... Ok, not quite.

Or rather not at all. Which is hardly unexpected, since the Dusy-Ershim is a 4x4 trail, and hence, not very agreeable to canoeing. In fact, the Dusy-Ershim isn't really all that agreeable to fourwheeling either. It's one of the most difficult trails around. Several of my reference materials seem to agree that the infamous Rubicon is about a 7 (out of 10) for difficulty, and the Dusy-Ershim is either a 9 or a 10, depending on which direction you run it. It's generally agreed that you should plan on spending 4 days on the trail for your first trip, and an average of 3 days for repeat visits. It can be done in 2, if you've really got a good rig, plenty of experience, and don't mind 'wheeling in the dark. Mind you, none of this takes into account driving to the trailhead from wherever it is that you live...

But that's all beside the point. We like to fourwheel, but the Dusy is far beyond my limits. The truth is, my rig (a 2003 Nissan Xterra, slightly modified) just isn't up to it, and I'm ok with that. There are plenty of trails out there for me. With this knowledge in hand, I've always avoided the Dusy, lest I be tempted to try something I really have no business trying. Which is why last weekend, as we set out for a canoe trip to the Courtright Reservoir I was quite mindful of where the trail was, and how to go about avoiding it. Unbeknownst to me though, was that avoiding it was going to be difficult. Our plan was for us to drive to the lake, load our gear into the canoe, paddle to a remote area, camp, and hopefully stay up late enough to watch the lingering remains of the Perseids meteor shower. However, upon arriving at the lake, we found a few obstacles to our plan. Mainly, a lack of overnight parking. There is a campground there, but due to their "Campsite must be occupied for the first night" policy, it wasn't going to fit with our plan. Even though I was willing to pay the $24 just to park...

We drove around a bit, and poured over our maps, and did find an alternative, just a few miles down a little dirt road, we could find ourselves lakeside, with no pesky restrictions... Just one thing... I know that road... And I'm supposed to be avoiding it. Truthfully, with a canoe on the roof, I was hoping to avoid all but the tamest off pavement travel...

But we hadn't come this far just to turn around, so with a quick shift of the transfer case we were off.



The trail really wasn't bad, bumpy and rocky, with a few hills, but to tell the truth, we stopped just short of the serious stuff. We found a nice place to park, in an area where others were camping, and we set off.

Google Maps of Courtright

See the little island? That's where we headed to. It was a fine little island and we set up camp there. Here's what it looks like from the water:



After setting up camp, we went for a brief sightseeing trip before returning to the island and starting the campfire. I was a bit worried about that, as the island wasn't all that filled with wood, but we had enough. We could have paddled over to the shore and gathered plenty, but we were hoping not to. We cooked dinner over the fire and just generally relaxed until it was time for bed. The original plan had called for us to go to bed quite early, so as to be able to awaken at roughly 4am to watch the sky. We opted not to that, and instead to watch out of the tent until we fell asleep, and if either of us happened to awaken in the middle of the night and want to watch the stars, so be it.

We woke up on Sunday, rekindled the fire and made breakfast. We decided to break camp, pack up, and then go for a wandering canoe trip back to the Xterra. The morning wind was a bit of an inconvienience, as it made the paddling tiresome, but overall, it was still a nice morning. The waves were ~1', kind of like hitting boat wakes, just a lot more of them. We made it back to shore, and got all loaded up and ready to 'wheel back to the pavement. I was able to restrain myself, and not head off to the nearby "Chicken Rock". We made it back to the pavement, and began the journey home. We stopped to take some pictures, and had an overall good drive back. Most of my concerns regarding the 4x4 portions were unfounded, and while I can't in all truthfulness say I've 'wheeled the Dusy-Ershim, I think my canoe has done more of it than most other canoes... It really wasn't hard, heck, one girl even drove her Camaro as far as we went...



MV