Some of us have been discussing a big ride encompassing some or all of the above areas in late May 2004.

Who wants in on the fun? Areas under consideration, western Nebraska, North Sand Hills in Colorado,dunes near Rock Springs in Wyoming, Little Sahara in Utah, White wash dunes in Utah.

Hoser and Litespeed would be coming from the mid-west, and heavily loaded, so the hardest thing for them would be going I-70 thru the Utah and Colorado mountains, so, White Wash is the least desirable for them.

Nuke em, Fed, Joeodyrider, taymax, Fl670, are any of you in??

I am going to as many as possible, military exercise mid to late May. Fed is in California for a 2 more weeks and his tranny is in lots of pieces and shavings on my work bench. I may have my second 350 oddy done by then. I am doing the A-arm mod right now.

WARNING - LONG...

Alright I did a little more messing around with MapBlast and I changed the ride itinerary slightly
I figured we would need something to break up the long drive on our return loop back east

I moved Colorada North Sand Hills to the return trip to break up the long haul...

I figured the Western Boys would just skip Halsey NE and Walden CO spots and hook up with us at
Rock Springs-WY, Jericho Junction-UT, or mayb just Green River-UT

Below are the locations and drive times betwen each of them.
I also (will try) to enclose a couple of maps of possible Routes
Missing the big cities and staying on Interstate for the most part.

We need to NAIL DOWN SOME DATES...

The talk was Late May but I'm out on May 15 and May 30
Hoser said something about being out the week of May 24 - 28
Anyone else have any other conflicts ?
Does June 4 - June 15 work better ?

I'm guessing we will need at least 10 days to make the loop
Halsey 1.5 days
drive .5 days
RockSpings 2 days
Jericho Junction 3 days
Green River 2 days
Walden 1 days

Are we bitting off more than we should ?
ANY THOUGHTS....


Halsey, NE – (Nebraska National Forest 141,59 acres)

Start: Halsey, Nebraska, United States
End: Rock Springs, Wyoming, United States
Total Distance: 556.8 Miles
Estimated Total Time: 8 hours, 20 minutes

Rock Springs, WY – (Killpecker Sand Dunes – 11,500 acres)

Start: Rock Springs, Wyoming, United States
End: Jericho Junction, Utah, United States
Total Distance: 259.2 Miles
Estimated Total Time: 4 hours, 16 minutes

Jericho Junction, UT – (Little Sahara 60,000 acres)
(Rocky Mountain http://rockymountainatv.com ATV – Just North at Payson UT)

Start: Jericho Junction, Utah, United States
End: Green River, Utah, United States
Total Distance: 186.5 Miles
Estimated Total Time: 3 hours, 33 minutes

Green River, UT – (White Wash Sand Dunes 0,000 acres)
(No Facilities of any type at White Wash)

Start: Green River, Utah, United States
End: Walden, Colorado, United States
Total Distance: 330.0 Miles
Estimated Total Time: 5 hours, 47 minutes

Walden, CO – (North Sand Hills 700 acres)

Great mapping from my house to Halsey, NE it is about a 13 hr drive the other drives
look short and should break up the trip.

Drakman says the hills on 70 are pretty steep we need to decide if we want to tackle them
to ride at the other areas or just spend the extra time riding at Little Sahara 60,000 acres,
I don't see me getting tired of riding an area that big any time soon.

Hi all,

Regarding mountain driving. The Rocky Mountains are the highest and steepest thru the center of Colorado, as you get north to Wyoming, the mountains seem to disapear until they reapear in northern Wyoming around Yellowstone National Park. The worst, that is, the steepest and toughest driving for motrhomes, trucks, etc., is from Denver to Vail (Eagle), Dennis has completely eliminated that section from the drive.

My opinion on the rest of the route.........

Anything on I-80 is easy, pretty barren, but not very steep or twisty, with maybe a couple of small exceptions, just enough to get your attention.

I have never driven I-15 from Salt Lake City to Little Sahara, but nothing that I know tells me that it would be difficult.

From Little Sahara to I-70 is an easy drive. The section on I-70 from Richfield to Green River is the toughest part of THIS DRIVE, but it is one of the shorter sections of the drive. There are a couple of areas that are absolutely awe inspiring, bring your camera and stop and take some pictures!! See the attached photo.

From Green River to Eagle Colorado is a pleasant drive, mostly along the Colorado river. From Eagle to Walden is secondary roads, the first part is a climb out of the river valley, the rest of it is mostly thru ranching areas, not a really tough drive.

From Walden (North Sand Hills) to I-80 is a fairly short and easy drive. Some of it is thru "foothills" and is a bit twisty, but nothing is very steep or difficult. There is a climb on I-80 out of Laramie, but the rest of I-80 will be pretty much downhill to the mid-west.

When traveling thru some parts of Utah, there will not be cell phone service. If we are "caravanning", CB radios would be a very good idea. I have one in my rig, and often listen on the trucker channel for word of potential problems ahead on the road.

I'll pretty much confirm what Drakman said. A few of the hills in Utah are pretty good climbs, but then you get to go down the other side ... a plus since it's the shorter drive. I probably won't be able to make the whole trip, but think I can fit in LS Ut and White Wash. I also agree with Jerry that spending more time at LS Ut would probably be more in line with what most of you want to do. You can pretty much get your fill at White Wash in 2 days and see most of it.

As far as dates, you have to watch early June for temps. Last year on Memorial Day (end of May), they set record highs at White Wash ... was right at 100 ... too HOT to ride I think. I've heard that LS Ut isn't much cooler. If the weather is more in line with what is normal (?), we would be ok (80s).

Is there enough interest in this trip to start setting something up?

The base is starting the exercise(war games) Monday 16 May and should run about 10-12 days. If you guys are still in the area, I'll play catch-up to where ever you are. I have room to park campers (8.5 acres)and live 1.5 miles off of I-80, if anyone needs to rest between Neb and Rock Springs.