Offroad trailer

[HenryJ]

Guess I will pop the cherry of this new forum with my current project, since it is not labels s-series specific.

For quite some time now I have been researching the best way to expand the gear and accommodations for the growing family. I have been watching camp trailers and different methods. I need the room added by a topper to carry gear enough for all of us. This does mean that we pack it all up each morning and carry it all with us when we explore. Not a bad way to go , but I have been watching for better solutions. I would really like to haul some bikes with us and lighten the load on the truck.

I think a good base camp for exploring is what we want. I do not want to be limited on where I can drag it though.

A Roof Top Tent has the attraction of a quick easy set up with out having ground preparations. This also gets us up off the ground away from the rock you missed under the tent and the creepy crawlies visiting during the night. I considered adding one to the back of my truck , but the length is an issue as well as the added weight.

Last week I mentioned that I had been looking for a trailer to a friend and he suggested I come up and check out his old "Jeep" trailer. It was built for a person who hauled a Tee Pee. It has some racks on the sides for poles, that may need to be removed eventually. After some consideration I decided it was a good start and I could eventually take it where I wanted to to go. The investment would not be a loss. The thing that got me was that it was painted just slightly darker than my truck. Other than that a pretty good match. I bought it and towed it home. Boy, that tow-Haul mod works great.

The bed is made from heavy gauge steel. It looks to be 10 ga, or 1/8". The axle is sprung over and the hitch is set high for a good breakover. There is a nice big box on the front. It is shod with 31x10.5-15 rubber to give it pretty good ground clearance.

There are some things I don't like, but those can be corrected eventually.

It is a little longer than I would have liked. The bed is 7' long. A foot shorter would have been more to my liking. The tongue/drawbar is integrated into the front and the heavy gauge steel of the bed is the rear structure. This does save weight and increases clearance, but I may need to add a rear half frame eventually.

For now I am concentrating getting it functional. First I wired it for my truck and found a hitch to get up up high enough to sit right. Then off to email Fernando and get a tent coming. I ordered the big one from Campinglab.com A pretty good chunk of change for a tent, but I have seen these first hand and they are much more.
Now to work on the base.
The tailgate chains had to go. I installed a buckle latch for the closure and hinged straps to hold it while it is down. The old hook and chain holes are now for padlocks.
The front jack was too low so I added a removable wheel. Now it raises high enough for raising off the hitch and I can roll it around. A grab handle was added to the top of the hitch too. That helps when rolling it around.

Next I inquired about forming a lid. Some conversation with my welder guru and I decided upon .100 aluminum. He will form and weld the lid for me as I do not have a break big enough or an aluminum welder. The lid will be hinged to one side and be 3" thick formed with lips for placing a seal around the top of the trailer. Today I picked up some gas struts and hardware from the salvage yard. I have scoped out some latches at the hardware store that I think will work. Once the lid is done and the RTT arrives things will start really taking shape.

I still need to figure out racks to haul bikes, a lock-n-roll hitch and a few other things.

[BlkZr2]

That sounds pretty awesome! Can't wait to see how it turns out.

[95whtzr2]

Yeah, this forum is for any and all projects IMO... Definitely not s-series specific!


Hell yeah man! That sounds pretty awesome, need some pics! What kind of hitch are you using? Bulldog style, etc.? I often wondered what the best "off road" style hitch would be to prevent the neck from being tweeked too much on an off camber course.

[Miles]

Sounds awesome Brule! Can't wait to see some pics of the project.

[HenryJ]

Originally Posted by 95whtzr2

What kind of hitch are you using?

Currently it just has a 2" ball hitch with a screw type retainer. I will likely be building my own "Lock-n-roll" hitch. These allow it to fully articulate.

I might have a chance to get some pictures of the work in progress this weekend.

Tonight I plant to add the rear strut bar and see what it is going to take to add a rear hitch that has side mounted twin Highlifts. Those will be my stabilizers. They might come in handy as recovery tools too.

