Waking up from the last night on a soft bed for several more nights, it was time to grab something to eat, stop at a grocery store to complete the next weeks meals, and hit the road to Moab. It was a cool morning in Cedar City, Utah with fresh snow up in the mountains making for a beautiful landscape. Driving up into those mountains resulted in rain changing over to snow near the summit making for a gloomy drive and yet fun to see a little different weather from desert areas below. After getting over the top and descending the clouds once again began to separate allowing sun to spread across the amazing scenery of Utah.

Continuing east through Utah, the increasing sun highlighted the incredible landscapes that appeared around every corner along with warm up the afternoon temperatures. All of these canyons are why I consider Utah to be National Park central as there are so many in close proximity to one another in this state. We stopped for a brief chance to get out and stretch our legs and take in some of the sights at Devil’s Canyon Overlook just off of Highway 70. Well worth the few minutes it takes to pull off the highway and walk to the Canyon overlook.

Returning to the Jeep and getting back on the highway we were able to soon see the red rock canyons typical of the Moab area. Excitement grew knowing that these were the types of areas we would soon be exploring with the Jeep which had been in the planning for many months and now they were there right in front of us. Arriving in Moab mid afternoon we went straight to the campground to find our spot and set up the tent getting ready to reside here for the next few days. With daylight still left it was time to go see downtown Moab and even scout out the first trail planned for the next day.

A brief scouting of Fins N Things revealed the trail was split into 2 parts, one of which could only be traveled during daylight hours. After a brief discussion about wanting to return to the campsite for food and an evening fire, we decided this first portion of the trail wouldn’t take very long and we would still have time for a nice fire before turning in to prepare for the next day on the trail. The recreation area fee was quickly paid and we were off to a pull out not far away to prepare the vehicle for an off road adventure. Those preparations include removing air from the tires and releasing the sway bar supports which allow the front tires to move freely over rocks.

Twenty minutes later we were taking in our first trail adventure of the week experiencing the fun of off roading in Moab. The difficulty level of this first trail was rated as the easiest of those we were planning on attempting according to the Jeep Badge of Honor app which seemed like a good place to start and learn how to navigate in this terrain. It was a fun portion of the trail with some steep rocks to climb along with some nice rock ledges to traverse. What made this trail so amazing was the setting it was in while climbing up and down these rocks. The landscape all around consisted of beautiful red rocks and snow capped mountains all in the evening sunlight. What a great ending to a travel filled day in this spectacular part of the United States! Next stop:  Elephant Hill in Canyonlands National Park.

Recently I returned from the first, in what I hope to be many, adventures off roading in a Jeep. For much of my life I’ve had a really close friend who has owned a Jeep shortly after he could drive. We would would take his Jeeps off roading beginning with fairly easy dirt or gravel roads with a few bumps in them and gradually increasing the trail difficulty to some rock climbing and steep sand trails with a little mudding. Of course the ability of his Jeeps has increased as well to be able to conquer more difficult places. It’s always been fun! In June of 2018 we began discussing the idea of more intense off road adventures but really didn’t know what level of difficulty we were actually up for. After kicking around some ideas of maybe just visiting some National Parks near California and driving their off road trails to what it would take to drive more challenging trails. As the year ended we came across the Jeep Badge of Honor program which highlights over 40 trails across the United States and rates these trails by level of difficulty.

Doing some more research on these trails, we began to focus on Moab, Utah and all of the trails around this town. When this area was first suggested to me I about fell over. It’s kind of like National Park central and I’m always up for exploring another National Park. The more difficult decision was how long to stay in Moab. Different trails came up and finally three were chosen. Not too difficult but enough challenges to see how these Badge of Honor trails work. As we rang in 2019, early April came up as our preferred timeline for some nice weather on average for this adventure but not too busy with people on vacation. Over the next several months we booked accommodations and additional modifications were made to the Jeep for some intense rock crawling among the cliffs and canyons surrounding Moab.

For much of March it seemed as though time was going so slow as I was really looking forward to getting to Utah and experiencing some trails in this scenic area. One day I went in to work only to be asked what time the next day I was leaving for Las Vegas. My quick response was today is going so slow and at the same time there was much to do as I was flying out later that afternoon. This was met with a little surprise and then understanding as I hurried through my list of things to do and headed out once they were taken care of. A few more items to take care of at home and then it was off to the airport for a flight to Las Vegas were I would meet my friend for this new adventure.

Thankfully Delta was playing some movies I hadn’t seen yet taking my mind off of my eagerness to get to Las Vegas a little. I did continue to look out of the window trying to determine where we were. I’ve flown this route enough that I know a number of the landmarks along the way. Unfortunately clouds covered much of the route making tracking the flight more difficult. I know, they show the planes location on the screen attached to the seat in front of me but I really didn’t want to know how far or close we were as I was already impatient enough to endure the length of the flight. At times there were breaks in the clouds allowing me to see some mountains and then Lake Mead appeared. My level of excitement jumped at this spot knowing Vegas isn’t very far away now. Then the plane began its descent. Just before the descent I was able to watch the sun dip below the clouds as sunset arrived signaling the end of the day. We began to descend into the clouds below and a few minutes later the lights of Las Vegas became visible. A few pictures and we were on the ground. Forty-five minutes later I was greeting my friend, climbing into the Jeep and heading towards Utah. A few hours of driving and we decided to find a place to stay bringing an end to the start of the Jeep Badge of Honor adventures. So much more to come!