The Best Breve Latte You've Ever Had...And Me : A Summer Sojourn

[HooliganActual]

Every so often someone starts a thread and comments that there are too many "negative" threads; while most here realize that the forum does attract a lot of Jeep or Parts complaints threads, why is my Jeep broken threads, and just some general snarking when opinions differ, it is sort of the nature of the interwebz.

Well, I don't want to bog down the "What Did You Do With Your Gladiator Thread?" and I'm not sure I'd call this a Trip Report, so my hope is to post this In the General Topics Section and that the mods will allow it to reside here. I'm going to post a bunch of pictures and share some stories over the next day or so and, if the mods allow it to stay here, then it will float to the surface for several days and maybe folks can get a smile and remember that the forum isn't always about "the last Jeep you will ever own."

I'm also going to tag @WILDHOBO @RudeJeepin @chorky @azmojave @Rusty PW @NotSo Bright White @Charles 236 and @Hootbro since they reacted to the brief post I made in the "What Did You Do To Your Gladiator Today?" thread and figured they might like to know that I'm telling a bit more than a condensed version here...

With all that said, I'm retired and my wife is an Assistant Principal having several weeks off over the summer; so we tend to get away from the Arizona heat and head up into the mountains and wander around with no agenda other than to move up and down in elevation in order to regulate the temperature and avoid the rain. This is truly an extended camping trip (Overlanding?) with no intent for hardcore wheeling (we both have Wranglers for that).

So let's start with some Zion night sky. Zion gets a little busy for my preference so we tend to hang out in the Dixie National Forest just north of there and about halfway to Bryce Canyon. Supposedly, Zion has some of the least light pollution in all of the US:

We swept through Monument Valley and I'll let you google pics of there but we "swept" through so that we could head up the Moki Dugway (been there so many times I didn't take pictures) and we made our way out to Muley Point. Muley Point sits on the canyon rim north of Monument Valley and gives you a great view of Monument Valley that isn't typically seen:

The canyon rim is a pretty neat feature:

It is being eroded and undercut and these big blocks fall off:

And off course I'll throw in an obligatory camp shot:

Next we will drop back down the Moki Dugway and cruise through the Valley of the Gods

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[RudeJeepin]

@HooliganActual thanks for taking me along.
Gorgeous pictures.

I did 16 years as a mechanic for a local school transportation co-op before moving on. My wife still works for that school, we were both year around employees. So we know all about taking time off over summer break.

Monument Valley, Moki Dugway and all those other places are on our list to go explore. Keep the pictures and stories coming.

 

[Charles 236]

It looks like a beautiful trip that you and your wife took over the summer. My wife is a retired teacher (still substitute teacher just for a little extra cash), and I have cut my work down to three days a week. Plan to retire fully next June. We too love to head for the mountains in the warmer months, but our mountains are in western North Carolina. After next year we will probably want to head out west and see some of the country that you have been through. Thanks for letting me come along through this thread.

 

[chorky]

Oh man I can't wait to see this story unfold this looks like an awesome trip!!

 

[WILDHOBO]

Every so often someone starts a thread and comments that there are too many "negative" threads; while most here realize that the forum does attract a lot of Jeep or Parts complaints threads, why is my Jeep broken threads, and just some general snarking when opinions differ, it is sort of the nature of the interwebz.

Well, I don't want to bog down the "What Did You Do With Your Gladiator Thread?" and I'm not sure I'd call this a Trip Report, so my hope is to post this In the General Topics Section and that the mods will allow it to reside here. I'm going to post a bunch of pictures and share some stories over the next day or so and, if the mods allow it to stay here, then it will float to the surface for several days and maybe folks can get a smile and remember that the forum isn't always about "the last Jeep you will ever own."

I'm also going to tag @WILDHOBO @RudeJeepin @chorky @azmojave @Rusty PW @NotSo Bright White @Charles 236 and @Hootbro since they reacted to the brief post I made in the "What Did You Do To Your Gladiator Today?" thread and figured they might like to know that I'm telling a bit more than a condensed version here...

With all that said, I'm retired and my wife is an Assistant Principal having several weeks off over the summer; so we tend to get away from the Arizona heat and head up into the mountains and wander around with no agenda other than to move up and down in elevation in order to regulate the temperature and avoid the rain. This is truly an extended camping trip (Overlanding?) with no intent for hardcore wheeling (we both have Wranglers for that).

