routlaw

Forgot to include a link, for anyone who would like to see more photographs from the areas below is a link to a hidden page on my website. Please feel free to visit. Figured I better not load up too many photos here. Thanks https://www.roboutlawphotography.com/new-adventures-in-utah#1

Returned from a trip to the Utah deserts and canyons a couple of weeks meeting up with an old hiking buddy. Spent most of the time around the San Rafael Reef or Swell as it is so often referred to. Not being a geologist not sure what the real difference is. Had some great hikes and adventures and experienced some fairly dramatic thunderstorms while down there. Sept is heading toward the end of the areas monsoon season and we did get to experience some of its beauty as well as drama. A good many of the Capitol Reef NP roads had been closed the day before we arrived there due to flash floods and then again more were closed the morning we left with park service declaring life threatening flash floods in some areas and washes. In my neck of the woods rain just means you might get a bit wet and uncomfortable but down there rain can kill you so we headed the warnings. Posting a few photos below, hope you can enjoy. Boondocked just outside the Reef at San Rafael looking west with evening storms Another view looking north with the Reef in the distance Yet another evenings storm moving over the San Rafael Reef, this one brought a deluge of rain. Another evening, another storm brings more rain. My camp spot provided a nice view of Goblin Valley State Park as well as the Blue Mountains in the distance. In the past when in this area we had always camped just inside the reef a mile or so in but I thoroughly enjoyed the sunsets and sunrises as well as the lighting drama from storms on this trip. Temple Mount seen from just outside the reef

Tire pressure, tire temps and TPM systems, a few more observations. This might not be the right place to post this so moderators please feel free to move it to another spot if it is inconsistent with the OP's @johnwen post on blowouts. Just returned a couple of weeks ago from a trip to the southwest mostly around San Rafael Reef and Capitol Reef National Park. Weather was all over the place during the tip down, while there and then on the return and thus it became an excellent opportunity to explore the results via the monitor on my new TST TPMS device. As stated above I only have 4 sensors and used them for my TV rather than the Oliver. Earlier in the year I replaced tires on both the TV (F150 Super Crew Cab) as well as the Oliver using Vredestein Pinza AT LT's. Honestly I have mixed emotions regarding putting them on my half ton truck, not because I don't like them but simply because once you start going down this path by default you are re-engineering the suspension system. As all of you know installing LT tires on a vehicle designed for PT tires, inflation rates can change dramatically. In this case tirepressure.com recommended going from the factory setting of 35 PSI all around to 50 PSI all around. Les Schwab stated emphatically to keep them at 35 PSI as the door jamb implies. While this conundrum has not been dealt with to my satisfaction, I decided to run 40 up front and 45 PSI in the rear for the recent trip. FWIW 50 PSI with 10 ply tires installed on a half ton truck with suspension set up for lighter weight 4 ply passenger tires is a brutal ride unless you are on the smoothest of roads. So how did things go? At no time did my tires overheat and pressure only increased by 5-7 PSI depending on a number of factors such as shade, sun exposure, type of driving and so on. Consistently tires facing the sunny side ran warmer and with about 2+ PSI more inflation after warm up, highway speeds tended to level things out while stop and go traffic oddly enough ran tire temps higher. Typically tire temps tended to hover between 8-14 degrees above the ambient outside temperature. At one point driving through stalled SLC traffic tires facing the sun rose to 114 degrees but it was also around 100 degrees outside and no telling what the pavement temps were. So with 40/45 PSI set front and rear respectively at mild temps pressure increased to 45/52 front and rear traveling down the road normally at 65 MPH with a few descents hitting 70 mph. How does one interpret all of this? It tends to fly in the face that one needs to inflate LT tires considerably higher than PT tires for the same vehicle. Clearly the load capacity of each LT tire is not being encountered with my F150, same for the Oliver which incidentally were all inflated to 45 PSI and which were only lightly warm to the touch each time they were checked. There are those who firmly believe in the chalk tire test for proper inflation of LT tires and while I have experimented with this it is not exactly scientific to my way of thinking. Regardless hope this info will be of some help to new comers and veterans alike while out on the road and towing their Olivers. Happy Trails

@johnwen Just purchased one of those myself earlier in the year. Thus far I have only four sensors and have been using those on my TV for now figuring it much better to monitor the tire pressure and temps with the tow vehicle. For this alone it has been quite the education looking at the results depending on driving conditions and ambient temperatures.

