Moab October Excursion

[moose]

Hole in the rock redemption run looked amazing and was bummed that I couldn't get off work to go, but I'm grateful for the 10 days I had in Moab...I did a combo of hiking and wheeling and will try to focus on wheeling since that is what this forum is about

I left SLC early afternoon on a Saturday and headed for Willow Springs Road, just north of the Arches National Park main entrance...this is a back way into the park. There is no pay station, just a fence and sign announcing entrance to the park...there are also numerous dispersed camping spots along this road with porta pottys scattered throughout. To make it to the Arches entrance, just follow the signs for the dinosaur tracks and follow the road past the tracks. any stock 4wd can make it all the way into the park. I arrived late afternoon, checked out the dinosaur tracks and then headed back towards 191 and found a camping spot.

[moose]

Next day I made my way into Arches and headed toward Tower Arch road. There are two ways to get to Tower arch...once officially into the park by way of Willow Springs, you will see a wooden sign with destinations. One of the destinations is Eye of the Whale Arch. This road is the easier way and I think any 4wd vehicle can make this road. Mostly loose sandy roads with occasional minor obstacles...with the exception of one pretty steep boulder. I took this road on the way back after going the harder way to Tower Arch. The other entrance to Tower Arch road is just south of the parking lot to Landscape Arch...btw I have been using an app called On X Offroad to find all my routes. You'll know your going the right way when you see a white sign at the start of a dirt road. This washboard road goes for a way and then a road off shoots the the west. I took this road to a gate keeper obstacle that I failed to get a picture of but would have been a lot easier with a spotter... I did run into a 2000something Suburban that had made it, so it's definately doable. Although he was too scared to keep going much after the gate keeper. The road after was basically 1-2ft steps for a couple miles, up and down. Then let up to having some sandy sections in between. I reached the end of the road and proceeded to hike to Tower Arch. I then left and took the easier way back towards Eye of the Whale and hiked to a handfull of other arches within the park.

[moose]

Next day, I went passed the Poison Spider Mesa trailhead and hiked up to Corona Arch and the other arches nearby. Then I drove up Long Canyon road. This is just a dirt road, but there are steep loose sections that 4wd make so much easier if you are going east to west...if starting from the west, it's all downhill and doable in just 2wd. The only obstacle is a hole in a rock tunnel. i made it through no problem with about a foot or so to spare on either side of my 4runner. I then continued to my destination, the Gemini Bridges.

[moose]

Gemini Bridges are a nice, off the beaten path hike. It's also short and easy and you can walk across both arch bridges. Wandering around the area has incredible views and I found a few anchor points if climbing/repelling is your thing. While looking over the edge, I noticed a dirt road at the base of the arch. You can see it in the middle of the shadowed section in the first of these pictures. I thought it'd be cool to see the bridges from the bottom. I wasn't wrong, but it took 2 hours to get there

[moose]

The trail to get to the bottom of the Gemini Bridges is called Bull Canyon. It's not technical but it'll take some time. A lot of rocks/boulders in the way. It also looks seldom traveled and I found myself off the trail and backtracking quite a bit. High clearance is recommended unless you have a spotter or aren't afraid of scraping. I actually parked and just hiked the last 1/4 mile because it was starting to get dark and walking was so much faster...I ended up driving back out most of the canyon in darkness. I got off trail multiple times and had amazing views of clear starlit skies. This was my favorite trail of the trip and was also completely spontaneous.

[moose]

Finding my way back...

[moose]

Chicken Corners was the destination for the next day but it didn't happen. To get there, you first have to cross Hurrah Pass. It's more than a dirt road, but I did see a fearless Subaru slowly pushing along and make it to the top off the pass. At the top there are amazing views which include the Potash Ponds. These ponds produce a good chunk of the US's potassium. I completed the pass and when I arrived at the start of Chicken Corners I decided that I was over driving for the day and decided to head back early. On the way back I stopped at the Poison Spider trailhead which is also the trailhead to Longbow Arch which includes dinosaur prints and petroglyphs along the hiking trail.

[moose]

Next on the agenda was to run the more traditional Moab trails Fins n things and Hells Revenge. For those that don't know, there is a north and south side to fins n things. The south side is where all the hard obstacles are. I ran both, starting on the south side. Lockers were needed on the south side only. Didn't take many pictures, and if I did it would be pointless...pics do not come close to actually being there. I snapped a rear upper control arm somewhere on the trail and realized this towards the end of trail. Instead of immediately running Hells Revenge as planned, I went back into Moab and ordered a new control arm. Shout out to the NAPA in Moab, super friendly people and had the control arm delivered the next morning.

[moose]

I picked up and installed a new control arm and was back at the Salt Flats Rec area by 2pm the next day. First thing I did was go up and down Baby Lions Back and then onto Hells Revenge.

[Jim]

moose previously posted:

[moose]

I wanted to run the entire Hells Revenge trail but ran out of daylight. I went to the river (by Hell's Gate) and then over past Mickey's Hot. There are some very steep climbs but fyi I did not use my lockers at all. Also fyi, I did not go on any main attractions. From there I cut across a newly opened trail to 4x4s, which was previously a bike trail. On this map it connects near the Tip-over-Challenge, just south of the "You Are Here" arrow across to spot #1. The most dangerous spot is at the very beginning. It's a narrow section that slants to the left and I soon found myself sliding towards the rock wall. I stopped when my front tire and rock sliders connected with a low rock ledge. I had at least an inch to spare though...a spotter here would have been helpful. I took the alternate route (dotted line south of #1) and made it to the exit decent just as darkness took over.

[moose]

...

[moose]

I then headed to the southside of Canyonlands National Park aka The Needles for camping and hiking. And to run Elephant Hill. I scraped every skid plate on this trail. I also rescued a Jeep Renegade that had high centered on a boulder and then dugout a ditch under each tire. There was a section that required you to drive in reverse because there is no place to turn around. A guy that goes by BleepinJeep on YouTube has a good video of this trail. He also had a better shot of Convergence Point, where the Green and Colorado river intersect...the green river is actually green in his shots. All in all this was a fun challenging trail that would have gone a lot smoother and been more fun with a comrade to help spot. This was my second favorite trail and has convinced me that I should go to 33s.

[Jim]

moose previously posted:

[moose]

Jim previously posted:

[Java]

What a great trip! I'm heading out there next week for a couple of days and plan to do Bull Canyon, I've never done it before and with the potential for the area to close it might be now or never.

[moose]

Java previously posted:

[Mountaineer01]

Awesome rundown and pictures! I was just out there for a long weekend, but unfortunately my truck was not usable at the time, so we had to take my fiancés car and stuck to paved roads and light hiking. I plan to get back out next spring and do some wheeling and camping!

[Java]

moose previously posted:

[Java]

moose previously posted: