Another Swing-and-a-Miss | Other Side #2

I wouldn't say the wind was calm as we went to sleep overlooking John's Hole in the San Rafael Swell, but it was definitely tapering off. By midnight, only a gentle breeze blew past our camp before cascading down into the canyon.

Until 3:00am. That's when we were sent scurrying for our earplugs. It's amazing how much difference a good set of these can make, and soon we were sleeping like babies, the flapping of the roof top tent muffled as our cliff-edge-cradle was rocked by the wind until just after sunrise.

Wanting to catch the canyon before too many shadows stretched across the floor, I'd set my alarm for way-too-early - especially given the hour we'd lost in crossing time zones - and set about trying to capture the scene before climbing back into bed to warm up for another hour.

Even before sunrise, there was plenty of reflected light to illuminate the sandstone.

Looking back along the "trail" we'd attempted the previous evening, as night turned into day.

John's Hole.

Layers of landscape.

Parallax.

We didn't have quite as far to drive on this leg of our trip, so it wasn't until just before 9:00am that we rolled out of camp and headed back towards I-70, where we'd turn east and make our way through the heart of the Swell before turning south for a jaunt along UT-191 through the zoo known as Moab.

For now though, we decided to make our route through the western edge of the Swell into a loop, experiencing the area around Cedar Mountain and East Cedar Mountain a bit more leisurely than we had on our way out to John's Hole.

Still a bit of snow on the peaks.

East Cedar Mountain was looking striking in the morning sun.

Into the folds as we neared Cedar Mountain.

A family of wild horses galloped off after they spotted us approaching. The little guy kept up pretty well!

South of Cedar Mountain, the road entered a series badland-esqe washes, pools of water - and the resulting soft, sticky mud - still present in many of the bends. Doing our best to avoid making a mess of the truck, we avoided what we could and took it slow through sections that spanned the entire road. Remember - even in most situations like this - it's important to stay the trail, otherwise we end up with a braid of trails. And that's what gets trails closed.

In one bend of the wash, the softer sandstone was laced with some crystalline intrusions.

Sandstone veins.

Eventually, we emerged from the washes as we rejoined Upper Last Chance Road and headed north towards Mussentuchit Flat. The views here, too, were dramatic, as wind and water have whittled away softer material to reveal dramatic ridges, narrow fins, and tall pillars.

The ridge protruding from the right side of this photo has the perfect profile, but when viewed from the position of the Tacoma was extremely narrow.

A narrow fin of volcanic origin, perhaps the result of intrusion through a fault line?

At Red Point, the sentinel formations reminded me of my time at Cathedral Gorge.

Racing along, we both spotted these brilliant claret cups - our first of the season - along the side of the road, and had to back up to check them out.

By the time we reached pavement, it was nearly noon and the low fuel light was hesitantly illuminating as the last couple gallons of fuel sloshed their way too-and-fro in the tank. We weren't going to make it 69 miles to Green River, but rather than siphoning gas from the jerry cans immediately, we decided to hold off until we could admire the view at the same time.

When you're in the San Rafael Swell, it's never a long time before you have a nice view.

Yep, that'll do for a view as we refuel the Tacoma with enough gas to get us to Blanding!
(Spotted Wolf Canyon and the distant La Sal Mountains)

Now, while the focus of these trips always tends to be what we'll see along the way, something that's always on our minds - and especially @mrs.turbodb's mind, as she absolutely loves to cook - is what we'll be eating for various meals. Over the years we've adapted our style. Originally, we approached meals much as we do at home - grilling chicken, steak, fish, or burgers, assembling salads from ingredients packed away in the fridge. It wasn't the time that it took to accomplish - though it did take a while - but rather, the resulting cleanup that pushed us to the taco-rittoes that became our mainstay for a few years. Simple yet tasty, we could pre-prepare everything but the guacamole, and even then, we'd have only a single pot to wash once dinner was done. That still works well for trips where the Tacoma starts out at home - so we can bring avocadoes that are perfectly ripe at the correct time for us to eat - but when it's in Las Vegas, chicken tender wraps have become our new go-to dinner.

