Joe keeps a running log when he's in the Utah Outback.

When time permits, he sends out a colorful adventure log containing some of his favorite pictures.

Here are Joe's reports from 2003:

March 24, 2003
Hi Again Gang,

Texas Jack (KD5MBJ), and Arizona Joe (KC7GHT) are back exploring the wild outback of Utah again. This time we are based in Hanksville, at a small RV campground.

The owner had to leave for several days, so he put Jack and I in charge to collect the money and protect the facilities! We have known the owner for several years because we have stayed here before.

We decided to meet here in Hanksville, and then explore this area for at least two weeks. Our next camp will be remote with no facilities, but right now there is no one else staying in the campground, and I think the population of Hanksville is about 20 people or less.

Rover, my Jeep, now has a new JVC AM/FM receiver with a MP3 CD player. I have as many as 250 songs on one CD and it provides soft music as Rover and I Jeep along. That's about 11 hours of continuous music - a whole Juke Box full (for those of you that remember what that was) on one CD-R.

I also have another identical JVC unit in the camper. I have 10.5 gigabytes of music in MP3 format! Jack wants one now, and I think KC7LRS is going to ship one to us here in Hanksville for Jack.

I have been in daily contact with my wife Joyce (KC7LRS) as well as many of our good Ham friends in Utah, Arizona, and in Rosebud, Victoria, Australia (Graham, VK3JBO). Jack has been in contact with his Ham friends in Corpus Christi, Texas - all by amateur radio from our Jeeps.

Cell phones just don't work in this remote area. Besides cell phones can't hold a candle to Ham radio. For those of you not familiar with Ham radio, it's like sitting around a campfire circle enjoying each others company, but the campfire circle is as large at the whole world, and we are sitting in the comfort of our Jeeps out on the trail, or even hiking and running crossband from our HT (Handy Talkey's).

I have included some pictures of our adventures for your enjoyment. I have reduced the picture resolution to save you/me download/upload time. The full camera resolution pictures look a lot better.

See the short description below and the six attached pictures.

Pic#1: Overlooking one of the many beautiful canyons South East of Hanksville. I tried to get Jack to drive his Jeep out on the overhang.

You have to watch everywhere whenever you get close to a cliff edge, because a lot of them are undercut, and could easily brake off with your added weight, especially if you decide to drive your Jeep out on the edge for a picture!

Pic#2: Jack and I found a way to get on the Jeep trail far below in the Dirty Devil river canyon. Here we are up on Bert Mesa looking down.

It's 1200 vertical feet to the river below. We made it as far as the gigantic avalanche with the Jeeps.

No one has recently walked past the avalanche area, because it's so remote. The avalanche probably took place sometime in the last 60 years since the Jeep road was built.

Pic#3: Here is another view from Bert's mesa looking 1200 vertical feet down on the Jeep trail Dirty Devil river ford. The river is about 40 yards wide at the ford, and there were white caps at the ford that we could see with binoculars!

Jack and I crossed here two years ago and then got caught in a snow storm. You probably remember that adventure, and the 40 miles of mud we had to Jeep through to get back to a dry camp late that night.

Pic#4: Another view point looking South into the Dirty Devil river canyon. Pictures can't capture the majesty of the view.

Pic#5: This picture shows the Henry Mountain Ham repeater (installed by Bret, WX7Y). I had the privilege to help Bret work on this site last year.

This mountain is so remote, that the only power is from the solar panels that Bret installed using a helicopter for transportation! The peak is 12,000 feet high!

Pic #6: This is a high tech water pump way out in the Burr Desert, South East of Hanksville. The solar panels produce 90 VDC at 10 amps to run the DC motor.

There are no batteries to freeze or dry out, and the solar panels track the Sun from morning to night! I was surprised that there were no batteries.

The solar panel output is connected directly to the motor via the controller. That is the pump in the background.

It is the same design as used for oil wells, except smaller. High tech in the Utah Outback!

I will try to send this email out within two more days, If I can find a phone line that I can use in Hanksville.

If you have a Ham license, give us a call on IRLP node 3270 or 3280 anytime. (3270 is down for a few days with a broken receiver, so try either one that let's you get through to us. 3270 is the normal Sinbad node when Bret gets time to repair the receiver).

