6/18 - Hiking the Rim to River Trail in the Grand Canyon

After training for a few months, it was time to see if all my hard work would pay off or if I would die in the heat of the Grand Canyon. The original plan was to hike North Rim to South Rim of the Grand Canyon but the years heavy snowfall caused a landslide on the North Rim knocking out their power and water supply. So, we had to adapt the plan and decided to do the Rim-to-River trail instead. Although this trail was 6 miles shorter, it still had the rigorous climb up the South Rim Grand Canyon wall. We picked descending on the South Kaibab Trail until the Colorado River then following the river to Phantom Ranch before climbing back up on the Bright Angel Trail. We picked this order since the water stations were turned on only on the South Kaibab trail so we thought we could carry enough water for the descent but would need to refill more during the ascent. We ended up choosing correctly. 

We drove out the day prior, on Saturday, to settle in to our hotel, get the lay of the land and relax a bit before the big day. We were going out with a group of 14 so we car pooled with our friend Brent and stopped at our favorite place for lunch to carb load - Panda Express. After lunch and a quick bathroom break, we continued our drive and arrived in time to meet the group for dinner at a place called We Cook Pizza and Pasta. Nina and I split a pizza to keep the carb loading going. Then, we decided to catch the sunset over the Grand Canyon and headed to the overlook. I couldn't find parking so we missed the sunset by only a few minutes but were still able to steal a glance at the trail we'd be hiking tomorrow. Once we settled into our hotel for the night, we called it an early bedtime since we had an early wake up for the big day! 

Hike day! We woke up at 4:00 to be at the trailhead by 4:30 to get started right as the sky was lighting up. Nina wasn't hiking so she took two trips driving everyone from the hotel to the trailhead at South Kaibab. I had planned on bringing my headlamp but decided I didn't need it so put it back in the car. I said bye to Nina armed with my 3.0 liter water bladder, 7 uncrustable sandwiches, some sunblock, 6 LMNT salt packets and 2 trekking poles. I was ready! 

As we started our descent, our first big view point was the Ooh Aah Point which offered great views of the entire Grand Canyon. We could even see where the North Rim trail would have taken us if it was open. I've read online that some people just hike to this point and turn around and head back up and I can see why. What made it even better was that the sun hadn't crested over the canyon walls yet so there were no shadows. This scenic overlook did not disappoint! 

During our descent, we passed Cedar Ridge and Skeleton Point. Although we didn't see any mules, you could see their hitching posts at all the major stops. Then, about an hour in, the trail started to hug the canyon wall as we were getting closer to the bottom. This was cool because you couldn't hear the person in front of you the second they went around the bend even if they were only 10 feet ahead. It made you really appreciate how big the Grand Canyon was and how remote you truly were. 

About 2.5 hours in and we came to a tunnel into the bridge that crossed the Colorado River. I used my Garmin inReach to text Nina my location while I was in the center of the bridge intentionally to get her to think I was in the river. I chuckled to myself as I finished crossing it. I found out later she thought I had fallen in the river until she zoomed in on the map and saw the bridge. Gotta enjoy the little things! 

This was also the first time in 7 miles that the trail was flat. It was a stark reminder of how much altitude we had to climb once we started our ascent. But, for now, it was time to enjoy the views of the river as we pushed forward to Phantom Ranch for our first and only stop.

Not long after the bridge, we arrived at Phantom Ranch. This is the only sign of civilization along the hike and is a campground that's almost always full, where the park rangers live, and is complete with a little store. The store opens at 8:00 everyday and we arrived at 8:00 right on schedule. It took us approximately three hours to descend and arrive here. We took a 30 min break to eat some snacks, hit the bathroom, top off our water, and buy some merch! I love merch so I bought a sticker for myself and a hat for Nina. You would think that she would like the hat since I carried it for 11 miles and over 4,600 feet of ascent but she doesn't wear it. In her defense, it's pretty ugly but options are pretty slim when all the merch is carried in by mule. It's the thought that counts right? By the time we departed around 8:40, it was already pushing 100 degrees outside. 