So let's start with some Zion night sky. Zion gets a little busy for my preference so we tend to hang out in the Dixie National Forest just north of there and about halfway to Bryce Canyon. Supposedly, Zion has some of the least light pollution in all of the US:

We swept through Monument Valley and I'll let you google pics of there but we "swept" through so that we could head up the Moki Dugway (been there so many times I didn't take pictures) and we made our way out to Muley Point. Muley Point sits on the canyon rim north of Monument Valley and gives you a great view of Monument Valley that isn't typically seen:

The canyon rim is a pretty neat feature:

It is being eroded and undercut and these big blocks fall off:

And off course I'll throw in an obligatory camp shot:

Next we will drop back down the Moki Dugway and cruise through the Valley of the Gods

Thanks for mentioning Muley. @azmojave told me about it as a recommendation when I drove to phoenix last year. I camped there at his recommendation and it was amazing.

 

[WILDHOBO]

Every so often someone starts a thread and comments that there are too many "negative" threads; while most here realize that the forum does attract a lot of Jeep or Parts complaints threads, why is my Jeep broken threads, and just some general snarking when opinions differ, it is sort of the nature of the interwebz.

Well, I don't want to bog down the "What Did You Do With Your Gladiator Thread?" and I'm not sure I'd call this a Trip Report, so my hope is to post this In the General Topics Section and that the mods will allow it to reside here. I'm going to post a bunch of pictures and share some stories over the next day or so and, if the mods allow it to stay here, then it will float to the surface for several days and maybe folks can get a smile and remember that the forum isn't always about "the last Jeep you will ever own."

I'm also going to tag @WILDHOBO @RudeJeepin @chorky @azmojave @Rusty PW @NotSo Bright White @Charles 236 and @Hootbro since they reacted to the brief post I made in the "What Did You Do To Your Gladiator Today?" thread and figured they might like to know that I'm telling a bit more than a condensed version here...

With all that said, I'm retired and my wife is an Assistant Principal having several weeks off over the summer; so we tend to get away from the Arizona heat and head up into the mountains and wander around with no agenda other than to move up and down in elevation in order to regulate the temperature and avoid the rain. This is truly an extended camping trip (Overlanding?) with no intent for hardcore wheeling (we both have Wranglers for that).

So let's start with some Zion night sky. Zion gets a little busy for my preference so we tend to hang out in the Dixie National Forest just north of there and about halfway to Bryce Canyon. Supposedly, Zion has some of the least light pollution in all of the US:

We swept through Monument Valley and I'll let you google pics of there but we "swept" through so that we could head up the Moki Dugway (been there so many times I didn't take pictures) and we made our way out to Muley Point. Muley Point sits on the canyon rim north of Monument Valley and gives you a great view of Monument Valley that isn't typically seen:

The canyon rim is a pretty neat feature:

It is being eroded and undercut and these big blocks fall off:

And off course I'll throw in an obligatory camp shot:

Next we will drop back down the Moki Dugway and cruise through the Valley of the Gods

Looks like it’s been an amazing trip.

 

[WILDHOBO]

But where did you get the latte? I swear by breves.

 

[ZeeJay]

Not Jeep related in anyway but snapped these of eastern end of Grand Canyon going from SLC, UT to Phoenix to our Avondale branch for training while back. Soaked up every second of this view.

 

[AustinKalb]

We had a pretty epic road trip this summer in the Gladiator. Cassiar, Alcan, Klondike, and Dempster highways (also getting there from So Cal).

 

[Charles 236]

This is from a trip out to west a couple of years ago. We flew out to Portland, Oregon to take a Columbia and Snake Rivers cruise. Beautiful country, I wouldn't mind living out there.

 

[HooliganActual]

So here's a couple more gratuitous camp photos on Muley Point:

And a morning shot before we headed back down the Moki Dugway and through the Valley of the Gods:

We love the Valley of the Gods and tend to go there at least once a year. Here's some of our favorite features:

Lady in the Bathtub

De Gaulle and His Men

The Grumpy Old Man

The Grumpy Old Man feature isn't there year round like the first two but he is a site to behold...

After the Valley of the Gods, we rolled on up the road to Moab. I had to do my obligatory stop at GearHeads, one of my favorite outdoor sport supply stores and I'm sure I spent more money than I should have. I wound up buying a new headlamp of all things because the first gen Black Diamond Icon that I have had for longer than I can remember decided to quit. My wife wouldn't allow me to buy another axe because she said I have enough (We inventoried the number of bladed instruments in the Jeep at 11). But if you love a good axe, hatchet or maul, GearHeads carries Gränsfors Bruk and they are just one of the best you will find out there.

As you can imagine, Moab is hot this time of year (and I was about to find out how hot in a few days, but that's a later part of the trip) so our plan was to head up into the Manti-La Sal National Forest. It's one of our favorite spots.

