Moab Memorial Day Weekend (3 Day Trip Report)

[AZ_Craig]

Saturday, May 24 (Day 1 of 3):

So we finally made it back up to Moab for the first time since 2017. The goal was to run a bunch of trails we had never done before, see a lot of new things, and revisit a couple of old favorites. Tried out the brand new Voco by IHG hotel; overall it was okay, definitely has some oddities that need to be worked out for it to live up to its full potential.

Our first day consisted of running up and over Hurrah Pass enroute to Chicken Corners. This was a new trail to us as we had not done it during our pervious Moab trips. We stopped at the Catacomb Rocks and had a lot of fun exploring through the interconnected caves (there were quite a few people there and it's definitely worth the short side trip off the main Chicken Corners route).

We stopped at the famous rubber chicken adorned sign for some pictures and our 3 and 8 year old boys loved the oddity of a bunch of rubber chickens hung up in the middle of the desert. Overall Hurrah Pass was pretty benign, but Chicken Corners is definitely a legitimate moderate trail with a few pretty rough spots to get through. Quickly realized that the decision to not take the steps off of my Raptor was going to be a bit of a liability after I landed one on a rock and took some bed liner off of it. This was a theme to soon repeat during the rest of the trip . Chicken Corners itself is not that bad, but it definitely would scare the crap out of people with a fear of heights or exposure. I found getting through it to feel tighter on the return trip than on the way out and definitely did not enjoy the 85+ inches of width I was dealing with in this spot. Got through with no drama though but a few folks were definitely amused watching me come through.

If you don't have a fear of heights, doing the hike around the "true" Chicken Corners at the end of the trail is pretty neat. After scrambling across a cliff that can't be more than maybe a couple feet wide above the Colorado River you end up on a whole hidden mesa.

On our return trip we hit the Jackson Hole loop trail; we didn't really take any pictures in this area, but did enjoy the scenary. There were a couple of pretty challenging ledges to get through, but nothing too terrible.

After a final stop at Birthing Rock to check out the Indian pictographs we headed back to Moab for the day getting back at about 6 PM.

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[Num Num]

Looks like fun, I hear it is getting hot out that way right now about now. We plan a fall trip but not sure if it will be this year. Thanks for sharing.

 

[AZ_Craig]

Looks like fun, I hear it is getting hot out that way right now about now. We plan a fall trip but not sure if it will be this year. Thanks for sharing.

Yes, it really was not that bad for us with highs maxing out around the upper 80s (especially considering it is running 10 to 15 degrees warmer around Phoenix now). Personally I would avoid Moab trips in June, July and August though.

Memorial Day and Labor Day seem like okay options though and it's probably not quite as much of a mad house as it can be some of the peak weekends in April and October.

I will post up the second and third day reports soon.

 

[NORCALGXP]

I just love wheeling in Moab. Looking forward to your additional post.

 

[SoCalBonanza]

NICE!
I did Chicken Corners in my Bronco Sport Badlands a few weeks ago. That and the side trip to Day Canyon off of Gemini Bridges Road are what talked me into trading in my BS for the full size version...


I can't wait for the fall to go back and try some of those again...

 

[Felix808]

Moab is always a good time. Thanks for sharing

 

[G1D1UP]

Saturday, May 24 (Day 1 of 3):

So we finally made it back up to Moab for the first time since 2017. The goal was to run a bunch of trails we had never done before, see a lot of new things, and revisit a couple of old favorites. Tried out the brand new Voco by IHG hotel; overall it was okay, definitely has some oddities that need to be worked out for it to live up to its full potential.

Our first day consisted of running up and over Hurrah Pass enroute to Chicken Corners. This was a new trail to us as we had not done it during our pervious Moab trips. We stopped at the Catacomb Rocks and had a lot of fun exploring through the interconnected caves (there were quite a few people there and it's definitely worth the short side trip off the main Chicken Corners route).

We stopped at the famous rubber chicken adorned sign for some pictures and our 3 and 8 year old boys loved the oddity of a bunch of rubber chickens hung up in the middle of the desert. Overall Hurrah Pass was pretty benign, but Chicken Corners is definitely a legitimate moderate trail with a few pretty rough spots to get through. Quickly realized that the decision to not take the steps off of my Raptor was going to be a bit of a liability after I landed one on a rock and took some bed liner off of it. This was a theme to soon repeat during the rest of the trip . Chicken Corners itself is not that bad, but it definitely would scare the crap out of people with a fear of heights or exposure. I found getting through it to feel tighter on the return trip than on the way out and definitely did not enjoy the 85+ inches of width I was dealing with in this spot. Got through with no drama though but a few folks were definitely amused watching me come through.

