The week before an off-road adventure is always hard. Finding all the gear, packing, rig maintenance, loading waypoints, double checking maps and the never ending prep that seems to go with readying for an adventure. It is all part of the fun. I spend a lot of time prepping for an adventure…. I know my rig and its noises and after what we’ve been through, I’m pretty sure the rig knows me. All the prep is what allows me to shed any worries on the trail.
For me a big part of the adventure becomes letting go… letting go of the route, the schedule or just about any part of the prep I’ve spent week on.. It’s a zen thing. But all the prep and knowing the pieces lets me adjust and move them around as Karma works her own way into the adventure making it into what she wants.
Our plan is to road trip from Seattle to Bear Lake just a few miles from where Idaho, Utah and Wyoming come together. The dual sport bike guys have stitched together dirt roads and off-road trails into a route that runs the length of the Utah top to bottom (that’s about 550 miles of middle of nowhere). The route explores the uinta-wasatch-cache national forest, wasatch national forest, Moab and countless stretches of BLM land. Known as the UTBDR, the route provides adventure, solitude and the opportunity for us to explore a new part of the country.
If all goes well we wont complete the whole route. Just prior to the last leg we’ll turn east and find our way to Ouray, CO and arrive in time to enjoy the annual Metal Tech 4×4 party at the FJ Summit as well as explore a couple of the San Juan Mountain trails before racing back to civilization.
The team on this adventure includes Brad who navigated on the Baja off-road adventure and Other Paul who joined us on our Washington Backcountry Discovery Route adventure as well as countless wheeling weekends.
In a few days we leave. Like all our off-road adventures we’ll post our story as they unfold. I don’t know what this adventure really holds for us but we will get through it together.
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Here’s to a great, fun, safe adventure! I am sooo looking forward to your posts about it. Especially the pics!!