The 25' of EPDM bulb seal showed up today. That is the lid seal. The Tent is scheduled to arrive Monday. I picked up the goal post today. Not sure what I am going to do with that. The pieces are all coming together.

[HenryJ]

Last night I put together the 2" rear receiver that incorporates twin Highlift jacks to act as stabilizers. That really turned out great. Pull a pin and slide a collar and they are off to be used for other things. I took the day today to strip , clean and re-paint the High-lifts. I ordered a pair of handle keepers too.

The receiver can be used as a rear recovery point, or as a way to haul the Yamaha TW200. The hitch carrier does limit the declination angle, but once unloaded the carrier can be moved forward to a vertically mounted receiver on the front of the trailer for transport.

Today I bought a horse trailer mat. It is a heavy rubber mat for the bottom. 4'x7' fit perfectly. A nice tight fit. I like it.


Link to Picasa album (The cat is not dead. It just thinks it has to watch me)

Once the lid is done and the RTT arrives things will start really taking shape.

I really am looking forward to having everything packed and ready to go on a moments notice. This really does expand the room we had and should make a good addition.

[95whtzr2]

So whats the really wide bumper for?

Looks like it'll be fun! I like that color, you should repaint your truck to match ...

[HenryJ]

I guess it does kind of look like a "wide bumper" from those angles. That is a hitch mount motorcycle carrier. I have a TW200 that rolls up on there and gets strapped down. Once the RTT is mounted to counter the balance, I will load it up and get a picture.

[95whtzr2]

Thats pretty cool!

[HenryJ]

Yesterday I attached rails , a hinge, mounted the lid to the trailer and then the tent on top of it. Today I Mounted the gas charged lift struts, applied the lid seal and attached the ladder.



Boy there is lots of room in that coffin. It could easily sleep two. With a tightly sealed lid, it would be a long nap.
I now wait for my lid latches to arrive.

[HenryJ]

Well I think it is all ready to go now. This weekend I installed the handle keepers for the jacks, replaced the hitch with a custom built coupler and urethaned the corners of the lid seal. Those were the last items on my list.

Here are some pictures of the coupler:



It can rotate on three axis. Vertically it will move just over 180°, horizontally 360° and rotate 270°. The drawbar can be pulled out and pinned for 10 inches of extended length if needed. Bushed with polyurethane and using a Teflon disk it is smooth and secure. Rattle free towing thus far. Much better than the ball it had.

Here is one of a latch and the lock:



With the TW200 loaded and the trailers tanks dry there is barely any tongue weight. It pulls Ok, but I think it would be better with wet tanks.




I am sure there will be refinements, but for now it is ready for action.

Couldn't resist, so I set it up:



Weighed it too. Dry weight 1500#

[txmillionmileman]

very nice!!!!!!!

maybe a locking pin for it?

[BlkZr2]

That's pretty awesome, nice job.

[Miles]

WOW! Looks great!

[HenryJ]

Originally Posted by txmillionmileman

...maybe a locking pin for it?

Great thought. I have three. I use one on the winch cradle. I probably will use one on the truck.
I think we will probably just take the hitch with us or lock it inside the trailer when we set up camp. I don't think many will be capable of hooking on to an open receiver.

Thanks for all the compliments! I really can't wait to try it out. At least a shake down run to test it out a little.

[95whtzr2]

I love it man... Awesome work!

[ChrisD]

Awesome work, man!

[HenryJ]

I guess just over five months you need an update here.

Good and bad from the June shake down run.

We headed out to Twin Springs Creek. The weather was cool and cloudy. Sprinkling rain we still decided to give it a shot.
A brief tour of the Owyhee Dam museum and we were off late in the day. 5:00 pm before we left the pavement for roads unknown.

The climb up was not too bad. Pretty rough from all the rain the area has been getting. Every wash and rut had been cut deep.



The offroad hitch works great. I scrubbed the rear tank shield and hitch pretty hard on that crossing.

