Adventure Report - Dinosaur Ntnl Mnmt Area - Sept 18-21 2026 - Cool Cruiser Truck Club Camping Collab Continued

allen.wrench

Rising Sun Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2018
Messages
871
Location
Syracuse, UT
The short version: It was AMAZING! Great success.

The more detailed long version:

Final Attendance Roster:
The weather was a lil rainy, windy, and interesting. Even a tornado touched down relatively close, and some really nice rainbows! News article: https://www.ksl.com/article/5162794...t-weeks-storms-produced-a-second-utah-tornado

But the group and everyone individually made this adventures super awesome! Thank you folks!

A general synopsis of our days & nights:

The first night we were mostly all camped on Stuntz Ridge in "Cow Pie Basin". The first morning, Ben (Dashoul (WC)) and sons joined us, then we made our way down Blue Mountain Road to a hard to spot petroglyph, then lunch by the river petroglyphs next to the Chew ranch. We checked out the Dino Quarry. Old bones are cool! And the dinosaur fossils were neat too :) But then everyone twisted my arm, and we wound our way toward camp #2 on the South Side of the Green River between the two cliffs. We had a small warm up with landscaping exercise going through a down & up sandy wet gully. Plus a little bit of snatch strapping. Thank you Scott and Scott for taking charge & pulling everyone through that. Then we got to Camp #2, and it was great. Ben (@dashsoul ), Mason, and Bryson (hope I spelled that right) found a SWEET old rock, iykyk ;) Plus Rob, Matt, and others had some very tasty snacks to share. OMG Montana caramel is delish! And when you have a chance put some in your fridge, makes home sweet home so literal. (Gotta find that caramel on my next costco run.)

The next day we had a quick driver meeting to choose on the day's plan. The crazy weather had made a significant portion of our first planned route (Echo Park and Yampa Bench especially) "closed" by the authorities and we wanted to be respectful of that. We decided to explore a section of trail Marc (@marcus clarkus) figured out to get us out of camp by winding around & up the western cliff. Marc lead us up and we had a great time with a few shovels, rocks, gloves, and recovery boards. Rob (@crunchy.taco.supreme ) helped organize the spotting over our landscaping project. Scott (@Johnny Utah) helped make sure everyone was safe. At first I thought we could have lunch there above our nice obstacle project, but it sounded like everyone was up for a little more and interested in more shade than the junipers/pinoys could give us. So we continued driving a few more miles towards the northwest where there's a small river beach, a few mud puddles, and a couple cottonwoods. We also found a grand canyon looking cutout made by the rain. We did not landscape this one, but we did have some fun measuring how deep the rain had cut. Water is an awesome force. Matt & Rob played had a quick winching exercise while myself and others practiced deep breathing & smiling. We explored a nice section of slick rock. Again Matt & Rob had some fun, showed folks the party line. Remind me to have them gun for me again! Then we climbed up Blue Mountain Road to check if Echo Park and Yampa Bench were indeed still closed. Unfortunately they were, so we settled on camping our 3rd night on Stuntz Ridge again. It was pretty good night! :) Not PERFECT, but pretty good. Thank you Mark (@MarkEva) for keeping me grounded, reminding me to smell the roses, and keep in mind the good small things. We had a nice tame propane fueled campfire respectful of Stage 1 restrictions. It was great!

The 3rd day, Monday Sept 21, was a little slower and subdued as everyone started packing. Always turns out that way. We had a few early goodbyes. We went through a few more car washes, made several cow friends, and my truck hit 123,456 miles (it tickled my tism). Finally we drove around to Harper's Corner Overlook, aired up, and Echo Park Overlook where we said our official farewells till next time!

A few pictures I took follow, but in no particular order. I also need a way to collect the mud off my truck to use in my garden. A snow pusher only get's like 35%. Folks please feel free to post pictures, comments, feedback here and/or the other thread.

Looking to the future, I checked out a few areas south of Stuntz Ridge along Miner's Draw Road that I expect will make wonderful additions to the plan for next year. If our next time also has interesting weather, then having Camp #1 along Miner's Draw Road will likely help everyone get to camp on their own more straight forward though arguably less of a make your own adventure. The screenshot below from Gaia shows the waypoints I noted to remind myself.

For convenient reference:
2026 Wasatch Cruisers activity planning thread link: https://forum.wasatchcruisers.org/t...ollab-continued-please-read-first-post.13768/

2025 Rising Sun adventure report thread link: https://risingsun4x4club.org/xf/thr...er-truck-club-camping-collab-continued.38167/
2025 Wasatch Cruisers adventure report thread link: https://forum.wasatchcruisers.org/t...er-truck-club-camping-collab-continued.13627/

2026 Rising Sun planning thread: https://risingsun4x4club.org/xf/thr...ollab-continued-please-read-first-post.39110/
2026 Wasatch Cruisers planning thread: https://forum.wasatchcruisers.org/t...ollab-continued-please-read-first-post.13768/

I appreciate y'allz!
Allen

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90WT

Rock Stacker
Joined
Mar 2, 2022
Messages
41
Epic adventure for sure. If you're on the fence about getting out to this area, just go and expore. it's amazing. I'm ready to go back.

For critters, I saw a horned lizard, scorpion, a few thousand sand hill cranes in a field. There's lots of dispersed camping around Vernal and the scenery changes drastically in just a short radius depending on which way you head out of town.

I had a side quest to find Gilsonite earlier in the week. You can find it down around Bonanza, UT, about 35 miles from Vernal.

View from Cowpie Basin:
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Wash outs had fresh debris and treasure hiding within.
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Cruisin'.
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DaveInDenver

Rising Sun Ham Guru
Joined
Jun 8, 2006
Messages
14,344
Location
Grand Junction
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MileHigh80Guy

Rising Sun Member
Joined
Nov 19, 2024
Messages
139
Location
Arvada
Here's some pics of the Gilsonite mines. The mining strips run for miles in some cases. There's a few places you can see them. Here's where I thought was the best view (if you walk up the hill a few hundred yards). Coordinates. It's a fun stop if you're in the area and are a rock hound.

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So cool, I am really bummed I couldn't get my shit together this year, but I will be headed up there soon after these pictures. Those Gilsonite mine cuts are a bucket list too!

Awesome finds and information! Thank you!
 

allen.wrench

Rising Sun Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2018
Messages
871
Location
Syracuse, UT
I apologize folks for my minor delay in the final polish of this report. The last couple weeks I wanted to prioritize my new job's tasks and some personal tasks that all help make stuff like ffroadin & camping possible for me.

The top report post is now polished good enough with links crossing over to the other threads for convenience, and with a few pictures I took that mean a lot to me. I also updated the planning thread to have links in there to the report thread here.

I appreciate your patience and for all the more pictures everyone has shared with everyone else :D

Allen
 
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