Driving through a bomb cyclone in full fury is not fun but it sure is lovely. Join Fluffy and me for the last leg of our epic road trip where we power through a lot of snow in Oregon, play tourist in Seattle, Washington and Vancouver, B.C. After getting a bit lost, we make it to the Pacific Rim National Park on Vancouver Island and finally make the long journey home, stopping at some lovely hot springs and visiting the Spiral Jetty and Sun Tunnels in the Utah desert.
Tag: Jeep
Epic Road Trip – Part II – Nevada, Jungo Road
Fluffy Dog and I take a road trip including tackling Jungo Road and visiting the Black Rock Desert.
Buckle in for Part II of our road trip adventure! We head to Nevada to see a large landform artwork in the middle of the desert, take a dip in some hot springs, tackle Jungo Road and have our own little Burning Man in the Black Rock Desert!
Solo Wyoming Road Trip
Hey Folks! Just added another video of an 8 day Wyoming Road Trip Fluffy and I took in July. It’s a long one, but there was a lot of ground to cover! We visited one of my favorite places in Wyoming, called Adobetown and tackled the iconic Morrison Jeep Trail. Enjoy!
Road Trippin’
In our latest video, Fluffy Dog and Katie go adventuring in Creede, Colorado. We visit Wheeler Geologic Area, see a big waterfall and check out some old mining camps. Happy Trails!
All The Pretty Horses
In a remote region of Northern Wyoming and Southern Montana, the Pyror Mountain feral horse herd roams free over vast high mountain meadows. The Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range is one of those very special places where it feels like your soul has found home. I first visited this area in 2003, then again in 2004. A return visit had been on my mind for a while and I finally had the opportunity to visit my old friends again last week.
At the top of the mountain, the views of the Big Horn Canyon and surrounding public lands are stunning, but the horses are the main attraction. The Pryor mustangs tend to be small in stature and many have primitive markings such as dorsal stripes and zebra striping on their legs. They are accustomed to gawking humans and their inquisitive nature often leads to close encounters.
Several local groups (along with the BLM that manages the herd) keep close track of the herd, including naming each newborn foal and keeping track of lineages and deaths. The most famous of the horses is White Cloud, a pale palomino stallion that stands out for his unique coloration.
On my first visit to the range, in 2003, I had the mountain top and horses to myself. It has since become a more popular destination, but there are still plenty of opportunities for alone time with the horses. The bulk of the human visitors only come up for the day, so if you camp out overnight, you’ll find more solitude. There are several good locations for dispersed camping on top of the mountain. If you’re lucky, a few of the horses will come over to check out your tent.
There are three roads that access the mountain range, Pryor Mountain Road (aka Sage Creek Road), Burnt Timber Ridge Road and Sykes Ridge Road. I have driven all three on different trips to the area. The Pryor Mountain Road is a (mostly) well-maintained gravel road that is passable by passenger cars, but it does get a bit bumpy over the last few miles. Burnt Timber and Sykes Ridge are 4WD roads. Burnt Timber is a bit easier on the suspension than Sykes. Keep your eyes peeled on both roads for horses grazing at lower elevations.
Sykes Ridge Road was the first real 4WD road I ever drove and it can take a toll on your vehicle. On my first trip up Sykes in my old pick-up truck, I managed to blow out a sidewall on one of my tires, destroyed my power steering gear box and seriously damaged my alignment. It’s not a road to travel unprepared. It is 16 miles of very rough road and a high clearance 4WD vehicle is required. While it doesn’t have any particularly dangerous sections, there are stair-step and rock garden obstacles along with steep, rocky ascents that will require use of 4-low and your skid plates will likely takes some hits. This trip, my trusty Jeep made it just fine. Whichever road you chose, take a good map.
This is a place that is better described in photos than words, so on with the show!
For more information about the Pryor Mountain Mustangs check out:
KBRHorse.net has directions for getting there, but still take a good map, the directions are a little off.
Wild In The Pryors Nice blog from a gal that takes people on tours of the mountain.
BLM Website but, don’t rely on their maps to get there!
Happy trails!
Katie
A “Swell” Time
Snow is still blanketing the high country in Colorado, so we packed up the Jeep for Memorial Day weekend to spend some time with friends and visit one of our favorite places, the San Rafael Swell. The Swell is a unique geologic feature rising out of the high desert near Green River, Utah. It’s full of twisty slot canyons, adventurous 4wd roads and unusual rock formations.
We picked a campsite at the head of Crack Canyon that we had scouted on previous adventures. It’s a great spot off the beaten track and only accessible if you have 4wd vehicle. The Swell receives a lot of visitors on holiday weekends so we were pretty happy to score our secluded campsite.
Visiting places like this feel like entering another world. All your cares and worries fade away the moment your feet hit that red dirt. Though we’ve visited the Swell on multiple occasions, there is always something new to explore. This time, we used our base camp in the Swell as a jumping off point to explore some of the surrounding territory.
We started out by driving down to Hanksville to the maze of canyons in the North Wash. Leprechaun Canyon provided a fun, easy hike to help us break-in our hiking legs. This is definitely an area to visit in the cooler times of the year as even in late May, the heat was oppressive. Fortunately, once you get into the canyons it’s much cooler.
Marybeth heading into Leprechaun Canyon
Fluffy Dog negotiating the slots like a pro.
Leprechaun Canyon starts out tall and wide before the slots begin.
We were lucky to have our adventurous brother, Tad, along for this trip.
On the way home, we took a side trip down a long dirt road to the Burr Point overlook. We got a good preview of what our hike the next day into Happy Canyon would entail.
Happy Canyon is in the Robber’s Roost area near Hanksville. The canyons of Robbers Roost were used by Butch Cassidy and his Wild Bunch gang to elude capture and it’s easy to see why. There are very few trails down into the canyon and the top part of the canyon is largely bounded by vertical walls of rock. If it weren’t for the remote location, Happy Canyon would probably be swamped with people. Lucky for us the long drive up an unmaintained 4wd road with some pretty sketchy sections and exposure to shear drop offs keeps out all but the most intrepid travelers. The hike itself is an easy (but hot) walk few miles along a canyon shelf before dropping down to the bottom of the canyon with a brief, refreshing ford of the Dirty Devil River. The heat was searing (don’t even attempt this hike in summer), there were biting flies at the river and the climb back up to the Jeep was a bit grueling, but it was worth it.
The crew entering Happy Canyon
Happy Canyon
Tad exploring Happy Canyon.
Happy Canyon
Happy Canyon has features much like Antelope Canyon, but with far fewer visitors.
We spent our last day in nearby Moab to put the Jeep through it’s paces on the Fins ‘n’ Things 4wd trail. It was great fun testing the capabilities of the jeep, with the bonus of amazing scenery.
There was a little skid plate damage acquired, but otherwise the jeep performed beautifully on the trail.
The Fins ‘n’ Things trailhead.
One of the cool views along the way.
Too soon, it was time to go home. We’re already planning future adventures and I’m sure some will include more of the slickrock trails around Moab!
Happy Trails,
Katie