We took the Manti-La Sal Loop which is an absolute beautiful paved drive that connects the south end of Moab over to Castle Valley. Castle Valley is another favorite of mine.

Now that feature above is Castleton Rock to the right and "The Rectory" to the left. The Rectory is made up of the Bishop and the Nuns which you can see better here (the Bishop is "standing" far left and the Nuns are following him). Let's leave the Manti-La Sal Loop and head down Castleton Road for a bit:

This picture was taken from a little parking area right off Castleton Road where all the climbers park and then head up to the Tower. 40 years and 40 pounds ago I was a rock climber so it was fun to watch them "play gear" at the car, swap a few stories and then head out. We watched them on the Tower with binoculars for a while.

Where the Manti-La Sal Loop runs into Castleton Road it also tees into FR4622 which runs up to the Bull Canyon Overlook, which looks something like this:

At the Overlook there are also Dinosaur tracks in the rock and a well maintained restroom at the pullout (just so you know).

We found ourselves a nice campsite not far from the Bull Canyon Overlook and watched all the rain clouds trapped in the Dolores Canyon over in Colorado. We decided not to head into Colorado yet because of the rain.

And of course, a gratuitous camp shot with a whole lot of my wife's face...LOL

Next time I'll share our run into Colorado...

 

[WILDHOBO]

So here's a couple more gratuitous camp photos on Muley Point:

And a morning shot before we headed back down the Moki Dugway and through the Valley of the Gods:

We love the Valley of the Gods and tend to go there at least once a year. Here's some of our favorite features:

Lady in the Bathtub

De Gaulle and His Men

The Grumpy Old Man

The Grumpy Old Man feature isn't there year round like the first two but he is a site to behold...

After the Valley of the Gods, we rolled on up the road to Moab. I had to do my obligatory stop at GearHeads, one of my favorite outdoor sport supply stores and I'm sure I spent more money than I should have. I wound up buying a new headlamp of all things because the first gen Black Diamond Icon that I have had for longer than I can remember decided to quit. My wife wouldn't allow me to buy another axe because she said I have enough (We inventoried the number of bladed instruments in the Jeep at 11). But if you love a good axe, hatchet or maul, GearHeads carries Gränsfors Bruk and they are just one of the best you will find out there.

As you can imagine, Moab is hot this time of year (and I was about to find out how hot in a few days, but that's a later part of the trip) so our plan was to head up into the Manti-La Sal National Forest. It's one of our favorite spots.

We took the Manti-La Sal Loop which is an absolute beautiful paved drive that connects the south end of Moab over to Castle Valley. Castle Valley is another favorite of mine.

Now that feature above is Castleton Rock to the right and "The Rectory" to the left. The Rectory is made up of the Bishop and the Nuns which you can see better here (the Bishop is "standing" far left and the Nuns are following him). Let's leave the Manti-La Sal Loop and head down Castleton Road for a bit:

This picture was taken from a little parking area right off Castleton Road where all the climbers park and then head up to the Tower. 40 years and 40 pounds ago I was a rock climber so it was fun to watch them "play gear" at the car, swap a few stories and then head out. We watched them on the Tower with binoculars for a while.

Where the Manti-La Sal Loop runs into Castleton Road it also tees into FR4622 which runs up to the Bull Canyon Overlook, which looks something like this:

At the Overlook there are also Dinosaur tracks in the rock and a well maintained restroom at the pullout (just so you know).

We found ourselves a nice campsite not far from the Bull Canyon Overlook and watched all the rain clouds trapped in the Dolores Canyon over in Colorado. We decided not to head into Colorado yet because of the rain.

And of course, a gratuitous camp shot with a whole lot of my wife's face...LOL

Next time I'll share our run into Colorado...

Truly outstanding. Some of my very favorite places. Our view from camping in the la salles, way before any major upgrades happened on the Jeep. This was the trip where my wife, kids, and I did poison spider with it bone stock, except for a front winch. It was the trail that started my addiction. I’d really like to camp at that same spot again someday soon.

 

[HooliganActual]

So, while we were camped in the Manti-La Sal NF, I did what I typically do around camp: I tinkered. I almost always bring a small "project box" of things I can easily work on while we are in camp. About 300 miles before this trip, I replaced the ball joints, tie rod and drag link and had marked all of the bolts with a paint pen; so, checking all of that out was in my project box. I also wanted to rework the base for my Dometic Water Faucet, stitch up a seam that was coming apart on the RTT and remount my House Battery box because after this trip I am expanding from 100aH to 200aH. Simple enough stuff and I got it all knocked out.