We are monitoring the Sinbad Repeater System via the Henries and Horn Mountain repeaters.

Late news:

Node 3270 is back up and running. WX7Y found two PIN diodes had failed, and a tuning slug had some carbon in it detuning it. After repairs the receiver sensitivity went from 7 millivolts to less than 1 Microvolt!

Great work Bret! We are again listening to node 3270. Give us a shout.

March 29, 2003
Hi Again Gang,

It's time for another adventure email. I have collected some more pictures for your enjoyment. Jack and I are having the time of our lives exploring by Jeep and by foot this wonderful part of Utah, USA.

We are talking world wide by Ham radio from our Jeeps and from our campers.

Joyce, KC7LRS, purchased a MP3 player for Jack, and we just received it today at the Hanksville Post office. Yes, they still do General Delivery.

Joyce also bought a low powered FM broadcast transmitter, and we now have Jacks MP3 player working through his old Jeep radio. Tomorrow's run will be the test to see if it works with his engine running (ignition noise?).

Please see the attached pictures and their description below:

Pic#7: Rover's too close to the edge again. I have trouble keeping him away from the fantastic views. He wants to get his headlights right where the action is.

Pic#8: Jack discovered this arch! It is not shown on any map that we have seen. We have decided to name it "Jack's Arch". KD5MBJ is really famous now!

Pic#9: This is a huge rock up on Little Wild Horse Mesa that we found. We were able to walk around it. Yes that's a full size tree at the lower left against the blue sky.

Pic#10: This is a view of the San Rafael Reef from on top of Little Horse Mesa at the end of an obscure Jeep trail.

Pic#11: This is another view of the San Rafael Reef taken from the same spot as above, but just a different angle.

This is truly beautiful and rugged country. Again we didn't see anyone all day long since we left our camp at Hanksville, Utah. These Jeep trails are really remote, and there were no tracks of any kind visible along the trail.

Thus no one has driven the trail for a very long time. We are able to locate these old trails using our "high tech" mapping equipment.

Pic#12: This is today's Jeep run. That's the country that we had to cross. If you look close you can almost see the Jeep trail out in the middle of the red mountains.

We are trying to get to the "gray blue" area in the upper right of the picture. If we can get to there, we know we can get out, because we came that far from the other end of the Blue Hills Jeep trail.

At times I had to walk 1/2 mile ahead to be sure that we had found the Jeep trail and that it might be passable. There is very little sign of the old Jeep trail here now.

Again I have reduced the picture resolution. I hope they still look reasonably good. The full camera pictures are much better.

April 2, 2003

Well it's time again to send out another adventure email. Jack and I are still exploring around the Hanksville, Utah area. Jack just received his new binoculars and speakers for his Jeep today.

That makes two antennas, one Sony Walkman CD MP3 player, one FM low power broadcast transmitter, one pair of binoculars, and two speakers.

No wonder Jack wanted to have our first camp in Hanksville where he would be close to civilization. Now Jack is trying to find some copper wire and clamps so we can mount them and wire them up.

Jack and I are still having a lot of fun exploring areas around Hanksville that we have not seen before. Here are some more pictures that I thought you might be interested in.

Pic#13: This picture seems to violate the law of physics called "Conservation of Energy." Here we have a very large flow of water from a pipe above ground without any mechanical pump or electrical source of energy.

Pic#14: We found this view out in the high desert near Robbers Roost Canyon, on the East side of the Dirty Devil River.

This is where the famous bank robbers used to hide. That's the Henry Mountains in the background. The picture was taken with a 3X telephoto, and the formations were far away, and quite large.

Pic#15: This was a neat "pour off" we found along the old Jeep trail. As we drove to the edge, two large hawks flew away from inside the deep and narrow canyon right in front of Rover.

Their nest was below us in the canyon walls. Notice the long slickrock overhang directly in front of Rover. Slickrock sandstone is strong in "compression" but very weak in "tension".

Understanding this, Rover decided to stop before his weight would put the top layer of the overhang into "tension" causing a plunge into the canyon below.

This Jeep trail was really hard to find because it hadn't had any traffic in many years. Jack and I had to walk ahead and scout to find traces of the old Jeep trail.

