Moorman Mega Adventure

[NewJLU2019]

Looks like you are having a good time. Did you ever resolve your SOT issues?

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[Stormin’ Moorman]

Looks like you are having a good time. Did you ever resolve your SOT issues?

I played the game and they ended up approving the fix.

 

[Stormin’ Moorman]

Here is some of the setup we used for the trip.

This is one of the cheapest refrigerators on Amazon, Alpicool 42Q. It cost about $270 and has been perfect thus far. The slide is a DFG Offroad product. It cost $240 and also works great, locks in locks out. The drawer system was made by a friend of mine. The first iteration had a cutting board on the bottom but it took too much room away from the bottom drawer.

The roll bar mounted shelf is from Hoake Road and is very stout. Only issue is that it vibrates when empty, which aggravates my wife. Its easy to remove so not a big deal.

The tailgate shelf is another Amazon cheap product. I think it was $70 and it works fine.

You may be able to see the Jackery 500 on the shelf. We used this to run the fridge when we were not moving. It kept the fridge from running down the battery. We got a full two day run from this setup at higher altitudes where it was cooler. When we would start driving we would plug the Jackery back into the 12v and it would fully charge again.

You can't really see it but I installed the Brawlee light on the back window. I got the one RBG version so we could run red lights and not mess up our night vision. Also easy and worked great.

 

[Stormin’ Moorman]

Day 5: We finally made it to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. (We chose the North Rim because it only gets 10% as much traffic as the South Rim.) It was a spectacular view riding through Vermillion Cliffs and the Kaibab NF but the GC was....well grand I guess. Our trip was based on flexibility and spontaneity, for that reason we did make any camp site reservations (double-edged sword). So when we got to the back country office the camp sites we wanted (Point Sublime) were already taken. But as we were in Jeeps we still had options. The NPS lady recommended Swamp Point as an alternative....sounds fantastic, lol. There was actually no swamp there. The Swamp Point sites were available because it was an 18 mile trip in through a 4x4 road. That was right up our alley. So off we go.

When we got to the entrance road we started to air down. And that's when i noticed the first major problem of the trip. Can you see the issue from the photo?

The week before we left I put brand new tires on Crystal's jeep. You can see the total lack of tread left on the front. More on that later.

Here's what the GC looks like in case you've never seen it. I'll say this about the GC...I could have looked at this spot for a month and never fully grasp it. It's so immense and makes everything else look silly. Everyone should see it before they die.

We reached Swamp point after 2 hours on the trail. It was an easy ride in a Jeep but a hard enough trail to keep most people out of the area. In fact, we were miles and miles from any other humans.

We passed this overlook on the way to the camp site.

Here is our camp site at Swamp Point.

 

[Stormin’ Moorman]

Day 6: We had some issues pop up at this point. Firstly, Crystal's jeep was obviously way out of alignment and chewed up two brand new tires on the way out. Secondly, the USFS was about to completely shut down due to fire danger. So although we planned to camp for another night we opted to leave and head into Page, Arizona to get an alignment and two new tires. We were lucky enough that Big O's tires in Page was able to get matching tires for Crystal's jeep the next day and perform the alignment. Page is hot...like the gates of hell hot. Since we were stuck here for a day we traveled to the Lake Powell Dam. It was pretty, but also like holding a hair dryer 3" from your face the whole time you're there.

Colorado River.

 

[NewJLU2019]

Day 5: We finally made it to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. (We chose the North Rim because it only gets 10% as much traffic as the South Rim.) It was a spectacular view riding through Vermillion Cliffs and the Kaibab NF but the GC was....well grand I guess. Our trip was based on flexibility and spontaneity, for that reason we did make any camp site reservations (double-edged sword). So when we got to the back country office the camp sites we wanted (Point Sublime) were already taken. But as we were in Jeeps we still had options. The NPS lady recommended Swamp Point as an alternative....sounds fantastic, lol. There was actually no swamp there. The Swamp Point sites were available because it was an 18 mile trip in through a 4x4 road. That was right up our alley. So off we go.

When we got to the entrance road we started to air down. And that's when i noticed the first major problem of the trip. Can you see the issue from the photo?

The week before we left I put brand new tires on Crystal's jeep. You can see the total lack of tread left on the front. More on that later.

Here's what the GC looks like in case you've never seen it. I'll say this about the GC...I could have looked at this spot for a month and never fully grasp it. It's so immense and makes everything else look silly. Everyone should see it before they die.

We reached Swamp point after 2 hours on the trail. It was an easy ride in a Jeep but a hard enough trail to keep most people out of the area. In fact, we were miles and miles from any other humans.

We passed this overlook on the way to the camp site.

Here is our camp site at Swamp Point.

Bummer with tires.

 

[Stormin’ Moorman]

Day 5 Addendum: I made a short drone video of us driving through DeMotte Park. This is the entrance to GCNP, but still in the Kaibaba NF.

