The Maze in Canyonlands - Overlanding trip
I'm starting to think about a trip to The Maze in Canyonlands National Park for 2023. I'm initially thinking end of May, maybe Memorial Dayish. Would anyone be interested for that? Would anyone be interested if it were for different dates? I found this link to help me start planning. [url]https://www.overlandtrailguides.com/post/the-maze-district-adventure-route[/url]
One of the features of this area that has piqued my interest is the fact that it's very remote and they recommend bringing maps and not relying 100% on GPS. To me, that makes it a real adventure, and I love adventure! I learned I love adventure after reading the book Wild at Heart. I mean, I knew I loved it before but now I feel like I was made to love it and now I love it even more! Anyway.... I'm thinking about 5 days trip or so, nothing too long but long enough to make the trip worth the drive out there. I'm a pretty slow relaxed driver off road so I'm not looking to cover hundreds of miles off road in a day, I'm probably slower than most. I also like to stop and take in the sights, see interesting caves, rock formations, dinosaur tracks, whatever it is. I/we will be ground tent camping as I still don't have a RTT or trailer yet, too expensive right now in our lives. If someone is interested and doesn't have camping gear, I do have a few tents, camp chairs, dining things that I can lend out.
Right now it's just myself as I'm posting to different groups trying to gauge interest. I think 3 - 6 rigs is probably a good size for this trip. I'm open to two or more than six as well, definitely don't want to go myself. Let me know if you're interested and end of May works for you.
Re: The Maze in Canyonlands - Overlanding trip
Yep - Certainly interested. Joined Matt and Trent last May.
Doll House camp sites have a good thumbs up from me.
Info / photos from my past visit:
[url]www.JimWilliamson.net/automobile/2021-05-05--canyonlands-national-park--maze-district--with-moki-dugway/[/url]
I have a 15 gallon tank and I brought (2) 2.5 gallon gas cans. I used ALL OF IT - but I made it back to the gas station (on fumes). I now have +10 gallon capacity with side mounted jerry cans. I ran the trail in fuel conserve mode - did not air down as far as typical and ran in 2-high unless I needed 4WD.
Re: The Maze in Canyonlands - Overlanding trip
[quote=Jim;350272]Info / photos from my past visit:
[url]http://www.JimWilliamson.net/automob...h-moki-dugway/[/url][/quote]
Awesome!! Thank you for sharing, Jim! Do you mind if I share that link with other folks so they can see what it's about?
Re: The Maze in Canyonlands - Overlanding trip
Not at all - go right ahead.
Re: The Maze in Canyonlands - Overlanding trip
Thanks sir! I'll let everyone know that this is where Calvary is.... at least based on that sign. :lmao:
When I was younger and playing Risk with my dad once, I called the cavalry "Calvary" and my dad was like, "no, that's wrong". Maybe the guy writing the sign didn't have a dad.
Re: The Maze in Canyonlands - Overlanding trip
I am interested as well. Was planning on going back to Moab in the spring for something exactly like this. I'm not sure when the snow melts on the La Sal mountains but they look really majestic with the snowcaps as a backdrop. I would also want to time it with a new moon to get a perfectly dark sky, which unfortunately doesn't line with with MDW, but looks like the week before.
Re: The Maze in Canyonlands - Overlanding trip
[quote=Mountaineer01;350280]I am interested as well. Was planning on going back to Moab in the spring for something exactly like this. I'm not sure when the snow melts on the La Sal mountains but they look really majestic with the snowcaps as a backdrop. I would also want to time it with a new moon to get a perfectly dark sky, which unfortunately doesn't line with with MDW, but looks like the week before.[/quote]
Oooooo that's really smart actually!!! Yeah, It doesn't matter, I just said MDW because that's my birthday. I'm down for the week before to get an awesome sky view! I bet the light pollution is slightly lower than the Denver or Fort Collins areas..... :D I like it! I'll look at a moon map thingy and investigate around that.
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Re: The Maze in Canyonlands - Overlanding trip
The Maze is awesome, had a great 5 or 6 days there with Jim and Trent last May. Memories I will never forget!
Re: The Maze in Canyonlands - Overlanding trip
Definitely interested and following this. Unfortunately I won't have much PTO by May to pull off a long trip. But don't base your planning off of me at this point!
Side note, I'm trying to look through Jim's photos (on my phone unfortunately) and see what/if any obstacles there are. I have a non-TH KL that I've really been wanting to take on some kind of overlanding adventure. Obviously it's not super high clearance and doesn't have 4LO. Basically an AWD Subaru...
Re: The Maze in Canyonlands - Overlanding trip
1) dark sky / good stargazing - my preference!
2) obstacles... Matt can pipe up to what he remembers.
I recall the ledge / step here:
(Friday)
[URL]https://www.jimwilliamson.net/automobile/2021-05-05--canyonlands-national-park--maze-district--with-moki-dugway/07-fri/img_6517-6526-animation.gif[/URL]
and a bit of a ramp with a notch in it here (on the way to Doll house 2 and out from Doll House 2):
[URL]https://www.jimwilliamson.net/automobile/2021-05-05--canyonlands-national-park--maze-district--with-moki-dugway/07-fri/img_6552.jpg[/URL]
Other than those, I don't recall anything - but my recall is not too trustworthy
As for no 4-low, is it manual or automatic??? The switchbacks, if going up them, could cause issue as they are long and they do have steep sections (switchback areas are flat though)
[URL]https://www.jimwilliamson.net/automobile/2021-05-05--canyonlands-national-park--maze-district--with-moki-dugway/10-mon/img_7003.jpg[/URL]
[url]https://www.jimwilliamson.net/automobile/2021-05-05--canyonlands-national-park--maze-district--with-moki-dugway/10-mon/img_7005.jpg[/url]
If an issue, a tow strap to another 4-low capable rig could solve any issue.
