gwittman
Adventurer
First of all, I want to thank everybody on the trip for making this one of the (if not THE) highlights of my off-road adventures. Everyone participated to make this trip as near perfect as it can get. Mother Nature also saw fit to make things go well. I should add that this was the first ROF trip that the leader had the least capable vehicle in the group. I guess that is good because if the leader get through so can the rest.
We all met at Ray's tavern in Greenville on Monday night for some burgers and drinks. It did not take long to figure out we had a very compatible group. We closed the place down that night while getting acquainted and probably had Ray wishing we would pay up and leave.
Tuesday morning we met at Shady Acres Gas and Groceries to start our journey. After getting last minute supplies and topping off with fuel, we headed down the county dirt road to Hans Flat to get our permit for The Maze. We had a wide range of vehicles but most were Landcruisers. The oldest was a 78 FJ40 driven by Dan. There were two 80 series Landcruisers driven by Tom and Phil. Peter drove a rare Landcruiser (at least in the USA). It was a HZJ-73 with diesel power and right hand drive. Ace had his trusty 2015 4Runner and had the newest vehicle in the group. I had my non Toyota 2002 Ford Ranger FX4 but still fit in because my first 4WD vehicle was a 73 FJ55 Landcruiser. I graduated to a Ford Ranger, so all was well.
I am sure I will get some flak for that comment but it is all in fun. Here is a shot of our convoy on the county road to Hans Flat. I wanted to get a photo of all the guys and vehicles. I brought my tripod just for that, but unfortunately forgot. We ROFs do that a lot.
Our sleeping quarters varied about as much as our vehicles. Tom and Phil both had RTTs, Dan slept in a small tent on the ground, Peter just opened a lounge and slept out in the open, Ace slept in his 4Runner (wishing he had his trailer) and I had the most spacious with my Wildernest. Well, I guess you could say Peter had the most spacious because he slept out in the open.
We split into two groups for the first night of camping. One was Flint Seep and the other was Happy Canyon. They were just a place to camp that night before taking on the road to Doll House. Nothing special about them but were suitable for camping. Both groups met at the beginning of Flint trial on Wednesday to begin the long trek to Doll House. Here is a photo of our first look at some of our trail below as we were headed toward the switchbacks of Flint Trail.
I didn't get a photo of the switch backs on the way down but I am sure someone else did and will share it. If not, I got a good one coming back up and will post that later. After Flint Trail, we drove though a lot of flat land and some sandy areas. I was not keeping a close eye on the trail and ended up driving kind of sideways for a ways when my rear slipped down into a little gully in a sandy part of the trail. I warned everyone else and they got through just fine. We eventually got into a little rougher trail after the flat area and one of the first rock formations was Mother and Child which is below.
This was an interesting formation but was one of many to come. After we passed Tea Pot Rock campground, the trail got very rough. Considerably rougher than I expected. We all made it through OK but spotting was needed in a couple areas. I didn't get any shots of these areas but I am sure there will be some posted.
Next is our first good look at the Dolls at a distance.
Next is a close up of Dan's FJ40. That is not one of our problem areas but is a good look at a well preserved older Landcruiser.
Next is a view of part of Spanish Bottom and Colorado River as it turns and goes into Cataract Canyon which is famous for white water. It is hard to see but there are people waiting on the beaches down there to be picked up by a power boat. Apparently, there are trips to that point for people that choose not to go on through Cataract Canyon and are picked up to be 'water bussed' back up stream.
Here is a shot of my hiking buddies (Peter and Tom). This is where we turned around. After getting about 3/4 down, we decided it was far enough. We needed to save some energy for another hike that day. Dan had gone down earlier in the day and went all the way down to jump in the river. That is a long way to take a bath. It is about a 1200 foot decent.
Here is another view of some of the Dolls as we were hiking back up.
After having lunch; Tom, Phil and I hiked to the Granary. On the way, while going through some fairly large split rocks, we could hear a bunch of girls ahead. That is not something you expect to hear in the wilderness. Once we got to where they were, they told us about this cave off to the side that is called "The Icebox". Once inside you can tell why they call it that. It was very cool. There was a small opening at the back side that allowed a breeze through and acted kind of like an expansion valve in an air conditioning unit. I guess that what made it so cool. The most cool thing however was meeting all (about 10) the young good looking girls on the trail. They had hiked up from the river and were going down through Cataract Canyon the next day.
Next is a shot of the Granary where food was stored after harvest many years ago.
Here is a photo of one of our campsites at Doll House.