If you don't have a fear of heights, doing the hike around the "true" Chicken Corners at the end of the trail is pretty neat. After scrambling across a cliff that can't be more than maybe a couple feet wide above the Colorado River you end up on a whole hidden mesa.

On our return trip we hit the Jackson Hole loop trail; we didn't really take any pictures in this area, but did enjoy the scenary. There were a couple of pretty challenging ledges to get through, but nothing too terrible.

After a final stop at Birthing Rock to check out the Indian pictographs we headed back to Moab for the day getting back at about 6 PM.

Great photos! Did you have any issues airing down / airing up? Any trail issues with those stupid jeep tours or Sandrail/ Side by sides? In the past, I know those trails get jacked and crowded like the mall at Christmas time.

 

[AZ_Craig]

Great photos! Did you have any issues airing down / airing up? Any trail issues with those stupid jeep tours or Sandrail/ Side by sides? In the past, I know those trails get jacked and crowded like the mall at Christmas time.

I used to carry a Slime inflator that I could hook up to my battery, but recently picked up a Milwaukee M18 one with Lithium ion batteries (like this below):

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Milwauk...Portable-Inflator-Tool-Only-2848-20/320022879

I typically only go down to about 23 to 25 psi if I do air down (just haven't seen the need to go lower, especially with C-load tires). One of the batteries has enough juice to air back up probably at least 2 times in a day and I usually carry a spare battery. The only trail I actually ended up airing down on was Fins and Things since I wanted the extra traction on the steep slick rock features. I was planning to air down on Tower Arch if I needed to in the sand, but I actually had absolutely no problems getting through stuff. I think there had been a bit of rain in Moab a day or two before I got there which may have made it a bit easier to deal with.

No overcrowding issues whatsoever. Fins and Things was probably the busiest thing we ran, but other than pulling off to let side by side groups pass a few times and having to maybe wait on a couple of obstacles for 5 minutes or so, we pretty much were able to just keep moving through the whole trip.

My 2nd day was our longest and I'll write it up with a ton of pictures later tonight. Did Fins and Things, Gemini Bridges, Four Arch Canyon, Willow Springs Road (back route into Arches) and Tower Arch. Pretty much was out wheeling from 9 AM to 9 PM.

 

[AZ_Craig]

Sunday May 25 (Day 2 of 3):
.
So for this day we decided to stay in closer to Moab and see if we could optimize squeezing things in wanting to do both Fins and Things and Tower Arch on the trip. Our final day was going to be a trip up to the San Rafeal Swell which we had never explored before so we'd spend most of the day over 75 miles away from Moab. I had run Fins and Things back in 2012 with my JKU and remembered it being a blast. I figured the difficultly level would be just about right for getting an introduction to the Raptor in more difficult situations without getting in over my head (that can wait for a later date).

Fins and Things was an absolute blast and took up most of the morning (probably was about a 3 hour experience doing both the south and north loops). We took the "more difficult" route in most cases. I know some people have argued this is more of a moderate trail, but the unforgiving nature of some of the ledges and rock formations in conjunction with having to really stay on your lines in my opinion fit the rating of a low-end difficult trail. We ended up hitting our rear tow hook on one of the steep descents and definitely bottomed out at least a couple of other times. Vehicles with less clearance and less insane approach and departure angles would definitely be challenged more. We got to watch a 4Runner TRD Pro get up one of the particularly dicey areas and it was a lot more "dramatic" for him than it was for us in the Raptor. I need to try running Hells Revenge soon as I imagine I'd enjoy the additional challenge of it at this point. I think I'd definitely want my steps removed for that one however.

After a picnic lunch in Sand Flats Recreation Area we headed for Gemini Bridges. Most of the trail was pretty easy; the beginning isn't much more than a dirt road, albeit some of the early sections of it are pretty much just one lane wide and quite shelfy. Was a bit challenging managing on-coming traffic in a couple of spots, but we made it work. Going out on the two natural bridges (about a 0.25 mile hike) was neat and we grabbed some pictures and contemplated that we should run Bull Canyon at some point that gets you to a view point underneath them with a slightly longer hike.

Our original plan had been to go over to Arches at this point but my wife was inspired to have us add on Four Arches Canyon since it was going to only be about a 5 mile round trip side trip. The first mile or so was really chill (mainly flat and sandy), but the last 1.5 miles or so we covered were narrow and quite technical in spots. Width definitely made it a bit harder, but we had a good time and enjoyed seeing Bullwhip and Mosquito Arches in particular (picture of Mosquito Arch below). The scenery in here was really amazing and pictures don't do it justice. It's a great add on if you're doing other trails in this general area and we only saw one other group with a couple of Jeeps in there.

