Burr Trail Adventure Pt. 2

 We looked at the pigeon-toed vehicle and thanked God the tie rod didn't break while we were turning around on the cliff. We had some water and snacks with us. We had lots of unknowns. Who traveled on this road and how often do they come by? We had no cell phone so we walked back to the intersection where there were signs to read them. The "Flood Area" stood out the most. We thought if people took the other fork in the road they would never notice us. So we used one of John's white t-shirts to write "Help" on it and hung it over the sign. Then we joined hands and prayed for someone to come by and help us.

The sun was setting; majestic and completely silent. We climbed into the broken SUV totally confused. Why did the sign point to Boulder if the road ended? It got cooler as the sun set. Then at 8:30 p.m. we heard a noise behind us. Two women appeared in a car. John bolted out to greet them. They were German nannies driving from Boulder. John asked "Where did you come from?" 

They gladly took the trail marker number so they could call a ranger and get us help. It would be at least two hours before they reached a phone- and then would they come in the dark? We expected to wait all night in the desert. We noticed lightning in the distance.

About 12:30 a.m. we heard a rumble and suddenly the sky exploded with light and a large tow truck, pulling a flat bed trailer appeared out of the dark. "Hi, I'm Carl. I'm sorry it took so long. I ran into a terrible storm up north and had to take the long way around." We stared at him in delight. John helped him load the SUV and we were off on the same road we had brought into the valley. I was thankful it was dark so I couldn't see the potholes and sharp curves and cliffs.

We ended up spending the rest of the night in a rough little motel in Hanksville, Utah. It was another year before we finally came back to Utah to find out why the road ended. This time we came from Boulder and drove 32 miles on a narrow blacktopped road before it turned to the dusty dirt road we remembered. We

saw a sign "All vehicles use low gear". There it was, the slanted rock we had seen. We look over the trail's edge and 1,000 feet below was the rough trail that came to an end. The path made a sharp "V" turn that seemed to disappear into the mountain. We carefully drove down the hillside and pondered what would have happened if the tie-rod had broken on that steep grade. God was with us. We believe He kept us from seeing the road and kept the storm 60 miles north of our flood area, too.

"The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy," (Psalm 126:3 NIV).