Lessons.

July 4th, 2019
White Rim Road – Canyon Lands National Park

What an amazing couple of days. Not at all what I planned for or expected, but amazing nonetheless.

It took a bit of (not so) gentle reminding with the boys that this part of the trip was not about comfy beds and cushy campsites, but testing our mettle. Sure, anyone can go and visit a place like Canyon Lands, but only a few have what it takes to see it from the desert floor. This is what all the planning and hours of preparation, building, and modifying was for.

The road was never going to be challenging, at least in terms of the capability of the Jeep. The real test is on the body and the mind. Can you overcome the isolation? The barren and harsh, but awesome landscape? The heat? The vault toilets and insect infestations? These are all questions that I wanted to answer. Not only for me, but for the boys as well.

After meeting with the NPS Rangers about our route, current road conditions, and modifying our campsites we were ready to hit the trail.

While the road conditions and number of permitted travelers were in our favor, we were going to hit flooding at the end of our route. I had planned for this and installed snorkel on the Jeep months before, enabling me (or rather the Jeep) to forge 3-4′ of water without any issues.

The White Rim Trail is only supposed to be traversed via permit. You need to show that you are self-supported for a number of days on your own, in a harsh environment. That means you carry your own water, spare fuel, food, and other essential survival gear needed for desert travel. There is limited cell service (and satellite for that matter). There are no call boxes. You come here at your own risk. And then there are the jackasses…

We set up camp 1 about 45 miles in. Our travels would take us about 110+ miles throughout the park over a couple of days. We stayed at the Murphy campsite to enjoy the great views, and privacy (we would be the only ones there).

Murphy is up on a plateau, so the wind can gust. After repositioning the jeep a few times to provide the best buffer against the gusting winds (and after damaging our awning) we settled in for a few hours of chill time in the shade and with the bug-hut setup to protect us from the swarming, biting insects. We’ve been listening to books all along our journey so we used this time to complete our current title.

Things started getting interesting after dinner, when a guy walks into camp. Keep in mind that this is not a place where you expect someone to walk into your camp… He was very cautious to make sure he announced his arrival as to not startle us. Smart.

As it turns out, he and his uncle came into the park via a side route, without the proper permits, so they didn’t know the current conditions. They got turned around at a water crossing they didn’t know was there. Unfortunately this is at the end of the trail, 110 miles in, and if you are in a Jeep, without extra fuel, you are now past bingo fuel, meaning you can turn around but you ain’t making it back out.

To give you an idea, this is what I carried in: 15 gallons of wate; 22 gallons of fuel in the tank + 3.5 in a reserve tank (good for 345 miles); food for three + days; two tents; cold weather gear; survival tools; multiple flashlights all with spare batteries; cribbage board and cards; speaker (for tunes); sat phone; CB radio; on-board air; and the list goes on. These guys had a tuna fish sandwich and a bottle of water. The sandwich did look delicious.

After getting my dudes settled in, I walked down to where they had parked, Sat Phone in hand. The situation wasn’t good. They had come in, unprepared, with no spare fuel or provisions, and had made it all the way to the end of the trail, but didn’t want to attempt the water crossing. They drove 50+ miles back to get to me. This was 8:30PM.

We made a few phone calls, and determined that there was nothing that could be done until morning. The best course of action in these situations is to remain with your vehicle, and I stressed this point (after the guy walked into our camp). According to NPS rangers, the biggest killer in the back country is boredom. We also left a message wit the rental company where they had rented the Jeep in Moab assuming they have a vested interest in thier asset and might be willing to come get it.

At about 1AM, while I was lying in the tent enjoying the starry sky through the skylight in the RTT our campsite suddenly became laminated. Another Jeep was coming up the road from the water crossing, with their light bar blazing. The calvary was here… or so I thought.

When I woke up in the morning I wandered over to their camp to say hello, find out how everyone made out overnight, and learn their plan to get out. As it turns out, the other jeep was not there to help, in fact it was two more guys in the exact same position. Normally I would have given them my spare fuel and sent them on their way, but I had already dumped it into my tank to get the weight off the back of the jeep before attempting the water crossing.

It was time to bust out the sat phone again… only this time we didn’t have any luck getting a single. They only option was for us to drive out and get help… so that’s what we did. After setting them up with food and water to get through the day, the boys and I broke camp, turned the Jeep around, and headed back the way we came. I knew once we back-tracked a few miles we would get cell service and/or line of sight for the sat phone.

It took about 90 minutes (in which time we covered about 20 miles), but we finally got a single and fired off a call to the NPS. I had called the night before and left a message, but wanted to make sure it was received. When I spoke to the ranger that morning they informed me they got the message and had dispatched a park ranger with fuel to come help. Great news! After debriefing them of the current situation, and the addition of the second Jeep we were back on the trail. Unfortunately, we had back-tracked too far to turn around and finish the trail. That will have to wait for a future trip.

So, in the end, we didn’t get to finish the trail but we do get to enjoy the juju of doing a good deed, and the kids were taught a valuable lesson about putting the needs of others above you own wants and desires.

Traveling the White Rim, seeing those amazing canyons and rock formations is still a major highlight for me on the trip, and an experience I will carry with me forever. I will come back one day (probably not in July) and finish the road.

We are in Park City now for a few days off the road and to meet up with Michele, so no posts until we are back on the road Sunday. Destination… Yellowstone and Grand Teton.