Onion Creek and Other “Fun Stuff”

1147 September 28, 2024 Onion Creek and Other “Fun Stuff”

I drove to town this morning and parked the Jeep in the City Market parking lot. I walked all the way to the end of town and then crossed the street and walked the other side. I took longer than usual because there was a lot of traffic and I had to wait at each of the intersections for the lights to change…but it was a much better walk than the campground neighborhood!

I stopped at the bookstore and bought a trail guide for the White Rim Road.

I shopped at City Market and drove back home.

We packed our cooler and went out for a 4WD ride.

We began on the Colorado Riverway or Route 128. The imposing high and varnished red cliffs rose up, reaching the impossibly blue sky. The solid and severe red wall went on for miles, mammoth in size.

There were lots of nice BLM campgrounds along the river.

We followed the river, watching the kayakers and rafters, and even some people on SUPs.

The idea was that today we would take a really easy ride and not be gone all day. We know that driving the canyon tomorrow and Monday will be a lot. Tim chose the Onion Creek Trail. This was an incredibly sweet drive. There were 27 water crossings and we drove through a pretty little canyon. The road was easy to follow and we had fun.

We stopped near the end for lunch. We looked at the map and we had two options. We could turn around and go back the way we came OR we could take another connecting trail and make a loop. The Thompson Canyon/Polar Mesa Trail was also marked as an easy trail. The guidebook said: “Easy. The road is fairly wide and in good condition most of the way.” We decided to see something we had not seen before and complete the loop in lieu of backtracking. We hadn’t gone very far…maybe three miles when Tim was reevaluating this decision. Should we turn back? This road was really rough and slow and bumpy. The book said that this was an easy trail. We continued. There were lots of steep and narrow switchbacks. There were rough rock shelfs. There were rock obstacles. There were deep ruts. There was soft sand. It was not anything that was dangerous and it wasn’t anything that my excellent driver and our sturdy Jeep could not handle…but it was NOT supposed to be like that! There were two places where I actually closed my eyes…I do trust Tim completely! It was hard to appreciate the scenery because the road required intense concentration. There were mountain bikers coming in both directions and guys in Razors and dirt bikers as well. And other people in Jeeps making their way steadily up and down the mountainsides.