Grand Gulch 2010

[PaleoRob]

Alright, we've got a place and we've got a date. March 13th-15th, we'll be hiking about 20-ish miles from the Government Trail to Collins Canyon, seeing lots of awesome rock art and Anasazi ruins along the way. Group size will be limited to 12 (10 slots plus me and my wife, though she might back out), due to BLM permit restrictions. Dogs are welcome on-leash, but not in ruins or at rock art sites, so be aware of that. If other participants don't want dogs on the trip, we may reconsider that.
Weather is variable - can be warm or we could get snow. Roads to the trailheads are dirt. Collins Canyon is decent, but Government requires 4x4, but carpooling is preferable anyway, since parking is limited. 3 days in one of the most beautiful and rich canyons in the southwest; what's not to like?

[oliverr99]

Thanks Rob, again, for a wonderful trip. Sorry it did not turn out as we had hoped, but the day hike was still amazing and Flat Stanley had fun too. I hope everything is ok with you and your wife, and your truck! So sorry to hear about that.

[writelots]

I second that Rob. Good clean fun mucking about in Utah! Lets do it again soon!

[oliverr99]

And Wendy, thanks again for letting me tag along with you. I had a great time chatting and listening to music with you! It made the time fly!! Tell Lil' Bit thanks also.

[big_load]

Thanks Rob! It was great to meet everyone and get a start on exploring this fascinating area. I'm sure I'll be working on it for years.

[PaleoRob]

Here's the quick-n-dirty about the truck, copied from my Facebook page. I'll post more details in the triplog, but for now...

I was following behind another truck (a safe distance) in his tracks doing maybe 25-30mph. It was snowing and blowing. All of a sudden the truck skidded left. I "turned into the skid" like you are supposed to and let off the gas (didn't touch the brake of course). It came back around and kept going. I figured I had turned a bit too much so I tried a little less correction. It swung back around again. At that point I figured it was uncontrollable so I simply braced myself. I slid off the road, driver's side first. I think it would have remained upright had there not been an embankment. It tipped over slowly onto the driver's side. When we got it back right-side up I discovered that my front-left tire was completely flat. As I was doing the same thing as the other truck I figure the only reason why I slid and the other truck didn't was that my tire died before the skid, causing me to lose control.