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Day forty nine (day fifty), Chicken Corners, Hurrah Pass, Lockhart Basin, Manti-La Sal NF and Geyser Pass
Sunday, October 1st.
We got a bit earlier start today because I wanted to make sure we got to use the Jeep as much as reasonably possible. We stopped to get more water and snacks before heading West out of town on Kane Springs Creek Road. This was paved and followed along the South side of the Colorado River for a short distance before turning to gravel and heading off into Kane Springs Creek Canyon. Here the road got quite twisty. There were a LOT of trail bike riders out here, pedal bikes, not motorcycles. Some of the trails they ride looked a bit too dicey for me! The road was easy going for a while, but then turned away from Kane Springs Creek and started climbing toward Chicken Corners and Hurrah Pass. It became quite narrow in places and the rough spots started to come more frequently and last longer each time. The Jeep dash had an off-road app that showed information about the Jeep: gearing, 4WD vs 2WD status, tranny temp, roll and pitch angles, and more. I think the highest pitch we hit was around 22-23 degrees and a max roll angle of 18 degrees (which felt wayyy more by seat of the pants!) There were also several places where there were multiple tracks for the road and one would be significantly rougher than the other. We tried a few of those rougher spots and the Jeep got through them effortlessly. I did need Daniel to do some occasional spotting for me to make sure where my front tires were when the front end was up so high I couldn't see what was in front of me. Once we really got into the Chicken Corners, the views were simply amazing! The same was true of Hurrah Pass where it was windy and cool!
After letting a group of side by sides go down first, we headed down the West side of Hurrah Pass on Lockhart Basin Road.. This was just as twisty and rough as the climb up the East side. Near the bottom there was a nice campground area with toilets. After this, the road mostly leveled out. It was still twisty and rocky, but soon turned to sand. The Jeep really liked to just float over the sand and it made the road feel super smooth. I was looking for a particular place to stop before turning around to head back to town. When I rode this years ago with some other TWT members, we had just completed a particularly rough section of Lockhart Basin Road when we got to a dry sandy creek bed and stopped to rest in the shade of some trees. Zipping along through the sand at a nice clip it did not take us long to reach the same spot. There were tracks going all over the place in the sand so we had some fun getting turned around and doing a few ledge climbs. Then we started backtracking to town. I always say that an out and back road is like riding two different roads because it isn't the same going both directions, which is why I don't always worry about roads "going through" and coming out somewhere else when I am planning rides. Understanding that backtracking isn't always a bad thing is a good life lesson for the kids
We did move a bit faster going back as we were now more familiar with the road and knew better what to expect.
Back in town we grabbed a quick lunch and Frosty at Wendy's. There was a group of KTM 690 enduros and a KLR in the parking lot. They looked like they were getting ready to spend the week riding and camping in the area. It would be very easy to spend a week or more riding out here without having to repeat much of what you had already ridden, especially if you are up for some of the more technical trails. We wished them luck and then headed North out of town to see about visiting Arches NP. When we turned off US 191 onto the road that goes to the park, it was immediately obvious we were not going to be visiting the park. First, there was a LONG line of people waiting to get in. Second, it appeared that a permit, above and beyond a normal annual park pass, was required to get into the park. I have to say I think this is LAME in the extreme! If people have a park pass, they should be allowed in any time the parks are open. Requiring an extra permit really makes it hard to visit parks when you are on a trip and don't always know exactly when and where you will be ahead of the time you want to visit. Mild rant mode off now... I remembered seeing what looked like an interesting drive in the trail guide provided by the Jeep rental company, the La Sal Loop. For many years I have been looking at my collection of maps and Google Earth wondering about getting up and over those mountains from Moab, UT., to Gateway, CO. There is a maze of roads in the mountains and I never really found out which ones might be easy or really technical. According to the guide, the La Sal Loop was easy. We still had the Jeep for about three more hours, so we decided to just head out as far as we could get in an hour and a half and then turn back.
