I try to be prepared for all eventualities but generally limit what trail repairs I'm capable of to smaller or more common breakdowns; I carry tools and basic emergency gear so in many cases I can limp back to pavement. For major breakdowns I'd "concede defeat" and just call in professional extraction or repair. I always carry a Garmin InReach Satellite messenger when in the backcountry, so I'd have family or friends send a tow truck out to my GPS coordinates.There's the temptation to have a friend come out and rescue me, but that would usually involve them driving half a day just to get out there plus whatever it takes to do the repair, not to mention procuring parts and specialty tools. And I don't want to put that burden on them, I'll just swallow the large extraction costs and fix things when I get home (or goto a good mechanic). As for being "prepared for anything", you have to balance how much burden that preparedness adds to your vacation. Obviously personal safety is always taken care of 100%, but on-trail truck rebuilds can get to the point of hauling too much "Just in case" gear to be worth it for me. And Murphy's Law is probably going to get you caught out without what you need anyway; so I just bring things that give me the most bang for the buck (full tool kit, important fluids, radiator/oil/gas/tank repair kits, etc). If I were trekking across the Sahara I'd probably carry a lot more but few places in the continental US are truly remote, especially with the satellite communications giving you contact anyplace you can see the sky. In a worse case scenario or major breakdown I just make sure I can survive at least 24-48 hours and wait for extraction.

@@exploresouthwest Thanks for taking the time to give such a detailed response. I have always wondered what would happen in that sort of situation. I watched your video on Posey's Trail and that's when it really hit me that if you had a major breakdown, it would be a major undertaking to get a vehicle out of that sort of situation. I can only imagine what the recovery trucks for those roads are like, and I'm sure you're looking at a minimum charge of $1,000.

@@AllenManor Most tow companies will not go off pavement.

@@exploresouthwest DITTO!!!!

@@LaughingblueSu In the southwest deserts there are actually multiple options for tow companies out here. I'm not the only person doing this, and most people are less prepared, and less knowledgeable about what they're doing. So 4WD tow companies on the colorado plateau make a pretty penny and stay busy.

The 'wasteland' is between some legislators ears.

These are the places that are the RIGHT/LEFT turn at the next junction.

Simple: MONEY

In a rented two wheel drive car I've done here, Shafer Canyon, and some others. It's about nerve and skill.

My best backpacking trip ever was a leisurely five day trip following Coyote Gulch from Red Well Trailhead to the Escalante River. It featured Jacob Hamblin Arch, Stevens Arch, Coyote Natural Bridge and the biggest Collared Lizard I ever saw, with a body at least a foot long and a tail about as long as the body, within sight of Stevens Arch.

Theo Outdoors They are already protected. They've been a part of Utah under federal jurisdiction now for over a hundred years.

@@utahwanderlust700 Agreed. Sometimes when the federal government moves to protect an area, it greatly increases the number of people coming to enjoy it. This causes its own set of problems. The National Park Service is finding that we are loving our parks to death. Before scenic areas were national parks or national monuments, they were protected by the National Forest Service or the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). We need to be good stewards of the land regardless of what the status is.

I know I love it. When Mike Noel said that I wanted to wring his scrawny neck. And his sentiment is so common among many people that want to mine and drill the lands. I saw one woman who thought it was a crime that people would want to just enjoy the beauty of the area. They obviously must only be doing it to attack her and her ranching lifestyle. They literally don't get that if something that isn't a developed golf course or city park, then it's wasted land that nobody wants. And anybody who tries to protect it is some conspiracy to attack their livelihood drilling it.

I want to try to find a good permanent way of adding the trip links to all the videos. Hopefully better than just a Google drive link. But I will go back through and add the trips for all the older videos when I do.

@@exploresouthwest Thanks!

Remélem jó a városi gumi erre a feladatra!!!

Én is :)

Hit the Burr Trail out of Boulder City,it will blow your mind.Road is almost always decent enough for most vehicles like yours,just try not to go when really wet or snow!

3 days 2 nights. Mostly because I like to stop and explore the area around me. You could burn through it all in one day, but you'd spend most of the time driving and just seeing things out the window.