After Phantom Ranch, we had 3 relatively flat miles to hike along the river to get to the Bright Angel trailhead turn off where we would start our ascent. Although we stayed together clumped up on the descent, the group started to split up at each person's own pace once we started the climb. As someone who doesn't do much cardio with short legs, I found myself near the back of the pack. But that's okay, it wasn't a race against each other so much as it was a race against the heat. I didn't want to be low elevation when the heat of the day set in. Slow but steady! 

Phantom Ranch was the last water station until the 4.5 miles remaining station so we had about 3 uphill miles to go with just that water. It turned out to be more than enough as this initial climb wasn't as steep as some of the later sections. 

At the 4.5 mile remaining station, I topped off some water and had another uncrustable. I didn't stay for long since the day was definitely heating up so I decided to press on.

Before the 3 mile remaining station, the trail was straight forward with only a slight upslope until I arrived at the canyon wall then it all changed into switchbacks that were exposed to the sun and quite steep with a lot of stairs to prevent erosion. I was feeling pretty good until that point. My heart rate was in the 160s during my climb to the 3 mile remaining station. I filled up water, had my last uncrustable, and dosed my hat in water to help cool off since my body was getting pretty warm. My heart rate dropped by 20 beats a minute once I dosed my hat. The big mistake here was that I didn't dose my shirt as well as my hat to really help my body cool off. Nina texted me saying that she was going to wait for me at the 1.5 mile remaining station so off I went with the end in sight! 

The distance between the 3 mile and 1.5 mile remaining station was where it got real. I had plenty of water and one packet of salt left so I wasn't concerned about heat exhaustion/stroke but I was still really struggling to keep moving. My heart rate during this 1.5 mile stretch was consistently high 170s to low 180s. This stretch was nothing but sun-exposed switchbacks with more stairs. So many stairs. I was able to find one shady spot by leaning up against the wall. While trying to cool off there, a friendly squirrel hopped up on a log to see what I was up to before hopping away. When I fully climbed up into the 1.5 mile remaining station, I was out of uncrustables, sunblock and I felt I was getting pretty sunburnt. Needless to say, morale was low at this point.

 I was very happy to make it to the 1.5 mile station to find Nina waiting there with more sunblock and snacks! I spent about 30 minutes cooling off in the shade and getting my salt levels back up. At Nina's recommendation, I dosed my shirt at the water station which immediately cooled off my body. My heart rate went from 175 to 130 within seconds. I really underestimated how much of a load it took to keep my body cooled off. I gave Nina the hat I had been carrying for hours and she put it on for our one and only selfie. 

The last 1.5 miles went better than the previous 1.5 miles since I wasn't overheating anymore. However; I felt I was getting a little hypoxic as the trail ended at 7,200 feet. But I sucked it up and gutted it out with Nina by my side. Once complete, we took a group shot at the top before heading back to our hotel rooms for a shower then meeting up at a local Mexican place for a well deserved burrito and Margarita.

As expected, I was feeling pretty tired that night so I slept from 7PM to 7AM logging 12 hours of sleep straight. It was great! Nina, Brent and I departed the area pretty early so we could get back since Lou and Noah were coming into town to stay with us for a hockey tournament and we wanted to see them. 

Overall, the hike was 17.9 miles with 4,692 feet of ascent and took me 10 hours and 9 minutes. Our friend Will did a fantastic job setting up the trip. Despite the challenge, it was a great hike that I'd love to do again! 

Files:

18 June 23 - Rim to River

3/30 - 4/2 Camping and Off-Roading in Moab on the Rogue Overland Winter Expedition

It was that time of year again for the Rogue Overland Expedition 2023! This looked to be the biggest year yet with 39 trucks in attendance. The guys at Rogue planned this trip to be out in Moab, although thankfully on different trails than we did just a few weeks prior. Fresh off our last trip, Nina decided that one visit to Moab a month was sufficient so her and Winston stayed home for this one. The plan was to meet up on the trailhead of the 7 Mile Rim at 0730 on Thursday morning so Lou and I decided to split a hotel room Wednesday night after the 7 hour drive so we could arrive fresh in the morning to start the weekend! 