Up on top the left front spring mount broke loose. Those mounted Highlifts really came in handy. We jacked it up, pried it forward ,used tie downs and a ratchet strap to pull the axle forward into place.



That got us further. Rain and dark setting in we decided to make camp near an old windmill damaged and abandoned , with a dry stock water tank made from a large equipment tire. This is Cleaver's as I was later told. They now fill it using a gas powered pump. No cattle out here until much later in the year.



The night was good. Dogs and chili for dinner. Cold drinks, and hot chocolate. A nice campfire that held all night. The rain let up just in time for dinner prep.
The RTT works great.

Hazel nut chocolate creme crepes with homemade strawberry syrup. Ziploc baggie omelets, hash brown and patty sausages for breakfast. About four miles short of our goal we decided that it was best to head back the way we came.
Morning brought clear skies and warmer weather. Roads drying.

On the way out we got a little winching practice. A large boulder in the middle of the road.
The line is synthetic so the spectators were allowed to be closer than otherwise would have been safe.



We set up two pulls using two straps and a snatch block.



Resetting the straps several times, We moved it to a position where two of us were able to tip it off the road down hill.



Not far after this the right front spring hanger also broke. One ratchet strap and one tie down left we did the same trail fix to the other side.
That was enough to get us home.

The Good: The trailer is a nice size. RTT rocks! I like it. Hitch works without a "hitch". Highlift jacks mounted like that are REALLY good both as stabilizers and for lifting a wheel. We took a fairly technical trail , fairly close to home base and within range of help if needed.

The Bad: I knew the lack of frame might be an issue. It was! Boy it was! I probably should have inspected it closer as it looked to have been cracked around the mounts before we got it. I am currently considering the direction that I want to go to fix this right.
The jacks were handy, but they get too easily coated with mud and effectively disabled. I really need to add a boot to protect them. The right side faces rear and was not as bad when covered with mud, but the left side was a real pain.

Over all it was a good learning experience. I have plans for some reorganization in the trailer. I will not leave home with out my good heavy ratchet straps again. Now I need to make time to tear the trailer down and revise the suspension mounting system.

July repairs were made and "beef" added to the trailer creating an internal frame.

Septembers next trip: 450 miles on it this time with no problems.



Not really rough roads this time, but quite a few miles. We went canoeing on Wallowa lake and then camping on hurricane creek.



One long hard pull in 90+ degree weather had me pushing 220 degrees engine temperature. Once I backed off it cooled right down. Overall it was not bad. I have not checked mileage yet, but it looks to have been acceptable.
We forgot several items. Those were stocked up this evening. Getting closer to having it all figured out.

Today, I finally had a minute to empty the water tanks for winter and take a picture of the new decals.



The two small ones on the box are brushed aluminum. They turned out pretty good. The Lev-o-gauge is also visible on the front. In the side shot above the shovel you can see the other one for leveling fore and aft.
If you look you can barely see the LED light bar under the tailgate on the back. That turned out really nice.



Matching wheels and hub caps now too. 2" AIM wheel adapters on all three including the spare.

Next up will be adding a battery and charging system for the refrigerator. I found a decent buy on a fridge, so that was sort of an unexpected addition this early.



Looking more and more like it belongs.

[Miles]

Very, very nice! I would like to build a set-up like that one day.

In regards to the Hi-Lift jack, I was going to recommend the neoprene covers that Hi-Lift makes for them. However....in your last few pics, it looks as if you already have them on? If so, how well did they work for keeping the elements out?

I'm sure you've already addressed this one aspect of the exterior mounted Hi-Lifts, but wanted to mention it just in case.

The factory installed cotter-pins that hold the bottom foot of the jack on, can and have been known to vibrate off.....leaving a small 2 pound flying saucer capable of flying through someone's windshield.

I removed that pin, and replaced it with a locking pin. You can pick them up at TSC or just about any hardware store, I imagine.

[HenryJ]

Originally Posted by Miles

In regards to the Hi-Lift jack, I was going to recommend the neoprene covers that Hi-Lift makes for them. However....in your last few pics, it looks as if you already have them on? If so, how well did they work for keeping the elements out?

