< more recent | 8-14 October 2022 | older >
14 October 2022: Day Three of LONCON saw the group go on a series of fun outings, starting with a visit to the Ford Bronco Off-Rodeo at Moab, where we learned a bit about the new Broncos and the history and heritage of the brand as well. Afterwards Ladies Offroad Network founder, Charlene Bower, led a fun trail run to the Dolores River Overlook and in the evening we all came back to the Red Cliffs Lodge for dinner and live music…
13 October 2022: Day Two of the Ladies Offroad Network Convention was all about hands-on learning as we started the day with Rory Irish at his shop and got to learn about field fixes, axles, differentials and welding. We each had a chance to do a bit of welding and play with powertools while increasing our mechanical knowledge and having fun. Then later in the afternoon we had a chance to learn about other kinds of offroad vehicles — side-by-sides and dirt bikes…
12 October 2022: Today was the first day of the annual Ladies Offroad Network Convention, affectionately known as “LONCON.” The event got off to a good start as everyone got a chance to catch up with friends they haven’t seen in a while and meet new people who would become friends before the event ended. Some of the ladies had already been working together over the last few days, earning their Wilderness First Aid certifications. The day was an ease-in to the action for everyone as founder Charlene Bower gave the introductory remarks and set the tone for the next several days of activity…
11 October 2022: Broke camp, packed up the Jeep and finally headed to the town of Moab. I had the idea of stopping at Canyonlands National Park to photograph Window Arch on my way, and turned off onto the road that goes to the main entrance. However when I got closer to the entry gate, there was a huge line of vehicles waiting to go in, and the sign said the wait would be half an hour from the spot I was in. I didn’t have that much time to spend waiting in a line, so I turned around and just drove into town and checked in to the Redstone Inn, then went over to the Ladies Offroad Network Convention HQ and set up my campsite for tomorrow…
10 October 2022: After yesterday’s relaxed pace I picked it up today and powered through a lot. I started with the trail that we had talked about yesterday with the waiter, and went looking for the spot I had seen in the photo, but frustratingly could not find it. However I did find a lot of very beautiful and otherworldly landscapes in the areas behind Factory Butte. I also helped a couple of folks who were “stuck” because their trailer came un-hitched from their truck and they couldn’t get it back on. It turned out they just needed a little bit of extra “weight” to get the two connected. I spent most of the morning in the Factory Butte OHV area, then returned to Temple Mountain Road and went north west to try to get to the Eagle Canyon Arch, but I made too many stops and detours along the way. It was getting late and I didn’t want to be out on the trail so far from camp after dark, so I turned around and headed back, stopping for more photos as the dramatic afternoon light spilled across the desert landscapes…
9 October 2022: Another relaxed day just catching up on some tasks, drove down to the town of Hanksville for gas and had lunch in the little bar and grill there where the waiter was showing me a photo of a place on a trail that I was hoping to drive tomorrow. Meandered back to camp in the afternoon and just spent the rest of the day hanging out nearby and just appreciating the place I was camping in. At night there was a beautiful moonrise over the cliffs and I had a nice big campfire to keep me warm …
8 October 2022: Enjoyed a mellow day of exploring today looking for a trail that seems to have been “closed” since my last trip out here. It shows up on my paper maps but not on the onX app, and when I drove up there I couldn’t find an “open” legal road that went to the place I was looking for, and I think I could see the “closed” trail where it used to be open. In any case it was an interesting little bit of exploration and even more interesting to see how the trails had changed due to recent storms and flooding which left a few water puddles and some mud on what are usually bone dry trails. Also interesting is that I ended up driving through a ranch and across a bridge that was not drive-able the last time I was here. A little frustrated with the changes to a place I thought had finished being changed and was “protected”, but now I feel like the land is being so “managed” that they are “managing” us out, bit by bit, and turning what was once a remote backcountry area into another “mass tourism” destination, call it “Moab-creep” I guess…
