Sunday, May 21, 2023

Utah Spring 2023. Bikes, Boats, Slots.


May 2023
We got out for a couple weeks in the camper to Utah. Pulling the Jeep with us allowed for some nice exploratory excursions away from the camper. And facilitated a shuttle allowing us to float the 'Little Grand Canyon' of the San Rafael river. Below are links to the videos Joannie created of our main goals but we also did some exploring in the Bears Ears and Orange Cliffs areas. It was a really great outing!

Goodwater Rim Video: 

Defiance House Sneak Route video: 


Slot Canyon video:


San Rafael float video: 


First up was riding the Goodwater Rim Trail.




Then an attempt to backpack and packraft to Defiance House ruins on Lake Powell after moving base camp to the Bullfrog area. We didn't make but gave it a valid go.



The terrain is much steeper than photos and video make it look!


We moved base camp to out near the Hans Flat ranger station at the head of Twin Corral Box Canyon. From there we day tripped out to Northeast Spur Fork Canyon. What a great slot!





We also did some jeep exploring.
 
Moving our base again we did some jeep exploring in Bears Ears and Natural Bridges.
Horse Collar Ruin

Owachomo Bridge



The river level finally came up to floatable level so we headed back to 'The Swell' to do our packraft float on the San Rafael. Extra special because we had ridden our bikes on the rim above a week or so prior!