The loop started around seven miles South of Moab off of US 191. We could see that the tops of the mountains had a fresh dusting of snow from the rains that moved through the area last night. Also, the Aspens were really changing colors now! The road was paved as it lead away from US 191 into the base of the mountains. It quickly reached the boundary of the Manti-La Sal NF. It was readily apparent we would not have time to do the entire loop, so we opted to just run up to Geyser Pass. The road stayed paved until we got up into the mountains at the start of Geyser Road. This was a very nicely groomed gravel road. We saw some road maintenance equipment and it was obvious that it had been used recently. Apparently, we were not driving fast enough and a little Subaru Outback went blasting around us and raced off into the distance. I was happy to let them go by so we could take our time gawking at the scenery as it was quite beautiful. Near the top there was another parking lot/overlook area with some more road equipment. Just past this spot there was freshly dumped gravel. It was "spread" but still quite deep, probably 8-10" in most places. It had not yet been compacted. This was a lot of fun in the Jeep, but would have been difficult on the bikes, especially for Sarah as she doesn't like riding in anything deep and loose. The corners got tighter and slower as we ascended. Eventually we reached the summit and there was a small camp area with trail maps displayed under a cover and what looked like new vault toilets. It was now 38 F at around 3:15-3:30pm on a sunny day! The toilets were very clean and did not smell at all. We just had to tolerate TONS of Daddy Long Leg spiders all over the walls and floor inside! It didn't bother me or Daniel, but I don't think Sarah cared for them! Seeing the time, we knew we had to start heading back to town. I REALLY wanted to keep going though. Someday I will ride up in these mountains and explore all these roads.
As was usual, the run back went faster than the run out. We got back into town, found a car wash, and I got busy knocking all the mud off the Jeep. We didn't have to get it spotless, just basically clean. Then we gassed up. But we still had some time left, so we decided to drive out UT 128 along the Colorado River the way we had come into town a few days ago so we could see the canyons one more time. The sun was getting low and it made for dramatic lighting. Then it was back to town, top off the gas, and drop off the Jeep. There were no new dings or scrapes, so no extra fees. That said, there were almost $100 in taxes and state, county, and city "fees" tacked on to the bill! So the total for two days of rental came to about $675. I have to say that the Jeep experience was really nice. We all agreed that being in a Jeep was nice. Yes, riding the bikes out here would also be fun, at least for me and Daniel, but it was also nice to not have to worry about one wrong move putting one of us on the ground and potentially hurting one of us and tearing up a bike. It's not that we didn't have to be careful in the Jeep. It was just a different kind of being careful with different consequences for a mistake. The odds of making a mistake are also considerably lower in the Jeep as it doesn't require quite the same level of skill and concentration on any given terrain. Besides, being able to roll up the windows and close the top when it got freaking cold was kind of nice
As we were walking back to the hotel, we ran into Jerome and Jess, the couple we met yesterday at the Mineral Canyon switchbacks. They were going to get dinner at a bar/grill near the hotel. They invited us to join them, but this was a place that required you to be 21 to get in. They thought Sarah and Daniel would be fine to get in. It was then that I pointed out she was the "big" sister at 19 and he was the "little" brother, having just recently turned 17. They got a kick out of that. We talked a bit more and then went our separate ways. When we got back to the hotel I found a note on my bike. Janet, the lady from the hot tub visit last night, had left a very nice note for us thanking us for the visit and wishing us safe journey for the last few days of the trip. That was kind of cool. It was still early since we had to get the Jeep back so early in the evening, so we hung out for a while and then eventually decided to go get dinner. While walking back from the rental company we had passed the Moab Diner and stopped in to look at their menu. We decided then we'd come back for dinner. It was a good choice! This was a large classic diner with typical diner food, which included serving breakfast during all hours. The pancakes were HUGE!! I was able to finish my sausage and eggs, but could only barely put away one of the pancakes. I had to stop before making myself sick. Sarah got something smaller so she could save room for ice cream. I failed to do that. It was a good thing she did though as her "one scoop" was massive! She was a bit surprised when they brought it out to her. She gave it a good effort but was not able to finish it. Stuffed and swollen, we waddled back to the hotel. Daniel headed inside to start editing videos, texting friends, etc,... Sarah and I decided to go walking as atonement for our gluttony. We essentially walked to the Northern edge of town and back, which made me kind of thirsty. We were already getting close to the hotel when I decided I wanted to go back to a gas station a few blocks back and grab a beer to enjoy while sitting out on the hotel's second floor patio area. That turned out to be a full blown ordeal that required FAR more walking than the beer was finally worth in the end. I had no idea it would be so hard just to find ONE beer that was not 20 oz or bigger to drink. I don't know why, but the big beer cans are far more prevalent in Utah than the typical 12 oz cans in Texas. I eventually found a single serving Fosters and got back to the hotel after working off some serious calories! Sarah and I sat out on the patio and enjoyed another beautiful evening. She did whatever she does on her phone and I spent time just reflecting on our trip and that it was coming to an all too rapid closure.
