Arizona - Grand Staircase National Monument - Off Road Adventure / I high centered the Jeep

The Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument

This is a US National Monument protecting 1,880,461 acres by the Bureau of Land Management. For more information about dinosaurs spotted in the area click here.

We did a little off road'n in the area check out these pictures.

We started off on the Smokey Mountain Road #230,

Then we took the Crosby Canyon Road #231 toward Lake Powell

Creepeee

This is a shot of our navigation on the Jeep which clearly shows our position in Lake Powell.

This can only be accomplished because the lake is low.

Back to the road and now the wheels are spinning,

out of the Jeep and into the mud to check it out.

Got back in the Jeep and put it in Grandma,

as Dad would say,

4LO and 2nd gear and crawled out.

On the way back up the road Kathy got this shot.

As we continue on this road our plan is to take Smokey Hollow Road #330 to Smoky Mountain Road #300 and back.

We had stopped by the Big Water visitors center and picked up a road condition sheet for the area.
I should probably have read it.
It said this about Smokey Hollow Road #330, it said it was impassible, dated two days earlier.

This is called "high centering" the Jeep.

 A lot of this trail was nice road but the problem was the road crossed the wash several times as we went through the canyon.

The problem was climbing out of the washes in some places.

Luckily we had an off road tool bag. 

See that yellow bag? It has a shovel, sledge hammer,

pick, ax and telescoping handle in it,

Don't leave home without it.

Luckily it was only sand that I had to dig out,

if it were dirt and rocks we would had been in trouble.

I think the delay took us about 30 or 40 minutes.

This where we got stuck, (X) marks the spot.

We didn't give up, Kathy didn't complain.
Our navigation unit on the Jeep show us were the road was crossing the wash.
So in the photo we just backed up a little bit headed East in the wash, then North to the next entrance and continued.

This off road experience rated #2 in my book it was very technical and got my adrenaline going digging us out.

Our #1 would be switch backs on the Shafer Trail Mohab Utah.

It's not technical but you better be on your toes.

This trail is extremely steep and it travels along the tops of sheer cliffs.

Anyway back to the present, here I am pre checking the trail.




Bear!



Black tailed Jack Rabbit





We had lunch and continued on to Smoky Mountain Road #300 back to highway 89.

Kelly Grade Overlook.

Just starting to rain.

I think we covered about 44 miles in five and a half hours.

We mad it back safe and sound.