JFstego
05-24-2012, 11:24 AM
Day 2.
The day started with was going to become a routine -- entering the Wave lottery with an expression of desperation, not getting drawn, feeling frustrated, pumping gas, and driving to our next destination. On Day 2, it was the Coyote Buttes South -- our first trip with serious off road driving. We decided to approach the area from the south, which required driving through Kaibab National Forest and Jacobs Lake. This route is a little longer than getting to House Rock Road from US 89 but the road is definitely much more scenic. And much more buggy! Driving in the forest, the bugs were literally "raining" and the windshield wipers could do very little about this. Fortunately, when the little yellow splashes on the non-aerodynaically shaped windshield of our Wrangler started to interfere with visibility, a gas station appeared in Jacobs Lake allowing us to "debug" the car. Going from Jacobs Lake east, a beautiful view of the Paria plateau opened in front of us. Adrenalin started building up.
Since none of us had any experience with driving in deep sand, we took the slightly longer but easier "south route" to the CBS. The rangers warned us to not take the road between Paw Hole and Poverty Flats in the east direction because of a sandy hill which we would have to make uphill. Supposedly, the region has not seen any rain for a long time and the sand was expected to be very deep. The southern half of the House Rock Road is rocky while the north part is mostly clay. The rocks in the south, however, increase the risk of getting a flat tire on a sharp rock, which actually happened to us on Day 3. The mishap of Day 2 was me being unable to boot my new Garmin SPSMAP 62s. For no reason, it would just shut itself off while loading routes, waypoints, … Exchanging batteries or removing the micro SD card did not help either. We continued equipped with an old-fashioned map and a cell-phone GPS. Never underestimate the power of a good old-fashioned map!
Following the map, we veered off the House Rock Road to BLM 1017. Besides occasional rocky patches for which one needs to slow down, this road was a breeze. Turning NE onto BLM 1066 towards CBS, however, was a whole different story. We switched the transfer case from 2Hi to 4Hi and started collecting our precious off road experience. In several places, I had serious doubts that we were driving on something that can still be called a road. What surprised me was the amount and size of the rocks over which we had to crawl at times. Do not worry, however, things look a lot worse from the driver's seat. Just go sloooooowly.
The Jeep roads in Paria plateau are a mix of rocks, OK sand, and very deep sand. This is why deflating the tires for the sand is not the best idea as you would have to constantly inflate / deflate the tires. The trick is to drive dynamically. Slow down for the rocky parts to a crawl and “keep the speed over sand, even if it makes you uncomfortable” – a phrase I was given by a friend that I repeated like a mantra. Knowing the Wrangler had just regular street tires, we wanted to be extra careful. After a short time, however, we learned how to read the terrain in front of you and adjust the speed accordingly. When you see little bumps in the sand, it means that it is not too deep and you can afford (and should) drive a little slower (e.g., 5-10 mph). It is when you see no structure in the sand you need to step on the gas as you are entering deep sand and you need to keep momentum to plow through. How fast? That depends, 20 mph or even faster. Going too fast where you do not need to makes the ride unnecessarily bumpy and unpleasant and you also increase the risk of busting a tire or damage the vehicle. On the other hand, if you enter deep sand with slow speed, you may get stuck. Several times, we slowed down in the sand to almost a crawl but always managed to plow through without getting stuck.
As you may be forced to stop where you should not due to other vehicles on the road, you should always have a shovel with you and some form of a sand ladder that you can put under your wheels. A friend of mine made sand ladders for us from old milk crates by following the directions at the Land Rover forum http://www.aulro.com/afvb/projects-tutorials/48963-how-make-cheapy-sand-tracks-ladders-mats-whatevers-offsite-image-warnings.html. Even though we never needed them, they were a great peace of mind!
We entered the CBS region at the Cottonwood Cove trailhead. The CBS is a rather big area with very diverse rock formations, shapes, and colors. I was pleasantly surprised how impressive, rich, and beautiful the region is.
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You can even find "waves" and lots of formations that are similar to those in CBN.
54352
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My favorite were two-colored rocks. Here is the “other” half-and-half rock.
54359
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On the way back, we opted to drive to Paw Hole from Poverty Flat. We barely made it through the dreaded sandy hill in the downhill direction. With street tires, I would not recommend this hill in the uphill direction even if you have a high clearance 4x4 vehicle.
54354
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As the sun was already setting, we only did a short hike around Paw Hole before getting back on the road.
54358
When going north on the House Rock Road, we almost ran over a rattlesnake. We stopped and took pictures of the rattler. It did not rattle, though ...