They do a pretty good job. One of the zipper had problems when it was all muddy and one of them separated under pressure. I have a feeling that it may fail eventually, but I can replace that zipper if it ever happens. I coated them with Dupont dry lube. It is sort of a wax like coating. That seems to have helped them a little.
I had to cut the tip off so I could leave the jacks pinned in place. That was the only mod I have done to them other than lube.

I still have a little trouble with the upper left slide. I made that side just a little too tight. If I remember to slide it up before deployment, it is not a problem.
Jacks mounted like that really do work great. I would do it again in a minute.

EDIT: Those D ring pins for the foot are a must. I have those on all my jacks. The local farm supply carries tham in all sorts of sizes. They also make a nice clevis pin safety.

[Miles]

You said that one of the zippers on the neoprene covers separated? Do you mean tore from the neoprene sock? I was studying one at 4WheelParts the other day, but was somewhat unsure of their level of robustness.

I would want it to merely keep water and muck off of mine mounted to the roof of my Blazer. After it sitting up there for 6 months, then being removed for jacking duties, it's very difficult to function properly.

[HenryJ]

Originally Posted by Miles

You said that one of the zippers on the neoprene covers separated? Do you mean tore from the neoprene sock?

No, the halves of the zipper pulled apart. They fit really tight. I was able to work it open and get the zipper to zip back up. It has not done that again yet.

I was studying one at 4WheelParts the other day, but was somewhat unsure of their level of robustness.

I would want it to merely keep water and muck off of mine mounted to the roof of my Blazer. After it sitting up there for 6 months, then being removed for jacking duties, it's very difficult to function properly.

I don't have a real good feel for their robustness. I would not call them heavy duty.
I picked mine up on clearance. I'm not sure I would want to pay full price for them after seeing them. The outfit I bought them from clearances items that they will no longer carry. I have found that it seems to be items that don't live up to expectations much like the seat cover that I bought.

I would think about a canvas cover and velcro closure. If mine go bad all together, that is what I am going to make.

[HenryJ]

I have heard good things about the Sears Diehard Platinum battery (rebadged Odyssey) Group 78 dual post. So I installed on in my truck as my primary battery and the Deka Intimidator was moved to the trailer.
I ordered a nice big battery box that has a spacer for the 78 battery. That left room for power ports, switches and fuses. The power ports offer a place to attach a solar panel, or other accessories.
This battery powers the Edgestar 43qt refrigerator and a LED light strip in the RTT.
Charging is done while the truck is running through a cable plugged into the trucks rear power quick connector. This same connector plugs into the winch, booster cables and the generator. Lots of ways to connect different combinations. The parallel connection to the vehicle battery should offer a boost if needed. Both batteries, although not the same brand, are very similar. Both AGM group 78 compact plate design batteries. Hopefully they will play well together and charge up evenly while traveling.
The manual quick connector is part of the KISS. Easy to connect and disconnect. The parts all interchange and can be swapped in a pinch. I don't think I would have problems if I forget to disconnect, unless is sits for a very long time. A good battery can run the fridge for three days on its own.
The power system is complete and lighting done.



The led light strip attaches with zip-ties to the top bow. The little black box on the right is the switch to shut them off at night. I stitched the power cord to the flap around the outside of the tent. The connector plugs in to the top of the power box.



This port has a switch on the box to turn it off too. That way we can switch the lights on from outside before we crawl in for the night.

I struggled with what to do for a weather tight access port for the fridge cord. It took my nine year old son a little while to get his idea through to me, but he was right on the money. A simple outlet cover.



The cover can be pinned closed. I filed a notch at the bottom for the 12 volt power cord to fit. It should work great. Listen to those little helpers. I was trying to make things way too complicated.

The mounting strap for the power box was installed and the two supports for the shelf bolted in place. Next I decided it needed a cover , so I made one from some marine vinyl.