Couple more thoughts on this discussion. Several years ago while traveling to a photo shoot in SW Montana I had a blow out on my right front tire but was able to pull over safely and change the tire on the spot. Upon arriving at the next town stopped off at the local tire store and as it turns out on the trip over I had taken on a sharp rock that created a slow leak in the tire which as you all might guess built up some serious heat enough to cause the blow out. I suspect this is what might have happened to the OP in this thread. Fast forward to a couple of summers ago while camping up in the Seeley-Swan Lake area I noticed one morning what appeared to be a deflated right rear tire. Immediately went into Seeley Lake township for repairs at the local tire store. Turns out we were the third customer to come in with slow leaks that morning. Ours was the result of a nail but the mechanic had a jar full of culprits that had caused past customers the same issues. Looking at some of the culprits for flat tires was educational for sure with many of them being quite large such as bolts some bent others straight, various hardware pieces and so forth and so on. Items one would not normally think to be able to puncture a tire but there they were. Anyway glad the OP was able to correct this without undue harm to life and possessions. Blow outs can be scary stuff.

Have wondered and considered the same myself just too busy with other things to dive in. However it might be worth checking with Shock Surplus a mail order company that specializes in after market high performance shocks. There are most likely other mail order companies doing this but these guys seem to be informed.

@MAX Burner Very nice.

I would be lying if I didn’t say I am so jealous, a 30x30 garage! Good luck

Thanks, glad you enjoyed them. It truly is beautiful area, and that road keeps it from ever becoming over crowded or loved to death. Love the quote. Up in our neck of the woods I laugh and call it all both days of summer.

@Paul and Santina Most of the grades you will encounter will be 6% max and not that long, so not too challenging. Now if you really want a challenge head up to Jackson and over Teton Pass, it's 10% and the difference is not subtle.

Both routes should not be an issue, have done many times with an F150 with 3.5 Eco-Boost. Yes there are some hills along the way but nothing insurmountable. As for overdoing it, depends on how much time you have. If you are doing Canyonlands I would highly recommend the Needles District south of Moab. You will not be disappointed. Campground fills up each day and they now are RSVP's but there are quite a few BLM campgrounds on the road leading into the Needles. Do not even think out loud about the Maze District unless you hire a guide to take you in there. However if you have the time, Horseshoe Canyon a very remote part of Canyonlands and also adjacent to the Maze is well worth while. Beautiful area and pictographs that will blow you away.

I have spent a lot of time in this area though I do not live there (live in Montana). Understand this area has had a lot of rain these past few days from Hurricane Hilary that hit CA so flash floods are still a high warning especially in the slot canyons. Arches NP now requires advanced RSVP's just to get in the door, timed entries but the last time I checked a few weeks ago visitation was down about 20% for the year, evidently people didn't want to put up with this system and decided to go elsewhere. It will be VERY CROWDED still. Same for Zion NP too. Thats the bad news the good news is there are places within BLM land that is equally good just not the crowds. I personally prefer to boondock or stay in more remote campgrounds. Also consider the San Rafael Swell & Reef as well as some of the state parks such as Goblin Valley but that campground books up way ahead of time getting an RSVP this late might be iffy. Cell service in all these areas is sketchy at best or non existent. Grandstaircase-Escalante National Monument is huge but also well worth the effort although you will have to work for the rewards a bit more than some of the other national parks where everything is laid out on a silver platter for you. Consider stopping in at some of the outdoor recreation stores and pick up maps. The National Geographic Illustrated Trail maps are excellent and waterproof too. Moab does have an excellent visitor center in the heart of town where they sell maps, books etc. I could go on for hours on places to go without the crowds but much depends on what you are looking to do and where you like to stay. Hope this helps but ask away if you have more questions.

Nice work! This begs the question, where and how do you folks store you dirty clothes for laundry. We have used the a large net basket affair stored on the floor, however like many I've never been completely satisfied with the storage shelfs and situation as they are but also don't want to give up that space for the laundry.

It would appear the first sentence of the note says it all, "sales and service". As for service well I've done everything that needed to be serviced so far. Not sure how any of this will be of much help to me. In the meantime we will just have to wait and see how this pans out apparently.

Yes Green River Lakes. Link to what? Be glad to just not certain what you are referring to in this case for a link. FYI the area is located north of Pinedale, WY and while not that far via miles it is a slow go due to two hours of dirt road driving towing. Beartooth Publishing here in Bozeman produces an excellent weather proof GPS map of the "Winds" well worth the money. I'm sure you could purchase via them directly or probably Amazon. Gaia and Alltrails are also very good resources.