TecLabs has stuff called Calagel. Its a clear drying agent for Pisin ick. They also have stuff called Ivy Armor. Rub it in before ya hike or exposure, wash off. Also wipes to pack with you, since after initial exposure the average person has around 4 hours to remove the oil, or it blends with your skin oil, and we all know the results. Fortunately
trail Discription:
http://www.4×4trailhunters.com/trail.php?id=50
Trip report:
http://www.4×4trailhunters.com/trailreport.php?rid=31
According to our medical director, Lake Lowell is not far away and has had confirmed cases of west nile virus. With the wet spring comes the ticks as well. The area is grazing land , so cattle as well as deer, elk and antelope are prevalent. The tiny tick that carries lyme disease tends to feed and drop off. It is about the size of a pin head. Afterward a rash may be present. The larger tick , that we here are used to seeing , may carry rocky mountain spotted fever. It tends to bite and gorge. That is the type you will find hanging on. Ticks tend to go to the tops of vegetation and wait for a ride/meal.
This year vegetation is taller and more abundant than usual.
What can we do to protect ourselves? DEET. That helps for the mosquitos and ticks. Clothing that is tight at the sleeves and ankles is a good idea. lighter colors make the critters easier to see and can be cooler, since overheating is a big concern as well.
Snakes will be around. They are more afraid of us than we are of them in most cases. Make noise when you walk so they have a chance to avoid you. There are quite a few rattle snakes this year from what I have seen thus far.
Don’t put your hands or feet where you can’t see them and avoid heavy contact with the vegetation.
Colorado = Telluride/Ouray. The area is stunning and there are a great amount of hiking things to do in the area, some very famous off-road trails, summer ski lifts for some hiking, can still have snow ahigh, and importantly, it leaves a very close entry to the UT/AZ region. It’s also close to Grand Junction where you can taste some of the best wines in the US (IMO) if you’re into that.
Utah = Moab. Maybe 2.5 hours away, it’s not the Pinnacle of the Utah experience (though it’s close), but has nearly everything active and adventurous to it, there are outfitters there that can plan/setup nearly any kind of remote getaway you desire. If you’re into off-roading Moab (and surrounding areas) is the Mecca IMO. I’ve been touring that area since I was 15 and to this day have yet to hit even a fraction of remote trails, hiking canyons, and mountain biking possibilities.
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For Utah, I would say that Zion NP is a can’t miss situation. While you are there, Bryce Canyon NP is also pretty close. Somehow, I have been to Zion 2 times but have missed Bryce.
But definitely Zion, where there is a lot to see and a lot of trails too for the avid hiker. And very beautiful.
http://www.nps.gov/zion/
On the west end of the park is a town called Springdale that has several places to stay and eat too. There is a pizza place in an old church (I forget the name) but if you like gourmet pizza, it is worth a look.
Edit: Zion Pizza & Noodle …. http://www.zionpizzanoodle.com/
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With your stated window of “7-8 days or so” you’ll be limited in what to do and how far you want to drive.
You mention also “here in E. TN”. With Knoxville - Flagstaff over 1700 miles and Nashville - Flagstaff over 1500 miles, I’m guessing you’ll have four days of long-distance driving, and that drops your destination duration to “3-4 days or so”.
My suggestion would be to follow your first instinct and have yourself a “Rocky Mtn Vacation” and leave the Colorado Plateau for another time. Therefore, I, too, give a “second” to Scott’s suggestion of the Telluride/Ouray, CO, area. You’ll be able to spend more time in your destination areas.
Suggested route: I-40 to Clines Corners, NM; north on 285 to Santa Fe and Española; then work your way north into Colorado. The upper San Juan River near Pagosa Springs has some nice backcountry (San Juan NF).
Take your fly-rods with you. You’ll be in some great fly-fishing country.
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If you are going through Colorado……a must do is …..
“The Alpine Loop”
Here is a site with a good picture story that I just found. Do a search and lots of info will turn up on The Alpine Loop.
