Canaan Mountain, southwest UT 9/20

[SpeedRacer]

Will be traveling the Canaan Mountain trail in southwest UT on 9/20 if anyone is interested. The trail starts at the Coral Pink Sand Dunes, and travels southwest for 25 miles to the cliff edge overlooking Colorado City, AZ. Terrain is sand and slickrock, with juniper and pinion trees initially, that give way to ponderosa pine as elevation increases. Difficulty rating is 3 1/2 on the Moab scale. As it stands now there will be only two Jeeps on the trail and we are looking for two or three more at the most. The two Jeeps now attending are a 1943 Willys and a 2003 Wrangler. Feel free to send me a PM if interested.

Phil.

[mrblaine]

Originally posted by SpeedRacer
Will be traveling the Canaan Mountain trail in southwest UT on 9/20 if anyone is interested. The trail starts at the Coral Pink Sand Dunes, and travels southwest for 25 miles to the cliff edge overlooking Colorado City, AZ. Terrain is sand and slickrock, with juniper and pinion trees initially, that give way to ponderosa pine as elevation increases. Difficulty rating is 3 1/2 on the Moab scale. As it stands now there will be only two Jeeps on the trail and we are looking for two or three more at the most. The two Jeeps now attending are a 1943 Willys and a 2003 Wrangler. Feel free to send me a PM if interested.

Phil.

Too good to intro yourself?

[SpeedRacer]

Hi Blain,
I didn't know an intro was expected for a trail ride. Anyway, I'm Phil Smith, and I'm 43. The Willys driver is Richard, and he is 65. We both plan on bringing our wives, and I will also bring my two sons (ages 7 and 13). I have done this trail twice before, once on the Yamaha and once in the Jeep. It is fairly tough on the ATV because the 50" wheelbase makes it tough to keep the front end down on the steeper slickrock climbs, but it isn't too bad in a Jeep. The trail goes in and comes back out the same way, with a 50 mile round trip off pavement. Scenery is spectacular, with panoramic vistas of more than a hundred miles on clear days. The big ponderosa pines with red sand and slickrock is particularly nice as well. We will likely leave the pavement at about 8:00 or 9:00 AM, and return to pavement at about 6:00 PM, assuming no breakage (which is unlikely).

Phil.

[Tumbleweed]

Phil, welcome. Sounds like a nice trip. I have wheeled an early Bronco through the Coral Pink Dunes area many times. This was 15 plus years ago. Just wish I wasn't 600 miles away from there.

[SpeedRacer]

Thanks to TJRon, Phil Howell, Kevin Hawkins, and Richard Parker for showing up and making it a great trail ride. What a fantastic day, especially the baja race back to the pavement

Speedy.

[Phil Howell]

Yeah, it was a lot of fun! Kevin commented that he thought the area was awesome.

It took us an hour and ten minutes to get back to the pavement. How long did it take you guys and did you make it before dark?

[SpeedRacer]

It took us about 2 hours to make it back to the pavement, but we did some "optional" things on the way back. Optional things like getting lost on the slickrock slabs, getting lost in the slickrock canyon, and playing around climbing some of the off-trail slickrock ledges. And we waited for the Willys at several points along the way. But we made it back before dark. It was fun, and with my stock height Jeep I had the chance to become intimately aquainted with every rock in southern UT, so I feel special in that regard.

[Phil Howell]

Yes, I wanted to thank you for the extra road grading you did in some spots with that Rubicon skidplate and gas tank.

I've got the slickrock slab down now. You just aim at the buttes that are sticking up in the middle and, when you reach them, you can see the trail taking off in whichever direction you're headed. I bet you didn't turn out of the slickrock canyon by the little tree. Is that one of the places you got lost? Fess up!

I was stoked by all the side canyons and hard core potential this place has. It's like Johnson Valley with awesome scenery!

[SpeedRacer]

Yup, that is exactly where we got lost in the slickrock canyon. TJRon took a boat load of pictures that day, maybe he can post some shots of the scenery.

Phil.

[TJRON]

April and I had a great time. We stayed until Monday, just foolin' around.
The trail was excellent. It really screams for a camping trip and some extensive exploring! There's just too much beauty, slick rock, obstacles, sand........... OK, too much of every thing to do in a day. I would say it's more similar to Moab than anything else I've done. I would imagine there's plenty first rate trails and some real ugly obstacles to be discovered out there in that vastness.
I can't wait to get back!
I'm trying to post some pictures if FotoTime will stop giving me troubles. They will be on the "Friends Forum".
Thanks for the great time in what is truly God's Country!

[Joe Dillard]

Hurry the heck up Ron!! I'm grinding my teeth in anticipation!lol