Photos and Text: Sven and Magdalena Schlogl
USA Crosscountry, Part 2
After reaching the halfway point
of our trip - Maine, the northeastern-most state of the US - our journey would
take us zigzagging through the northern states back to the west coast. This
was not the first time we were looking forward to getting away from winter temperatures.
We cruised through New Hampshire and Vermont, enjoying the quaint New England
towns, and took what would turn out to be one of the last pictures of 'The Old
Man in the Mountain' (less than a week later this rock formation, New Hampshire's
famous state symbol, collapsed). Then we worked our way along Lake Ontario through
upstate New York where we couldn't miss a stop at the imposing Niagara Falls.
During the winter months, the spray forms bizarre ice bergs just in front of
the falls - a truly spectacular demonstration of nature's force. Through Ohio
we traveled into Michigan and followed the coast of Lake Michigan north to Lake
Superior. The water at the rugged south shore was still frozen in some places
and most of the ice had collected in the western corner of the lake. It was
still quite cold here and not many visitors joined us on the exploration of
ship wrecks on the beach - Lake Superior's once busy ship traffic often fell
victim to its treacherous shallows. Now we started to head back south through
Wisconsin in full bloom, where spring had sprung, on to Chicago. We hadn't experienced
much nightlife since leaving New York City and treasured the Windy City's cultural
offerings. Then it was definitely time again for some 4wheeling. Due to the
masses of snow and ice in the upper states we hadn't been able to hit any trails
in a while, so we were excited to reach Badlands, a privately owned off-road
park in Attica, IN. This area offers all kinds of terrains, from sand to mud
to an old quarry, and wheeling in the lush surroundings was a treat by itself.
After a stop in Des Moines, IA, where we visited some friends, we pushed on
to Devil's Tower in Wyoming, famous from its appearance in the movie 'Close
Encounter'. Our route turned south into Colorado, another eagerly awaited off-road
eldorado. Unfortunately, even in June, winter was in our way again: an unusually
late and heavy storm had dumped 60 inches of snow in higher elevations (and
which trails in CO are low altitude?) and due to forest service closures, many
areas were inaccessible. But we took every chance we could get to put our rig
into 4-low and found some very nice trails around Boulder. In the Great Sand
Dunes National Monument we ran into Stan with his green Dodge Ram 'T-Rex', a
heavily modified 6x6 truck. We also paid a visit to the fairly new 'Avalanche
Ranch', a 4-wheel park owned by Steve Rumore, who is known for his company 'Avalanche
Engineering' and his rock crawling buggy 'Sniper'. The Durango area has a lot
to offer: we visited the cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde and went wheeling with
George of Durango 4x4 who guided us to Engineer Pass at about 12,000'. Had we
had a few more weeks to wait for more trails to thaw out, we could have done
some amazing off-roading! Finally, we traveled north again through the spectacular
Rocky Mountains and from Grand Junction further west to Moab, UT - an area which
has been described in many publications so we'll let the pictures do the talking
This 4-wheel paradise marked one
of the highlights of our trip. The sheer natural beauty and countless recreational
opportunities make it a special place for every outdoor enthusiast. We would
have liked to stay longer but there was still so much to explore