THIS MONTH:
Fall Roadtrip West, heading from NY to Moab, on the slow road. Taking a different route westbound, with lots of interesting stops along the way. The plan is to go via NY, NJ, PA, OH, MI, WI, MN, SD, WY and UT, camping as much as possible and hitting some key destination locations …
COMING UP SOON:
Attending the Ladies Offroad Network Convention in Moab, UT. The 6th annual convention will be held October 12-15, 2022, with lots of hands-on opportunities to gain all types of offroading skills, learn and engage with other offroad ladies as they share their stories, and laugh the whole way. The convention is an action-packed, interactive 4-day weekend educating, motivating, and guiding offroad ladies…
USnomads.org is very proud to be presenting the second edition of the Nomad Overland Virtual Adventure Rally in 2023. This is a new kind of rally experience — a ten week event that participants can do from anywhere within the continental U.S.A. Competitors design their own routes as part of the rally, then drive it in a points-based online competition that includes optional activity tasks, quests and weekly challenges. The 2023 rally will run from 5 June – 13 August and is open to any driver within the United States who has an off-road capable vehicle — stock or modified. Registration for 2023 is open now. For more information see the Rally website …
FACTORY BUTTE
Factory Butte is a 6,302-foot summit in northern Wayne County, Utah, about 12 miles northwest of Hanksville and about 14 miles east of Capitol Reef National Park boundary. The butte was named by early settlers who thought its outline resembled the Provo woolen mill, a huge factory building. Factory Butte is the most recognizable feature of a large area of stark, barren land either side of the Fremont River known as the Upper Blue Hills. The topography is characterized by mud flats bearing sparse grass and occasional bushes, rising a little to extensive, undulating grey badlands and sharp ridges completely devoid of any vegetation, surrounding a few flat-topped hills of orange-brown sandstone, of which Factory Butte is a prominent example. All the rocks of the Upper Blue Hills are part of the Mancos Shale formation, geologically more recent than most other parts of the Colorado Plateau. The top of the buttes and mesas is formed of the resistant Emery sandstone, overlying the Blue Gate shale which is particularly hostile to plant life and forms the stark bluish badlands that line much of the highway west of Hanksville. The occasional eroded sandstone formations found in the vicinity of Factory Butte, including hoodoos and small arches, are from the underlying Ferron sandstone, strata that also contain seams of coal, several feet thick in some places. The wider landscape, some of the most alien and barren terrain in the state, is characterized by featureless flats interspersed with scattered outcrops of photogenic eroded rocks, yellow mounds and a few shallow slot canyons through unusual potmarked sandstone. OHV users travel from far and wide to enjoy the mancos-shale badlands of Factory Butte. These scenic badlands provide OHV users an unparalleled riding experience. Factory Butte is a popular recreation site for everything from OHV jumping and riding to motorcycling and passenger car touring. Although Factory Butte is famous for its OHV areas, few realize that the area is also a popular site to view wildflowers in the spring when Factory Butte is in full bloom. Tourists stop in at Factory Butte to photograph fields of desert flowers and blooming cacti. These blooming fields provide a stunning foreground for the North Caineville Mesa and Factory Butte formations. There is a restroom and interpretive kiosks at Factory Butte. Three OHV open areas (Swing Arm City, Factory Butte, Caineville Cove) are available for motorized cross-country use, totaling around 8,000 acres. All other motorized use in the area is restricted to designated routes…
THE SAN RAFAEL DESERT