The Alpine Loop Pic Story
Around Colorado Home Page ……for more CO. Exploring idea’s
http://www.byways.org/browse/byways/2105/overview.html
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You’re right Blair. Eastern Sierra is a great area for tooling around. Mostly “dirt road” stuff north of Mammoth, but no shortage of areas to explore. Another area that’s pretty cool is the eastern side of the Mono Craters. There are a lot of roads over there for pipeline and cable service etc. An area with it’s own unique beauty. Then as Mark says you can get down into the Whites and their bristlecone pine forests, etc. I used to get out there for a camping/driving trip every year, but lately we’ve been meeting in areas of Utah and Arizona. This year it’s the San Juans of CO. I do miss the Sierras though.
A neat trip would be to go out the Bodie road and then out the east side of Bodie down the trail they use for the Mule Days, down to Mono Craters, and then down the east side of those all the way down to about where the road goes up to Rock Creek. That Rock Creek campground sure is a beautiful one, good fishing, and direct access to some really awesome hiking trails. I have a few prints hanging in the dining room of pics from the Rock Creek drainage. Really gorgeous in the fall. Try to avoid the times when fishing’s popular because the primary use of that area is by fishermen, but definitely give it a look next time you’r out that way.
One other thing I always wanted to do is to find the exact area of the south shore of Mono Lake that was used to film High Plains Drifter. :^)
Directions to Cedar Camp
Land Rover events for the Mendo_recce email list and for the Northern California Rover Club have over time settled on defaulting to using Ceder Camp in the Mendocino National Forest as a base camp. To assist in finding the camp here are a set of directions. Many thanks to Jeremy Bartlett to posting them.
* Take Hwy 80 north to Hwy 505 (turn off at Vacaville) to Hwy 5 north. It is recommend that you stop at Williams off Hwy 5 and top off your fuel tank. Williams is the last reliable fuel stop before you head to the National Forest. Fuel up and zero your trip odometer
* From Williams, return to Hwy 5 north and drive about 8.5 miles to the Maxwell exit.
* Take the Maxwell exit and turn west over Hwy 5 and through town crossing the railroad tracks. Follow the signs to Stonyford.
* After about 16 miles the road becomes narrow and winding as you climb through the Coast Ranges.
* At 18.3 miles turn right at the T junction; the sign says Stonyford/Lodoga; you will eventually climb again.
* At about 27 miles you will start descending.
* At 31.4 miles you cross a narrow bridge.
* At 32.3 miles take the right turn to Stonyford (the sign is marked Stonyford right, Williams straight); you will immediately cross another small bridge.
* At 34.4 miles take the left turn sign posted Cedar Camp/Goat Mtn/Pacific Ridge.
* The road from here is narrow and gravel. DRIVE CAREFULLY there are lots of hairpin mountainous turns.
* At 38.1 miles you will pass the Digger Pine campground/motorcycle staging area; keep going
* At 41.8 miles you cross a bridge with a dirt road going off to the right; stay on the primary road that begins to climb the hills.
* At 45.6 the road curves with a gate to private land on the right.
* At 46.0 miles there is a junction; curve to the right following the sign to Goat Mtn and Pacific Ridge. The left is a locked gate to private land.
* At 46.7 miles turn right at the T intersection. The sign is for Cedar Camp; you are now on the M5/17N02.
* At 46.9 miles go straight ahead past the sign to Green Flat Camp.
* At 49.7 miles turn left into Cedar Camp. The entrance is about 50 feet past the first road sign. You’re there.
NOTE: These mileages are calibrated to the tenth mile based on federal highway mileposts.
Cedar Camp is an unimproved site. The only facilities that exist are two outhouses and a few picnic benches. You will have to bring you own camping gear, cooking gear, and water.
Fort Bragg-Sherwood Road, Tomki Road (nine water crossings–starts a few miles from my house), Bell Springs Road, Mina Road, Mendocino Pass Road, and Usal Road, to mention just a few that are county roads, to say nothing of the one from Lake Pillsbury to Covelo in Mendocino National Forest.
DJG 01-03-2006 07:32 AM
Suggested “off-road” route through UT & CO
Hi-
Looking for some info, or suggestions on a good route through UT & CO. I’m not going to be going till the summer, but I would like to start planning everything now. Camping along the way would be fine, but I would prefer to stay on easier trails/roads. It’s my wifes first off-road trip so I don’t want to freak her out the first time around!
I will be starting out in SLC, I know the usual spots like moab, etc… I figured I would head south to Moab from SLC and then from there I would like to head towards Denver. I have been through some of the passes and trails that drop into Silverton then to Ouray, but they were pretty hardcore I would like to try some easier stuff on this trip but head through these towns if possible. Any company would be fine along the way if someone is from that area!
