behind the rocks

Sunday's hike was on the Behind the Rocks 4x4 road.  There a couple of entrances to the maze of trails in the Behind the Rocks WSA; we ended up at the first trailhead off of 191, just south of Ken's Lake.  The ambient temperature was warmer than it had been on Saturday but there were more thin clouds, so the sun wasn't very strong, and it was rather windy.

Another one of those great signs

Not super-busy at the trailhead (that's the truck there all by itself)

After passing the sign and maps, the road got rocky right away, going up Rubble Hill - very up, in some places.   In general, the road/trail is sandy but it crosses many small canyons and washes and each of those is rocky and ledge-y.  After Rubble Hill and the barbed wire fence we had to refasten behind ourselves (because of theoretical range cattle), we went down a long, steep, red sand hill, with stunning sandstone domes and fins to our right (north-ish).  It did not escape our notice that we were going to have to climb that long, steep, sandy hill on our way out.

Atop Rubble Hill

Fins and things

Again, since we were on foot and with a dog who doesn't know how to pace himself, we only got in a little ways.  The hiking was easy, however, and went quickly as we cruised the sandy double-track.  We did get past one of the gnarlier obstacles on the trail: High Dive, into a small canyon, and its accompanying Upchuck Hill, to climb out on the other side.  To see this obstacle in person - I couldn't imagine a jeep coming down it.  But later we searched out some videos and yes, jeeps do.  Crazy.

Milton and me at the bottom of High Dive

After more than four miles, we paused for snacks - Milton gets Milkbones during hikes because he burns so many calories - and then went back out the way we came.  We didn't see a soul until we had just gotten to the top of that long, steep, red sand hill and then we saw two jeeps and then, just a few minutes later, two hikers with two dogs.  Pretty good job of staying away from people.

Long, steep, red sand hill

After the hike, we went back to Ken's Lake for our beers.  We didn't stay as long this time because it was quite a bit chillier with the increased wind.  We did have some minor excitement on the way back to Salt Lake City.  At one point we heard a noise from the front of the truck.  We stopped, got out and looked but saw nothing; we checked another couple of times during the drive - just in case - but still saw nothing wrong.  About 1.5 miles from our house, we heard another, bigger noise and H could feel something was now wrong through the steering wheel.  By the time we pulled into our driveway, our wheel looked like this (below) ... and also was on fire a little bit.  So we doused the flames, unloaded our gear, walked Milton and then toasted the safe and sound end to another nice desert weekend.

Broken tie rod?  Issues with the wheel bearings?

Hike stats: 8.49 miles; moving 2:58 / 2.9 m.p.h; overall 3:27 / 2.5 m.p.h; 1,650' elevation