Day 0 - Wednesday

Wednesday was not an exciting day as I started work at 4:00am that day, worked, packed up and crushed the 7 hour drive out. As luck would have it, I watched Lou roll into the hotel parking lot from across the street after filling up the gas tank so we arrived within mere seconds of each other. We got our room and looked to get dinner somewhere in Moab. However, due to the late time we arrived, our best option was Wendy's so I got to ride shotgun in the Jeep as we hit up the drive through. We went to bed for an early wake up the next day.

Day 1 - Thursday

Thursday was our first real day on the Expedition and we woke up excited! We munched down on the free hotel breakfast and made the short drive to the trail head arriving a few minutes early so we could say hi to all our friends we haven't seen in a while. After airing down, Nick gave his typical welcome brief in between gusts of dust as the weather was already getting cold and windy. Once complete, it was off on our first trail - the 7 Mile Rim. 

The biggest obstacle on this trip wasn't a rock or a trail but rather the size of the group. With a group of 39, it was difficult to get things moving but the guys at Rogue had a plan! They split us all into 4 squadrons each with a squadron leader so we could move in smaller groups. Lou, Mike and I were all in the blue squadron which was a great group even though I would have preferred the red squadron to match Bruce the Bronco's red color. 

Once we all got rolling, the 7 Mile Rim took us up and out of the Moab valley below and into the mountains offering great views of the other squadrons below (our squadron was first). Our first stopping point was the Uranium Arch. However, during the climb out, the weather had gone from cold and windy to cloudy and snowy as flurries were starting to fall. This made visiting the Uranium Arch really unique since it's rare to see snow falling over the red rock desert landscape let alone spiraling under an arch.

After a quick stop and an apple break, we continued on ahead enjoying the snow. Our pace was a bit slower since the rock was slick but we made it to lunch right on time just as the sun started coming out. The guys at Rogue picked the Merrimac Butte since it was a large area to give everyone plenty of space. Bruce the Bronco and Juniper the Jeep had front row seats! 

Next was the big obstacle of both the day and of the weekend called Wipeout Hill and was the main attraction of the 7 Mile Rim trail. This obstacle features a rugged descent into the 'wipeout' portion where, rumor has it, vehicles wipe out quite often ascending. Thankfully, we were descending. The Bronco registered a 33-degree descent at the steepest portion of the obstacle but made it through with little issue. In fact, everyone in our group made it down with only minor rubbing and maybe a few squished exhaust tips. Unfortunately, neither Lou nor I took any photos of the obstacle so you'll just have to wait for the Rogue Overland official YouTube video for footage! 

Following a success descent on Wipeout Hill, we were in for an unexpected treat as we were exiting the trail. We passed a Jeep event where they were testing out future concept Jeeps both gas and electric. Pretty cool! 

Then, we quickly drove through town to get to our next trailhead - Hurrah Pass. This trail takes us to camp that night at the Base Camp Adventure Lodge, which is on the trail, for a fancy catered dinner and raffle! 

After quickly setting up camp, our friends Mike and Lizzy's dog Rocky got into a tiff with another dog from camp and was bitten on the ankle which punctured it. He seemed okay initially but Mike was concerned about it getting infected especially if Rocky was running around in the dirt. We decided to quickly get some catered dinner, pack up, and take our two vehicles back to town to find an emergency vet. I found out later that I won the AT Overland Equipment water Rotopax mount which is something I will put to good use on the next trip.

During the drive out, we cut the time in half  in an attempt to beat sunset which we did. Since we didn't have service, Mike and Lizzy used their Garmin inReach to text Nina who was back at home asking her to look up local vets. Nina found an emergency vet on call in town and was able to relay the information back to them so we had a game plan once we hit pavement. Once we arrived, the vet shaved his ankle, cleaned it out, gave Rocky three staples which he took like a champ, and wrapped it for protection. After taking the first dose of his new antibiotic, Rocky was good to go! Once Rocky was taken care of, we decided not to run the trail at night so we camped at a local KOA campground. 

Day 2 - Friday

Friday morning was an easy morning for us. We knew the group wasn't rolling out of camp until 0800 and we estimated it would take them an hour and half to get back to pavement (it took us 46 minutes to complete it the night before). After sleeping in, Mike decided to take advantage of our free time and take a shower. I chose not to since I woke up in a hotel just the day prior. Once we were cleaned up, we meet the group at the trailhead. There was mild confusion about the meet up point and time since there was limited cell phone service. I felt the root cause was that I didn't have any satellite device so I remedied that by buying Beardo's Garmin inReach so I'll be better prepared for next time! 