We used our topo maps and our GPS technology to guide us, then, with on foot scouting, we finally found the trail, and we were able to link two other Jeep trails together to make a really beautiful Jeep trail loop that took all day to drive.

It's dirty work to re-open these old Jeep trails, but somebody has to do it. If we don't re-open these old Jeep trails, we soon won't have anywhere to go to get away from the big cities, and the big campgrounds.

Pic#16: Jack, KD5MBJ, posed for this shot in the wide top of the narrow and deep canyon where the hawks were nesting.

Pic#17: Some Indian pictures near Poison Springs Canyon. The recent (faint) writing on the left side of the picture says "Duncan Dec 10, 23"

Pic#18: Some more Indian pictures nearby. What do the symbols mean?

Pic#19: This is a cool spring in the bottom of Poison Springs Canyon. Note the water flowing out the pipe on the right.

I don't know if the water is poisonous. If you want to taste it, I can send you a sample.

Enjoy the pictures.

April 7, 2003
Hi Again Gang,

KD5MBJ and I are still exploring around the Hanksville, Utah area. After three weeks, we still have several days of exploring left before we move base camp. We haven't even gone into the "Maze" district of Canyonlands National Park yet.

Here are some pictures for your enjoyment.

This is a very strange sight out in the middle of the Utah desert. There are no buildings around, just the water flowing up out of the ground.

This water forms the small creek you see that feeds into the Cainville Wash, which feeds the Freemont River which forms the Dirty Devil River near Hanksville.

Is water really flowing uphill here? Very strange indeed. This is called a "Flowing Spring". You probably remember several years ago when I showed you a much smaller Flowing Spring.

Pic#20: These are rocks that were put here by misguided groups like the Serria Club to block the switchbacks on the old Jeep trail down onto Bert Mesa.

This Jeep trail is one of my favorites, and when Jack and I saw this blockage we started to get angry. How would like to see this type of blockage, put there intentionally, on the roads that you drive?

The rocks have been torn from the bank and rolled onto the Jeep road. We decided it would be fun to re-open the road. We see these illegal attempts to close Jeep roads in a few places every year.

It must have taken a large group of brainwashed environmentalists to do such a thing. The rocks were placed in the road for about 150 yards on the cliff edge of the switchbacks.

Of course this dimwitted attempt to close the road didn't stop Jack and I. We just used our Jeeps to open the road again like we always do.

As a matter of fact, one of the Utah Hams that also enjoys using the old desert roads too, was very happy that we were opening roads, and he even offered to buy our gasoline, and our dinner as a celebration.

The environmentalists want all of this country for themselves. They are young and ignorant now, but what will they do when they get too old to hike to these beautiful places, and are then forced to stay close to their cars at the "road closed" sign.

Maybe they should think about it.

Pic#21: This is where Rover and I had lunch. As always, Rover wants to see the scenery too. The Jeep trail ended abruptly right here.

This is what it looked like through Rover's cockpit windscreen. It was a great place to stop for lunch. As my old buddy Ray (RTC) would say, "It don't get no better than this".

Pic#22: I took this picture while exploring out on Sam's Mesa. Jack and I had to reopen this old Jeep trail too.

This time Nature had washed the trail away. Once we got the trail opened, it let us get down onto Sam's Mesa, and to see beautiful sights like the "Pinnacle", and the canyon down into Sam's Mesa Spring.

Notice Rover's footprints on the Jeep trail in the lower right of the picture. Now that's a beautiful sight too.

Pic#23: This is a picture of "The Pinnacles" which is a different formation from "The Pinnacle". Jack and I were able to see this formation from three different sides during today's exploration by Jeep.

From the South East, it looks just Santa in his sleight carrying toys for tots, but it is much further away. This view is from the North West.

Pic#24: I took this photo as Jack and I were racing back to camp on an old sand road trying to outrun a snow storm after a days exploring out on Sam's Mesa.

This is the "Big Flat Top" North East of Hanksville. The Sun was setting, Joyce was calling me on the Ham radio in Rover, and the snow storm was chasing us.

We stopped just long enough to capture this picture on Silicon. We made it back to camp just ahead of the big storm.

I hope you are enjoying the adventure pictures.

