Anyone headed to UT or NV next week?

brett13

Lovecock
Joined
Dec 10, 2006
Messages
1,026
Took next week off, provided the world doesn't fall apart and am heading west. Depending on weather and mood, we might be in SE UT or possibly E or S NV if we get ambitious. Anyone else planning to be out that way?
 
I'm planning on being in SE UT from 4/24 - 4/27.

Probably around Capitol Reef and Cathedral Valley. Our first trip out in the FWC this year...

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Not sure where I'll be, but we will be trending east back to Denver around then. If you see me, be sure to say hello.
 
Now we are supposed to get 1-2ft of snow tonight through Sat am. Just put the camper on in the misting rain before it turns over to snow. (Only banged myself once and only one cut- a record :eek: ). Still hoping to leave on Sat, provided the roads let me get over the pass. Ugh. I though spring was here?!
 
If it sets up like they say it will (upSLOPe) we will get very little up here and Denver will get the brunt of it. We had a few quick inches this AM but the sun is trying to pop out now and it's 40F.

The consolation is that it looks like we may have an extended period of sunshine coming up and highs in the 50-60 range here in the high country....and ya know what that means for utah! :)

have fun

mtn
 
...Still hoping to leave on Sat, provided the roads let me get over the pass. Ugh. I though spring was here?!


I don't have the camper on the truck yet. It's still in the backyard on sawhorses. And I just pulled 6 inches of snow off of it's roof. It started snowing last night and it's still coming down. Heavy & wet too.

I have shoveled more snow in April already than I did in all of Jan., Feb. & March. I hope it doesn't interfere with my travel plans. I'm figuring it's going to be rather windy in SE Utah next week, but I'm going anyway.

Brett, any rough ideas yet where you're headed?


:cool:
 
If it sets up like they say it will (upSLOPe) we will get very little up here and Denver will get the brunt of it. We had a few quick inches this AM but the sun is trying to pop out now and it's 40F.

The consolation is that it looks like we may have an extended period of sunshine coming up and highs in the 50-60 range here in the high country....and ya know what that means for utah! :)

have fun

mtn
That's how I saw it unfolding too, which means if I can just get to the divide, I should be ok. That's my plan, anyway.


@KC- our ROUGH outline looks like this:
camp somewhere north of Moab Sat and maybe Sun nights.
Work our way south on 191, eventually to Valley of the Gods.
Work our way up towards Hanksville, maybe jog left over Notom Rd or north of Goblin Valley instead.
We'll probably want to be within an hour or so of I-70 by Fri/Sat for our run back to Denver.

We divide ST UT into "areas" like the Moab area, Bluff-Bridges-VOG area, Escalante area, Hanksville area, etc. Moab-->Bluff-->Hanksville is one of our favorite loops with about 2 nights in each area, depending on our mood and weather. It's only a few hours between areas, so if we stay an extra day or one less, it doesn't matter.
Will that overlap with you at all?
 
I'm still brain storming....

We had that great 4 day weekend last year in SE UT, and I didn't plan any of it other than meeting the beemerchef. I don't know if I'll be so lucky twice. I also want to see some new stuff. I want to drive as far south as Escalante at first, and work my way back up to I-70 also by the last day.


The areas I'm interested in seeing -

Hole in the Rock Rd from Escalante
Hells Backbone Road out of Escalante
Cathedral Valley
Goblin Valley

I'm not sure yet how it will work or if we'll get to see them all. I have a feeling we're going to pass on HITR for now. Save that for a big Lake Powell trip. Of course the weather will play the biggest role in our final route...

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HITRR is neat, but not on the top of my UT list. It is actually not as explorable as one might think- not many side trails. And it is perhaps the worst washboard in the world. No speed is good except stopped. Really.

Just north of there, outside Escalante are a lot of good trails/unique scenery. Calf Creek Falls is a spectacular hike.

Goblin Valley is really cool, just don't camp there. Take any of the side trails on the way into the park. Most of those roads circle through The San Rafael Swell, a large monocline rock formation.