The San Rafael Swell is a large geologic feature located in south-central Utah, about 16 miles west of Green River. The Swell, measuring approximately 75 by 40 miles, consists of a giant dome-shaped anticline of sandstone, shale, and limestone that was pushed up during the Paleocene Laramide Orogeny 60–40 million years ago. Since that time, infrequent but powerful flash floods have eroded the sedimentary rocks into numerous valleys, canyons, gorges, mesas, buttes, and badlands. The older rocks became exposed in the middle of the Swell, and younger rocks exposed around the edges. Many of the most impressive landforms are composed of more resistant rocks, including the Jurassic Navajo Sandstone, Jurassic Wingate Sandstone, and Permian Coconino Sandstone. The folding is much steeper on the eastern edge of the Swell than in the west, and this eastern edge is referred to as the San Rafael Reef. Evidence of Native American cultures, including the Fremont, Paiute, and Ute, is common throughout the San Rafael Swell in the form of pictograph and petroglyph panels. Examples are the Millsite Rock Art and the Buckhorn Draw Pictograph Panel, with rock art left by the Barrier Canyon Culture and the Fremont Culture. From about 1776 to the mid-1850s the Old Spanish Trail trade route passed through (or just north of) the Swell. In the past 150 years, areas of the Swell have been used for the grazing of sheep and cattle, as well as for uranium mining. Many of the gravel roads in the interior of the swell were originally used to service the uranium mining activities. Although surrounded by the communities of Price, Green River, Hanksville, Ferron, Castle Dale, and Huntington, the Swell itself does not support permanent residents. Interstate 70 divides the Swell into northern and southern sections, and provides the only interstate access to the region. Much of the area around the San Rafael Swell is remote and aside from Interstate (1-70), is mostly undeveloped with only old uranium mines, dirt roads and some simple recreation facilities. The northern Swell is drained mainly by the San Rafael River, while the southern Swell is drained mainly by Muddy Creek, which eventually joins the Fremont River to become Dirty Devil River northeast of Hanksville, Utah. The area is managed by the US Bureau of Land Management. On March 12, 2019, the Emery County Public Land Management Act was signed into law as the Dingell Natural Resources Act. As part of this designation, approximately 217,000 acres were protected as the San Rafael Swell Recreation Area. The BLM advises visitors to bring maps, as many roads are not signed. Additionally, the BLM reminds those traveling in the desert of some basic safety precautions: Never camp or park your vehicle in a wash or stream bed and avoid hiking in narrow canyons when rain is a possibility. A dry wash can flash flood in a matter of minutes even if you don’t see a cloud in the sky. Many roads within the Swell cross soil types that are extremely muddy after storms and during periods when snow is melting. At such times, these roads become virtually impassable. Obtain a long-range weather forecast before traveling into the area. There are very few sources of potable water in the San Rafael Swell, so make sure to carry at least one gallon of water per person per day…
MORE NOTES FROM THE ROAD:
1-7 October – Roadtrip West
22-30 September – Roadtrip West
16-21 September – Roadtrip West
1-15 September – Long Island
August – Long Island
15-31 July – Serbia
1-14 July – NE Roadtrip
16-30 June – NE Roadtrip
1-15 June – Long Island
May – Nomad Rally Prep
16-30 April – Long Island
7-15 April – Heading Back to NY
1-6 April – Heading Back to NY
27-31 March – Death Valley- DVE
21-26 March – LON Skills Camp
15-20 March – Death Valley
8-14 March – Nevada
1-7 March – Glamis Training
16-28 February – Roadtrip Southwest
1-15 February – Long Island
8-31 January – Long Island
1-7 January – Florida to NY
28-31 December – Okefenokee NWR
24-27 December – Ocala National Forest
19-23 December – Heading South
10-18 December – Long Island
1-9 December – Paris
16-30 November – Paris
1-15 November – Roadtrip East
25-31 October – Roadtrip East
17-24 October – LON Top Ten
7-16 October – Rebelle Rally
Archive
SPECIAL REPORT
All about exploring ghost towns and abandoned places in the USA and beyond, with tips, and information on the many different types of sites to be found across the globe, including detailed guides for eight specific sites… [read]
RE-OPENING
Report from the first trail run with the Off Road Consulting group at Rausch Creek Off Road Park as the post-pandemic phased re-openings begin in Pennsylvania and some of our favorite local trails re-open to the public after the two-month shutdown… [read]
REFLECTIONS
EGYPT: CAIRO REFLECTIONS
A quick overview of impressions from a stop in Cairo during our recent scouting mission in Egypt and Sudan … [read]
SPECIAL REPORT
A look into south-eastern Algeria on the border with Libya and Niger: overlanding with the Tuareg in one of the most remote corners of the Sahara … [read]
