Riotcake previously posted:
"Illinois Gulch is a little northwest of "the gulches"? Where is little Moab? I don't know about that one. I would put in a vote for Mayberry or longwater for my own greedy reason of I haven't done them yet. But I haven't done Illinois/little Moab either. Or regular sized Moab, but that's a topic for another day..."
Lil Moab is an obstacle in the Rainbow falls area - copy this lat long into google maps for exact location (
39.143920, -105.086503)- there is a bit of a loop that can be made and I am not sure what the other road is (edit - Missouri Gulch Rd and Hidden Valley Rd can be made into various loops). Most of the roads in the area are pretty easy - maybe some washout to navigate, but 2wd in the summer. In the winter, the snow can make it a bit more slippery and 4wd is nice. I have not been on any of them in a few years, and they can change depending on how recently the FS ran a grader on them. They can start to get more rutted and washed-out (fun), but then the grader flattens them back down and they are easy. Hotel gulch is kind of narrow but again easy. If its like it was...its a driving around in the snow in the ramparts kind of day with some playing on the lil moab feature. There is a quarry of some kind just to the west that might have some fun spots - I don't remember if this was accessible or closed off (even if accessible, probably not legal).
In terms of the gulches - I like Metberry better than Longwater, especially if there is snow. There are a couple more fun spots on Metberry, although nothing as challenging as the longwater rock. Longwater also has steeper grades which could be a PITA with snow. Not sure how much snow is in the area - or will be in a couple weeks - its been a bit snowy compared to early in the year when things were still pretty dry and we ran Hackett.
See if this google map link works - should put the lil moab obstacle right in the center with the quarry off to the left (west):
https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1438...!3m1!1e3?hl=en
There is also this area just to the north accessed from Illinois Gulch that I don't remember but looks a bit more interesting than most of the roads:
https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1551...!3m1!1e3?hl=en