April 20, 2003
Hi Again Gang,

Jack and I are exploring the beautiful "San Rafael Swell", North of Hanksville and West of Green River, Utah. Mike and Cathy came down from Idaho to Jeep with us several days, and then they headed over to the Moab area for the BIG Easter Jeep Safari.

We sure enjoyed their company. Cathy prepared dinner for Jack and I one night in their new camp trailer. It sure tasted good Cathy.

I have attached some pictures for your enjoyment.

Pic#25: This is one of the best preserved pictographs that I have seen. We discovered it while exploring the area known as the "Head of Sinbad" here in the Swell.

Pic#26: This beautiful arch is located in Eagle Canyon along the Jeep trail. We ate lunch near this arch. What a sight.

Pic#27: Jack's Jeep wouldn't go across the ditch which is much more difficult than you can see in the inset picture.

As soon as Jack tried to crawl across the ditch, his engine would stop dead. He called to me on the Ham radio, and I came back to see what was wrong.

Between the two of us, we were able to see that the electrical terminal (bolt) on the starter solenoid was touching the air-conditioning tubing, thus shorting the ignition and stopping the engine.

This would only happen when there was a large torque load on the engine shifting the engine on its motor mounts causing the short. We have been looking for the problem for several weeks.

As you can see, by the smile on Jack's face, we finally found the problem. Jack is about to cut the bolt shorter. It worked.

Pic#28: This pictograph was taken along the Black Dragon canyon Jeep trail.

Pic#29: Jack and I are puzzled by this pictograph. It is also in the Black Dragon canyon. Can you tell us what it is, and what it means.

Pic#30: I just couldn't resist this one. This is exactly what it feels like to drive out onto the very edge of a canyon rim, or to drive some of these very narrow cliff edge Jeep trails.

This is not a real picture, but it finally captures the feeling I have when I drive some of these canyon rims and sharp switchbacks.

I love to have lunch in Rover in places like this. The basic picture was taken on the Eva Conover and Devil's Race Track Jeep trail.

It took us 11 hours to drive the 27 mile long loop Jeep trail. It was a good one. We even saw "Joe and his Dog", a large sandstone formation along the trail.

I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I did shooting them.

May 5, 2003
Hi Gang,

Our time in the wilderness is drawing to a close, and it will soon be time to return to civilization again. I am not sure that I am ready for that shock yet.

Here are some more adventure pictures for you to enjoy.

Pic#31: These are the famous Six Shooter Peaks near our camp.

Pic#32: This is really a spooky place for a Jeep. To appreciate it, you need to study the next picture that shows where Rover's right side tires traveled in order to drive by the rock.

Pic#33: This shows just how narrow and washed out the trail is opposite the big rock. I sure hope that our rock stack doesn't squirt out like a waterfall with Rover's weight as I drove very slowly through the gap.

This is now a loop trail for a Jeep around beautiful Bridger Jack Mesa! Anyone want to ride in Rover?

Pic#34: Rover is winching a heavy 500 pound bolder to clear an old Jeep trail up on Cedar Mesa.

Notice the snatch block (pulley) tied on the larger rock on the left with a yellow tow strap. Rover's winch easily pulled the bolder off the trail.

Jack is holding on to the end of another yellow tow strap in order to create friction so the strap would not slip off the rock being moved.

This is a neat trick when the strap is too long to wrap around the bolder in the proper place for the winch hook to pull. We still have to roll a 10,000 pound bolder off the trail in order to reopen the Jeep trail.

To do that, we need to bring in a longer winch cable, because the correct pulling angle (for the highest mechanical advantage) has to pull from across a 80 foot wide canyon and from up higher than the bolder.

We will show you that trick on our next trip to the Needles area.

Yes, I was inside Rover when he drove the obstacle! I had to fold the mirror in also, and I only had 1 inch clearance from the rock.

Look at the next picture to see where Rover's right side paws were on the cliff edge opposite the bolder.

Pic#35: Breath deep Rover, It's only Radon Gas, and Uranium dust, and it will make you strong. Rover and I drove inside this large mine shaft.

You can see my headlights lighting the walls. It was a real thrill. I told Rover not to honk his horn for fear that the vibration would start an avalanche.

Jack and I had to open this old Jeep trail to get up to this old mine. Don't try this at home kids!