After this we lucked out as some thunderstorms in the area dropped the temperatures about 10 to 15 degrees without any rain actually falling in the area. We headed down on 313 towards 191 and went to look for Willow Springs Road to get into Arches National Park. This is a great back way in if you want to avoid the annoying timed entrance system at the main gate now. The main attraction on this route is a large fossilized dinosaur track area which we took some time to explore. The kids loved it. Trail overall was pretty easy which was what I remembered from driving it back in 2009 in a Chevrolet Silverado. AWD high clearance would probably still be a bit challenging in spots though. One thing I will note is that the previous entrance is now closed and you have to come in via a newly built road in Utahraptor State Park; you do not have to pay at the entrance gate though, just tell them you are heading to Willow Springs.

Once in Arches National Park we bee-lined for the north entrance to the Tower Arch 4x4 trail off of Salt Valley Road. Back in 2009 we had tried to go up this with our Silverado and turned back at the first ledge climbs when we realized it was no bueno (electing to do the longer hiking trail instead). The trail was definitely borderline difficult for the first mile or so, but nothing gave us too much trouble. We got up to the 4x4 parking lot and the only other vehicle there was a commerical Navtec tour Land Cruiser. The hike over to the arch is a neat half mile or so rock scramble and it was a good time. One hiking group was out there and otherwise we had it to ourselves for most of our time there. We headed out on the southern route back to Willow Springs and I had a blast driving in Baja mode through the sandy sections sometimes hitting over 40 mph (shhh, don't tell the National Park Service). The road had also been freshly graded in some rocky sections for this part which probably brought the overall roughness way down from what it recently was. We stopped at Eye of the Whale Arch on our way out as the sun was going down and then I got to do a nice test of my Baja Designs S8 for the final few miles back to the main park road.

Moab McDonalds was our savior for the night at 9:35 PM or so. It was BUSY!

Overall, it was a great day. The thing that was brutally obvious to me at this point though was that line selection is everything once you are running level 5 to 6 terrain you are unfamiliar with. Don't be worried to get out and scout your path; your vehicle will thank you!

 

[SoCalBonanza]

What a great trip report!
Thank you!

When I went through Willow Springs road a few weeks ago, there was no one manning the gate at Utahraptor State Park. I just drove right through. I guess summer is here...

One other comment, on that trip a few weeks back, I took the Day Canyon/Bull Canyon diversion off of Gemini Bridges road, and thought it was VERY worthwhile. No one down there, and spectacular views...

 

[AZ_Craig]

One other comment, on that trip a few weeks back, I took the Day Canyon/Bull Canyon diversion off of Gemini Bridges road, and thought it was VERY worthwhile. No one down there, and spectacular views...

Yeah, we thought about doing that instead of Four Arch but had already gone past the turn off and were not sure how long the hike would take to see Gemini Bridges from below with our 3 year old. It's definitely on our short list for things to hit in future trips (already planning to go back for a few days in October).

Will post my last day up soon. We wrapped up with Reds Canyon, Swasey Cabin and Eagle Canyon up west of Green River.

 

[AZ_Craig]

Monday, May 26 (Day 3 of 3):

So in our previous trips to Moab we had never made it into the San Rafeal Swell area. The closest we got was a long day out to the Horseshoe Canyon area of Canyonlands to see the Great Gallery (highly recommend this day if you have a chance to do it, it's maybe stuck with me as the single most impressive preserved rock art panel I've seen in all of the Southwest). We thought about doing Devil's Racetrack, but I wasn't that comfortable running it solo plus I think we may need to try alternate routes into it to avoid the narrow culverts under I70 at the start and finish (since I'm not really sure if a Raptor can fit through them).

Using Charles Wells' Funtreks book, we came up with the plan to do Reds Canyon (a long 62.2 mile loop with multiple abandoned mines plus a ghost town) and then cut off the end to go to Swasey Cabin and ultimately take the route through Eagle Canyon back to I70. We blew one of the turns to hit the south loop (heading towards McCay Flats) coming in and didn't realize it until we hit an old abandoned truck that was called out on the north loop. This wasn't that big a deal though as we just decided to continue to Muddy Creek and Tomsich Mine and ultimately head back on ourselves. The main routes were definitely passable to AWD, but a few side roads we explored a bit were much rougher (and often quite narrow probably being primarily used by UTVs).

Overall this was a great area and we enjoyed some time exploring at Tomsich Mine along with visiting the Lucky Strike mine ghost town (which is amazingly well preserved).

