Canyonlands-The Maze

We have been to Canyonlands National Park before, the Needles District on one of our past runs to Moab. This time we decided to try the Maze District. We were to meet Jim's brother near the park for them to scatter their mothers remains with their fathers. Unfortunately on our way into the area we had some vehicle problems. Rick's CJ-7 ran into problems with the crank sensor and he and Brian had to go to Moab to get a new part. Everyone else waited in the hot sun for 5 hours while the parts were hunted                                                                                      

                     Rick working on his Jeep, being a mechanic he should know, fuel or electrical, still took a couple hours.                             

               Waiting for parts, at least it is in the shade, 105degrees.

When planning our next trip we will be looking at spring or fall, 105 or more each day. And a spare crank sensor.

Needless to say with 5 hours chasing parts we were very late getting into the first nights camp and were unable to find Jim's brother in the dark. We camped that night on the edge of a canyon, which we did fully know how big until the next morning. While setting up camp we were attacked by moths that were drawn by our headlamps, some were affected more than others. lol.

First nights camp.

Our first nights camp.

The canyon we camped next to.

  The Maze from the rim.

                                                                       I think this was called Washer woman. Our camp in the Dollhouse, #3.

                                                     

Camp cleanup. The guys did the cooking.

Brian after a hard day in the sun.                                                          Sunset from the Dollhouse camp.

                                               

                                                                                           

Sunrise in the Dollhouse area. 

The camping loads, we had to take a lot of water and ice for the heat.

The ranger station, 50 miles or so off of the highway. This ranger station is self powered by solar power.

 The road down into the Maze.

                                         The wheeling was pretty easy but very scenic.

The fill up on my 20 gal. tank.

                                        The savior gas station.   

We had to cut our trip short by one day, our gas was running out and our ice had run out. On the way out Rick ran out of gas, Brian had one 5 gal can left, we split it in the 2 Jeeps and took a short cut the ranger had given us. As we pulled into hollow Rick's Jeep was running out of gas. Hollow Mountain had many welcome cold drinks also. The trip into the Maze was a great adventure but next time we will bring more fuel and pick a cooler time of year.

At last.