Don't squat with your spurs on!

[highboy4x4]

This is my first foray into seeing what other people think, recommend and well....ideas. I know I am opening a can O worms, full of silliness but I'm ready...

TOPIC: If you were planning your bucket list, the most glorious trip out west, where would you want to go. If you had no timeline, you were self sufficient and tons of fuel, what comes to mind?
Caveat: trail level 6 and below but not rock crawling. Traveling with a fully stocked, crazy capable, heavy metal F350!
Timeline: understanding the best time for the area is critical. Honestly, I only know what I read on this forum and the interwebs. So any info/webpage/ preferences are welcomed.

Initially, I thought I wanted to ride the Continental Divide, south to north. Ending up north and then taking Idaho/Montana by storm! Then, as I was scanning Utah/Wyoming/Idaho/Montana, I see all the really cool trails dispersed all over the Rockies but very little appealed to me in the southern flat lands. So I want to downshift a few gears, gather some ideas, then put together a multi week adventure. Just need a little push of ideas to start developing a plan. I fly solo but don't mind entertaining others of like minds.

In the thought process of "go west young man," I don't know why but I searched old wild west sayings and had to stop and laugh when I came across this one. "Don't squat with your spurs on!" The web page defined it as: This wasn’t really a phrase but rather a painful lesson that was learned the hard way when it came to cowboy culture. Squatting down while wearing spurs was something you’d regret later. It’s a fun phrase that we still use in modern times to just mean to think before you do something, lest you regret it.

So poignant for my thoughts. I don't want to go west and regret not seeing "The Mountains, or the awesome trails in between because I don't know where to go/look." I can only watch so many yt videos. My desires are that I want to climb 13000+ feet. I want to do/see all of the things I have been reading about. Like drive to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, hit the top of Pikes Peak, stare at the Grand Tetons, see Old Faithful and Yosemite. Explore the Yaak Valley, see buffalo that is not the city, explorer Glacier national park, and the list goes on.

These are highlights everyone knows about. They are great landmarks to steer in a cardinal direction, from point A to B. But what about the in between??

What I want to know from this community is "What is your dash." or "Where is your dash." Symbolic reference to the poem called "The Dash" by Linda Ellis. :-)

 

[OTH Overland]

Russ, The ability to have time for an extended trip out west is awesome, We spent 15 days just in Utah this fall and still felt like we barely scratched the surface. Depending on how much distance you want to travel, planning some type of circuitous route to take advantage of driving through as many types of terrain and environments as you can will leave you with a broad spectrum of experiences and one heck of a photo album. Then you will learn the 'special' places that you will yearn to revisit in more detail on another trip, and there will likely be some that are been there done that and no hurry to go back and see again. The continental divide route is one that is very high on my get out and see list. Both Colorado and Utah have more trails than you can imagine and the backcountry discovery routes put together by the adventure bike folks are a great way to cross a state mostly on dirt / forest service roads. They have a great site ridebdr.com where you can download GPX files and or by paper maps for the various trails. a lot of the National Parks in Utah have some 4x4 routes that can be fun to explore and get you away from the mass tourist population. All of the parks you listed are well worth a visit at least once in your lifetime (We go to yellowstone a lot... Love the winter the best even though most of the park is closed to driving you can take snowmobile or snow cat tours to the main features. Some of my favorite places in west are listed below

• MOAB - We stay away from the popular trails as they are usually busy and some will beat up my heavy overlander more than I care to do. Many trails are away from the main tourists and have great views of the natural features & lots of remote camping. Canyonlands NP offers the White Rim trail (Permit needed, and if camping plan well ahead as they fill up fast) which is a great 80 mile or so route around the outer edges of the park. You will only see a handful of people on that trip due to permits. The trails at the southern end of the park can be to narrow for a full size rig.
• Capitol Reef / San Rafael Swell have miles of trails, very few people and some great natural rock features. We have always found the swell to be mostly devoid of people and lots of trails of varying difficulty
• Colorado, Silverton and surrounding areas. Tons of trails, high mountain passes and a fantastic mining history
• Oregon, Washington & Idaho. Each have a backcountry discovery route that will take you through the center of each state from border to border (mostly North to South) and let you see pretty much all the different terrain each state has to offer. A lot these trails is at higher elevation so will not be open until late June depending on snowpack. Idaho has the Macgruder and Lolo Expressway trails that are not very long but are scenic enough to warrant a visit. (They are also part of the Idaho BDR route) Be aware that the farther NW you go the more dense the brush can be and a lot of the routes can provide a fair share of pinstripes especially to the full size rigs.
• California. We have grown to love Death Valley, lots of rugged mountains and history, super hot in the summer.

 

[highboy4x4]

Russ, The ability to have time for an extended trip out west is awesome, We spent 15 days just in Utah this fall and still felt like we barely scratched the surface. Depending on how much distance you want to travel, planning some type of circuitous route to take advantage of driving through as many types of terrain and environments as you can will leave you with a broad spectrum of experiences and one heck of a photo album. Then you will learn the 'special' places that you will yearn to revisit in more detail on another trip, and there will likely be some that are been there done that and no hurry to go back and see again. The continental divide route is one that is very high on my get out and see list. Both Colorado and Utah have more trails than you can imagine and the backcountry discovery routes put together by the adventure bike folks are a great way to cross a state mostly on dirt / forest service roads. They have a great site ridebdr.com where you can download GPX files and or by paper maps for the various trails. a lot of the National Parks in Utah have some 4x4 routes that can be fun to explore and get you away from the mass tourist population. All of the parks you listed are well worth a visit at least once in your lifetime (We go to yellowstone a lot... Love the winter the best even though most of the park is closed to driving you can take snowmobile or snow cat tours to the main features. Some of my favorite places in west are listed below