Thanks in advance for your suggestions.
Dave
Rover Puppy 01-03-2006 08:34 AM
David,
Have you downloaded the free version of google earth so that you can look at it from the air?
Good Luck 
Jamie
DJG 01-03-2006 08:50 AM
Great idea. I was actually looking at that this weekend, pretty cool.
dave_lucas 01-03-2006 08:55 AM
Tons of easy trails in the leadville area and all along I-70. Also look at the following site.
http://www.solihullsociety.org/features/?page_id=24
mikeyb 01-03-2006 09:20 AM
you can connect telluride to ouray over ophir pass. that is pretty mellow. infact, i use it as rovers short cut between the two towns instead of using the paved road.
might check this out too: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/09…glance&n=283155
DJG 01-03-2006 09:24 AM
Thanks for the information, I’ll check this out now.
rrefx 01-03-2006 11:18 AM
I’de head south from Salt Lake, hit American Fork canyon in Utah valley, just take the Alpine / Highland exit off of I-15, the same exit as Cabellas. You can take some beautiful trails there up through Mineral Basin, even good spot to camp, jump on the Alpine Loop, still in AF Canyon, after you’ve had some fun, and pop out at Sundance in Provo Canyon, wife might like that. Then jump back on the I-15 to Spanish Fork canyon, I hear there are trails along there, never taken them, that will take you to the I-70, which will take you to Moab. Have some fun there, then once you get into Colorado, the Colorado boys can tell you the best spots.
We need to get Marc Oliveras to chime in, he knows the trails around Utah better than me.
Whatever way you go, it’s all beautiful. Have fun, and let us know when you’re in town, might run out and join you.
Ryan
DJG 01-03-2006 11:41 AM
That sounds awesome Ryan.
I did a trip with ROXS (rover owners expedition society) in 2003 that went from Ouray through to silverton and into southern utah into the indian reservations, etc.. (forget the names) which was amazing!!!! But a little too extreme for the wife at this point. I’m heading to UT for a friends wedding up at Alta so were going to head out after that. I’ll make sure to let you guys know when, any company would be great.
I’ll make note of this route for sure…… I’m going to also invest in either navigation or software for my laptop so I have detailed maps of where i’m going but every bit of information helps tremendously!
KevinNY 01-03-2006 11:44 AM
Remember a lot of high trails are not open until after the 4th of July or later due to snowpack. There is a ton of moderate stuff in CO, pick up a guide book or two, there are plenty of good ones published. Pouring over the guide book and mapping out a route is half the fun.
Here is agood link, up to date reports of trail conditions and when they are open. Look at last years dates for ideas.
http://bushducks.com/tripreps/passopen.htm
rrefx 01-03-2006 11:53 AM
You can also check out www.rockymountainextreme.com It’s a Utah based forum, but they have GPS coorinates for all the trails, it’s a sub forum under, “Upcomming Wheeling Trips”, and a lot of trail info.
DJG 01-03-2006 12:02 PM
Kevin thanks. Cool site. It will come in handy for sure. I looked at my calender and I’m actually going to be heading out that way in August, so I would imagine I should be ok weather wise. Although when I went through in 2003 we hit quite a bit of snow at some of the higher elevation passes!
KevinNY 01-03-2006 01:51 PM
This is the book I used. http://www.4×4books.com/co4wd.htm
My copy was dog eared by the time I headed out for the Solihull Rally.
Album from the trip. http://www.pbase.com/kevinny/solihull_rally&page=all
DJG 01-03-2006 03:19 PM
Great pics. I recognized many from my trip out that way….. I’m going to order the book too. I figure the more info the better. After all I only have 8 months till I go! Thanks for the info!
bri 01-03-2006 03:44 PM
How long you got??
Take the highway to Grand Junction, hit some Vineyards. Make your way to Ridgway, nice spas there or hit Telluride for 5 star accomodations. Go to the Mtn Village in Telluride and play around sometimes concerts, there is downhill (or up if you like) biking and plenty of fun there. Go to some Open Houses on a sunday to see some 1200 Sq Ft Victorians on slightly larger lots going for $2M.