We met up with the group around 1000 which was right what we estimated. From there, the Rogue guys made sure Rocky was good. It was clear that everyone felt bad about what had happened the evening prior even though it was an accident. Once we joined back up, we pushed for gas before driving up the La Sal Loop in Manti-La Sal National Forest. This loop was higher elevation so still snow covered in some areas. We stopped for lunch at a large turnout with a great view of the surrounding area! 

Post lunch, it was a short drive to our next trail which is the backside of Onion Creek; however, the year's abnormal heavy snowfall caused the trail to still have feet of snow on it despite being a little later in the year. We attempted to break our way through by sending one of the heavier full size trucks through while shoveling but it quickly bogged down and was difficult to recover. I personally think the lighter-yet-still-decent-horsepower Bronco could have made it but we didn't know how many deep snow pockets existed so it wasn't worth continuing to try. We were defeated by the snowy mountain just like Gandalf at the pass of Caradhas. 

The guys at Rogue rapidly formed a back up plan - instead of wheeling into Onion Creek, we would just take pavement to the trailhead for it and run the trail that way. Although it did take awhile to turn around such a large group, we were all moving that way in no time! 

The weather was finally getting a little warmer so I decided to take the top down at the start of the trailhead and I'm glad I did - Onion Creek quickly became the highlight of the trip for me. Although it was a short trail, it took us along the Onion Creek in the canyon between two towering rock faces with plenty of water crossings. Although it wasn't a technical trail, we couldn't get going too fast but just fast enough to make a splash as we hit the river. I ended up getting too close behind Lou and the Bronco interior got a little wet but no biggie. 

Before the uphill out of Onion Creek, there was a last river crossing which was very high from all the recent snow melt. It ended up being a blessing in disguise that we had to turn around on the mountain pass since we would have ended up turning around once we arrived at the river crossing. 

After Onion Creek, we headed out to camp at the Entanda Bluffs. This was a big area wide enough for the entire group which worked out nicely. Starting the night prior, I had started to sleep in the Bronco since I was too lazy to set up the tent single person and tonight was no different which gave me plenty of time for other activities. This was my first night at camp so it was great to walk around and catch up with the gang and meet some new faces. 

Day 3 - Saturday

We woke up refreshed and ready for the next event on Saturday knowing this would be our last full day. After breaking camp, we drove the few short miles back out and hit some highway miles going west. We drove for about an hour before arriving at our destination which is an old missile testing facility called Area 52. Although it had been abandoned many years ago, the building structures and general layout remained the same. It was interesting to see how government buildings were set up with large server racks and built in space in the ceiling for wiring. 

We stayed for about an hour and a half before getting gas then pushing towards our last trail which I'm going to call the Green River trail since I don't know the actual name of it. This trail followed the Green River (which was actually more brown like most desert rivers rather than green) and had a few fun obstacles for us along the way. This was the first day where it actually got a little warm so we all started turning our A/C on. After moseying through the trail, we ended up at a bend in the river and made camp there. 

Our camp was a cool unique spot that was broken up into three different levels with camping options on each. A majority of the folks chose to stay on the ridgeline but we chose to camp down near the river since I wanted to stay out of the wind and be a little closer to the flowing water. I dared Mike, Lizzy or Lou to jump in the river but none of them wanted to. Shocking! I went as far as having a drink by the river but I wasn't jumping in either.

Once at camp, Mike gave Rocky a nice bone to chew on which he enjoyed despite his ankle still being wrapped. His injury seemed not to phase him but he was still getting fed his antibiotic everyday just to make sure it didn't get infected while Mike and Lizzy were changing his wrap everyday as well. We stayed down at our lower ridge line for most of the night since it was pretty windy up top but we all turned in a little early since it was a full day.