Tomorrow we'd be heading to Farmington and that would be it. The bikes would be loaded on the trailer and we'd start the boring drone across New Mexico and Northwest Texas. I'd still have some time off as I would not be going back to work until November 1st. I knew we couldn't stay on the road indefinitely, and part of me really didn't want to. But, there is another part of me that dreads going back to the daily routine of the last five years that made those five years go by like a flash. Even though the trip felt like it had gone by quickly, the start of the trip seemed like so long ago. At home, the days blurred together in one similar day after another with nothing to really distinguish one day from another, thus making time seem like it had been compressed into a moment. On the trip, even though we had a daily routine, each day presented something new and unique that kept them from all just blurring together in a homogeneous lump. This made time feel like it was passing slower from one day to the next, stretching it out rather than compressing it. We were living life, not just existing... The last five years of my life had felt almost like I was imprisoned because of my inability to get far from home due to work. The last 49 days I have finally felt free again. Who wants to go back to prison after having been freed? Still, there are bills to be paid and responsibilities. I am in no place where I can even remotely consider retiring. I just wish I could find something to do that would pay the necessary bills while still allowing me to live each day rather than just exist. I had hoped that somewhere along the way I might meet someone or come up with some idea that might provide me a real opportunity to change how I support my family in a way that would let me have more time to do things other than just work. That didn't happen. That said, I realize I have been blessed with a job that got me to a place financially where I could afford to take three months off, buy bikes and gear for the kids, and pay for a trip like this. As many people have mentioned along the way, this could easily be a once in a lifetime kind of trip and I am incredibly grateful to have been able to spend this time with Sarah and Daniel, seeing so many amazing places, riding great roads, and meeting so many cool people! A LOT of people never get the chance to do something like this. This helps take some of the sting off going back to the grind, but it will still be a grind.
Heading West out of town on Kane Springs Creek Rd.
This corner got the Jeep tipped sideways pretty good!
The road rounds the corner right where all the clouds converge
The road goes left to right at the center of the image
A pull out on a promontory along the way to Hurrah Pass
Nice smooth part of the road
Balanced rocks abound...
Potash ponds across the river
Atop Hurrah Pass
Small step heading down the West side of Hurrah Pass
Sheer and LONG drops!
This is not a lens distortion. It looks this way in person as well...
Making sure no one was coming before I start heading down this corner
The "road" runs along the bottom edge of the rock formations
And now we get into the sand!
Heading back after getting a ways out onto Lockhart Basin Road and playing in more sand
LOTS of blind corners
Fracture analysis engineers get excited about this kind of image
Back near Moab on Kane Springs Creek Road
Bike trails down in center right and lower right
A few minutes outside of town before we got lunch
Heading toward La Sal mountains on start of the La Sal Loop
Fresh snow from rains that came through last night
Super nice road!
Everywhere we've been on this trip there have been huge fires in the not so distant past.
Fun switchbacks as we neared the top
Up into the snow near the top of Geyser Pass
Windshield got a bit dirty after blasting through a BIG mud puddle
City of Moab center right of image
Looking West towards the Colorado River
Heading back out along UT 128 before having to take the Jeep back
That is supposedly ONE scoop!
Saw this in the parking lot of a hotel. How cool is this!?
Can be yours for a mere $24K...
Sarah decided that she would NEVER stay in this hotel
Inside the lobby!
On the wall outside the lobby
The 2nd floor patio area at our hotel, a nice spot to end an evening.
Sunday, October 1st.
We got a bit earlier start today because I wanted to make sure we got to use the Jeep as much as reasonably possible. We stopped to get more water and snacks before heading West out of town on Kane Springs Creek Road. This was paved and followed along the South side of the Colorado River for a short distance before turning to gravel and heading off into Kane Springs Creek Canyon. Here the road got quite twisty. There were a LOT of trail bike riders out here, pedal bikes, not motorcycles. Some of the trails they ride looked a bit too dicey for me! The road was easy going for a while, but then turned away from Kane Springs Creek and started climbing toward Chicken Corners and Hurrah Pass. It became quite narrow in places and the rough spots started to come more frequently and last longer each time. The Jeep dash had an off-road app that showed information about the Jeep: gearing, 4WD vs 2WD status, tranny temp, roll and pitch angles, and more. I think the highest pitch we hit was around 22-23 degrees and a max roll angle of 18 degrees (which felt wayyy more by seat of the pants!) There were also several places where there were multiple tracks for the road and one would be significantly rougher than the other. We tried a few of those rougher spots and the Jeep got through them effortlessly. I did need Daniel to do some occasional spotting for me to make sure where my front tires were when the front end was up so high I couldn't see what was in front of me. Once we really got into the Chicken Corners, the views were simply amazing! The same was true of Hurrah Pass where it was windy and cool!