PS- I'm not some youtuber so there was no fancy editing or sound.

 

[Stormin’ Moorman]

Bummer with tires.

C'est la vie

 

[Stormin’ Moorman]

Day 7: Get alignment and tires replaced on Crystal's Jeep and head to Utah. Not much to see here as Monument Valley and 4 corners were closed due to Covid.

"C’mon Utah, get me over that hill
Well I’m a weary mile, I’m a jealous child
I’ve got sunshine on my skin"

 

[Odyssey USA]

Day 3. We spent the day in and around Santa Fe. The morning was spent at Bandelier National Monument. So what happened was, some old-timey Indian folks built their houses in these tall ass cliffs. There were hundreds of these little caves that they kind of chiseled out…or something like that. (I didn’t take the tour, and that’s completely speculative). Anyway, the scale is awesome.

Then we went to the Georgia O’Keefe museum. I was kind of whatever about the idea, but seeing her paintings in person is hard to explain. Her use of color can’t be captured in photos. Just beautiful. I’m pretty sure she was a pervert though, a lot of her painting were “vaginal” in nature.
Abstract 1945 was my favorite one. I can’t put my finger on it…It just appealed to me.

Then we just kind of walked around The Plaza in Santa Fe. It’s super chill. I bought crystal a turquoise bracelet thing. Tomorrow GC bound.

Bandelier

Also Bandelier

Where those little indians lived

Vaginal in nature

@GeorgiaGray trying to look all sophisticated

Abstract 45, my favorite painting by O'Keefe. Haha

They’re everywhere…the clouds, the Internet, paintings… Or is it just my dirty mind?

 

[Odyssey USA]

I have to get to the north side of the GC. Beautiful shots man.

 

[Stormin’ Moorman]

Day 8: Canyon Lands. Holy Crap this place is awesome and finally our first real trail. We got into the park right when they were opening up got our permit for the Elephant Hill Trail, it's a Badge of Honor Trail. I can honestly say it was one of my favorite trails. It lets you wind around through the canyons and really get to see the park. It's not too technical, with a few exceptions, but just hard enough to be fun. There is this one part of the trail where you have to pull forward then back down a switchback! This is really a trail for people who like trails, and not obstacles for the sake of climbing them. I highly recommend Elephant Hill.

Road leading into Canyonlands. Amazing

Crystal going under a cool ledge

Dare Devil and the convergence of the Colorado and Green Rivers

Cool slot canyon we explored (I think they're called slot canyons)

Stopped for lunch here.. There was a picnic table under that big ass rock.

Crystal making her way through the narrows. It's much tighter from inside the vehicle

"Pull in, back down". Yikes

Typical scenery along the trail.

Coolest jeep in Utah

King of the hill!

 

[Stormin’ Moorman]

Day 8 Addendum, Elephant Hill:

 

[Stormin’ Moorman]

Day 9: Moab, UT. Great day, we headed out to Sand Flats recreation area. It's basically in the city limits of Moab. There are 3 BOH trails there; Fins n' Things, Hell's Revenge and Steel Bender. We didn't have time to run all 3 so we picked Fins and Hell's Revenge. If i had it to do over again i would pick Hell's Revenge and Steel Bender, Fins was kind of lame. I didn't take a lot of pics because it was a long day of wheeling and i was in and out of the Jeeps all day with driving and spotting for Crystal. The SxS's out here were super annoying. They think they have the ROW 100% of the time. Most people were renting them so they drove like idiots. Nice idiots, but still idiots.

Hell's Gate was definitely the high point of the day for me. Scary but fun. I dropped into the entrance (which was at least as scary as the exit) with Crystal helping me spot, but she was too scared to follow. So when i got to the bottom i was all alone. I had to climb out of that bastard with no help, no spotter, no one even watching me. Just me and my daughter. About halfway up i slid off the wall and got 20 degrees off camber, which ordinarily isn't that big a deal. Except when you're running about 35 degrees nose up. I ended up backing down a bit to get level and then climbing back up on the wall and eventually making it out. I really should have waited on a spotter, but fortune favors the brave i guess.

I was not a huge fan of the Sand Flats Rec Area. The wheeling was good but not great. You were basically IN Moab which means there are 10,000 people wheeling with you which makes for a long day. But the main reason is you're just driving around in circles with no goal. I like to have a goal when i wheel, like a river or overlook or something. I realize that is just my opinion, but there it is.

Some pros about SFRA is that you can just point your Jeep in the direction you want to go and IT WILL CLIMB IT. The only time i used lockers was on Hells Gate and that was just for safety, i had Crystal use lockers a few times. I probably didn't need them. The traction out there is other-worldly. Another good thing is you can run a trail, go into Moab and grab some lunch and them run another trail.

View from Fins

Climbing some hill that doesn't look scary but probably was

Same

From SFRA, Moab is the green

 

[Stormin’ Moorman]

Day 9 addendum, Hells Gate: (Don't judge me)

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