Rim Rocker Trail Montrose to Moab Sept 19/20

[open_circuit]

Feeler / planning thread for the fun route to Moab before the Canyonlands adventure.
Rim Rocker trail (https://rimrockertrail.org/) is 160 miles. Nucla is near the midpoint and has fuel. Camp on trail (need to research where dispersed camping is permitted) Saturday night and roll into Moab / Monticello Sunday.
Probably will leave Denver area early Saturday and try to start in the trail around noon or 1pm from Montrose.

[speedkills]

I'm in.

[Jaycifer]

Pending how the wife feels and if we’re still here, we’re in!

[open_circuit]

Maps for reference:
https://rimrockertrail.org/wp-conten...apMontrose.pdf
https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE...eprd511370.pdf

It looks like there is dispersed camping all along 540, 402, and 503 (the rimrocker main route) per the MVUM.

[Jaycifer]

open_circuit previously posted:

[open_circuit]

Saturday is going to be a long day getting to Montrose and starting on the trail. I assume I will be ready to make camp before getting to Nucla. Sunday I'll continue on towards Moab. I would like to find some good mileage estimates for the route, as it looks like Nucla is quite a bit closer to Montrose than half way.

I think Shane and I are pretty flexible regarding where we camp Saturday. Just looking for some adventure on this trail and to see something new. I don't want to run the trail in the dark and miss all the cool stuff to see.

Edit: found some mileage on the rimrocker website. Apparently it is 53.3 miles from Montrose to Nucla and only about two hours drive time because the trail is mostly graded dirt or pavement on this section. We may prefer to press past Nucla and camp further down the trail if it proves to be this quick through the first section.

[RockyMtRebel]

I’m going to pass on this one and just meet you guys in Utah the morning of Monday 9/21. Ive heard the stretch of RimRocker thru Easter Utah has some very narrow spots that my truck would not be happy with....
this sounds really fun though and I’m sure you guys will love it!
My son and his friend might be coming with me with cameras and I’m looking at doing another multi-day trip Wednesday-Saturday on the other side of the river (taking 95 thru Blanding and west to Hite crossing) and the many slot canyons and 4x4 roads between there and Hanksville. Haven’t decided what we’re going to do but I’ll post a thread planning post soon in case anyone wants to join us.

[TyTheJeepGuy]

I'm in!

[Jaycifer]

It looks like it follows 141 for quite some time with considerable access to the highway so I don’t see a problem going alittle further to keep with the group. Adding some more miles of fun sounds worth it to me. Especially the water crossing right after nucla

[open_circuit]

Sounds like I should post it on the calendar, then. Will work on that this week.

[open_circuit]

I'm having trouble finding the correct resource to locate legal dispersed camping outside of the Uncompahgre National Forest. The MVUM maps cover the forest quite well, but the Rim Rocker trail leaves the forest a few miles before Nucla, and does not re-join National Forest roads again until very close to the Utah border, when the trail enters the Manti La Sal National Forest.

The Rimrockertrail.org map shows a campsite called "The Ballpark" near Uravan (an old uranium and vanadium mining town that became a superfund site in the 80s - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uravan,_Colorado). I would guess there is more camping available than just this one site, since this map doesn't call out any of the dispersed camping within the NF boundaries.

Does anyone have a pointer to a useful map or website that can help locate some camping?

[Tom]

Link to blm regs. I think you can camp most anywhere on blm land.
https://www.blm.gov/programs/recreation/camping

[open_circuit]

Thanks Tom. I am trying to confirm which portions of the trail are on BLM land. Some segments are not. In particular, a section in Utah is through a private trust holding which is sold off to fund schools in Utah. I thought some of what I read said some of the trail is bordered on each side closely by private property, and there are many mining claims in the area of Uravan. I am hoping to satisfy myself that the areas we may stop in are on public BLM land.

[Tom]

Interactive blm maps website. Once you find the exact interactive area I think this should tell you what is blm.
https://blm-egis.maps.arcgis.com/app...3197cadcfa89f0

But from this it looks like no blm until utah. Yellow I believe is blm.

[Tom]

Just found this free app called freeroam-boondocking and more for ipad. According to this it looks like there is blm land all around nucla. Yellow/orange is blm

its also available on googleplay
Icon looks like a cactus

[TyTheJeepGuy]

So plan for this is highway driving to Nucla on 19th, dispersed camping that night near Nucla, and rest of Rimrocker for the 20th?

[open_circuit]

No, I planned to drive to Montrose on Saturday and take the trail from the start near Montrose to Nucla. Camp near Nucla, then the rest of the trail on the 20th. The highway driving ends just outside of Montrose.

[TyTheJeepGuy]

Ok noted, I'll get that in my calendar.

Edit: follow-up, do those that are interested in this want to meet somewhere in the front range and convoy out? Or just meet at the trailhead at some time at Montrose?

[open_circuit]

IceBox Ty previously posted:

[open_circuit]

More GPX tracks of interest:

https://www.jeeptheusa.com/nucla-gp.html
https://www.jeeptheusa.com/25-mesa-road-gp.html
https://www.jeeptheusa.com/rimrocker-east-20.html
https://www.jeeptheusa.com/rimrocker-trail-west-20.html
https://www.jeeptheusa.com/moab-jeep-trails.html (minor trails and access roads at bottom)
https://www.jeeptheusa.com/deep-creek-gp.html
https://www.jeeptheusa.com/montrose-jeep-trails.html (access roads at bottom)

Combining the above covers the rim rocker trail route. It takes most or all of these to assemble the route.