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Sharper rocks than a lot of Earth deserts - less wind and no water to smooth things down. More broadly, though, there are some deserts on Earth that are pretty
by Bartweiss 10y ago
Sharper rocks than a lot of Earth deserts - less wind and no water to smooth things down.
More broadly, though, there are some deserts on Earth that are pretty hair-raising. The NPS guidelines for driving deep in the Canyonlands (on roads, no less) warns that with a high-clearance 4WD pickup, you should still expect "considerable risk of vehicle damage". Curiosity is going a lot slower, but it doesn't have the luxury of roads or anyone to toss on a spare tire.
- jsmthrowaway 10y agoDepends on which trail in Canyonlands. Some of those are extremely technical crawl trails where you need a spotter and are planning every ten feet of movement, not unlike the Rubicon. White Rim is more of what I would call a road; watching a couple videos of people running it, I'd be less worried about damage there. (It's on my list for this spring.) Honestly Jeep owners read a warning like that and get excited. Every scar in my paint is a new story, but to your point, getting the tools out in the backcountry is usually not fun.
- Bartweiss 10y agoYeah, fair. I was specifically quoting the warnings for the Maze, which is remote enough that they desperately want to avoid tows and rescues. I'd love to do White Rim whenever I get a chance, the overlooks onto it make it look wonderful. The Maze stuff looks much less friendly, but it's on the 'someday' list.
- jsmthrowaway 10y agoOh, sure. The Maze was the area I was thinking of as well. I have a few thousand dollars of work and a lot more practice before I could comfortably consider those trails. I know my limits and I'd rather not hike out of Utah.