Re: The Maze in Canyonlands - Overlanding trip
Appreciate the input, Jim! It's a manumatic, so I could keep it in 1st or 2nd if I needed to. If that's the 2 major items, the main thing I'm missing is a true recovery point on the front of the KL (only the TH comes with the orange recovery hooks). To the internet for answers!
Re: The Maze in Canyonlands - Overlanding trip
This was the hardest obstacle on the dollhouse road, honestly it was much easier than I expected after all the research I did.
[video=youtube_share;iEc1F01uVPU]https://youtu.be/iEc1F01uVPU[/video]
And here’s Jim on that same obstacle…. and I think in 2WD
[video=youtube_share;VXwIpWyhfDo]https://youtu.be/VXwIpWyhfDo[/video]
I have a lot of videos from that trip on YouTube. None are high quality or anything but I love being able to relive those memories! That was an epic trip! I’d love to go back with my Jeep
Re: The Maze in Canyonlands - Overlanding trip
Agreeing with the others on difficulty based on Jim's photo share. There were two things that looked somewhat of an "obstacle", nothing like something I'd see on Hells Revenge as a mandatory obstacle though, pretty tame.
Bummer, I just found out the new moon in Moab is 5/19 and my wife bought tickets to some comedy show for 5/19. I thought the new moon was 5/22, I must have been looking at a different area. :(
Well, is there interest in April 19 or June 17 ish dates?
[url]https://www.timeanddate.com/moon/phases/usa/moab?year=2023[/url]
Re: The Maze in Canyonlands - Overlanding trip
[TABLE="width: 100%"]
[TR]
[TD][B]Four-Wheel Drive/
Mtn. Bike[/B][/TD]
[TD]$36 Permit Reservation fee
(includes $6 Recreation.gov fee)
+ $5 per person, per night[/TD]
[TD]15 people /
3 vehicles[/TD]
[TD]10 people/
3 vehicles[/TD]
[TD]9 people /
3 vehicles[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
[url]https://www.nps.gov/cany/planyourvisit/backcountrypermits.htm[/url]
Maximum of 3 vehicles. I wonder if we could get two permits at the same time. My thoughts were a maximum of 6 rigs for the trip.
[url]https://www.recreation.gov/permits/4675315[/url] - To check availability
I guess I have some homework this weekend to start planning this. I just need to know dates, either April or June are the two months I can do. I'm going to plan for a total of 6 rigs maximum and will just shoot for two permits as each permit is good for 3 vehicles. I have a couple folks showing interest in my overlandbound.com group too.
Re: The Maze in Canyonlands - Overlanding trip
FWIW - my preference for dark sky is only a preference - not a mandatory. Additionally, dark sky would take a back seat to better weather (temps) - mainly overnight tent temps (not too cold).
Only my thoughts.
Re: The Maze in Canyonlands - Overlanding trip
I agree with Jim, but if we can make it work we should! June 17th would be my preference with all things considered, I would like to avoid MDW personally. Are you thinking this is a guys only trip?
Re: The Maze in Canyonlands - Overlanding trip
Well, my wife wanted to go too. April would give snow most likely still on the La Sal mountains and June would give warmer night temps. February is brutal, I can tell you that. April would give cooler daytime temps while June would be a lot warmer, hopefully not as bad as July/August in the desert though.
It sounds like the preference is leaning towards June time frame. I like the dark sky idea too. If we're going out there, I'd like to do during new moon. I have unlimited PTO and we're pretty flexible as long as the other engineer is not on PTO I'm good and I've already cleared these dates with him. Although, I know a guy who has a pretty sweet Starlink setup if we all needed to work..... :D
I'm going to create an event just to get it on the calendar knowing the dates may be dynamic during our planning. Steve could also possibly make this too now being later!
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I'm blocking this weekend in my calendar so hopefully we can make it work! Do we need any campsite reservations I know those can be tough to get and need to be sorted 5-6 months in advance. I can get one of the backcountry permits if they limit it to one per person, but it looks like those don't open up until February.
Re: The Maze in Canyonlands - Overlanding trip
You need to reserve campsites well in advance on their event website and they can be very hard to get if you don’t get them when the dates are released
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I saw next year as the earliest to start working on permits so I haven't made this a priority yet. I did however buy a Dometic CFX3 45 with this trip specifically in mind.
I'll be at the in-laws this weekend so maybe I'll hide and look more into this. I think we've decided the new moon date in June and not April or May. I have two others from my overlandbound group that I've talked to about this as well. I'm thinking no more than 6 rigs which is two permits. I think any more than that and it's just too many, personal preference.
What I'll do to make things a bit more organized is create a trip where people can RSVP so we know who is going and how many spots are left. If I don't have anything posted by January 3, hold my feet to the fire. We leave for WI this Thursday and get back to CO on Monday, January 2. That should be plenty of down time to get crackin on this.