Day 4 - Sunday

We slept in a little bit the next day but Lou and I decided to split off to start heading home. I think us going to Moab just three weeks prior made us ready to go so we could unpack before the start of the work week. Mike and Lizzy decided to stay with the group and drive further away from home and check out Capitol Reef which was the agenda for that day. They said it was a great day so we added Capitol Reef to our to-do list time permitting on our next Moab/Colorado push. We got home around 5PM with time to unpack and start laundry. 

Overall, it was another great Rogue Overland trip and looking forward to the next one! 

Files:

30 Mar 23 - Hurrah Pass

31 Mar 23 - Onion Creek Trail

31 Mar 23 - Drive to Camp

1 Apr 23 - Green River Trail

2 Apr 23 - Drive to Camp

2/24 - 2/27 Camping and Off-Roading the White Rim Trail

The White Rim Trail. I don't even know how many times I saved some random post on Instagram about this trail so enough is enough, time to book the trip! I hopped on the recreation.gov website to get a reservation and was quickly surprised at how few openings were available even months in advance. Thankfully, after some quick googling, I picked two potential weekends in February where the average weather wasn't too cold and looked doable. Then, I realized the permits issued maxed out at three vehicles so I had to pick who to invite carefully. I put together a preliminary itinerary and PowerPoint, emailed it out and started putting together the trip. Unfortunately, not everyone was able to make the same weekend so I had to pick the best weekend which meant our friends Blake and Faith couldn't attend. I was disappointed that they couldn't make it, but we will plan another trip! 

Day 1 - Friday

The plan was to depart our respective states (Nevada, Arizona and Colorado) and meet at the Texaco Gas Station in Moab at 1645 local time, gas up and head to camp. It was about an eight-hour drive for each of us. Lou/Pa and Nina/I arrived a little early but Mike and Lizzy were delayed due to a winter storm over the Colorado highway mountain pass, so we elected to push to camp without them so we could scout out the campsite in daylight with the intent for them to catch up when they arrived. 

The plan for camp was to go to a dispersed camp site I identified on Google Earth that wasn't far away from both the gas station and the start of the White Rim trail so I figured it would be a good spot. The short off road trail to get to it was called Long Canyon Road then Pucker Pass. My initial research made it seem like it wasn't that bad. 

So Lou and I headed out to start the trail and quickly realized the shady parts of the trail were covered in snow. The snow was only 2-3 inches thick so I didn't think much of it as I had off-roaded in the snow before. What I failed to realize was how heavy the snow was. We think it had snowed more than a few inches previously then warmed up causing much of the snow to melt and leaving behind a heavy, dense snow layer. Unbeknownst to me at the time, the snow had bunched up in the tread of my tires right as I approached Pucker Pass and filled the lugs in completely turning my once MT tires into racing slicks. Upon hitting a small incline underneath the rock overhang of Pucker Pass, the Bronco started sliding backwards; I immediately hit the brakes to stop the acceleration with no success, the parking brake was also no help, so I shifted back into drive and tried to drive forward to stop the rearward sliding - also with no success. Thankfully, I was the trail leader so Nina radioed to Lou behind me in his Jeep, who still had traction, to rear end us to stop our sliding since we were quickly approaching a sharp bend in the road before a drop off. Although it wasn't a hard hit, it did stop our slide and gave us an opportunity to stop and reassess our plan. We elected to air down further, turn around, meet up with Mike and Lizzy back at the Texaco and come up with a new plan as a group.

The trail down was a little slick but not as bad as expected so we quickly started our way back. We reached out to them once we had service to ensure they wouldn't follow us up the pass. After filling them on the situation, they picked a local camp spot and we decided to camp there instead of pushing to a more dispersed area. 

Day 2 - Saturday

The plan for day 2 was a relaxing drive through Arches National Park to check out the Arch that inspired the Utah license plate - the Delicate Arch. We all slept in a little bit after a long work week, 8 hour drive out then an exciting evening the night prior so we arrived at Arches a little before lunch. 

Once we were at Arches, we started working our way over to the Delicate Arch parking area. Arches was a bigger national park than I thought which provided us with plenty of good views as we drove to the trailhead. Once there, we unloaded, packed up and headed out on foot!