I would definitely say easier than the San Juans; less rocky, and less exposed shelf roads. I actually went up in the San Juans a few times about 2 decades ago, over Cinnamon+Engineer Pass, Yankee Boy, even down Black Bear Pass. This trail is easier than all of those. There are still Ranchers in the area so imagine "good old boys" driving their pickups and occasional horse trailers around. Any recreational offroad vehicle will do fine.

@@exploresouthwest Thank You

The best maps by far are the National Geographic Trails Illustrated maps. The monument is so big it's split between "Canyons of the Escalante" and "Grand Staircase, Paunsaugunt Plateau" amzn.to/3ofEx6l

That's what I miss. Too many times I feel I'm rushing through the area on a drive and not settling down to hit those locations off the main path. I think I need to plan something that actually involves getting more than 1 mile away from the parking lot.

I'm amazed by what's available. It's a big area to explore.

Act fast as things may be about to change.

I don't even know where to begin and planning this. But I want to go do it

Oh yeah you could definitely do this. As long as the roads are dry 90% of it was probably passable to a 2WD car with good clearance but with the Grand Cherokee you just need to go slow on the extra bumpy bits a car couldn't do and you'll have no problem. Besides the basic camp gear I'd bring an extra 5-10 gallons of gas . You probably won't need it if you gas up in nearby towns you pass but you'll have less stress knowing it's there. Also bring a 5 gallon container of water. Again you probably don't need that much but in the event the Jeep breaks down you'll be fine waiting for somebody to help you even if it takes days. I'd air down your tires to 15-20psi, specially if the sand is worse than on my trip. Then you can slow drive to a gas station to air up when you're back on pavement or bring something to pump your tires up yourself. Make sure the Jeep is running good and won't break down on you, basic maintenance and all that stuff you probably already do. Lastly is patience. Going slow is safer and you won't beat up the Jeep's suspension too much. Plus when it's a comfortable cruise instead of a race you can enjoy the scenery much more.

For Cottonwood Canyon Road? Yeah, it's a graded dirt road so they scrape it down flat (well flat for dirt roads). The problems is the dirt there is like a fine clay, so when it's dry it's very solid and hard, but when wet it becomes terrible slop that will stop anything. Then when it dries it's hard again so if some a-hole tore it up while it was wet the wheel ruts will solidify and make it bumpy. You can call the BLM stations in the area to get updated conditions. It's a very popular trail so they keep up on maintaining it.

I did at one time but I can't find it now. It may have gotten deleted accidentally some time along the way.

I think you could definitely do it. There might be some bumpy places, especially as you get near the end of Alstrom Point that shakes it around like an earthquake, but if you go slow on any of the twisty or shaky bits it's mostly your run of the mill dirt road.

I'm curious what would happen if people tried to dig them out or dug into the coal. Seems like adding airflow to the situation would be catastrophic. Utah is full of old (and present modern) mines that had tons of fatalities when coal dust caught fire from a single spark. Seems like digging at a coal seam from one end when a known coal fire is burning on the other would be a bad idea. Eventually there will be a little crack where the two connect.

Sometimes nature does the worst damage. They tried to put the fires and no luck. Are they drilling up there now? Around 76 they stopped all drilling. We lived up there for 2 years I feel they should of mined the coal and restored the land and let it replenish itself. I know I’ll get a lot of flak on that.

It's just Google Earth Pro on desktop, totally free. You can save a little movie panning around the map. Then in the tools section is an option for it to make a saved movie into a video.

@@exploresouthwest Thank you.

Exactly, and it's a trap I still find myself falling into sometimes. I think you can beauty in any location, I wish I could just take those people who think it's a wasteland on a trip to show them what they're overlooking. Likewise there are some places I never travel to because it's "ugly" or "boring" that I need somebody to point out to me what I'm missing.

Hoping Biden will reverse

NM = National Monument

Exactly....national park designation would not be out of line! This land needs to be protected for generations yet unborn! " Keep Hiking!"

Geezer George Utah has 5 National Parks already! The only states with more than that are California and Alaska, both of which are quite bigger than Utah.

Base Camp Chris Yes, it would be out of line. Quit buying into SUWA propaganda and fear mongering. These lands are already protected. They are already patrolled by armed federal employees. Blm does better working with locals and counties than it does with Washington National Park employees.