The trip to Doll House from the beginning of Flint Tail took us about 8 hours. That included several stops for viewing and lunch. I will continue as we leave Doll House on Friday.
We all met at Ray's tavern in Greenville on Monday night for some burgers and drinks. It did not take long to figure out we had a very compatible group. We closed the place down that night while getting acquainted and probably had Ray wishing we would pay up and leave.
Tuesday morning we met at Shady Acres Gas and Groceries to start our journey. After getting last minute supplies and topping off with fuel, we headed down the county dirt road to Hans Flat to get our permit for The Maze. We had a wide range of vehicles but most were Landcruisers. The oldest was a 78 FJ40 driven by Dan. There were two 80 series Landcruisers driven by Tom and Phil. Peter drove a rare Landcruiser (at least in the USA). It was a HZJ-73 with diesel power and right hand drive. Ace had his trusty 2015 4Runner and had the newest vehicle in the group. I had my non Toyota 2002 Ford Ranger FX4 but still fit in because my first 4WD vehicle was a 73 FJ55 Landcruiser. I graduated to a Ford Ranger, so all was well.
I am sure I will get some flak for that comment but it is all in fun. Here is a shot of our convoy on the county road to Hans Flat. I wanted to get a photo of all the guys and vehicles. I brought my tripod just for that, but unfortunately forgot. We ROFs do that a lot.Our sleeping quarters varied about as much as our vehicles. Tom and Phil both had RTTs, Dan slept in a small tent on the ground, Peter just opened a lounge and slept out in the open, Ace slept in his 4Runner (wishing he had his trailer) and I had the most spacious with my Wildernest. Well, I guess you could say Peter had the most spacious because he slept out in the open.
We split into two groups for the first night of camping. One was Flint Seep and the other was Happy Canyon. They were just a place to camp that night before taking on the road to Doll House. Nothing special about them but were suitable for camping. Both groups met at the beginning of Flint trial on Wednesday to begin the long trek to Doll House. Here is a photo of our first look at some of our trail below as we were headed toward the switchbacks of Flint Trail.
I didn't get a photo of the switch backs on the way down but I am sure someone else did and will share it. If not, I got a good one coming back up and will post that later. After Flint Trail, we drove though a lot of flat land and some sandy areas. I was not keeping a close eye on the trail and ended up driving kind of sideways for a ways when my rear slipped down into a little gully in a sandy part of the trail. I warned everyone else and they got through just fine. We eventually got into a little rougher trail after the flat area and one of the first rock formations was Mother and Child which is below.
This was an interesting formation but was one of many to come. After we passed Tea Pot Rock campground, the trail got very rough. Considerably rougher than I expected. We all made it through OK but spotting was needed in a couple areas. I didn't get any shots of these areas but I am sure there will be some posted.
Next is our first good look at the Dolls at a distance.
Next is a close up of Dan's FJ40. That is not one of our problem areas but is a good look at a well preserved older Landcruiser.
Next is a view of part of Spanish Bottom and Colorado River as it turns and goes into Cataract Canyon which is famous for white water. It is hard to see but there are people waiting on the beaches down there to be picked up by a power boat. Apparently, there are trips to that point for people that choose not to go on through Cataract Canyon and are picked up to be 'water bussed' back up stream.
Here is a shot of my hiking buddies (Peter and Tom). This is where we turned around. After getting about 3/4 down, we decided it was far enough. We needed to save some energy for another hike that day. Dan had gone down earlier in the day and went all the way down to jump in the river. That is a long way to take a bath. It is about a 1200 foot decent.
Here is another view of some of the Dolls as we were hiking back up.
After having lunch; Tom, Phil and I hiked to the Granary. On the way, while going through some fairly large split rocks, we could hear a bunch of girls ahead. That is not something you expect to hear in the wilderness. Once we got to where they were, they told us about this cave off to the side that is called "The Icebox". Once inside you can tell why they call it that. It was very cool. There was a small opening at the back side that allowed a breeze through and acted kind of like an expansion valve in an air conditioning unit. I guess that what made it so cool. The most cool thing however was meeting all (about 10) the young good looking girls on the trail. They had hiked up from the river and were going down through Cataract Canyon the next day.
Next is a shot of the Granary where food was stored after harvest many years ago.
Here is a photo of one of our campsites at Doll House.
The trip to Doll House from the beginning of Flint Tail took us about 8 hours. That included several stops for viewing and lunch. I will continue as we leave Doll House on Friday.
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