I installed a couple grommets and put the power studs through it. This bolts the cover to the box and allows me an easy way to attach a charger.

I finally had time to build a "stow" for my chock blocks. I found that not only were they taking up space in the box, but they were not getting deployed. Out of sight out of mind , I guess.



This will make them easy to deploy and a good reminder that they need to be placed. Opening the lid lifts the angle that retains them. Pretty simple.

Today, a little solder , drilling, riveting, wiring and I now have a ...


Solar suitcase Now I will be charging in camp I need to put together a padded case for the solar panels, that is the next project.

[95whtzr2]

Sounds awesome man! A lot of the equipment I run for work has some of the same electrical things you implemented on the trailer, things I have planned on doing to my crap sooner or later... most likely later. As always Brule, looking damn nice!

[HenryJ]

Got the protective case put together today:



A couple pieces of masonite, some 1/2" neoprene, a little webbing and some buckles.

The panel works great. I set it out for a quick test.



14.4V
Now all packed in the trailer and ready to go.

[BlkZr2]

awesome work, that's a cool project

[HenryJ]

Some minor adjustments after the Moab trip.

A newly fabricated attachment / enclosure for the heater. A roll up table , cutting board and campfire grille added to the gear. Some reorganization of the front box and the addition of some magnetic shelving.
A new 3500# axle with brakes is on order and should be ready to pick up this week.

[Miles]

I'm blown away man! Looks awesome!! Very nice work.

[Blazinator]

Wow, that's an awesome trailer.

[cknaffle]

Man, you do the coolest shit. I'm impressed.

[HenryJ]

Thanks guys!
If you are ready for a long read, here it comes:
Our trip started right on schedule. Last stop at the fire station to ice up the drink cooler.


The trip south was uneventful. Rest stop - Lunch break. I had a quick conversation with an older gentleman who had followed us to the sandwich shop. He looked to be a rancher type and was very interested in the trailer.

We arrive in Moab late the evening of the first day. It took right at 12 hours to get there.

The next morning we made a run to the City Market and T-Shirt shop for some shirts and stickers.

This trip turned out to be all about the elements. As we would later learn all elements were delivered in pairs.

The first was Water-


As we were awaiting the arrival of Jack and Eric, the motel we were watching from above, sprouted a geyser. A man had been working on a water line out front and obviously ran into problems. This was followed by the typical OCRIS (Oh, Crap, Run-In-Circles). We were expecting a real disaster when the maid came out with a steel garbage can and attempted to contain the geyser. Fortunately she did not get in the way when it blew the can upward. Quite a comical show with all the running around and crazy ideas on how to help the situation.
We walked down and tried to assist in shutting off the water meter, but to no avail as the tools we had available were not appropriate and the valve very stuck.
Finally we convinced the gentleman to contact public works. Eventually a service vehicle arrived and the water was shut off.

Jack and Eric Joined us and as we were leaving Moab, we saw a large fire ahead. The second element- Fire. It turned out to be workers burning the large build up of tumble weeds. No emergency, although it looked impressive from the road. Firefighter types are always impressed with fire , I guess.

On to the Sauropod track site.

[HenryJ]

The short jaunt north to the track site was over quickly. It is pretty neat to see the prints and the spacing of the steps.



I know that we were told to bring a small brush and some water to clean them up so that they show up better. We had water , but no brush, and really just forgot about that until we were ready to leave.



We did a quick side attraction and found a nice Geocache nearby. TFTH!

[HenryJ]

Off to Goblin Camp!

I was so careful to share waypoint files and load them on mine too. However, I neglected to include the route file that had waypoints for the track site and campsites. I learned a little something there. That will not happen again.
The new-to-me refurb Panasonic Toughbook did not miss a beat. What a great bargain that was.



The road to the campsite was easy to find and the reports of all the little box canyons was right on the money. We could not access what I had set as Goblin Camp. The washes had cut off access to that waypoint. The road ended before it, but there were plenty of other suitable locations. We decided on the second to last and set up camp.



