Many primitive desert camps are pretty, some beautiful and memorable but occasionally a camp is so surprising and extraordinary it defies description. Camp Maynard is such a camp. Some time ago, motorcyclist, racer and skilled rider Jason Maynard of Montrose Colorado found this camp quite by accident. While riding in the eastern Utah desert, a sand and slickrock wonderland that surely rivals motorcycle playgrounds anywhere in the world, Jason intended to climb a near vertical slickrock crag, something experts do with surprising ease. This time, though, circumstances made it prudent to abort the climb, veer off to the right on a narrow, rough, off-camber ledge that led to an apparent shelf. He found far more than a shelf. A large, recessed open bowl, unseen from below, has since been a favorite camp spot for Jason and friends. Jason didn't name this spot Camp Maynard but it's not surprising that one of his friends did.

I was fortunate to be invited to join Jason Maynard, Liz Harless, Jeremy Lownes, Joella Wilson and Dominick Nichols for a lunch break at Camp Maynard. Out of respect for Jason and his friends, I wouldn't tell you how to get to Camp Maynard even if I could and I can't because the road in also defies description, meandering through soft sands that shift with the winds, disappearing for long stretches on slag-strewn slickrock. Even with some knowledge of the area and a detailed description it's unlikely I would have found Camp Maynard had Jason not seen me go by while he was talking to other riders in a camp on the main road in (if 1 1/2 lanes of graded dirt, sand and rock with some stretches of gravel can be called a main road).

Pictures below don't do this camp justice. The two-dimensional flatness of photos and monochromatic blending of color obscure the elevation differences. At a glance, the camp photos make it look as though one could just walk out on the desert. But look closer. The parked vehicles represent the vertical difference between camp and the desert below. No part of the camp is visible from the parking area. All camp gear has to be lugged up a precipitous natural path of ledges and crevices to the hidden bowl above. Jason and Jeremy do ride their motorcycles up to the bowl, not by the foot path but up a much steeper climb and then a tricky traversal of steep slickrock to the camp. Jason's 450 Kawasaki motocrosser is visible in the camp pictures below.