Jeeping around to the eclipse

 A solar eclipse going through central Utah seemed like a great reason to plan a Jeep trip. Fortunately, Tyler and my dad were able to join in on the fun. The goal was to get from Goblin Valley to the Burr switchbacks, through the Valley of the Sun, without touching the pavement. We headed down on Friday afternoon and set up camp just as the sun set near Wild Horse Canyon by Goblin Valley. 

The next morning we broke camp and headed to be near Factory Butte for the eclipse. We were right in the sweet spot but did not have great cameras to capture it. It got cold and the shadows got fuzzy. After the eclipse, we drove to a river crossing. Bridger drove the Jeep through the river which was awesome to watch. Then we went through the bentonite hills and around Factory Butte. Old planes zipping around everywhere off an old airstrip in the desert. Then we found some cool rocks that the kids played on for about an hour. We stopped for lunch and kept going. We turned off toward the valley of the Sun to check out the monoliths, which I've always wanted to see, and then climbed back up to the top of the plateau to find a place to camp outside of Capitol Reef. It was a super long day with a lot of driving, but the road was fun and all the boys were good sports. 

The next morning we headed back toward Capitol Reef the other way crossed the river and hit the highway.  We ended up driving on pavement for about 20 miles until it turned back into dirt near the Burr switchbacks. We found a cool spot right at the top of the switchbacks with a picnic table. We came back up through Escalante and over Boulder Mountain. My dad wanted to check out the road to Oak Creek Reservoir. We hit the turn-off and realized this was a serious off-road trail. After about 1/2 a mile, we turned around to head back. My dad told us that he'd wanted to get back to Oak Creek his whole life. When he was a young man, he had the best day of fishing that he'd ever had. He's always wanted to go back. We promised him that we'd be back next year, with our poles in hand. Can't wait for next year's camping season.