The Road To Hell

After driving on a passable gravel road on the Red Gulch/Alkali National Scenic Country Backway, we began to encounter very rough roads with stones that became larger and larger. Though some may question why I didn't turn around, those reasons might be:

1. There was a very large, looming rainstorm that had appeared behind us and we might have encountered a different type of problem - sliding off the road and/or getting stuck;
2. There was virtually no way to have been able to turn around due to the amount of rocks on this one-lane road;
3. We were about 6 miles from the highway to which this backway would end;
4. We already had about 2 hours invested in time to get to this point; and
5. I just felt sure that it would get better when we got through this long stretch of bad roads.

This is a picture of a good part of the "bad road". This is before the boulders became larger. The terrain got so bad, the car drug on the tops of some of the rock. Several times I had to back up a short distance just to figure out which rocks to attempt to drive over. This is when the windstorm began which was preceding the rainstorm. It got so bad we couldn't even see the "road". I finally stopped the car and asked Joe to please say a prayer for us, he did and the wind stopping blowing almost immediately. The wind had blown the sand/dirt so that it had started drifting like snow.
Bad... Badder...
It was during this time, that we found out that we had a phone signal. How? Out here in the middle of nowhere? I managed to call Trina, told her where we were and if I hadn't called her by an appointed time that evening, she needed to come looking for us. And I was serious! I wasn't afraid that we couldn't make it out there. We had plenty of water, food, blankets, a way to make a fire, etc. (Remember I have a truck full of stuff). I just didn't want to be stuck in the sand waiting for someone to come along. After all, we'd seen so many people in the two hours. Hmmm, a total of none peoples!
Then it became beautiful again. No more boulder roads, no more windswept roads. Then we saw this mountain with what appeared to be the road rising up to meet us. It looked innocent enough, but we were soon fooled. As soon as we hit a section of this road, we hit nothing but deep red, fine sand similar to what you'd see on the beach. Unfortunately, this road was also laden with curves with steep sides and there was no way to stop. If you stopped, the car would die and would be stuck in the sand. This was not fun in any shape, form or fashion and I only knew that I couldn't let off of the accelerator and just had to watch what I was doing.
Obviously we made it out since I'm here to write about it. But I can promise you this. I will never, ever go here again!

Red Gulch/Alkali National Back Country Byway

Simply put...this became the "Highway To Hell" for us. No where on this sign did it say this road should be off limit to non 4-wheel drive vehicles. No where did it tell you how rough it would be to traverse the 32 miles. It only said to make sure you had adequate gas and water and to NOT drive on the road when it had rained, was raining or looked like it was going to rain.
This was the last mammals - four-legged or two-legged - that we would encounter for the next two hours. This is part of the "painted desert" in this area. Great scenery. What was that I said about rain? When we'd gone about 3/4 of the length of the byway, I spied this storm creeping up behind us. Oh, great!

The next blog will explain the "Road To Hell" reference. And, lest I forget to say it, I WiLL nEVer, EVer, go on this road nEVer, EVer AGAIN!!! This was by far the worse road we've driven on!!! Stay away from this place.