Late December Lake Powell Road Trip

[Rocky_imp]

Lovely pictures

[emptysea]

Watching with interest. Great photos!

[Frulk_imp]

Day One part two:

Some clarification: I stated earlier in this thread I was heading to Grand Staircase. I meant Capitol Reef. I live in this state and know better but always mix them up. Grand Staircase is further west and south and the only access from where I'm at is Hwy12 over the Boulder Plateau. At this time of year that's iffy on a bike considering the altitude is almost 4,000 feet higher from my current location.

Comments on the top box: One thing I didn't think about when mounting it is how much room I'd have when swinging a leg over the bike. I just kind of set it close to back of the seat more concerned about handling (trying to keep weight closer to rear axle). As it turns out even with heavy insulated boots it wasn't a problem clearing the box. Don't think I hit it once. The next thing I was concerned about was the effect on handling at speed (think tank slapper here). I got over the ton in gradual steps heading south to Hanksville. No issues whatsoever. Solid as a 4X4. Zero feedback/shimmy and so forth.

So, at the east entrance to Capitol Reef I made the decision to turn south to Notom. This was based on the white frost strips I could clearly see in the middle of the road in the shadows of the canyon.

Heading due South To Notom is a picturesque 12 mile +/- section of tarmac that eventually ends and turns to gravel and goes further down to Bullfrog and connects with the Burr Trail switchbacks.

This spot was an option for a campsite but I wanted to take pics at Goblin Valley so I nixed that. I'm looking southeast towards the Henry Mountains



Looking north to the Capitol Reef east entrance. The pics of the area just don't do it justice. The scale of things is hard to quantify. The sheer vastness of the area is lost unless you're standing right here in it. One of the reasons I have the bike in almost every pic is my meager attempt to provide some scale.








Heading back into Goblin Valley State park. This is Temple Mountain in the back ground:



The campground is to the left in the shadows of that wall:



Self explanatory:



Dinner and desert. 2 Cheese quesadillas with tobacco and a Melvin's Beer. Then port from a titanium bottle (imparts no taste) and chocolate. Besides myself there were two other spots in the campground taken. A woman with Colorado plates and a family in a decked out Mercedes Uber Van (seeing many more of these around here, almost all with out of state plates).



My views from campsite for sunset:



As the cold started to nibble at me from the edges I decided to strike up a fire. Moving closer I sipped the port while Dark Side of the Moon played over the ear buds. No wind. No noise. Just those hoodoos looming over me with the ever consuming darkness enveloping us both. It had a very surreal feel to it all, magnified significantly by Pink Floyd.



I have to end it here due to the 10 pic limit. Have a few more pictures of the first day to post and then will get on to the second day.

[Banned_imp]

I am so envious of you right now. In my 25 years in the Army I've had the chance to visit somewhere around 40 countries on 4 continents (some much worse than others) and my absolute favourite place in the world is the American South-West.

My wife and I rode through that area on our way to Las Vegas on our epic 14,000km North American bike trip in 2008. I've been to quite a few deserts but none can match the majestic beauty of that corner of the US. I knew of Monument Valley but had never heard of Zion, Bryce Canyon or the other smaller parks and we didn't have the time to see all that is there.

I hope one day to return there on a motorcycle and spend at least a month amongst the rock and scrub hearing nothing but motorcycle exhaust echoing off the canyon walls during the day and howling coyotes at night.

Frulk my man, you are living large right now - my hat off you good sir.

[Frulk_imp]

Part three of day one: some left over random pics

Another shot of a the view from my campsite. This one is towards the north and the San Rafael Swell.




Sleeping quarters. Pretty luxurious compared to what I have when backpacking.



Inside the park on the way to the actual valley for which the park is named after.



Goblin Valley: Named because of the hundreds (if not thousands)of hoodoo's on the valley floor that look like a goblin army. This area was in the news a few years back when some boy scout leaders decided to topple a hoodoo because they felt it caused a safety risk. The buffoons decided to video it and post it on social media to boot. Never mind you could speak to a ranger within a couple of minutes on site if you thought it was a concern. Best time to be here is at sunset if you plan to take pics. in years past after dark parents would put headlamps on their kids and let them run through the valley. Kids love it. Parents are able to watch them from above in the parking lot. Good clean fun and something most will remember for the rest of their life's. Again this pic just doesn't do the little spot justice and surprisingly, I didn't see anything on the internet that was that much better.