On our way out we took a detour up to a rock art panel north of the Head of Sinbad and found some pretty well preserved spots (image below). Swasey Cabin was quite well preserved and an interesting site. We took some time to explore the Ice Box and a couple of other interesting slot canyons in the area. The trail difficultly quickly increased as we headed west from Swasey Cabin into Eagle Canyon. Things were narrow, rough and rocky alternating with some sandy wash bottom areas. We stopped to take some pictures by Eagle Canyon Arch and then stopped again to get the quintessential picture passing through the canyon under I70.

Right before getting back to I70 Charles Wells' call out a steep and rocky section recommending lockers, skid plates and recovery points. All I can say is the double ledge here you had to get up probably gave me more trouble than anything else I hit all weekend. Got up it no problem, but had to lock my rear differential and line selection was also critical to keep away from a cliff on your right side. If you are trying to go out this way, definitely be ready for it and expect it to be tough without lockers.

Overall it was a great way to wrap up a great long weekend trip. We'll definitely be back into this area at some point in the future to check more out and I'm already thinking about logistics to get into the Maze area of Canyonlands (something I have always wanted to do but never bitten off).

 

[Karl_in_Chicago]

Terrific photos! Thanks for sharing.

 

[G1D1UP]

Monday, May 26 (Day 3 of 3):

So in our previous trips to Moab we had never made it into the San Rafeal Swell area. The closest we got was a long day out to the Horseshoe Canyon area of Canyonlands to see the Great Gallery (highly recommend this day if you have a chance to do it, it's maybe stuck with me as the single most impressive preserved rock art panel I've seen in all of the Southwest). We thought about doing Devil's Racetrack, but I wasn't that comfortable running it solo plus I think we may need to try alternate routes into it to avoid the narrow culverts under I70 at the start and finish (since I'm not really sure if a Raptor can fit through them).

Using Charles Wells' Funtreks book, we came up with the plan to do Reds Canyon (a long 62.2 mile loop with multiple abandoned mines plus a ghost town) and then cut off the end to go to Swasey Cabin and ultimately take the route through Eagle Canyon back to I70. We blew one of the turns to hit the south loop (heading towards McCay Flats) coming in and didn't realize it until we hit an old abandoned truck that was called out on the north loop. This wasn't that big a deal though as we just decided to continue to Muddy Creek and Tomsich Mine and ultimately head back on ourselves. The main routes were definitely passable to AWD, but a few side roads we explored a bit were much rougher (and often quite narrow probably being primarily used by UTVs).

Overall this was a great area and we enjoyed some time exploring at Tomsich Mine along with visiting the Lucky Strike mine ghost town (which is amazingly well preserved).

On our way out we took a detour up to a rock art panel north of the Head of Sinbad and found some pretty well preserved spots (image below). Swasey Cabin was quite well preserved and an interesting site. We took some time to explore the Ice Box and a couple of other interesting slot canyons in the area. The trail difficultly quickly increased as we headed west from Swasey Cabin into Eagle Canyon. Things were narrow, rough and rocky alternating with some sandy wash bottom areas. We stopped to take some pictures by Eagle Canyon Arch and then stopped again to get the quintessential picture passing through the canyon under I70.

Right before getting back to I70 Charles Wells' call out a steep and rocky section recommending lockers, skid plates and recovery points. All I can say is the double ledge here you had to get up probably gave me more trouble than anything else I hit all weekend. Got up it no problem, but had to lock my rear differential and line selection was also critical to keep away from a cliff on your right side. If you are trying to go out this way, definitely be ready for it and expect it to be tough without lockers.

Overall it was a great way to wrap up a great long weekend trip. We'll definitely be back into this area at some point in the future to check more out and I'm already thinking about logistics to get into the Maze area of Canyonlands (something I have always wanted to do but never bitten off).

Damn man! These photos are insane! Friggin Ansel Adams with a Code Orange camera...bravo good sir! You should save those photos forever on some Skynet AI journal, so when you're long gone and kicking dust, your kids can say, "Ah Hah! See...Proof that mom and dad were very cool in thier youth!" You should submit some of those photos to Ford for trade...lol

 

[AZ_Craig]

Damn man! These photos are insane! Friggin Ansel Adams with a Code Orange camera...bravo good sir! You should save those photos forever on some Skynet AI journal, so when you're long gone and kicking dust, your kids can say, "Ah Hah! See...Proof that mom and dad were very cool in thier youth!" You should submit some of those photos to Ford for trade...lol

A lot of them are my wife's with her Canon 5D actually; a few were taken on my cell phone.

She has considered selling stuff before (we have some amazing wildlife shots for one thing). She thought about studying photography but didn't want to starve .

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