October used to be “Moab Season” for me. At least once a year we’d pack the car with camping gear and mountain bikes and head to the desert outdoor recreation mecca that Moab has been for the past 20 years or so. With stunning red canyons, sheer cliff faces, arches, fantastic mountain biking and wild camping in the desert, what’s not to love?

Over the years more and more people got the same idea and today on a spring or fall weekend it’s tough to find a spot to camp. The popular trails can become so crowded they’re almost no fun anymore.

Last spring Arches National Park had to be close briefly due to traffic congestion.

So last weekend when I had the chance to get away for a couple of days, I decided to head “out west.” Not as far west as Moab, but almost to the Utah-Colorado border. Home to the tiny towns of Nucla and Naturita, there’s no way to access the area via a paved road without leaving the county. Either by dirt roads across the Uncompahgre Plateau or by going the long way around through Ridgway, it’s over two hours from Montrose.

With similar elevation, climate, and topography to southeastern Utah, the West End is a fantastic destination for those looking to get off the beaten track.

History

Like Utah, the area owes much of its early development to mining. Some gold was mined, but the main industry was uranium and vanadium. These two minerals gave the now-defunct town of Uravan it’s name. Mines cling to the cliffs overlooking highway 141 as it winds its way through the canyon. One company even hung a man-made canal off the side of a cliff to bring water to a mine.

The hanging flume was started in 1887 and operated for 3 years before the mine it served went bust.

Mountain Biking

I came primarily to mountain bike and got some recommendations from a local. Mountain biking here falls more into the “adventure” category, with most trails following old mining two-tracks through the rough wilderness. Scenery abounds though, and if like me you enjoy canyon country you’ll be right at home.

Even on a fall weekend with perfect riding temperatures in the mid 70s, I had the trails to myself. Not mostly to myself, I mean I was completely alone. In six hours in the saddle I saw not a single other rider. Or hiker, or ATVer for that matter.

The trails themselves are not well worn in. I could see tire tracks from other bikers, but none seemed recent. As is to be expected on old mining roads, there is some hike-a-bike as the roads were designed to reach mining areas, not for recreation. To me this just added to the sense of adventure.

At the entrance to Red Canyon. The trail climbs about 5 miles into the canyon following old two-track.

At the head of the canyon the trail climbs steeply up to the top of the mesa.

Views into the Paradox Valley with the La Sal mountains in the background make the climb worthwhile.

The Y-11 loop features some fun, fast, and technical singletrack. At times the trail clings tenuously to narrow benches high above the canyon floor.

Camping

Established campgrounds can be found on the Uncompahgre Plateau, but this time of year I wanted to stay at lower elevations. There is a semi-developed campground near the old Uravan townsite known as the “ballpark” with picnic tables and portable toilets. It’s also easy to drive a short distance up one of the side roads off the highway and find a secluded spot to bed down for the night.

Finding a secluded campsite is no problem. And for star gazers, the skies don’t get much darker.

Motorized Fun

With it’s maze of rough dirt roads, the area is perfect for exploration by dirt bike, ATV, or 4×4. The recently inaugurated Rimrocker Trail is a 161 mile long back country route linking Montrose with Moab. The trail is meant primarily for ATVs, but could be used by mountain bikers as well.

So the next time you’re in need of some solitude in the desert, head south from Grand Junction and explore this little known secret.

Colorful fall aspens on the Uncompahgre Plateau

Just a quick update, because it’s been a long time since we’ve written one…

To keep a long story short, we’ve spent the past month getting stuff sorted out on the van. Witt spent a week in Denver getting the rear tank re-welded and the fuel tank selector replaced. Thanks to everyone who let me couch surf during that time! We left Denver on October 22 headed for Salida, where we were going to spend some time with Witt’s parents and get an oil change done on the van. We decided to hang out there so that Quinn could go trick-or-treating, and we packed up and hit the road on November 1, headed west for California where we plan to get our stove fixed and have the company that did our 4×4 conversion look over the front axle and suspension on the van.

Jen, Grammy, and Quinn made Witt a yummy belated-birthday-cake.

Grammy and Quinn make a Quinn-friendly pizza.

We took Quinn for a ride on the Royal Gorge railroad

We were headed out of Salida on our way up Monarch pass when the van started to lose power. The best we could do was 25mph up the hill. We returned to Salida and spent the next week with the van in the shop, replacing the fuel pump and several pipes and hoses associated with the turbo, which the mechanic said were leaking causing the turbo to under-perform. A week later (Saturday Nov 9) we finally left Salida again, only to have the problem re-appear. This time we switched the fuel tank selector to the rear tank, and made it up the pass without a problem. We kept going and stopped in Gunnison (on the west side of the pass) where Witt once again bypassed the fuel tank selector and ran the fuel lines directly to the front tank. Since then we haven’t had any power issues. At this point we’ve decided to forgo the fuel tank selector altogether. We now have a giant 20+ gallon fuel tank in the back of the van whose sole purpose is to power our heater (and stove, assuming we get it working). 20 gallons of diesel would power both of those appliances for something like a year. Whatever.

Quinn makes sure Grammy and Papa’s house is nice and clean before we leave.

Just to complete a stressful day, on the way out of Gunnison on our way to Montrose we were stopped by what was apparently a very bad car accident. After learning that it would be 3 or more hours before the road re-opened, we turned back and camped near Blue Mesa Reservoir. We had the place entirely to ourselves and enjoyed the leftover gumbo that Witt’s mom sent with us.

Cars waiting for the road to open on Highway 50.

Sunset from Blue Mesa Reservoir

Tonight we’re camped near a reservoir above the town of Provo, Utah. There’s a campground here, but it’s closed, so we’re camped in the parking lot. We have a great view looking out over the city!

Provo, Utah at night

In more positive news, we’ve been written up in both Real Family Travel magazine and Overland Journal. The article in Real Family Travel is one that Jennifer and I wrote about our experiences in Denali National Park, and the Overland Journal article is about our volunteer work. Unfortunately both of these publications are by subscription only, but we’re very excited to have our names out there!

We’re now on our way to California, and hope to cross into Mexico by Thanksgiving. That’s a mere two months later than we originally envisioned!