But not this trip. On this trip we ate out every single meal. And there was no more anticipated meal than the one we were going to have in Moab. We'd stopped at Tey's Homemade Mexican Food when we'd passed through on the Utah Backcountry Discovery Route, and @mrs.turbodb had fallen in love with the breakfast tacos. So, when I mentioned that we ought to stop there again, she was 100% on board.

We both enjoyed the breakfast tacos this time.

As we headed out of town, the La Sals were still draped in their winter whites.

Searching for Juniper Tree Ruin

I do love Comb Ridge, as it undulates along a 20+ mile stretch of the earth.

From Moab, we were headed to Bluff, and from Bluff to Comb Ridge. There, somewhere, is a ruin that I've been searching for over the course of several years. While not unknown, this ruin - with walls supported by a Juniper Tree trunk - is infrequently visited and photographed, and the location is kept well under wraps by those who have been lucky enough to visit.

And I'm fine with that. I appreciate it and understand why. Still, I'll keep searching until I find it.

Looking through the - relatively little - material I have been able to collect on the ruin, a note I'd either missed or not been able to follow up on in my previous research gave me a new idea, so it was with high hopes that we hit the dirt towards a spot I'd marked on the map.

Perhaps, finally, we'd find it!

Even if we didn't find it, we were in for a visual feast.

Blooming yucca!

As we neared the spot I'd marked, a short spur road appeared to take us almost all the way to the ruin. It was hard to believe it would be this easy, and both @mrs.turbodb and I took it as a good sign when we came to a carsonite BLM marker at the head of the spur that read NO VEHICLES.

Donning our hiking getup and heading up the road on foot, we started taking bets on whether we'd finally found it. I forget what the odds we each gave were, but it didn't matter. In a few short minutes we'd find out that the ruin at this site was not the one we'd been searching for!

Looks promising as we follow the old road.

@mrs.turbodb spotted this small granary first, and it was most definitely not what we were hoping to find.

It was still only 5:00pm at this point, so we decided that we'd spend the rest of the day - and perhaps a bit of the next - exploring the area. I didn't have any more "specific locations" in mind, but I did have some hints that would at least send is in the correct direction - or at least, hopefully, keep us from heading 180 degrees off course. And so, after following another spur road, we once again found ourselves on foot, exploring our way into a canyon and along the base of the cliffs, our eyes peeled and our heads on a swivel.

Let the search begin.

Eventually, we reached the head of several drainages, each one narrowing to a colorful slot canyon before petering out.

The light was fantastic as we headed back out the way we'd come.

After exploring a few miles of cliff, we settled in for the evening.

As the last of the light spilled across the mesa, we enjoyed some burritos we'd picked up Tey's when we'd enjoyed breakfast-for-lunch.

Settling into our nightly routine, we watched the light fade from the sky over Comb Ridge, a timeless view that's been enjoyed for centuries by those before us. Eventually, it was time to get ready for bed, and as we washed our faces and brushed our teeth, I wandered away from the Tacoma - down the spur road we'd parked at the end of - to go to the bathroom.

That's when I heard it. At first, I thought it was just a grass in the wind, but I still jumped just a little bit and moved to the other lane of the two-track road. Spitting out my toothpaste, I headed back to the truck and grabbed my flashlight.

There, hunkered down under a sage, was a foot-long baby rattlesnake, and I don't think he was all that happy to see me. Of course, now the race was on: could I get the camera and figure out what dials to turn and buttons to press in order to make it snap a photo at night? Probably not.

OMG, it worked! And it is in focus!

@mrs.turbodb did not approve. And that tells you all you need to know about which one of us is the smart one in our relationship.

The following morning...

Our night along Comb Ridge was the most pleasant of the entire trip. Temperatures were in the mid-50s °F. There was only the slightest of breeze to move air through the tent. It was still early enough in the season that the no-see-ums were nowhere to be seen. And so, when the sun came up the following morning - again, an hour too early if our internal Pacific Time clocks had anything to say about it - we were well rested and ready for our last day in Utah. And Arizona. And the Navajo Nation.

From atop the mesa, our little camp site had a great view of Comb Ridge.

It really does look like the Backbone of the Earth.