Comb wash/ridge not far from VOG is a pretty neat area to explore too. Hells Backbone might be snowed in. I think it tops over 9000ft.

I still can't believe you caught the balloon festival in VOG last year.
 
KC & Mtn,
Holy crap!! You guys need to move down here it's a bit nippy but we haven't seen snow since last week.

The view from Hole In The Rock down to Lake Foul Is pretty impressive and the drive out there is very picturesque. Dance Hall Rock and the like have some nice place to camp but bring a rake it is BLM and there is cow pies everywhere.
 
We're thinking of moving to a warmer climate when the youngest routes through HS, chnlisle....but not THAT warm.

Even with frequent Spring storms rolling through we are definitely on the downside of Winter at this elevation (7250). We've paid the dues for the year and now we are looking forward to another Summer where we can say "WHAT AIR CONDITIONER?" :thumb:

Not sure what Brett is experiencing today but we are merely cooler and slightly white here (1") this AM. So much for that forecasted 16 inches!!!:rolleyes:

Hey brett...if you want an on-the-spot observation of the weather out this way tomorrow PM me and we can swap phone #'s...

mtn
 
Not sure what Brett is experiencing today but we are merely cooler and slightly white here (1") this AM. So much for that forecasted 16 inches!!!:rolleyes:

Hey brett...if you want an on-the-spot observation of the weather out this way tomorrow PM me and we can swap phone #'s...

mtn

Thanks. I might do that. Currently, we have about 3" of WET snow and its coming down hard. I wonder how much weight the camper roof can take? They are saying 1-2ft down here- this is a foothills/front range storm for sure. I heard the foothills (that is Golden to about the Eisenhower tunnel, for you out of staters) could get up to 4' in places! That might slow me a bit, but I'm getting over if I have to winch the 60 miles.
 
brett,

FWC says 1,000 lbs on the roof, so 1000/(6.5x9)=17 lbs per square foot, at 25 lbs a cubic foot for snow 17/25=.68' allowable or about 8". Now the weight of snow can vary from 20 to 30 lbs a cubic foot so be conservative and shovel often.
 
You better start working out if you plan on lifting the roof with more than 2" of wet snow on the roof!

Brett thanks for the intel. I'm now rethinking the whole thing to cut down on the drive time. I would love to drive up to a remote beach on Lake Powell and just sit for a few days. Not sure if that's possible...

Last night I received an invitation for a trip here in the Red Desert of WY, next weekend that I've always wanted to do. That might be a good one to do as well. Don't know the guy personally though, just from a forum.

I'm still up in the air with a week to figure it out. Hope you're able to beat the storm out of town! :)

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brett,

FWC says 1,000 lbs on the roof, so 1000/(6.5x9)=17 lbs per square foot, at 25 lbs a cubic foot for snow 17/25=.68' allowable or about 8". Now the weight of snow can vary from 20 to 30 lbs a cubic foot so be conservative and shovel often.

Thanks for that math! I have no intention of lifting the roof with snow, I just don't feel like cleaning it off before the drive out. That 1000lbs figure is for a raised roof, I think, right? In closed position, it ought to hold the weight right?

@KC- if you find that Lake Powell beach let me know. I've driven around the bullfrog area and most of it is cliffs overlooking the lake. There is some "beach" property for campin along the San Juan though.
 
brett,

The 1,000 is the roof framing capacity, I really doubt that the lift panels could take anything close to that.

:eek: OH! :eek:
Better get to shoveling then...
 
@KC- if you find that Lake Powell beach let me know. I've driven around the bullfrog area and most of it is cliffs overlooking the lake.


I've found two - Stanton Creek at Bullfrog. It looks....ok....

347910665EbsRlX_fs.jpg




The second looks much better IMO, at Lone Rock Beach, way over on the other end, by Page, AZ. It's probably too far for a 4 day weekend, but you can drive out & camp on the beach. I like the looks of this better...

051024-038..jpg




I still don't know what the heck we're going to do. But I do know I need to go outside and shovel the walkway again...:mad:

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