Camp was all set in good time. A little work to clean the fire pit and stack the wood we brought. Then a nice dinner and second lesson on Brazillian BBQ.
This night the next of the elements was shown to us.
Wind.
I don't think anyone got a good nights sleep. The wind really howled. Everything that could flap or fall over, did.
Rising early and a bit weary the morning brought calmer winds and a nice day.

[HenryJ]

A breakfast of ziplock bag omelets and we are off to Goblin Valley. Greeting us at the entrance are the three sisters.



The whole place really is from another planet. I understand that the Rock man scene from Galaxy Quest was filmed here.



Still a little windy, we made the most of it by flying a kite as we wandered among the rock warriors.



The whole morning was spent here. We ate lunch and the next stop was to be the waterfolds of Little Wild Horse Canyon.

[HenryJ]

The road to Little Wild Horse Canyon passes right by our campsite.



It is not a long drive , other than avoiding the constriction equipment working on the road. It is freshly graded and compacted to the canyon now.
A short trail leads to the canyon. Jack stayed behind to rid himself of some awake time. The drive left him weary and need of a nap.



Little Wild Horse and Bell canyons are linked by a path. This day we chose to venture up Little Wild Horse. We stopped for a quick group shot on a large ledge. It reminded me of something from a post apocalyptic movie with swelled and broken roadways. Charlton Heston's line from Planet of the Apes came to mind.."Damn you... you destroyed it! Damn you all to hell!"



Around each corner the folds got better and better.



Traversing the path required some minor climbing and a few places were tight enough to slide sideways.



The whole place is just amazing. Rock knurled and twisted in to such wonderful creations.

We did not travel the loop this day as it was getting late in the day so we returned as we came and headed back to camp.

[HenryJ]

This day was the second of the Wind elements. Making the most of it we hoisted the heavy kite:


Tach's Dragon kite requires lots of wind. as with anything like this when you really need it it dies down.
Dinner this evening was Laurie's pork fried noodles.



This night would bring better sleep as the wind died down and with that came a drop in temperature from the clearing skies. A little ice on the edges.

After fighting some greener than expected wood and the supply diminishing, the plan of attack for the next day was to pull up stakes and move on. Another visit to the Bell Canyon this time and off to Hanksville to replenish supplies.

[HenryJ]

Bell Canyon



It starts out wide and open. A little bit of snow in the shaded areas of this canyon. The journey started with a cache in need of replenishing. We took little and left more. Thanks Troop2! A nicely hidden cache found by our expert Steve-O.
This canyon was full of "hidey-holes"



Even our dog got into the act-



Lots of climbing over obstacles through here. With young ones along , their feet getting sore and near lunch time most of us decided to turn back. It looked to be at least a couple hours more to the half way point. Steve-O and Kira decided to make the full loop and pushed on.
We returned to the vehicles ate lunch and lazied about the rigs for a while. They did make it back in good time and said we did the right thing by turning back with the kids and dog. There were some pretty substantial climbs and drops that we missed.
The sandstone is VERY hard on things. I scratched up my camera pretty good. The dogs pads were worn clean. She was done hiking for the rest of our trip. Next time I will bring booties for her.
Everyone fed and rested a little we headed out the "other" way. We were soon greeted by a road sign saying that this road was no longer maintained and may not be passable. Woo Hoo! Our kind of road!



The terrain was not too bad. Some climbs, rocky areas and soft stuff. I greatly contrasted with the first half of the road. This was barren almost dark dirt mining type terrain.



This road did not show up on my maps. It did roughly follow the direction of one in a USGS map, but cut back an fourth in different directions. Jack said he did find it in another of his mapping programs. I don't recall which.

[HenryJ]

Up on top again.



This landscape was rough , barren and alien. Piles almost like a crusher had been in piling the grindings. A beautiful multi colored layer pyramid right in the middle of it all. Almost out of place, but perfectly natural. It all opened up to a huge flat.



In the distance I could see a structure. It was off the road and bordering a fenced area.



