We started out the morning to 30 degrees and the condensation on the tent having frozen over. Of course, the forecast was for lows of 40 with highs in the 70's. After getting a late start out of the campground and getting lots of warnings from the ranger trying to dissuade us from driving the toughest trail in the park we loaded up on the important stuff like chips and soda and headed out. We had agreed to the ranger's suggestion to at least take a look at Black Gap from the Glenn Springs overlook before we committed to something that would surely end in a $1000 tow bill or days of waiting for a rescue to make it out our way. Well, we did do as promised and after an hour and a half of dirt roads, gully's, washes and small hills we finally approached the turn off. About a mile from the turn off we met a Toyota Tundra and a Lexus coming from the other direction. The Lexus driver told us it was "a little rough" ahead, but that we should have no problems. 
He was right, the remainder of the road was rutted, hilly, sloping and generally just plain fun!
Pulling over to "scout" Black Gap, we took a couple of pictures and noted a peaceful looking trail so we forged ahead. We started out with a couple of 50 ft descents with a switchback and a several staggered, muddy potholes leading up to a small stream crossing at the bottom and a somewhat steep climb back up. Not too bad of a start we thought, this could get challenging. Julie was wondering out loud if we should turn around now before we pounded her stock H3 (on 33" AT's) into a pile of junk. After that the road was mostly just an old path that wound through the countryside following the terrain over the gully's and washes. We did have to get out two or three times to scout ahead though. On the first one, not having lockers wouldn't let me cross over this gulley with two tires off the ground at the same time so I had to get up close and personal with the thorny brush on the inside of the curve and my outside tires up on the top of the berm.
The next one was finding this ledge in front of us, followed up by a rock garden cemented into place and finding this red Jeep coming the other way.
The Jeep had just come around the side of a mountain with a near vertical edge and the dirt road sharply angling up into a "V". Julie took this picture from the passenger seat as we were getting past but still straddling the "V" with one set of tires on the vertical side of the mountain. I swear it was a pucker moment, even if it doesn't look it. I couldn't persuade her to get out and take a better picture of it.
The rest of the trip was non-eventful. We actually saw more traffic on the dirt roads than we did on the pavement all day. Several stock Wranglers and one on 37 or 38's and outfitted for the trail plus a couple of pick ups. Julie chided me for taking so many pictures, but in retrospect it doesn't seem like very many. We drove over 50 miles off the pavement on graded and unmaintained roads for about 4 1/2 hours. On Black Gap we didn't get over 10 mph, but on the other roads we made it up to 20-25 regularly. Some of the roads had cactus taller than the H3 lining both sides of the trail with about a foot on either side for mile after mile and we got to take the roads into the back country to see the mountains and (giant) canyons up close.
He was right, the remainder of the road was rutted, hilly, sloping and generally just plain fun! Pulling over to "scout" Black Gap, we took a couple of pictures and noted a peaceful looking trail so we forged ahead. We started out with a couple of 50 ft descents with a switchback and a several staggered, muddy potholes leading up to a small stream crossing at the bottom and a somewhat steep climb back up. Not too bad of a start we thought, this could get challenging. Julie was wondering out loud if we should turn around now before we pounded her stock H3 (on 33" AT's) into a pile of junk. After that the road was mostly just an old path that wound through the countryside following the terrain over the gully's and washes. We did have to get out two or three times to scout ahead though. On the first one, not having lockers wouldn't let me cross over this gulley with two tires off the ground at the same time so I had to get up close and personal with the thorny brush on the inside of the curve and my outside tires up on the top of the berm.
The next one was finding this ledge in front of us, followed up by a rock garden cemented into place and finding this red Jeep coming the other way.
The Jeep had just come around the side of a mountain with a near vertical edge and the dirt road sharply angling up into a "V". Julie took this picture from the passenger seat as we were getting past but still straddling the "V" with one set of tires on the vertical side of the mountain. I swear it was a pucker moment, even if it doesn't look it. I couldn't persuade her to get out and take a better picture of it.
The rest of the trip was non-eventful. We actually saw more traffic on the dirt roads than we did on the pavement all day. Several stock Wranglers and one on 37 or 38's and outfitted for the trail plus a couple of pick ups. Julie chided me for taking so many pictures, but in retrospect it doesn't seem like very many. We drove over 50 miles off the pavement on graded and unmaintained roads for about 4 1/2 hours. On Black Gap we didn't get over 10 mph, but on the other roads we made it up to 20-25 regularly. Some of the roads had cactus taller than the H3 lining both sides of the trail with about a foot on either side for mile after mile and we got to take the roads into the back country to see the mountains and (giant) canyons up close.