Day 1 http://www.bogley.com/forum/showthread.php?63361-Wahweap-hoodoos
Day 2 http://www.bogley.com/forum/showthread.php?63362-Coyote-Buttes-South
Day 3 http://www.bogley.com/forum/showthread.php?63363-The-White-Pocket
Day 4 http://www.bogley.com/forum/showthread.php?63364-Edmaier-s-Secret-Nautilus
Day 5 http://www.bogley.com/forum/showthread.php?63366-Valley-of-Fire
The day started with was going to become a routine -- entering the Wave lottery with an expression of desperation, not getting drawn, feeling frustrated, pumping gas, and driving to our next destination. On Day 2, it was the Coyote Buttes South -- our first trip with serious off road driving. We decided to approach the area from the south, which required driving through Kaibab National Forest and Jacobs Lake. This route is a little longer than getting to House Rock Road from US 89 but the road is definitely much more scenic. And much more buggy! Driving in the forest, the bugs were literally "raining" and the windshield wipers could do very little about this. Fortunately, when the little yellow splashes on the non-aerodynaically shaped windshield of our Wrangler started to interfere with visibility, a gas station appeared in Jacobs Lake allowing us to "debug" the car. Going from Jacobs Lake east, a beautiful view of the Paria plateau opened in front of us. Adrenalin started building up.
Since none of us had any experience with driving in deep sand, we took the slightly longer but easier "south route" to the CBS. The rangers warned us to not take the road between Paw Hole and Poverty Flats in the east direction because of a sandy hill which we would have to make uphill. Supposedly, the region has not seen any rain for a long time and the sand was expected to be very deep. The southern half of the House Rock Road is rocky while the north part is mostly clay. The rocks in the south, however, increase the risk of getting a flat tire on a sharp rock, which actually happened to us on Day 3. The mishap of Day 2 was me being unable to boot my new Garmin SPSMAP 62s. For no reason, it would just shut itself off while loading routes, waypoints, … Exchanging batteries or removing the micro SD card did not help either. We continued equipped with an old-fashioned map and a cell-phone GPS. Never underestimate the power of a good old-fashioned map!
Following the map, we veered off the House Rock Road to BLM 1017. Besides occasional rocky patches for which one needs to slow down, this road was a breeze. Turning NE onto BLM 1066 towards CBS, however, was a whole different story. We switched the transfer case from 2Hi to 4Hi and started collecting our precious off road experience. In several places, I had serious doubts that we were driving on something that can still be called a road. What surprised me was the amount and size of the rocks over which we had to crawl at times. Do not worry, however, things look a lot worse from the driver's seat. Just go sloooooowly.
The Jeep roads in Paria plateau are a mix of rocks, OK sand, and very deep sand. This is why deflating the tires for the sand is not the best idea as you would have to constantly inflate / deflate the tires. The trick is to drive dynamically. Slow down for the rocky parts to a crawl and “keep the speed over sand, even if it makes you uncomfortable” – a phrase I was given by a friend that I repeated like a mantra. Knowing the Wrangler had just regular street tires, we wanted to be extra careful. After a short time, however, we learned how to read the terrain in front of you and adjust the speed accordingly. When you see little bumps in the sand, it means that it is not too deep and you can afford (and should) drive a little slower (e.g., 5-10 mph). It is when you see no structure in the sand you need to step on the gas as you are entering deep sand and you need to keep momentum to plow through. How fast? That depends, 20 mph or even faster. Going too fast where you do not need to makes the ride unnecessarily bumpy and unpleasant and you also increase the risk of busting a tire or damage the vehicle. On the other hand, if you enter deep sand with slow speed, you may get stuck. Several times, we slowed down in the sand to almost a crawl but always managed to plow through without getting stuck.
As you may be forced to stop where you should not due to other vehicles on the road, you should always have a shovel with you and some form of a sand ladder that you can put under your wheels. A friend of mine made sand ladders for us from old milk crates by following the directions at the Land Rover forum http://www.aulro.com/afvb/projects-tutorials/48963-how-make-cheapy-sand-tracks-ladders-mats-whatevers-offsite-image-warnings.html. Even though we never needed them, they were a great peace of mind!
We entered the CBS region at the Cottonwood Cove trailhead. The CBS is a rather big area with very diverse rock formations, shapes, and colors. I was pleasantly surprised how impressive, rich, and beautiful the region is.
54342
54343
54344
54345
54346
54347
54348
54349
54350
54351
You can even find "waves" and lots of formations that are similar to those in CBN.
54352
54353
My favorite were two-colored rocks. Here is the “other” half-and-half rock.
54359
54360
On the way back, we opted to drive to Paw Hole from Poverty Flat. We barely made it through the dreaded sandy hill in the downhill direction. With street tires, I would not recommend this hill in the uphill direction even if you have a high clearance 4x4 vehicle.
54354
54355
54356
54357
As the sun was already setting, we only did a short hike around Paw Hole before getting back on the road.
54358
When going north on the House Rock Road, we almost ran over a rattlesnake. We stopped and took pictures of the rattler. It did not rattle, though ...
Day 1 http://www.bogley.com/forum/showthread.php?63361-Wahweap-hoodoos
Day 2 http://www.bogley.com/forum/showthread.php?63362-Coyote-Buttes-South
Day 3 http://www.bogley.com/forum/showthread.php?63363-The-White-Pocket
Day 4 http://www.bogley.com/forum/showthread.php?63364-Edmaier-s-Secret-Nautilus
Day 5 http://www.bogley.com/forum/showthread.php?63366-Valley-of-Fire