Our only plan for the day was to make our way west - towards Las Vegas - where we had a departing flight the following morning. Along the way, we'd stop for two short-ish hikes - just outside of Kanab and St. George - but otherwise it was just going to be another day of driving. So, after a quick consult, we decided that we might as well spend a few more hours along Comb Ridge, continuing our search for the Juniper Tree Ruin!

When we - or at least I - think of Comb Ridge, I think of the road system as being relatively straight forward. On the west side, Comb Wash road follows the base of the cliffs, and Butler Wash traces a similar pattern on the east side of the formation. Turns out that on both sides of the ridge, there are maze-like road systems, and we explored several - both in the Tacoma and on foot - as we continued our search.

Didn't expect us to be driving on slickrock this trip!

As we explored one road after the next, we found several that climbed up to camp sites with panoramic views of Comb Ridge.

Ultimately, we covered another 10 (or so) miles of sandstone wall that could have contained - but did not, as far as we could tell with our still-very-good eyesight - the ruin for which we were searching. In the process, we encountered a few segments of reasonably technical road, and while I hadn't aired down all trip, I decided for one short, narrow section, that it would be a good idea to engage the rear locker.

Pressing the button, it engaged as it always has, and after driving through the obstacle, I pressed the button again to release the locker and didn't give it a second thought.

Until about 300 feet later when I noticed that the locker was still on. Strange.

This is where I realized the locker hadn't disengaged.

Not sure what was going on, I performed the "usual" unlocking tricks. Forward and backward, some easy turns. Actuating the locker a couple of times. Nothing worked. Hmm.

After mentioning the issue to @mrs.turbodb, we decided that we'd better call it quits on the ruin search and get ourselves headed in the "back" direction, just in case we needed some professional help to get the locker disengaged.

The locked locker wasn't an issue as we headed south along Butler Wash, but as soon as we turned west on pavement, we experienced the telltale jumping of the rear end. It wouldn't be a problem on the highways - where turns are broad and I was aware of the issue - but I wasn't looking forward to dropping the truck off at the storage facility, where they'd have to make tight turns to park it until my next visit.

Many have had trouble with their e-lockers - usually because they've not used them for long periods of time and so they get gummed up - but I've never had any issue or run into this situation before.

After a bit more discussion, we decided we had three options:

1. Use the hi-lift to jack up the rear end of the truck until the tires were off the ground, and then try to rotate the wheels to jostle - and release - the locker. This wouldn't fix the underlying problem, but would at least allow us to drop the Tacoma in Las Vegas as we'd planned.
2. Take the Tacoma to a shop and have them manually disengage the e-locker by removing the locker housing and prying the locking fork out of the differential. Or, try to do it myself in a parking lot.
3. Drive all the way home - some 27+ hours - so I could diagnose and fix the underlying issue.

None of these were great options, but we figured we might as well start at the top and work our way down the list, since neither of us wanted to spend that kind of time on the road.

Option 1 turned out to be harder than it sounded. Trying to balance a 5500 lbs Tacoma with the rear travel of Chevy 63 leaf springs on a hi-lift inserted into the trailer hitch is nearly impossible, and no matter how we tried, it kept falling to one side or the other.

Option 2 also turned out to be impossible given the time. Already after noon on a Friday, every shop in Page, AZ was at least a few days from being able to take a look at the issue, much less solve it.

Option 3 still sucked.

So, we resulted to Option 2B - find a parking lot where I could take a look at the situation and try removing the locker manually. I was not looking forward to this option given that I've never performed this operation before, and I wasn't exactly dressed for the occasion.

As I slid under the truck , I took stock of the situation. All the wiring harness were plugged in and the connecters seemed fully seated. Still, before taking the whole thing apart, I had @mrs.turbodb press the RR DIFF LOCK button a couple times to see if I could hear it attempt to acuate; I could not.

And then, I saw it.

The problem.

Finding that wire that'd broken was a huge relief. It wasn't something that I could easily fix, but it was something I could temporarily hold together with a pair of pliers while @mrs.turbodb pressed the RR DIFF LOCK button to disengage the locker!

Five minutes later, the diff was unlocked and we were back on the road. I'd have to fix the actual wiring later - the next time the Tacoma ends up at home - but we'd dodged a huge bullet and I thought we might even have time to do those hikes we'd planned for our return trip to Vegas...

 

 

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