Head over to Ouray, Amphitheatre Campgrounds is the best, make reservations or stay an multiuse area (just a right on a dirt path before the Amp. campgrounds), get a day or week membership to the Ouray hot springs for showers and tubbing. Tons of easy trails in Ouray. Yankee Boy Basin is easy and killer. For a *slightly* more adventurous side trip on Yankee Boy try Governor’s Basin. Hike the Chief Ouray mine trail right out of the Amp campgrounds.
Get to Lake City via Engineers Pass. Hike Uncompaghre Peak along the way if you want a rather easy, but spendid 14er.
Make your way to Creede, South Fork, and Pagosa Springs (most excellent), camp north of Williams Creek Resevoir (excellent fishing here), hike into the Weminuche. Or stay at the springs in P.S. to relax in the hot springs right on the river. Catch 18 holes in pagosa if you are a golfer.
Make your way to Durango. Take the train into Silverton. Stop at the backpackers stop off the train and hike in a few miles to stay umongst about 4 14ers, have the train pick you up the next day if that is your gig. Bag a couple of 14ers if you are a stud. Otherwise stay at a B&B in Durango.
Head over towards Cortez, check out Mesa Verde and make your way back.
You could also hit Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Blue Mesa Resevoir, Gunnison, Marroon Bells (very, very scenic).
Just one of an infinite list of possibilities, you could take a month in that area and still not even get close to adventuring.
marc olivares 01-03-2006 04:27 PM
David,
a really good trail that runs from SLC to I-70 is the skyline drive trail.
it actually picks up just east of Spanish Fork Canyon just off of highway 6
it runs along the top of the ridgeline which somewhat paralles highway 6/89 all the way down to I-70.
it’s a great off road drive and not very technical.
from there you would need to drive I-70 towards Moab/ green river to get on the east side of the colorado river before you want to get back off highway. there are a bunch of off highway roads that will take you from Moab towards CO. from there you’d need to talk to BRI or the CO guys.
DJG 01-03-2006 04:58 PM
Brian-
Holy crap, that’s some info!
Sounds awesome. But….. now I have to wait till August!
I’m going to have about a week…. not a lot of time, but I figure plenty to have some fun and see some sites. I like the idea of stopping into telluride, nice place for the wife to get out and stretch the credit card, woops…. I mean legs. It’s all about compromise right?!
I figure between now and then I’ll go through all this info and put a plan together. I’ll make sure to post sometime in the early summer before I head out, maybe some of you guys want to hook up for a few trails.
Thanks again everyone for the info! I’m going to be hanging onto this link for sure!
DJG 01-03-2006 05:00 PM
Marc-
Thanks for the info as well.
I’ll be leaving from Alta, so your route sounds great. Might as well make the ride into Moab as fun as possible.
marc olivares 01-03-2006 05:03 PM
drop me an email before you come out
i can make the drive w/ you 
DJG 01-03-2006 05:21 PM
Sounds great.
Thanks Marc, I look forward to it.
bri 01-04-2006 08:29 AM
David,
That was just some of the stuff I have done in the past year or so. Just like UT, you could spend months exploring this state and so far, I have only spend about 10 weeks out there in the past 5 years. There is so, so much more.
OK, so you have a week and want to get closer to Denver (does that mean atually make it into Denver)?
Summit County will be busy, but a ton of stuff to do that could be wheeling, other outdoors stuff or just having fun in the quaint towns. Around Breckenridge is really good diversity of things to do, you could base some where around there and possible have a chance to run some trails with the Solihull (depending on their events) or locals. Like someone else said Leadville would be good and likely a bit less traffic, but it will be busy as well.
With a week, I would pick two places if Moab is one, pick one more and base out of there. Moab would be miserable for me in August, so I’d just keep on coming into some Colorado altitude.
Make reservations, even at campgrounds for August. Summit county will be full of peoples, events and activities.
There are at least 3 good books o Co Trails. Guide to Colorado Backroads & 4-Wheel Drive Trails I believe Volumnes 1-3.
Another route from Breck would be Kremmling, Steamboat, Craig, Dinasaur and come back to SLC from the east. Done this many times and is a beautiful route.
Cheers,
Brian
Echo Canyon is certainly worth seeing, it takes you to the Inyo Mine and 3 other ghost towns, you should check it out on your next Death Valley trip.
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