After letting a group of side by sides go down first, we headed down the West side of Hurrah Pass on Lockhart Basin Road.. This was just as twisty and rough as the climb up the East side. Near the bottom there was a nice campground area with toilets. After this, the road mostly leveled out. It was still twisty and rocky, but soon turned to sand. The Jeep really liked to just float over the sand and it made the road feel super smooth. I was looking for a particular place to stop before turning around to head back to town. When I rode this years ago with some other TWT members, we had just completed a particularly rough section of Lockhart Basin Road when we got to a dry sandy creek bed and stopped to rest in the shade of some trees. Zipping along through the sand at a nice clip it did not take us long to reach the same spot. There were tracks going all over the place in the sand so we had some fun getting turned around and doing a few ledge climbs. Then we started backtracking to town. I always say that an out and back road is like riding two different roads because it isn't the same going both directions, which is why I don't always worry about roads "going through" and coming out somewhere else when I am planning rides. Understanding that backtracking isn't always a bad thing is a good life lesson for the kids
We did move a bit faster going back as we were now more familiar with the road and knew better what to expect.Back in town we grabbed a quick lunch and Frosty at Wendy's. There was a group of KTM 690 enduros and a KLR in the parking lot. They looked like they were getting ready to spend the week riding and camping in the area. It would be very easy to spend a week or more riding out here without having to repeat much of what you had already ridden, especially if you are up for some of the more technical trails. We wished them luck and then headed North out of town to see about visiting Arches NP. When we turned off US 191 onto the road that goes to the park, it was immediately obvious we were not going to be visiting the park. First, there was a LONG line of people waiting to get in. Second, it appeared that a permit, above and beyond a normal annual park pass, was required to get into the park. I have to say I think this is LAME in the extreme! If people have a park pass, they should be allowed in any time the parks are open. Requiring an extra permit really makes it hard to visit parks when you are on a trip and don't always know exactly when and where you will be ahead of the time you want to visit. Mild rant mode off now... I remembered seeing what looked like an interesting drive in the trail guide provided by the Jeep rental company, the La Sal Loop. For many years I have been looking at my collection of maps and Google Earth wondering about getting up and over those mountains from Moab, UT., to Gateway, CO. There is a maze of roads in the mountains and I never really found out which ones might be easy or really technical. According to the guide, the La Sal Loop was easy. We still had the Jeep for about three more hours, so we decided to just head out as far as we could get in an hour and a half and then turn back.
The loop started around seven miles South of Moab off of US 191. We could see that the tops of the mountains had a fresh dusting of snow from the rains that moved through the area last night. Also, the Aspens were really changing colors now! The road was paved as it lead away from US 191 into the base of the mountains. It quickly reached the boundary of the Manti-La Sal NF. It was readily apparent we would not have time to do the entire loop, so we opted to just run up to Geyser Pass. The road stayed paved until we got up into the mountains at the start of Geyser Road. This was a very nicely groomed gravel road. We saw some road maintenance equipment and it was obvious that it had been used recently. Apparently, we were not driving fast enough and a little Subaru Outback went blasting around us and raced off into the distance. I was happy to let them go by so we could take our time gawking at the scenery as it was quite beautiful. Near the top there was another parking lot/overlook area with some more road equipment. Just past this spot there was freshly dumped gravel. It was "spread" but still quite deep, probably 8-10" in most places. It had not yet been compacted. This was a lot of fun in the Jeep, but would have been difficult on the bikes, especially for Sarah as she doesn't like riding in anything deep and loose. The corners got tighter and slower as we ascended. Eventually we reached the summit and there was a small camp area with trail maps displayed under a cover and what looked like new vault toilets. It was now 38 F at around 3:15-3:30pm on a sunny day! The toilets were very clean and did not smell at all. We just had to tolerate TONS of Daddy Long Leg spiders all over the walls and floor inside! It didn't bother me or Daniel, but I don't think Sarah cared for them! Seeing the time, we knew we had to start heading back to town. I REALLY wanted to keep going though. Someday I will ride up in these mountains and explore all these roads.
