I just returned from a pretty epic trip to the Arizona Strip, the area between the Utah border and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. It is a very lightly populated area, a vast wilderness spotted with ranches and small settlements.
My hunting party went there to hunt Merriam's Turkey (and I went to scout Elk), and to see it for the first time, I took the Disco.. The whole trip was just under 2,000 miles from my home in far Southern Arizona, through 1500' 100°F desert to cool 8000 foot eleveations in the Ponderosa Pines, and vast sections of sage prairie, plateaus, and volcanic peaks, down to the Grand Canyon to the south.

3 weeks, about 600-700 miles of the trip was on either dirt roads, jeep trails, or just rocks. Driving 20 miles down a Jeep trail that deaed ends at a 1500 foot dropoff into the Grand Canyon was something to behold. No guard rails, no visitor center, just a rocky track to the edge with no people for many, many miles upon miles.Our typical distance from St George, UT to any of our 3 campsites was 50-70 miles on dirt plus offroad exploring.



My report on the Rover? After checking all fliuds each morning,inspecting all I could see, and trying my best not to break anything despite the terrain and abuse, was ZERO breakdowns, issues, or anything besides a loosened driving light and a whole lot of filth and scratches.

I am very happy and just tickled the truck performed like it did. Every other vehicle in our group (and trailers) experienced issues - flats, axle bearings, suspension failures, but the Disco ran strong from trail crawling to miles of washboard and rocks to 80MPH freeway up and back..

I nearly got stuck badly in 6-8" of greasy mud near a water hole, but high RPM mud slinging got me out one inch at a time. Nothing but fun on some of the most awesome trails I have ever been on.

It is going to take me a week to clean ot the dust, mud and filth. But all 100% worth it!

Here are a couple select pictures.

Jeff

 

Wow that looks and sounds like a trip you won’t forget anytime soon.
What did you guys eat and survive on for 3 weeks

 

Lots of canned food (Spam, chili, vegetables, etc), potatoes, bacon, ham,tea, coffee, all stuff that keeps well. I made one solo 140 mile round trip run into St George from Mt Delinbaugh to resupply halfway through for the group, mostly lots of beer, ice, and maybe some whiskey and Tequila for my buddies!

Pretty amazing country, I highly recommend any of you who can go to check it out, the scenery is nothing short of awe inspiring!

Jeff

 

Very cool. I'm really getting the itch to get out there and experience life off the beaten track for a bit. Great time to do it, too. Thanks for sharing.

 

Very cool, and am jealous.

 

Way cool. Did you happen to record your route? Sounds like a blast.

 

wow! fantastic, thx for posting pics

 

Now that looks like it was a lot of fun.

 

Amazing trip. And good positive report on the ol Disco!!

 

I-10 north to Flagstaff via Tucson and Phoenix, then US89/89A to St George. From there it is all dirt on BLM managed roads and trails. We camped at Mt Trumbull,Black Rock Mountain, and Mt Dellinbaugh.