The trail was a pretty solid incline with an icy pass at the end. Nina and Pa didn’t want to risk the ice so they turned back a little early while the rest of us pushed to the arch. It was a heck of a view! Thankfully it was off season so wasn’t that crowded but even then, there were still crowds so we had to wait in line for our turn to have the arch. Once we got some decent photos, we headed back out, met up with Nina and Pa and decided as a group what we wanted to do for lunch. 

It was a little after 1PM and we were all pretty hungry so we decided to go to the Moab Brewery for a late lunch. Although it was a brewery, none of us ordered any beers so we can’t remark on their craft beers, but I can personally say their Moscow mules were very good!

After lunch, we went to a local spot for some ice cream to really top off our lunch. Well worth the extra stop! From there, we went to the Williams Bottom Campground right on the river which was a first come, first serve campground and were able to secure three campsites next to each other. I think we would have been hard pressed to get a spot had we been in peak season.

Day 3 - Sunday

Day 3 was the big day - White Rim Trail day! I was very excited. Unfortunately for us, there was a winter storm that rolled in a few days before our arrival which closed the Shafer Trail entrance that we had planned to use. This wasn't a big deal though, it just meant we had to come in on the Potash Road which was a few extra miles. Since I knew it was going to be a full day of driving, we set an early departure time and rolled out early to seize the day! 

Thankfully, our camp site was fairly close to the start of Potash Road so we able to get a fast start. After airing down, it didn't take us long to realize the skies were looking a little dark and stormy. Although we no longer had cell phone service to check, I used my expert aviation knowledge and decided that we would be fine but we all agreed on abort criteria if the weather did turn nasty. 

Once on the Potash, it didn't take long for us to come across the Thelma and Louise point made famous by the film, you guessed it, "Thelma & Louise". This viewpoint is not something we would have been able to see if the Shafer Trail entrance had been open so I guess the weather was a blessing in disguise, at least so far. 

Although we hadn't even officially started the White Rim trail, the scenery was already awesome with overlooks of the river on one side and big ole boulders and sweeping canyon walls on the other. We, of course, had to stop a get a picture showing how big some of the boulders were. Crazy to think these boulders were once on top of the canyon wall and had suddenly fallen to the canyon floor. I would hate to be standing there when that happened! 

Once we finished the Potash Road entrance, we came to the junction of Potash Road, Shafer Trail and the White Rim Trail. It was just as the friendly Park Ranger described when I called earlier in the week - there would be a gate preventing us from accidentally turning onto Shafer, there would be a drop toilet and there would be a clear entrance to the White Rim. One glance at the sweeping, descending switchbacks of Shafer Trail covered in icy snow similar to what I encountered just two days before made me instantly thankful that the Canyonlands National Park Service regulated this trail so much since I'd hate to think what would have happened if we had attempted Shafer Trail in those conditions. After a short break and another look at the weather, we made the left turn and started our day's adventure already a little behind schedule knowing we had 75 miles to cover. 

We didn't get far before our next photo op, this time it was the Musselman Arch measuring at 187 feet long but only 5 feet thick at its thickest. We practiced our good Tread Lightly procedures and decided to not to walk across it but we did take some good photos and admire the area! The clouds were preventing us from seeing the far canyon wall which was a unique experience.

After the Musselman Arch, we had a bit of driving to do before lunch. The Park Service does a great job keeping drop toilets available and clean at each designated campsite so I wanted to push to the next campsite so that we had toilets available. The next one up was the Airport A, B and C areas. Supposedly the major rock formation in the area looks like an airport control tower but I'm not sure I saw it. Thankfully, there was no one at these campsites so we decided to stop and grab lunch. It was around this time that the weather had finally started to clear up a little bit offering us hope that we'd be somewhat warm at camp that night. 

After lunch, it was only a few short miles before we stopped briefly at the next viewpoint - Washer Woman Arch. This arch looked exactly as it was called even from the great distance away that we were, however; we didn't have the luxury of staying long so we kept on pressing knowing that we were still a bit behind schedule. 