As was usual, the run back went faster than the run out. We got back into town, found a car wash, and I got busy knocking all the mud off the Jeep. We didn't have to get it spotless, just basically clean. Then we gassed up. But we still had some time left, so we decided to drive out UT 128 along the Colorado River the way we had come into town a few days ago so we could see the canyons one more time. The sun was getting low and it made for dramatic lighting. Then it was back to town, top off the gas, and drop off the Jeep. There were no new dings or scrapes, so no extra fees. That said, there were almost $100 in taxes and state, county, and city "fees" tacked on to the bill! So the total for two days of rental came to about $675. I have to say that the Jeep experience was really nice. We all agreed that being in a Jeep was nice. Yes, riding the bikes out here would also be fun, at least for me and Daniel, but it was also nice to not have to worry about one wrong move putting one of us on the ground and potentially hurting one of us and tearing up a bike. It's not that we didn't have to be careful in the Jeep. It was just a different kind of being careful with different consequences for a mistake. The odds of making a mistake are also considerably lower in the Jeep as it doesn't require quite the same level of skill and concentration on any given terrain. Besides, being able to roll up the windows and close the top when it got freaking cold was kind of nice
As we were walking back to the hotel, we ran into Jerome and Jess, the couple we met yesterday at the Mineral Canyon switchbacks. They were going to get dinner at a bar/grill near the hotel. They invited us to join them, but this was a place that required you to be 21 to get in. They thought Sarah and Daniel would be fine to get in. It was then that I pointed out she was the "big" sister at 19 and he was the "little" brother, having just recently turned 17. They got a kick out of that. We talked a bit more and then went our separate ways. When we got back to the hotel I found a note on my bike. Janet, the lady from the hot tub visit last night, had left a very nice note for us thanking us for the visit and wishing us safe journey for the last few days of the trip. That was kind of cool. It was still early since we had to get the Jeep back so early in the evening, so we hung out for a while and then eventually decided to go get dinner. While walking back from the rental company we had passed the Moab Diner and stopped in to look at their menu. We decided then we'd come back for dinner. It was a good choice! This was a large classic diner with typical diner food, which included serving breakfast during all hours. The pancakes were HUGE!! I was able to finish my sausage and eggs, but could only barely put away one of the pancakes. I had to stop before making myself sick. Sarah got something smaller so she could save room for ice cream. I failed to do that. It was a good thing she did though as her "one scoop" was massive! She was a bit surprised when they brought it out to her. She gave it a good effort but was not able to finish it. Stuffed and swollen, we waddled back to the hotel. Daniel headed inside to start editing videos, texting friends, etc,... Sarah and I decided to go walking as atonement for our gluttony. We essentially walked to the Northern edge of town and back, which made me kind of thirsty. We were already getting close to the hotel when I decided I wanted to go back to a gas station a few blocks back and grab a beer to enjoy while sitting out on the hotel's second floor patio area. That turned out to be a full blown ordeal that required FAR more walking than the beer was finally worth in the end. I had no idea it would be so hard just to find ONE beer that was not 20 oz or bigger to drink. I don't know why, but the big beer cans are far more prevalent in Utah than the typical 12 oz cans in Texas. I eventually found a single serving Fosters and got back to the hotel after working off some serious calories! Sarah and I sat out on the patio and enjoyed another beautiful evening. She did whatever she does on her phone and I spent time just reflecting on our trip and that it was coming to an all too rapid closure.