This now officially ends day one:
Day two: Hanksville to Bullfrog Marina and Halls Ferry: I folded camp up just before sunrise and headed towards Dukes Slickrock Grill and Campground in Hanksville. I spoke to somebody there on the way back from Notom, Utah yesterday and asked if I could park my truck and trailer there today for possibly overnight and I'd pay their camping fee when I get back. The person said yes and I pulled in here around 8 or 8:15 and unloaded the bike and topped it off with gas at the Hole in the Wall Gas station and parked in front of Blondies and went in and had steak and eggs for breakfast.

The only other people in there was a family of Japanese tourists. I wolfed down my food as I had a schedule to keep. I took off my jacket and put hand warmers in the inside pockets of my vest. I had on a base layer long sleeve shirt, a medium weight hoodie, Carhart vest and then an armored jacket with liner and three buffs around my neck to seal the bottom of the helmet.

On my lower half I had a thermal base layer with thermal sox that came over my calf, Carhart double fronted (chapped) pants, and thick leather chaps over all of it. Feet were ensconced in Fox mid-length warm/water proof boots. I noticed once I started to put on the Iron Man Replica Helmet I had the undivided attention of the young boy from the family. I made it a point to lower the internal smoked visor and dropping the tinted yellow shield with a modest thud while looking straight at him. I gave him a thumbs up and strode out the front door of that greasy spoon with a modified John Wayne swagger feeling pretty buff at that point with the jet black Icon jacket and chaps to set off the helmet.

Standing at the bike the current temp was 19 degrees and the buffness feeling evaporated quickly. Even with the hand-warmers at work I had somewhat of a sinking feeling about that number and what it signified. The fact I had to knock out 68 miles without it getting noticeably warmer was weighing on my mind. Trying to put a positive spin on things I reminded myself that sometime in the past my forefathers fought the Romans on the frozen Rhine wrapped only in fur skins. No hand-warmers, no base-layers, no Iron Man Helmet. It worked. I slung my right leg over the CB1100 Naked Sport Tourer of Justice, fired it up and pointed her south under a low mid-winter sun that was refusing to share it's life nurturing warmth with me. So be it! I left Hanksville surgically threading the fresh track someone left in the slowly receding frost on the road.

Blondies parking lot. I took the pic yesterday pm and that's why the shadows are cast from the west.



The next view pics are on the stretch of road heading to Bullfrog Marina where I would catch the Charles Hall Ferry to get to the other side (east) of Lake Powell.

Handful of miles outside Hanksville looking southwest at the Henry Mts:



The Henry mt's, home to world class mule deer and the countries largest free ranging buffalo herd. A recent local article discussed how researchers were shocked to find that this herd is genetically pure. Zero inbreeding from cattle.



Further down the road: looking west



Mt Ellsworth tops out at a little over 8,000 feet. road elevation is close to about 5,000 feet at this point. On the other side of that is Lake Powell.



The next two pictures probably more than any other typifies the varied terrain of the area. High (mostly) desert, sandstone buttes and outcroppings punctuated by low alpine terrain and ecosystems.





The decent to Ticaboo, Utah. not gonna lie. Hit triple digits. with each half mile of road I was a picking up a degree of heat. It was as if somebody turned on the hairdryer. I was open visoring at this point.



At the Bullfrog Gas station and restaurant. Lots of medium sized rental units out of the water in dry dock for the winter or maint.



I've hit the 10 pic limit again. Next is the ferry crossing of Lake Powell

[LongRanger_imp]

Awesome. Love it.

[the Ferret]

Good night this is some great stuff.

Like W/R the American Southwest (well the northwest too) are just some of the most awesome places on earth. The wife and I are going back to Zion and Bryce this summer and I want to ride Grand Staircase Escalante, but just might have to go see those Henry Mountains too.

[Frulk_imp]

I just beat the ferry:



Loading up it also appears I beat the rush hour:







Looking back towards the marina as we're pulling away:



Disembarking on the east side:



More pics from the east side:





Looking back at the mts where I came from (between the center one and the one to the right:



Now heading out towards Natural bridges. Pictures to follow in separate post.

[Cormanus]

Wow! What an amazing place. Thanks so much for sharing, Frulk. I’ll be following with interest.

By the way, if it helps, the picture limit is 14.

[emptysea]

Great report! The third pic from the bottom of your last post is the incrediblest of all the photos (I just made up a new word...deal with it LOL)