Tada…UTAH❣

We’ve made it to Utah!!!

After continuously checking longterm weather forecasts for our route & speaking with a few people who had recently visited Utah, I made the decision to make a run for it. I’m not willing to take any unnecessary risks with the weather, so I won’t get to visit all of the traditional points of interest, but we’re here!

Utah was my original destination goal for this journey, but I revised the “plan”, when the weather became unfavorable for travel a few weeks ago. I’d decided to make the trip in the Spring instead. After some careful consideration, I opted to see what we can see SAFELY now. I’m taking my own advice of doing it now because sometimes someday becomes never...

After a fabulous 14 days at Cochiti Lake Campground in New Mexico, we left on Saturday afternoon, November 6th & I drove to Durango, Colorado. I’ll backtrack to the preceeding few weeks as soon as possible. We stayed in a (overpriced) hotel for the night to rest up for our adventures in Utah! Durango is less than a 3 hour drive to Moab, Utah, so it was a good stopover point.

We arrived in Moab on Sunday afternoon. I confirmed my directions to the campground with 2 people in town & they both gave me the same information that I’d received from my GPS.

Great! Here we go!

Wrong… 🥺

(PSA: This is a VERY LONG story, even by my usual standards. You might want to make a cup of tea or coffee & grab a snack, before continuing. ☕)

(This has become Part 1 of 2)

It has a Happy Ending! We’re fine!

🐾😊🐾

I’m still not sure where I went wrong, but I soon realized that I was lost, just as the sun was beginning to set. The roads had been extremely bumpy & I almost hit a cow standing in the road. 🤷‍♀️ It was time to hunker down for the night & stay safe.

I found a wide open, flat area to settle in for the night. As I watched the sky seemingly burst into a sparkling confetti of stars, I also saw several shooting stars. It was a spectacular sight to witness.

As soon as it was bright enough to drive the next morning, I took off in the direction of our destination, Devil’s Garden Campground. I thought we were very close. I thought wrong. 🙄

The “roads” were horrendous. They were full of deep ruts & large stones. This is land managed by the Bureau of Land Management aka BLM land. I’d heard that some of the roads were “rugged”, but I knew I was in trouble. Unfortunately, there was no place to safely turn around, so I continued on.

Due to the poor driving conditions, I got out of my car often & walked ahead to assess the route. I’d lost all reception capability the night before, so GPS was non-existent. I have 3 brand new road atlases with me, so I pulled them out, hoping to find an alternative path. I didn’t have any idea where we were, so the maps were useless. 🤷‍♀️

As I approached this area, I got out to check the terrain ahead. It was this steep hill, covered with loose rocks (yellow arrow) & ruts. There was no way I was going to attempt this descent, so I tried to back up. This photo doesn’t really show how narrow the ledge was, but I only had about 2-3 feet to my right, before it dropped off the side into a dry riverbed. When I carefully put the car into reverse, we slid on the rocks & became lodged in place.

Six hours later…….

The left photo is from after we made it down the hill… 😬 The large rock (red arrow) is the one we were sitting on under my driver’s seat, but the initial problem was the rock directly underneath us (right photo, blue arrow). The “fabric” (black arrow) in the dry creek below was some of my bedding that I sacrificed to level off the deep dip in my path. It actually worked & other than a small tear here & there, everything survived!

Tuesday Morning

I was sore from all of the lifting, twisting, shoveling & stress of the previous day. When I walked back to THE HILL to see if there was any way up, I determined that we were going nowhere, without help … 🥺 I had been watching for signs of previous travelers through the area. There was one set of heavy duty tire tracks, but they looked old. This was not a well-traveled area.

I went back to the tent to lay down, rest & consider our options. I gave Maddie her breakfast & I had a granola bar. I’ve been careful to keep us both hydrated, but I wasn’t hungry.

Within about 20 minutes, I heard voices! Great! No wait… Now I’m hallucinating! 🤔 I crawled out of the tent & saw 6 hikers coming our way! There were 4 men & 2 women, about my age. I asked if I was hallucinating & one of the men said he’s been called worse. 😁 They were from a town in nearby Colorado & it was a last minute, random choice to hike in this area. None of them had ever been here before! Mom had sent me 6 of her Guardian Angels… 😇😇😇😇😇😇

They all immediately set down their backpacks & offered to build a rock ramp for me! It was ready in a few minutes! While they surrounded my car to guide me & offer encouragement, I was able to get back up The Hill! The poor car took some more whacks underneath, but we were finally on “level” ground again. I thanked them profusely, introduced them to Maddie & they gave me directions to freedom. Then they were off on their hike!

When I started off again, I stopped at the same area we’d stayed in the first night. I’d had to carry the tent & gear back up The Hill to the car, so I took a few minutes to reorganize things & catch my breath. I was feeling much better & more hopeful.

I continued in what I thought was the correct direction…

Nope! 😥 I’d missed something somewhere & we were lost again. I knew going back was pointless, so I drove on. By that point, I was really missing the way we give directions in Massachusetts. “Go down 2 blocks & take a right at the blue house, with the white picket fence.”

To be continued… It gets worse… 🥴