• MOAB - We stay away from the popular trails as they are usually busy and some will beat up my heavy overlander more than I care to do. Many trails are away from the main tourists and have great views of the natural features & lots of remote camping. Canyonlands NP offers the White Rim trail (Permit needed, and if camping plan well ahead as they fill up fast) which is a great 80 mile or so route around the outer edges of the park. You will only see a handful of people on that trip due to permits. The trails at the southern end of the park can be to narrow for a full size rig.
• Capitol Reef / San Rafael Swell have miles of trails, very few people and some great natural rock features. We have always found the swell to be mostly devoid of people and lots of trails of varying difficulty
• Colorado, Silverton and surrounding areas. Tons of trails, high mountain passes and a fantastic mining history
• Oregon, Washington & Idaho. Each have a backcountry discovery route that will take you through the center of each state from border to border (mostly North to South) and let you see pretty much all the different terrain each state has to offer. A lot these trails is at higher elevation so will not be open until late June depending on snowpack. Idaho has the Macgruder and Lolo Expressway trails that are not very long but are scenic enough to warrant a visit. (They are also part of the Idaho BDR route) Be aware that the farther NW you go the more dense the brush can be and a lot of the routes can provide a fair share of pinstripes especially to the full size rigs.
• California. We have grown to love Death Valley, lots of rugged mountains and history, super hot in the summer.

Dave, thank you for responding with great advise. The ability to have no timeline is key as I am in SWFLA and it takes a long time/fuel to get to your neck of the woods. So I don’t want to limit myself because I don’t know when I would get back.
That being said, I will start to research the routes you mentioned.

 

[ThundahBeagle]

All the stuff you mention is great. I've seen some of that and not some other of it.

Dont forget the Badlands and Black Hills.

Personally I'd still like to see Crater Lake and Devil's Tower, and, if not relegated to US only, some of British Columbia looks stunning, though I've never been there either.

I'd like to dip a toe in the Pacific at Canon Beach or something.

 

[roots66]

We actually have a journal with the places we want to see in each state in it. We are more about the destination, with the trails to get there being an added bonus. Pike's Peak is really cool and we loved it, even though it's all paved and full of people. Great Sand Dunes is awesome, especially if you take Medano Pass over the mountain into the back side of the park. Skyline Drive is simple, but also really cool to do. The Grand Canyon is amazing, but we want to go back and do the north rim this time. Other places we loved are Niagara Falls, Angelina National Forest, Garden of the Gods, Painted Desert, Petrified Forest, Meteor Crater, Sunset Crater Volcano, Historic Route 66 west of Williams AZ, and Padre Island National Seashore. Some of the places still to see off the top of my head are Yosemite, Yellowstone, Redwoods, Sequoia, Bryce Canyon, Arches, Grand Tetons, Badlands, Crater Lake, Death Valley, Zion, Red Rock Canyon, Joshua Tree, Natural Bridges, Canyonlands, Flat Tops, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Going to the Sun, Craters of the Moon, and Big Bend.

Oh, and I do have spurs, but have never squatted with them on.

 

[grubworm]

equally important...don't squat wearing a big belt buckle

 

[OTH Overland]

equally important...don't squat wearing a big belt buckle

View attachment 296343

At my age, squatting in itself is risking an ER vist...

 

[OTH Overland]

All the stuff you mention is great. I've seen some of that and not some other of it.

Dont forget the Badlands and Black Hills.

Personally I'd still like to see Crater Lake and Devil's Tower, and, if not relegated to US only, some of British Columbia looks stunning, though I've never been there either.

I'd like to dip a toe in the Pacific at Canon Beach or something.

Cannon Beach is nice, but its worth the drive up north to the Olympic Peninsula, you can visit the most NW point of the continental states and the rain forest is a great place to explore. BC has a massive amount of forest, We just have not gotten around to exploring up there yet (only just over an hour to the BC border from where we live, so not much of an excuse)

 

[highboy4x4]

I am looking for my inject point of this grand adventure. What scenic areas would you visit that are north of I40, say Santa Fe to Flagstaff? It doesn't seem like much south of the Grand Canyon. But I have been wrong before.

 

[MOAK]

Hmmm- a great introduction to the 4 corners region would be to go to Montrose Colorado and take the Rim Rocker Trail over to Moab. It is full size friendly and can be done in 3 days easily. From there, go into the zoo that is Moab to re supply, or head south to Monticello to resupply, I prefer Monticello. Head west up into the mountains, then south down through bears ears to Valley of the Gods, head west to Mexican Hat. At the hotel there is a restaurant serving up authentic local foods. Head west again from there, and cross the river. Either direction, north east into the Grand Staircase, or south west into the Arizona strip and enjoy getting lost in either until your supplies run out. Be sure to have paper maps. We are finding out that Gaia, although a great resource, is very limited in presenting the “ big picture”. Nat Geo maps are available for all the areas except the AZ strip, however for a couple of bucks you can order one from the St. George BLM office. This kind of trip can easily take 2-3 months or if you blow through, a couple of weeks. Needless to say, a great introduction to the southwest. Some of our favorite campsites are in these places. (Not seeing another human being for a few days at a time makes them our favorites)
Once you get your feet wet, you’ll want to go back, as it is addictive.
.