Pic#36: This is an interesting little arch up Dry Fork Canyon which is a side canyon off of Lavender Canyon. It is right beside the old Jeep trail.

Pic#37: Jack and I found this arch way up in Dry Fork Canyon off of the main Lavender Canyon. Jack climbed up on top of the arch and wanted to hook Rover's winch line up, but Rover decided not to winch up through the arch. (Good decision Rover).

Enjoy the adventure pictures. This may be the last adventure email from Utah this year. There is still a lot more to explore here in Utah.

May 15, 2003
Hi Gang,

This is my last adventure email from our Spring Utah trip this year. Here are the last set of adventure pictures:

Pic#38: This is a forbidden picture. No one is allowed to enter Virginia Park in the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park.

Only Park Rangers are allowed to enter this beautiful Park. Don't tell anyone that you have seen a picture taken from the center of Virginia Park!

The scenery is fantastic, but can only be view by authorized Park Rangers. Virginia Park is really hidden.

You have to hike up Chesler Canyon several miles from the end of very difficult Jeep trail, and then find the correct small side canyon, and then climb up a 8 foot Jump (dry, undercut, waterfall), and then up through a long natural tunnel to a higher basin in order to get to Virginia Park.

You pop out at ground level through a slit in the earth near the West side of the Park. It's an all day trip from our base camp near the Six Shooter Peaks.

PiC#39: Don't forget to smell the flowers along your way. Acres of wild flowers were just starting to bloom when we had to leave.

PiC#40: Jack and I were privilege to be invited into the home of Kent and Fern Frost. Kent is one of the original explorers of the Canyonlands region of Utah.

He would take off hiking for several months all alone with a small pack, and live off the land. He crossed the Needles, and was the first man to enter the Maze and survive.

When he reached the Colorado River, he built a raft and floated down the river and through Cataract Canyon. If you are interested in the Canyonlands area, I recommend his book "My Canyonlands" by Kent Frost.

Later in life he took adventurers in his own Jeep into the Needles, and then began to lead Rangers into Canyonlands and recommended that the area be made a National Park.

He named several of the geographical formations in the area. The attached picture shows the Propane tank that he used (with liquid Propane) to refill his Jeep tires when they would be knocked of the rims during his rough Jeep trips into the Needles.

Yes he really used Propane gas to fill his tires. Don't try this at home boys. While it worked at slow speeds for Kent while Jeeping in Canyonlands, you might find yourself riding on four sticks of dynamite if you are driving in Phoenix on a hot summer freeway.

P.S.: I have used Ether - I think is was Methyl Ether - Starting Ether for cold engines and a lit match to reseat my 33 inch tires back onto the wheels when I was in a difficult spot and my air compressor couldn't do it.

It's a real "bang" as the tire is blown explosively back onto the wheel rim. (Don't tell B. F. Goodrich, the BLM, or my insurance company.) Hey, don't laugh, it really works when you use the correct amount of Ether.

Pic#41: Jack and I are trying to find a way to get under (and on top of) Aqueduct Arch. (Really a natural bridge.)

We have been foiled trying to enter from any of the side canyons upstream of the arch. It may be possible to get to the arch by hiking up the main canyon from below, and taking the correct side canyon to the arch.

All of the canyons above the arch have steep cliffs and high "pour off" (dry, undercut waterfalls) that are impossible to descend alive.

This is a large and very beautiful arch. One day we will be standing under the arch. The cliffs directly above the arch are even too steep for us to descend to the top of the arch, from above, without ropes.

The picture was taken using a telephoto lens from as far down into the canyon as we could hike.

Pic#42: Jack and I discovered this rocket that crashed. We think that back in the 1960's this rocket was launched from the Green River (town), Utah area with the destination being the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

It of course failed and crashed in this very remote area. This was a fantastic find for Jack and I.

I hope you have enjoyed all seven of the adventure emails.

Ham radio is great, and so is Utah Jeeping.

Keep at least two wheels on the Slickrock!

Keep all of the old Jeep trails OPEN!

Re-open closed Jeep trails!

Stay ON the trails!

Joe Ruby
KC7GHT
(Kilo Charlie 7 Going High Tech)
IRLP Node 3820, Phoenix, Arizona, USA
Uplink DTMF 3820, Downlink DTMF 73
http://irlp.wb7tjd.org/