With the names of the road and canyon being related to horses, I will assume that this must have been some sort of corral and line shack for a horse ranch.
The first structure was collapsed.



Rough hewn lumber, mudded joints and chicken wire stucco interior. Roof ridge made from gallon steel (rusted) cans. From here you could see the "new" house.



This one was really upscale with a loft, or second story, although we really found on way to access it. Under the spacious porch was a nice fire place. Lots of work went into this one and I bet it was quite a nice shack in its day.



Back to the rigs and on the road. Mapping shows our point of decision ahead.

[HenryJ]

I could clearly see at least three washes lie ahead. One pretty wide blue line. I knew that we were in for something as I had seen the picture of the red truck negotiating a cut into the banks of a wash. Thus far the signs had been light. We had been watching the drainage along the way for signs of erosion and the chance that we might meet doom at the banks of a river cut.

Our first decision.



This was a twin channel. On the other side a set of tracks coming toward us stopped deep and I assume were pulled back. They were deep and the tracks in front of us I had to assume could be the same. The width of the tires that had tracked through had me assume 35"-36" tires as they were a full 12" tread width. Jack and I run 33" tires. Kira's rig 31".
Poking around a little it did feel like it had a bottom. The problem would be if the ruts were too deep. The right bank was silt and very soft mud. The best option looked to be hugging the left bank.
We talked it over and decided Jack would go first. I have the winch and could pull him back if need be. kira would go second as Jack could hook a strap and pull her through. The two of them together could anchor me if I needed to winch through.

A little bounce to the left and Jack pulled through with out a problem.



Kira's tires were not as aggressive as the BFG TAKO Jack and I run. About half way through she slipped to the side and into the ruts. I think she was past the worst of it and stayed in to to pull through with out a problem.



A battery failure in Laurie's camera happened just as I entered. Just as well as it was nothing special. It felt good and no issues pulling through for me. On I go and around the next turn...



We looked this over just as carefully. A blade had cut down the top foot. Still it was down probably another two foot to a briskly flowing Muddy Creek. It was maybe 60' across, with a muddy bar in the middle.
A little poking from the shore was not going to tell us enough about this crossing.



Off with the shoes and into the FREEZING water I go! Dumb? Crazy? Well... no one else volunteered. The mud at the mid point was maybe 10" deep. It had a good solid bottom. Jack and Kira should do fine there as they would get a little run at it once they dropped into the creek. I had to wait for the trailer to drop before I "get after it". That would put me into it before I could gain momentum.



The other side was not nearly as deep. Overall the deepest part was maybe calf deep on me. My left pant leg did get a little wet.

We chose the same order for the same reasons. Jack was the guinea pig.



He made it look easy. The wet sand of the bank really held the weight well. Nice and easy in then across.



A call on the radio and Jack ran ahead a little way to see if there was anything more in our path. Coming back up this slope would not be as easy as it was going down. He went quite a distance and said, although soft there did not appear to be another crossing or further obstacles in our near future.

[HenryJ]

With reports of good trail ahead, Kira went into the drink


And on across like she had been doing this forever.



No one would know that this was her first real 4x4 trip. My crossing went just as smoothly. My photographers preferred to ride rather than wade, so those photos of my crossing lie with my traveling partners.
The road had been very soft. Ruts shown deep where others had done this trail earlier. The road was funny. Sort of soft and dragging. In places you could see a dusting of white crust. Jack though he was having transmission problems and down shifted. The pull to the top was harder than expected. It did not stop to examine the conditions as I felt it more prudent to maintain what little momentum that I had.



The road yielded wondrous sights. Boulders dropped from the top of a small island in the terrain.
The monument in the distance reminded Jack of a fortress in Israel. He did relate the story and the tale of this place, but I forget the details.



I could imagine wafts of smoke coming from encampments all around the base. All waiting to siege the fortress. Something out of a "Lord of the Rings" Novel. Breathtaking.



We made good time and pulled into Hanksville. Dinner at Stan's that night. Those are some big milkshakes!