inhalt/Utah/Dollhouse/Dollhouse08.jpg
Around Tea Pot Rock

http://hatchcanyon.eu/Inhalt/Utah/Dollhouse/Dollhouse09.jpg
A bit rocky

http://hatchcanyon.eu/Inhalt/Utah/Dollhouse/Dollhouse11.jpg
Part of the trail looks like this

http://hatchcanyon.eu/Inhalt/Utah/Dollhouse/Dollhouse20.jpg
Finally: the Plug

[RedMan]

Still, I'm not super-expert on 4WD driving and it would be nice to make the journey with another vehicle. Anybody heading out that way on 4/5?
.

ststephen,

Any chance you own a SPOT? I HIGHLY recommend this if you are making the trip alone. www.findmespot.com. Good deals on them at atvutah.com

[Cirrus2000]

have fun and enjoy the ride.
Just spotted this thread. Who's the crazy bugger in shorts!?!? :haha:

http://bogley.com/forum/files/maze_apr07_3__small_.jpg

I came out from that trip a day or so before denaliguide and Craig, on my own in the stock '99 TJ on the left. I was a little stressed driving out for hours without anyone else, but slow and easy did the trick. Really enjoyed the trip. By the way, some video of that trip is here - first part has a sampling of the drive in: http://bogley.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=79466