I made some "Walking Tacos" for dinner and then we headed to bed. I woke up for a bio break about 1 in the morning and realized my Exped MegaMat was essentially flat. I pumped it up and laid there for 2 hours trying to figure out why the mattress was flat. Come the morning I realized that, when stitching up the seam in the tent I had poked holes in the mattress with the needle I was using.

I'll explain how it happened: the RTT seam started to come apart (it's a seam at the entry door that gets used all the time) about a year ago and I made an impromptu repair with a cheap sewing kit and the stitch eventually came out. This time I used heavy duty thread and really took my time on the repair. HOWEVER, the last time I stitched it up we had a 4 inch foam mattress in the tent and I would just poke my needle into the mattress to hold it like a pin cushion. I guess the air mattresses don't work that way!!!

But being the Boy Scout that I am, I had a patch kit and set to work finding and patching the 2 holes I knew I had made:

I have the holes patched, the MegaMat overinflated and all of our luggage sitting on it to see if the patches will hold. It sat that way most of the day and I thought I was in the clear.

I wasn't...

It had to be pumped up in the night and by morning I had decided that I didn't want to continue fighting this while we were traveling. So the next day, we called around down in Moab looking for a replacement Exped MegaMat 10 with no luck. But the REI in Grand Junction had the one I needed - and we were off!!

From the Bull Canyon Overlook, there are a couple of FR's and such that take you over the mountains and drop you at Gateway, CO and CO-141 in the Dolores Valley. Here's a nice shot of some of the canyons you come down through into Gateway on what the map calls 4.4 Road:

We decided to take a little detour to the old Naturita Mill Site in a defunct town called UraVan. What used to be UraVan is now partially owned by the town of Naturita, hence the plaque below saying Naturita and not UraVan:

The place was a site for mining Vanadium pre-WWII but they started mining Uranium for the Manhattan Project in 1942. Needless to say, the little town and mill that were there got so contaminated (something like 126 acres) that eventually it had to be turned into this:

According to the plaque, that is 971,762 tons of material covering the site, and of course its radiation levels are still being monitored today.

But I still need an air matress!!!!

We ran up the 141 and eventually I was buying a new mattress in Grand Junction.

Since we literally had no agenda, we decided that from where we were we could run down through Montrose and into Ouray.

As I was parallel parking on the main street in Ouray, I had to wait for the deer crossing in front of me. Surely they were headed for some tasty local flower beds:

For anyone who has never been to Ouray, you can throw a rock from end to end:

It's a beautiful little mountain town and my wife loves to peruse the shops. Her favorite shop is the Shaggy Coo. That shop is like a casino: I always lose money when I walk through the door!!

The Shaggy Coo (if you're interested)
https://www.facebook.com/TheShaggyCoo/

And for us, it wouldn't be a trip to Ouray without a stop at the Ouray Brewing Company where my wife gets the second best Cubano Sandwich she's ever had (mine are the best because I make my own Pan Cubano and roast my own pork shoulder after two separate 24 hour marinades...just sayin'

It may look dead but the outside and upper deck were so full that we had to sit inside. Don't know who the guy at the bar is but I'm sure he's posting on the Gladiator Forum.

We finished up in Ouray and the rain looked like it was rolling back in and we were a bit tired; so, we headed further south to Durango and decided to spend the night in a hotel since it had been awhile since we showered and washed any clothes.

I also wasn't going to complain about the fact that the hotel was within stumbling distance of another favorite spot of ours: Ska Brewing Company:

Just a friendly warning to anyone that wants to visit the Ska Brewing Company, which I highly recommend: they brew their own beers and some are very delicious and it's easy to enjoy them too much. PSA: What you don't realize driving up Girard Street to the parking lot entrance is that about 100 feet beyond it, at the end of Girard Street (so in my picture, that would be a left hand turn out of the parking lot in the background), is the Durango Police HQ. So please be responsible, because you are effectively at the Police Station while you are there...LOL

Since the weather was nice in Durango, we hung around an extra day and checked out the old town shops and went to Backcountry Experience, another really well stocked outdoor sporting goods store.

Next, we will be heading back up into the mountains...

 

[WILDHOBO]

So, while we were camped in the Manti-La Sal NF, I did what I typically do around camp: I tinkered. I almost always bring a small "project box" of things I can easily work on while we are in camp. About 300 miles before this trip, I replaced the ball joints, tie rod and drag link and had marked all of the bolts with a paint pen; so, checking all of that out was in my project box. I also wanted to rework the base for my Dometic Water Faucet, stitch up a seam that was coming apart on the RTT and remount my House Battery box because after this trip I am expanding from 100aH to 200aH. Simple enough stuff and I got it all knocked out.

