The Great Burger Pilgrimage

[S298WP]

So after all my Spring semesters at school, my girlfriend an I try to make some sort of a mountain trip. Mostly because by this point in the year, I'm completely losing my mind.
Jenelle is a huge fan of In-N-Out burgers, but we can't get them in Colorado yet. So I decided to base this venture around the closest location, in Orem, Utah.
After months of planning, scouting via Google Earth, talking to locals, late nights of internet searching, and ridiculous amounts of Montero prep and maintenance, I had a battle plan. So here we go. The Great Burger Pilgrimage.....

We left at 6AM on Friday, May 18th headed west on I70. It was gonna be a 7+ hour drive, so we needed to hit it early.



We scooted across the empty Utah landscape with no issues, and finally made it to her holy land.
2 DoubleDoubles there, and 2 for the road. We ate and stretched, and then continued to our first campsite for the long road home.



The first night we would set up camp along Diamond Fork Rd just east of Spanish Fork Utah. We found a pretty great spot, and set up for the night.





And that first night....I popped the question. Which may have been a silly move on day one of a 6 day venture. But it all worked out!



We got up early Saturday morning, and made breakfast before our hike at Fifth Water Hot Springs just up the road.



Fifth Water/Three Forks has secluded hot springs you can hike up to, and the hike along the way is nothing short of beautiful.







Up top are numerous pools to choose from, with some decently warm water. We stayed for a bit, and then decided to avoid all the people and head back down.



Along the way down, we found a good sized pool, and ended up staying there for a good hour or more.





Made it back down and had lunch by the side of the road. Since we were already all packed up, we decided to head to the next spot. We would stay mostly on FS roads, and make our way to Currant Creek Reservoir to the northeast.
When we arrived, we found a sign at the campground that the nightly fee was $23, and cash only. Not having that much on us, we decided to investigate an overlook that we had passed on the way.
No signs telling us NOT to camp, and it was getting dark, so we settled in.











Slept in a bit, ate breakfast, and headed out yet again.....

[S298WP]

Alright....let's see here. Officially Sunday at this point.
We're packed up, and eastbound once again. Next stop on our way is Dinosaur National Monument to spend a couple days at Echo Park Campground.
As the plan, we took mostly FS roads out of the Currant Creek area, until we absolutely HAD to take US-40.
Unfortunately some of the service roads are still closed for the season. Thankful for maps along the way!



And a quick stop at Strawberry Res. We finally had our first cell service since Friday, and Jenelle wanted to tell everyone the good news.....



Made it to Echo Park fairly early, set up camp, and did some exploring.







Base Camp.





A pretty crazy wind storm rolled through, so we took down the awning for a bit, and hid in the Montero until things calmed down.



Set back up and making dinner.





Got some good sleep, and readied ourselves for an 8 mile hike the next day.

[S298WP]

This is gonna be mostly a picture dump.
We got up early Monday, and did a pretty rigorous hike along the canyon walls of the Green River. Snakes and lizards, and a lot of questionable steps along the way. The trail is mostly unmarked, and pretty steep and hazardous at spots. But we made it to what was the equivalent of a white sand beach along the river. We ate out lunch, had a beer, and waded through the cold run-off water for a while before heading back.





















Got back, took hammock naps, and made dinner. Long travels the next day.

[S298WP]

So there's 2 ways out of Echo Park. The highway (boooorrrriiiing) or Yampa Bench Road.
The thing with The Bench is if it's wet, it's impassible. Not like "quit being a wuss" impassible...but legit.
I had a very long talk with the ranger at the camp, and he said people think they can make it in rigs more capable than mine, and end up paying thousands for a rescue. So I had to make a decision accordingly.
Now mind you I still don't have cell service, and can't thoroughly check the weather. I'm going off a ranger's weather forecast, and looking at the sky.
So we pull up to the top of Echo Park, where you have to make the decision. To the north are some ominous clouds, but things seem to be moving west.
If you know anything about the weather in the high Rockies, you know that this can change drastically and fast.
I pulled the trigger regardless. Worst case scenario, we end up stranded for a day or so. We had supplies. F-it.



It was worth the decision. The road out is absolutely awesome and full of overlooks. We pulled into Elk Springs, CO with the weather just behind us.
Leaving any later than we did could have been a different ending.







After this, we headed to Steamboat Springs, for an AirBNB we had reserved. It was time for showers, a nice dinner, and Strawberry Hot Springs.
It rained on us lightly in the hot springs, and it was honestly pretty amazing.




All in all, this was an amazing trip. We covered 2 states, did 1100 miles, and saw some of the greatest sights I've seen in a long time.
The Montero preformed like a champ, other than a few electrical gremlins, and I couldn't be happier with this 20 year old bag of bolts. I honestly left Denver with some reservations about it, but went anyway. And I'm glad I did. 6 days outside of cities, cell reception, and civilization was incredible.

I need to figure out how to do this for a living.

[IncorpoRatedX]

Awesome trip, thanks for sharing it and congrats!

[TOASTY]

Looks like a lot of fun dude and congrats on the future wife!

[S298WP]

Awesome trip, thanks for sharing it and congrats!

Thanks man!! It was a blast!

[S298WP]

Looks like a lot of fun dude and congrats on the future wife!

Thanks bud!!

[PajEvo]

As I've said elsewhere, you deserved this trip. Many would have given up on the rig long ago and moved on, but you stuck with it, and perservered. In this case the payoff was bigger than even burgers! (I don't say that lightly either! ).

Clearly she shares your interests, so it seems a great match! Lots more trips to come hopefully, for the "three" of you!

[S298WP]

Thanks Phil!!
And we have 2 dogs....so 4 of us.

[wildbill99]

Can't wait to do something similar this summer but will be in our Power Wagon. Smart move asking on day one. No Guarantee she'd say yes on day 6 lol. Congrats.

[MudRaider]

Great story, thanks for the inspirational pictures. Congrats