As we continued, our next big obstacle was Murphy's Hogback which was the only real obstacle of the trail that I was concerned about. This section takes you from the canyon below up a narrow pass to the top of the mesa, passed the three campsites up there then back down to the canyon below. The way the sun was hitting the trail caused the climb to be very muddy instead of snowy so I put Bruce the Bronco in 4Lo, put both lockers on, ensured Nina had her seatbelt on and up we went. It was the kind of obstacle that you have to finish once you start. The mud was 4-6 inches deep in the thicker sections but the routs kept you on the trail as you slid back and forth trying to get traction. I was happy to have both lockers engaged for this as it kept my momentum up. All three vehicles made it to the landing before we stopped to take a look over Canyonlands. 

We didn't pause for too long though since the wind was really blowing up here. The three campsites on top of the mesa would be great views but we all made mental notes not to get a permit to stay there due to the high winds. As we pressed on, we discovered that the backside was in shadows most of the day so instead of 4-6 inches of mud, it was a mixture of frozen ice and snow similar to what we encountered previously. I put it in park as we gathered to discuss options. 

Mike volunteered to walk the length of the ice section on foot while the rest of us debated pressing forward or turning around and exiting the way we came avoiding this section all together. When Mike came back, he wasn't very confident in this section but thought that going down the icy descent was a better option than fighting the mud where we just came. We also discussed staying here overnight but decided that both hills would be more treacherous in the morning when the overnight freezing temperatures would make the ice worse so we shifted the conversation to figuring out how best to do this. 

The idea we came up with is sending myself in the Bronco down first winched to Lou in the Jeep at the top of the hill where he still had solid traction while strapped to Mike in the Tacoma for an anchor behind him. The plan was to have me test out the traction of the ice with the safety net of the winch line to stop my descent if I were to start sliding. Pa volunteered to be out in front spotting me in the Bronco as needed through the various sections and was a huge help both in terms of spotting but also in terms of emotional support. Both Lizzy and Nina stayed at top of the hill in case things went sideways. It ended up being just fine as we descended together as a team. Although in hindsight I do not think the winch line was necessary, we didn't know that at the time, and we wanted to err on the side of caution especially having a sketchy situation in recent memory. 

Once we got to the bottom of the turn where the sun could hit the trail, the ice turned into mud, although not as heavy as the mud on the uphill but enough to prove to Nina that Lou's MTs cleaned far better than my stock Sasquatch package tires did especially at slow wheel speed. We took a moment to unhook from each other, shifted into 4Hi and bombed it to camp hoping to beat the sunset. This was my first real time letting the Bronco suspension fully cycle as we crushed mileage racing to camp and I was pleasantly surprised by it. I do feel the bump stops engage a bit early but I was still able to get up around 40MPH with minor bumps pretty easily. 

Although we didn't beat the sunset, we were able to set up camp before the end of Civil Twilight. I secured the permit for camp at Potato Bottom A since it seemed removed from the B and C sites and it was a great spot. It was tucked into the valley enough that the winds weren't brutal and it was right along the river. For future trips, I'd secure both B and C for larger groups on two permits. We called it an early night so we could get an early start the next day. 

Day 4 - Monday

Day 4 was the day we were all driving the ~8 hours home so we wanted to get an early start to finish the trail and hopefully be home at a decent hour. That is why I chose Potato Bottom for our campsite - it was as far as I thought we could get in one day so that our departure would be the shortest distance possible. After a quick breakfast, we packed up and got rolling early! 

I think by the end of the White Rim, Nina was about done being off road and she thought we were almost done, and we were almost done. But, since we didn't descend on the Shafer entrance, she didn't realize we had a similar exit, only this one was up the Mineral Bottom trail. Unlike the Shafer, this one gets more sunlight so there were only a few patches of snow but it was still a twisty, gnarly climb out on the switchbacks. 

Once we finished that, it was just a groomed dirt road out that we made good time on. At the end, we all aired up, said our goodbyes and headed our different ways. We all were home by dinner after a great trip! 

Overall, the White Rim was a great trail. I think we all agreed that you really need two nights on it to fully take in the trail so in the future, we would get a permit for the first night at one of the Airport camp sites then a second night at Potato Bottom. That would give us more time for photos and to explore a few of the hiking trails along the way. 

Files:

Delicate Arch Hike

White Rim with Potash Entrance - Day 1

White Rim - Day 2

White Rim Trip Overview