Tomorrow we'd be heading to Farmington and that would be it. The bikes would be loaded on the trailer and we'd start the boring drone across New Mexico and Northwest Texas. I'd still have some time off as I would not be going back to work until November 1st. I knew we couldn't stay on the road indefinitely, and part of me really didn't want to. But, there is another part of me that dreads going back to the daily routine of the last five years that made those five years go by like a flash. Even though the trip felt like it had gone by quickly, the start of the trip seemed like so long ago. At home, the days blurred together in one similar day after another with nothing to really distinguish one day from another, thus making time seem like it had been compressed into a moment. On the trip, even though we had a daily routine, each day presented something new and unique that kept them from all just blurring together in a homogeneous lump. This made time feel like it was passing slower from one day to the next, stretching it out rather than compressing it. We were living life, not just existing... The last five years of my life had felt almost like I was imprisoned because of my inability to get far from home due to work. The last 49 days I have finally felt free again. Who wants to go back to prison after having been freed? Still, there are bills to be paid and responsibilities. I am in no place where I can even remotely consider retiring. I just wish I could find something to do that would pay the necessary bills while still allowing me to live each day rather than just exist. I had hoped that somewhere along the way I might meet someone or come up with some idea that might provide me a real opportunity to change how I support my family in a way that would let me have more time to do things other than just work. That didn't happen. That said, I realize I have been blessed with a job that got me to a place financially where I could afford to take three months off, buy bikes and gear for the kids, and pay for a trip like this. As many people have mentioned along the way, this could easily be a once in a lifetime kind of trip and I am incredibly grateful to have been able to spend this time with Sarah and Daniel, seeing so many amazing places, riding great roads, and meeting so many cool people! A LOT of people never get the chance to do something like this. This helps take some of the sting off going back to the grind, but it will still be a grind.
Heading West out of town on Kane Springs Creek Rd.
This corner got the Jeep tipped sideways pretty good!
The road rounds the corner right where all the clouds converge
The road goes left to right at the center of the image
A pull out on a promontory along the way to Hurrah Pass
Nice smooth part of the road
Balanced rocks abound...
Potash ponds across the river
Atop Hurrah Pass
Small step heading down the West side of Hurrah Pass
Sheer and LONG drops!
This is not a lens distortion. It looks this way in person as well...
Making sure no one was coming before I start heading down this corner
The "road" runs along the bottom edge of the rock formations
And now we get into the sand!
Heading back after getting a ways out onto Lockhart Basin Road and playing in more sand
LOTS of blind corners
Fracture analysis engineers get excited about this kind of image
Back near Moab on Kane Springs Creek Road
Bike trails down in center right and lower right
A few minutes outside of town before we got lunch
Heading toward La Sal mountains on start of the La Sal Loop
Fresh snow from rains that came through last night
Super nice road!
Everywhere we've been on this trip there have been huge fires in the not so distant past.
Fun switchbacks as we neared the top
Up into the snow near the top of Geyser Pass
Windshield got a bit dirty after blasting through a BIG mud puddle
City of Moab center right of image
Looking West towards the Colorado River
Heading back out along UT 128 before having to take the Jeep back
That is supposedly ONE scoop!
Saw this in the parking lot of a hotel. How cool is this!?
Can be yours for a mere $24K...
Sarah decided that she would NEVER stay in this hotel
Inside the lobby!
On the wall outside the lobby
The 2nd floor patio area at our hotel, a nice spot to end an evening.
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We could already see in the distance that the San Juan Mountains had received quite a bit of snow since we were last there three or four days ago!
Nonetheless, there were a few times where I had to stop, take a few deep breaths, make serious eye contact, and lay out how it was gonna be. In the end, most of my memories are of the kids being REALLY excited about the riding, the scenery, meeting new people, and all of us laughing a lot every day, even on the rough days. Can it get any better than that?
It is hard to stress just how badly I needed this break. Despite being physically tired from the riding, I can't remember how long it had been since I last felt as good physically and mentally as I did during the trip. Just the overall stress and tension in my body dropped noticeably. Despite our horrible eating habits, I still managed to lose 17 lbs over the course of the trip. As were were getting closer to home though, I could feel that tension building in my body even though I knew I still had another month before going back to work. Once home, any time we'd go somewhere that was more than 30-40 miles from home, I would start feeling really anxious because I felt like I needed to stay close to home in case work came in, even though I was still on vacation! I went riding with Sarah last Saturday and we ventured further from home than I would normally go and I mentioned to her while riding that I could feel my body physically reacting to being that far from home. I didn't miss that at all....
I said a quick prayer, took a deep breath or ten, and tried to calm myself down. I knew the ONLY way to recover the thread was to immediately shut down the forum and use the most recent database backup to do a restore over the active database. The forum had to be shut down immediately to prevent anyone else from adding new content that would just be lost when the backup overwrote the active database. I got REALLY lucky! The forum is setup to create a backup of the database every night. It does this around 1:00am I think. So at most, in doing the restore we might have lost about an hour of board activity. There weren't many people on the forum at that time, so hopefully there was very little data loss. My hosting service support techs got the database restored from the backup around 4:00am. As you can see, this thread is intact. However, if you go back to this post in the thread,
