RR-550 miles of dual sport adventure in SE Utah

So here are a few pictures from the last few days in SE Utah. I have been planning a trip back to Grand Junction to see my parents and was really torn between taking the WR and hitting up Rabbit Valley again or doing an overnighter. I decided to see as much of SE Utah as I could fit into 2 days of riding on the XRL.
The plan was to take I-70 to Green River and then mostly dirt for the remainder of the trip. I was going to hit up the Maze then to Hite, across to Beef Basin/Ruin Park, up into the Needles, back to Moab via Lockhart Basin, the Old Hwy to Dewey Bridge and then Kokopelli back to Rabbit Valley to finish off the trip. As usual it did not go quite according to plan…..
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I started out 530 in the morning from Grand Junction and made it to Green River ready to get started on the Lower San Rafael Rd/Hans Flat Rd to the Hans Flat Ranger station. The road was some nice wide open fast riding with some great views of the Reef to the west and Moab to the east.


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Once at the Ranger Station it was a real scenic ride overlooking the Maze and ending up at the Flint Trail.


My goal for the Maze was to see the Doll House and the road made for some fun riding with a few technical sections along the way.
This was my first time to the Doll House and it was by far the highlight of the trip. An absolutely amazing place to be and I really wish I was able to stay longer. Next time an overnighter is in order.


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I headed back out towards Hite and the road was again fast, smooth riding with some amazing wide open scenery.

I refueled at Hite and because I still had several good hours of day light I pushed on knowing that day two would have much more difficult riding, plus I wanted as much time as possible to spend in Ruin Park.
I got onto the Wooden Shoe Rd and headed west along Dark Canyon (note to self have to make some time to get down into the canyon, picture is not a fair representation).
Again the road was wide open and fast and I was making good time, but it slowly began to dawn on me that I was climbing higher and higher in elevation and it was actually getting chilly.:dog I never really thought about the fact that the Wooden Shoe would climb into the La Salle’s and it always seems hard to believe there is snow in SE Utah when your sweating you ass off. I know poor planning.......
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I started to run into muddy roads and then some snow drifts on the side of the road.
I thought to myself if I just keep pushing on I am bound to hit Goosenberry Rd which would take me north to Beef Basin and away from the damn snow. The road keep climbing and pretty soon I was breaking through snow drifts, and then pretty soon the drifts were getting deeper and deeper. Eventually I was digging the bike out…..
I got the bike out of the first snow bank with out too much trouble and decided I was almost 50 miles in from Hite so I might was well push on. Shortly after I came to another bank, a much much longer and deeper snow drift. The drift was 3-4 feet deep and super slushy….I would give it all it had and 5 feet later the rear tire would dig in so deep the bike was high centered on the fame with the front tire off the ground! :eek1 I ended up picking the bike up and throwing rocks into the rut…………go a few feet and repeat……over and over. I eventually gave up and resorted to lifting the rear of the bike and scooting it over and then doing the same to the front, kind of crab walking the bike on top of the snow. I did this for about and 1 ½ hours (sorry no pictures too busy killing myself and cursing) and got the bike to the top of the snow bank where I set up camp in the middle of the road.
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In the morning I was not sure if I should turn back and try and go through the snow banks I had already made it through or risk pushing on and making it to Gooseberry or another escape route. I was not too keen on back tracking 50 miles so I moved forward. Shortly thereafter I ran into another several hundred yard snow bank. This was the low point of the trip I knew I had a lot of work regardless of which way I went and it was really cutting into the time I had given myself. I walked up the snow bank and it seemed frozen enough that I may be able to walk the bike over it. I aired down the rear tire as low as I felt it would go and gave it a try. Long story short I made it through, but it was much more pushing and cursing then “walking” the bike across.
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I made it to the intersection of Deer Flats so I could not have much further to Gooseberry, but the mud was awful and when I hit another snow bank I decided I should start acting like I was riding solo and turn around before I really got myself into trouble.
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I got on deer flats and had a great birds eye view of Natural Bridges Monument.
Then onto Hwy 95 and heading to Blanding. Once there I went on up to Monticello and talked to the visitor center about getting into Beef Basin. They told me they have had record amounts of snow and everything is snowed in, so the only way in is though Canyon Lands. I really wanted to go to Ruin Park, but it was already 12pm so I took the highway to Canyon Lands and went on Lockhart Basin back towards Moab.
The wide open county is cool to ride through and looking to the west it is hard to believe I was just riding that area the day before and the White Rim in December.

Lockhart is pretty easy riding, a little more technical, but really just enough to slow you down. I made it to Hurrah Pass with only one get off, I guess slick rock covered with an inch or two of sand is really slick.
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Once in Moab it was 5pm and I probably could have done the last section of Kokopelli but did not want to push my luck on a successful trip, so the Old Hwy back through Cisco and to Grand Junction.

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Total millage I think is about 550, but not sure because the speedo broke in the middle of Lockhart at 441.
Overall a really fun trip for my break in overnight dual sport ride (thanks to ADV for the inspiration after reading a lot of great RR)

One issue I had was the XRL handled awful (not that it ever handles great ) on smooth dirt and gravel with the full 4.7 gallons of fuel. It wanted to walk all over the place and several times felt like it was going to do a death wobble. The more gas I used the better it got. Any ideas on what may be causing this, too much/little sag??:huh
Thanks

Handling... ?

Too much rear weight and front tire issues.

Nice report.

Nice...Thanks for sharing...Looks like tha high country will have to wait for a little while..

Any idea how it's gonna be around Hanksville? I'm thinking pretty good, unless we hit tha Henry's high up.

Excellent! Now I'm really jazzed for this weekends ride in that area.

Hopefully the dirty devil will let us through.

Ya it was a really fun trip, did not want to come back. Im sure Hanksville will be good.....

Toddler, where are you going riding? Planning on crossing the dirty devil?

Good effort in the snow. Know the feeling, you plan a route and you want it to go, but you know it doesn't, so you reluctantly bail.

We are riding from Green River to south of Hite and plan to cross the dirty devil as we head out on Poison Springs Wash Road. Last time we did this the crossing was no big deal, but it will have been raining so it could get interesting.

Would love to see some pictures of poison springs when you get back

Nice report!!

Here are a few from previous years. These are after crossing the dirty devil.

Thanks for the replies.

Poison springs looks awsome, I may have to try and do some riding down there in the fall

Discretion is the better part of valor sometimes, especially when solo. It is easy to let your ego get you in trouble back there. Many come out west and think since there is no snow back in Denver that other places in the high desert have different conditions. Good choices and great report!

Great report! You ought to see about moving this out of the Regional forums and put it in the Ride Report section, it would fit well in there.

I love that area, was out there the week before last in the 4x4 and we camped at the Maze overlook. I want to head out there real soon on the bike, within the next few weeks. Hopefully the snow melts off some more.

Thanks for the reply, it was actually a couple of your ride reports that made me decide to do the trip rather then play locally on the WR. I was really bummed I did not make it to Ruin Park. After reading that RR about the 3 nights you spent in the area I was set on seeing Ruin Park..... Another time though, so much to see and so little time (and too much snow!!).

Good to see I inspired some questionable decisions...

There's always a chance to make another trip, hopefully you can get back out there again soon. Thanks for sharing your ride!

I enjoyed the ride report, and this forum is also what is making me want to do some long rides