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Since its officially scheduled I thought we needed a Planned Run thread.
Just a thought when doing Fins and Things we could take a 1/2 hour or so and run Little Baby Lions Back.
Its a kind of fun intro to slick rock wheeling and just a bit on the Moab side of Fins and Things trailhead.
[video=youtube;B30xUvrmU5A]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B30xUvrmU5A[/video]
First question. What happened to Hell's Revenge? I am easy. Just wondering.
Probably would be good to share phone numbers in case someone has any issues getting to meeting locations each morning. I will pm mine to you guys.
Hell's Revenge -- James wanted to run that, and we had it on the list when he was considering joining the week long trip. I am not especially interested in running it with my wife and kids.
A lot of the major obstacles (hot tubs, Hells gate, escalator) are optional I believe. There are still some worthy points of the trail. Are you looking at more in the level of Fins? There are many in that rating category or lower to choose from. I've not been there so am open to the general experience in reality.
We bypassed the 3 big obstacles (or lets say obstacles with consequence) when we ran it a couple weeks ago: Hells Gate, Escalator (where the CanAm rolled on its side - can we say that is why we skipped it, the atv was blocking the trail?) and Tip Over Challenge (Jim will appreciate my internal chuckle here). The rest of it seemed quite easy - in some ways easier than Fins as the transitions on and off the rock slabs were less of a concern. If you run Fins and like it then you won't have any issue with Hells using the 3 bypasses (which are all well marked). In some ways the scariest part of Hells is the entrance fin - gets your attention right off the paved parking lot. In terms of vehicle abuse - TOTW was tougher on the jeep and will put the skid protection and bumpers to use. I think Miller Rock is a great warm-up for Moab - the entrance climb up the rock slabs, the rock steps going up to the high point at Miller Rock, and of course the rock obstacle down by the creek - are all in the solid moderate to easy difficult category that is like Fins and TOTW.
[QUOTE=open_circuit;327709]Hell's Revenge -- James wanted to run that, and we had it on the list when he was considering joining the week long trip. I am not especially interested in running it with my wife and kids.[/QUOTE]Not a problem at all. Just inquiring. You planned the trip, you get first choice as to trails. Particularly with me being so late to the thread.
Tom (if you wished to run it and had the time): Skipping the obstacles and during the day and how close Hells is to town and how popular it is I'd easily consider running it solo. It does offer nice vistas over the Colorado River valley.
Getaklu:
My wife and kids are interested in scenery and interesting destinations, but won't handle high difficulty/technical trails well. I thought we would use Fins and Things as a benchmark to see whether they want to do something like Hell's Revenge (with bypasses) or stick to milder trails. My daughter requested Rainbow Terrace, which is a pretty easy (moderate rating) trail.
Also, I think my wife (and daughters?) want to spend a day in the national park or surrounding area hiking. If I can arrange for that without giving up my Jeep, that might be a good day to tackle Hell's or something else that they are uninterested in.
The biggest concern is just picking trails that are geographically connected to make the trail days work properly. Days are short this time of year, and picking trails blindly can result in several hours between finishing one trail and starting the next. Clearly the goal would be to hit stuff in Sand Flats area all in a group, for instance.
By the way, you all realize Sand Flats has a separate use fee? We'll have to buy some sort of permit to run those. This should not be a problem, but I don't know where/how to get the permit yet.
Some trail ideas:
[URL]https://www.jeeptheusa.com/moab-jeep-trails.html#List_of_Trails[/URL]
Fees are $5/day or $10/week for a vehicle:
[URL]https://www.grandcountyutah.net/296/Fees[/URL]
The visitor center may have them or would know where to get them.
[quote=open_circuit;327720]Sand Flats has a separate use fee? We'll have to buy some sort of permit to run those. This should not be a problem, but I don't know where/how to get the permit yet.[/quote]
You buy the permits when you drive into Sand Flats Rec area - they have ranger station/gate like a National Park. Its $5 cash (day), or $7 or $8 for credit card. They also give you a map - although its not the greatest of the various trails.
Looks like the station may only be open through October. The other option I saw was the courthouse, it has limited hours of 8-5 M-F.
Another reasonable trail guide:
[URL]https://www.rr4w.com/Trails-Home.cfm[/URL]
[QUOTE=Getaklu;327726]Looks like the station may only be open through October. The other option I saw was the courthouse, it has limited hours of 8-5 M-F.
Another reasonable trail guide:
[URL]https://www.rr4w.com/Trails-Home.cfm[/URL][/QUOTE]
I believe there is a self serve pay station at the main entrance with envelopes for paying, but not positive.
As Tom said...there is a self service pay station at the entrance.