I made some "Walking Tacos" for dinner and then we headed to bed. I woke up for a bio break about 1 in the morning and realized my Exped MegaMat was essentially flat. I pumped it up and laid there for 2 hours trying to figure out why the mattress was flat. Come the morning I realized that, when stitching up the seam in the tent I had poked holes in the mattress with the needle I was using.

I'll explain how it happened: the RTT seam started to come apart (it's a seam at the entry door that gets used all the time) about a year ago and I made an impromptu repair with a cheap sewing kit and the stitch eventually came out. This time I used heavy duty thread and really took my time on the repair. HOWEVER, the last time I stitched it up we had a 4 inch foam mattress in the tent and I would just poke my needle into the mattress to hold it like a pin cushion. I guess the air mattresses don't work that way!!!

But being the Boy Scout that I am, I had a patch kit and set to work finding and patching the 2 holes I knew I had made:

I have the holes patched, the MegaMat overinflated and all of our luggage sitting on it to see if the patches will hold. It sat that way most of the day and I thought I was in the clear.

I wasn't...

It had to be pumped up in the night and by morning I had decided that I didn't want to continue fighting this while we were traveling. So the next day, we called around down in Moab looking for a replacement Exped MegaMat 10 with no luck. But the REI in Grand Junction had the one I needed - and we were off!!

From the Bull Canyon Overlook, there are a couple of FR's and such that take you over the mountains and drop you at Gateway, CO and CO-141 in the Dolores Valley. Here's a nice shot of some of the canyons you come down through into Gateway on what the map calls 4.4 Road:

We decided to take a little detour to the old Naturita Mill Site in a defunct town called UraVan. What used to be UraVan is now partially owned by the town of Naturita, hence the plaque below saying Naturita and not UraVan:

The place was a site for mining Vanadium pre-WWII but they started mining Uranium for the Manhattan Project in 1942. Needless to say, the little town and mill that were there got so contaminated (something like 126 acres) that eventually it had to be turned into this:

According to the plaque, that is 971,762 tons of material covering the site, and of course its radiation levels are still being monitored today.

But I still need an air matress!!!!

We ran up the 141 and eventually I was buying a new mattress in Grand Junction.

Since we literally had no agenda, we decided that from where we were we could run down through Montrose and into Ouray.

As I was parallel parking on the main street in Ouray, I had to wait for the deer crossing in front of me. Surely they were headed for some tasty local flower beds:

For anyone who has never been to Ouray, you can throw a rock from end to end:

It's a beautiful little mountain town and my wife loves to peruse the shops. Her favorite shop is the Shaggy Coo. That shop is like a casino: I always lose money when I walk through the door!!

The Shaggy Coo (if you're interested)
https://www.facebook.com/TheShaggyCoo/

And for us, it wouldn't be a trip to Ouray without a stop at the Ouray Brewing Company where my wife gets the second best Cubano Sandwich she's ever had (mine are the best because I make my own Pan Cubano and roast my own pork shoulder after two separate 24 hour marinades...just sayin'

It may look dead but the outside and upper deck were so full that we had to sit inside. Don't know who the guy at the bar is but I'm sure he's posting on the Gladiator Forum.

We finished up in Ouray and the rain looked like it was rolling back in and we were a bit tired; so, we headed further south to Durango and decided to spend the night in a hotel since it had been awhile since we showered and washed any clothes.

I also wasn't going to complain about the fact that the hotel was within stumbling distance of another favorite spot of ours: Ska Brewing Company:

Just a friendly warning to anyone that wants to visit the Ska Brewing Company, which I highly recommend: they brew their own beers and some are very delicious and it's easy to enjoy them too much. PSA: What you don't realize driving up Girard Street to the parking lot entrance is that about 100 feet beyond it, at the end of Girard Street (so in my picture, that would be a left hand turn out of the parking lot in the background), is the Durango Police HQ. So please be responsible, because you are effectively at the Police Station while you are there...LOL

Since the weather was nice in Durango, we hung around an extra day and checked out the old town shops and went to Backcountry Experience, another really well stocked outdoor sporting goods store.

Next, we will be heading back up into the mountains...

Love ska brewing. I haven’t been to the brewery though. On the list.

 

[HooliganActual]

Love ska brewing. I haven’t been to the brewery though. On the list.

Yeah, it's a nice little brew pub and the food is good. They had a seasonal beer I hadn't had before, Mexican Logger, and it was very tasty. So I had 3 of them, lol!!

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