late 2019 road conditions in S Utah

We probably could have made it to The Needles without to much trouble with the amount of snow we had when I woke up, but I was waffling to much last night and ended up not getting everything packed.

It looks like the snow is picking up quite a bit now.

Oh well something to look forward to later. Maybe an early March trip when schedules and stars next align.
 
swmalone said:
We probably could have made it to The Needles without to much trouble with the amount of snow we had when I woke up, but I was waffling to much last night and ended up not getting everything packed.

It looks like the snow is picking up quite a bit now.

Oh well something to look forward to later. Maybe an early March trip when schedules and stars next align.
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It's a cliché, but better safe than sorry. I had a scary drive down to Cedar Mesa a year or two ago in spring due to snow, and I probably would have stayed home had I known how rough it would be. The trip ended up being great, but the snowy, icy roads and lack of plowing made the drive down quite harrowing.
 
I went down to Bears Ears last Friday. At that time, weather was supposed to be OK until late Tuesday. System moved in much earlier than expected. Inch or two of snow on the Mesa top. Car said temp was 24 degrees at 11:30 AM Monday on top of the mesa. Don't think much melted Monday up high. Didn't try any dirt roads off Cedar Mesa, just headed NW on 95 to Hanksville and eventually Capitol Reef. All roads were fine starting a bit West of Cedar Mesa. It was supposed to start snowing noonish today at Green River according to the weather. I left to return to Denver this morning and the roads along 70 the whole way were perfect until I got to Denver. Denver's a mess.
 
I think it is a good thing we didn’t go. We have over 15 inches right now.
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I was in Kanab yesterday (animal sanctuary, not hiking). It was dumping snow around Apple Valley (between Hurricane and Colorado City), but only intermittent rain all day in Kanab. On the drive home there was ~2" of snow remaining on the Hurricane Rim trails and surrounding mesas.
 
Happy to be back in Utah! :)
Tough ride from Denver over the mountains today, we now have a cracked windshield AND it’s completely pitted with thousands of tiny pits after we got caught in a very rough sandblasting ”microburst” on I-70 around noon today. Not sure yet what happened to the paint / clear coat of the Jeep.

Gaia’s new Snow Depth map feature shows a lot of snow everywhere. We noticed giant pools of water driving into Moab in the dark. Does anyone know the recent road conditions (after all the rain/snow) of :

- Butler Wash rd, East of Comb Ridge, parallel with the ridge? Dried out or muddy? (Next Rain arriving Wednesday).

- House Rock Valley rd, between Kanab and Page

- San Rafael Swell? Like to Farnsworth?

I will call BLM Kanab on Monday about HRVR, but Lmk please if you have a recent update. I can only find info from Nov14.

Zoomed out Gaia Snow depth map
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Nick said:
One of the best channels on YouTube right here. Epic camper recovery outside of Zion on Thanksgiving Day.

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seriously?
Going on that road in a snowstorm is just plain dumb. The road is always a muddy mess even after a little bit of rain
When I went on KT road again they still had a rescue mission going on. Some tourists in regular passenger cars got stuck in the deep snow.
 
Yvonne said:
seriously?
Going on that road in a snowstorm is just plain dumb. The road is always a muddy mess even after a little bit of rain
When I went on KT road again they still had a rescue mission going on. Some tourists in regular passenger cars got stuck in the deep snow.
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I'm sure they went there before the snow and just didn't realize what they were in for. But taking that rig to that spot even in dry conditions is stupid.
 
Nick said:
I'm sure they went there before the snow and just didn't realize what they were in for. But taking that rig to that spot even in dry conditions is stupid.
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totally agree. And the snow and winter storm warnings were out for about a week, so definitely no surprise at all.
The entire area up there is no fun this time of the year. When I left tonight, KT Road was completely covered in black ice for about 8 miles from Malony Hill all the way down to where the Under Canvas place is near Smith's Mesa turnoff.
 
Nick said:
One of the best channels on YouTube right here. Epic camper recovery outside of Zion on Thanksgiving Day.

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What?! I've been watching Matt for the past couple of months and thought I was a weirdo for thinking the channel was so awesome. That move with the truck in reverse with the trailer brakes on was amazing.
 
Udink said:
What?! I've been watching Matt for the past couple of months and thought I was a weirdo for thinking the channel was so awesome. That move with the truck in reverse with the trailer brakes on was amazing.
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Right!? I went rafting with @George_Washington_Hayduke back in October and we were both pretty surprised to learn that we'd both been binging that channel. If I'm going to get stuck anywhere in the desert, I hope it's in range of Hurricane. :lol:
 
Nick said:
Right!? I went rafting with @George_Washington_Hayduke back in October and we were both pretty surprised to learn that we'd both been binging that channel. If I'm going to get stuck anywhere in the desert, I hope it's in range of Hurricane. :lol:
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We love his videos, we started binge watching that before we left home. :)
 
Nick said:
Nothing is going to be dry for a while. I'd head down to the Mojave or Sonoran if I were you.
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We were planning on heading that way eventually, but it might happen much earlier now....
 
Udink said:
What?! I've been watching Matt for the past couple of months and thought I was a weirdo for thinking the channel was so awesome. That move with the truck in reverse with the trailer brakes on was amazing.
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He does have 72k followers so you're not alone.
 
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