[QUOTE=open_circuit;327720]Getaklu:
My wife and kids are interested in scenery and interesting destinations, but won't handle high difficulty/technical trails well. I thought we would use Fins and Things as a benchmark to see whether they want to do something like Hell's Revenge (with bypasses) or stick to milder trails. My daughter requested Rainbow Terrace, which is a pretty easy (moderate rating) trail.
Also, I think my wife (and daughters?) want to spend a day in the national park or surrounding area hiking. If I can arrange for that without giving up my Jeep, that might be a good day to tackle Hell's or something else that they are uninterested in.
The biggest concern is just picking trails that are geographically connected to make the trail days work properly. Days are short this time of year, and picking trails blindly can result in several hours between finishing one trail and starting the next. Clearly the goal would be to hit stuff in Sand Flats area all in a group, for instance.
By the way, you all realize Sand Flats has a separate use fee? We'll have to buy some sort of permit to run those. This should not be a problem, but I don't know where/how to get the permit yet.[/QUOTE]
Gemini Bridges & Bull Canyon go together well, then you can keep goiing to Dead Horse park, and take Long Canyon back. It's an awesome loop that is really easy but a lot of fun. For hiking and wheeling in the park, Elephant Hill is the best 4x4 trail in Moab IMO, and Elephant Hill hiking trail through Chesler Park is the best hike there, again IMO. They can hike to Devils Kitchen and meet you, you can do the Joint trail and then drive them out.
[QUOTE=open_circuit;327720]Getaklu:
My wife and kids are interested in scenery and interesting destinations, but won't handle high difficulty/technical trails well. I thought we would use Fins and Things as a benchmark to see whether they want to do something like Hell's Revenge (with bypasses) or stick to milder trails. My daughter requested Rainbow Terrace, which is a pretty easy (moderate rating) trail.[/QUOTE]
I totally understand. I love scenery too. I am up for whatever works for anyone, except maybe the real hard stuff and I don’t think I need be concerned about that.:D
this sounds interesting! I'll have to check our calendar to see when my son has off for school...I'll keep watching this one.
J.
[quote=jayson44;327752]this sounds interesting! I'll have to check our calendar to see when my son has off for school...I'll keep watching this one.[/quote]
My kids (Adams 12) are off all week. That makes this an easy week to plan some activities for us.
Met up with our travelling companions tonight and got their input on trails. We have a list of what we plan to run:
Day 1 (moderate day)
==============
Bull Canyon & Day Canyon (to the base of Gemini Bridges) with some light hiking
Gemini Bridges with some light hiking (you can hike on top of the bridges, very cool)
Long Canyon => back to Moab.
Day 2 (hard day)
===========
Onion Creek
Top of the World
Day 3 (Arches day)
============
Some hiking in Arches National Park. Leave some folks who want to hike more and take the Jeeps to go wheel:
Tower Arch
Fallen Peace Officer Trail
-- Pick up hikers
Return home via Willow Springs Road? (marked trail in Wells guide).
Obviously Fins & Hells revenge aren't on this list. If Getaklu and Tom want to hit those and/or other more challenging trails, feel free to pair off and run them without us. It looks like I'll have to run some of those on another trip to keep everyone in my house happy.
Getaklu -- depending on how much hiking / wheeling you want to do in Arches, you might like our day 3 plan.
[QUOTE=open_circuit;327802]Met up with our travelling companions tonight and got their input on trails. We have a list of what we plan to run:
Day 1 (moderate day)
==============
Bull Canyon & Day Canyon (to the base of Gemini Bridges) with some light hiking
Gemini Bridges with some light hiking (you can hike on top of the bridges, very cool)
Long Canyon => back to Moab.
Day 2 (hard day)
===========
Onion Creek
Top of the World
Day 3 (Arches day)
============
Some hiking in Arches National Park. Leave some folks who want to hike more and take the Jeeps to go wheel:
Tower Arch
Fallen Peace Officer Trail
-- Pick up hikers
Return home via Willow Springs Road? (marked trail in Wells guide).
Obviously Fins & Hells revenge aren't on this list. If Getaklu and Tom want to hit those and/or other more challenging trails, feel free to pair off and run them without us. It looks like I'll have to run some of those on another trip to keep everyone in my house happy.
Getaklu -- depending on how much hiking / wheeling you want to do in Arches, you might like our day 3 plan.[/QUOTE]
Looks fine to me although perhaps some l o o o n g days. They are all new to me so Fins and Hells are not an issue. I don't have the Wells book so don't know where the trail heads are except for Gemini. We should set up a meeting location for each morning somewhere in town I think. Getaklu and I have exchanged phone numbers. I still don't have yours Trent.