Spiral Jetty Camp Out - December 2011

My good friend Roger was in town for Christmas.  He hails from his current post in southern Arizona at Fort Huachuca (Sierra Vista).  Usually when he is in town, that means I get to go camping!  He and I very much like finding either the coldest day of the year, worst weather of the year or most remote part of the state when we go camping.  Either way, I get to escape civilization and spend time with my best friend.

With a tight deadline to be home on Friday, we needed to find someplace close to drive to on Thursday that would provide the solitude and winter experience we craved.  In the past we have done multi day trips to the San Rafael Swell or overnighters to Little Cottonwood Canyon. With the low snow pack this year, Little Cottonwood Canyon wouldn't work so well and we didn't have enough time to get to southern Utah.

We decided to stay close, but we also needed to find somewhere isolated and secluded, because we were taking GUNS!!!!

For some reason, I have a feeling this picture might end up in an email forward someday as  'Look at the crazy gun nut!'

Over the last couple of years, I have really enjoyed camping at the Spiral Jetty situated on the north shore of the Great Salt Lake past the Golden Spike Monument.  Desert camping to me is the ultimate high when it comes to solitude and soul recharging. I feel blessed to live in Utah with high desert in the Great Basin and Colorado Plateau. I can't get enough of it.

What is the Spiral Jetty? It's earth art, some guy placed a bunch of rocks in the salt beds and said, 'I'm cultured and more in tune with humanity than you'. Well, at least he created something that is interesting to look at and somewhat of an oddity.

In the vicinity of the Spiral Jetty, there are at least 2 decent campsites. One right on the shore next to the old remnants of a pier, and a little further up the road at the foundation of an old cabin. I have camped at both and they serve nicely as a place to camp. Bring your own firewood as there is no dead fall to collect in this area, nothing but rocks and grass.  In the last year, the gravel road was graded and at the time of this blog a 2wd car could easily drive out there.

Roger and I arrived after dark and in the freezing cold setup our tent and got a fire going.  When Roger and I camp, that means MRE's, meals ready to eat. He has so many that it makes my life easier when planning a campout.  They aren't the tastiest thing you could bring, but they do taste good and you get a whole meal from one packet.

That night I slept incredibly well as I tried out something new my wife thought up.  I put a summer weight synthetic bag on top of my sleeping pad, thus providing even more insulation from the cold ground.  It worked! I slept warm all night despite 9 degree temps outside. It was easy to bring along since this was a car campout, though it wouldn't work well if it was a backpack trip into the backcountry.

In the morning we awoke around 8 AM, which is awesome since usually if I am sleeping cold I am awake much earlier and unable to go back to sleep.  We  heated up hot chocolate and oatmeal to begin our morning.

That's one handsome dude. Raise a toast to his awesomeness!

After breakfast, the fun began, it was time to shoot the guns. Roger had brought his AR-15, 9MM and shotgun. I had brought my recently acquired Mosin Nagant, but due to a local gun stores inability to break open a case of surplus ammo, I couldn't get reasonably priced packets of cartridges to shoot it.

We took a hike up to the hill above camp, hoping to maybe find jackrabbits, but alas we didn't kill any bunnies.  Instead Roger brought an old He-Man character action figure to shoot at. I forgot to take a picture of it before we blew it apart.

'He looked at me funny, so I blew his knee cap off. When he laughed I separated his torso from his legs'

We had a great time. I had never shot an AR before and now I highly covet one for myself. The Spiral Jetty is a fantastic place to make a day visit or overnight camp out. To see this 'earth art' is almost surreal in an area that seems so remote and way out there. Thanks to Roger for always wanting to camp, rain or shine, heat or cold.

You can see the Spiral Jetty on the left hand side, under water.

Bright clear day! What a great time to be outside and camping.