carrying 4 gallons of water and 2 of gas
 

Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to the Maze I go. In 10 days I am planning a short break, driving up to Utah to explore the Maze area for a few days. There is no reliable water source unless you hike down to the river, and then the water has to stand overnight to settle the silt and then be filtered or boiled. There will be some other people out there but I want to be self-sufficient. So I decided I'd carry in what I needed. But how?

I have the Dirtbagz and frames and though they are not designed to carry weight I figured they'd work to hold the tanks in. So I made some aluminum plates, added the Kolpin brackets and attached them to the frames with 4 hose clamps. The weight of the tanks, 2 gallons each, should be taken by the straps I will sling between the handles and over the seat. The gas tank will go on the rear rack, mounted in the same way. I'm thinking that if I travel light I should be able to just sling my saddlebags over the water cans and still be no wider than a solid pannier set-up.

It's 400 miles of road to get there, I plan on doing 2 or 300 miles of dirt and then the trip back over about 10 days. I am just hoping for dry weather, apparently the roads are some of the hairiest around and impassable when wet. The way I see it, all-up it will still be a lot lighter than my empty KLR used to be and with better handling to boot. I also plan to stash some water as early as I can so I don't have to carry it all.

I don't have a video camera but I will take photos and write it up when I get back. In the meantime, here are some pictures of what I've done to the bike to get it ready. Going to get a sheepskin buttpad as well!

http://s50.photobucket.com/albums/f3...er%20carriers/

Wanted to see the pix but they are password protected.

Wow, looking forward to a great trip report. Good luck out there, have a great trip!!!

Where you starting your trip from?

Is that side of Canyonlands snow-free this time of year?

Was watchin' the weather last night and it looked "frosty" around there, at least closer to the Colorado border.

Not to throw a wet rag on your trip :rolleyes: .. I'd be stoked to know that area (especially White Rim Trail) is rideable this time of year! If it is I might just see ya' on the trail :D:D:D

Whoops, sorry. I had no idea it was private. I re-set it all to be public.

As for the weather, well it is going to be cold, no question but whether it's rideable or not is a weather dependent crap shoot. I have done the White Rim in March on a bicycle, no sag vehicle, and though cold at night it was spectacular during the day. If there is recent snow it may be a problem but things dry out pretty fast up there. I am starting from Albuquerque, so pretty similar weather.

Albuquerque eh ... lived there 18 years, moved to Colorado 5 years ago. New Mexico is an awesome state for on and off-road motorcycling. Made many a trip and had many an adventure to Utah, Colorado from there :D:D and you're right, you NEVER know what to expect, anytime of the year ... all part of the fun. Have a safe one.

Longmont , you must be the only other person i know of in the US who has had a TDM, other than the person i sold mine too...

I had mine set up for dual-sport and rode it all over the west including a lot of the Moab area trails. Loved that bike. Finally realized i was making it hard on myself with all the weight and went smaller and it's all been downhill from there. Don't think I'm going to get any smaller than the KLX though.

Just got a call from the Park Service at Hans Flat, the main access road to the Maze: the snow has been unusually heavy and the Flint trail is closed for access from the north and is likely to remain so for several weeks! So far the road is open from the Hite side so I'm hoping for dry weather for the next 2 weeks. Seems unlikely given the crazy spring we've had so far. But if it's too bad up north I'll head south into Arizona or the NM bootheel. We're kind spoiled for wild country out here.

I still can't get to the picture(s).

Da***** and apologies again. I reset my files to public (again) logged out of photobucket and used the link on this page and could access the images. I hope that it's fixed and useable for all now but someone let me know please if they cannot get into see the images.