We had a fairly short ride to our next campsite at Flaming Gorge / Manila KOA , so we decided to do some off-roading on BLM lands near our Vernal, UT campsite.  The day before Tom noticed a very steep jeep trail up a mountain that he thought we might try.

We pulled off the road, disconnected the jeep, put it in 4 wheel drive low range (the first time we’ve tried anything like that.)  Steve got out of the jeep and offered to video our success – or failure.  We went up the steep drive but decided the last pitch before the top was too steep for our equipment. Tom backed the Jeep down in reverse.

Scott looked at the second trail to the top and decided it was not so steep.  So we tried that one.  We also stopped about 30 feet from the top to check out what was over the ridge since we could not see.  Tom decided to put on his bike helmet, but when removing it from Polo Scott’s E-bike slipped back since the jeep was on a 45 degree incline.  Scott managed to pull the bike up so Tom could close Polo’s tailgate.  Scott then decided to stay outside and video, but Tom expertly and prematurely summited the hill before Scott could get his video mode engaged on his phone.

Scott and Tom drove along the peak of the mountain a bit to see if there was an easier way to get down, but decided there was not.  Tom then managed to turn Polo around twice and drove back the way we came – with the parking brake accidentally engaged for half was down.  We’re not sure how much skidding the rear tires did on the descent, but no damage was evident.

After the morning’s adrenaline rush, we drove to the KOA, stopping for some of the fantastic scenery on the road to and in Flaming Gorge.  We arrived early to the KOA and had to kill some time at the local Rodeo Stadium next door until they could be bothered to check if our campsite was available.  We ate lunch at the Rodeo while waiting.

This KOA was OK, with an excellent bath house, but a few of our fellow campers were burning fires all day generating lots of unnecessary smoke.  We all left for the local marina to see about either renting a boat or reserving one for tomorrow – Memorial Day.  Turns out they couldn’t rent a boat today because the guy who does that was not there, but we were encouraged to rent one online.

To add to the excitement of our first engagement of low range on the jeep (we did the gnarliest driving that Polo has ever done and likely will ever do,) Tom and Steve cooked a frozen pizza in the first ever use of our oven in convection mode!  They report not quite done in the center, but completely edible.

We returned to the camper, Scott reserved a 19 foot Chaparrel (whatever that is,) and then Tom and Steve went for a trip to see more sites and the dam on the Green River which created Flaming Gorge Lake.  Scott stayed behind to read a bit and nap.

Tonight we plan to watch the rest of Blazing Saddles, which we started last night.  Steve had a lead on a family of baby owls, so he may not return until after OGWRV bedtime around 9PM.