Utah_jeepster
Super Moderator
Moab
Days 1-5
Well Thursday morning was bright and promising to be warm. We left the Salt Lake Valley and spent 5 hours on the road till we turned off I-70 onto 191 and could see the first slick rock hills on Dungeon hills. 30 miles later we passed the entrance into Arches National park and passed over the Colorado River and into the town of Moab.
With the town of Moab filled for Labor day we snaked our way through traffic to Kane Creek Road and turned west towards the Colorado River again. On a shelf road we found our camp site ( and yes the term Kamp Krusty does apply).
In no time we had our camp set and decided to do some afternoon wheel-in.
We drove down a class 2 road to the where the trail splits one heading to Kane Creek trail and the other towards Hurrah pass and Chicken Corners and Lockhart Basin.
This is far as we went and decided to call it a day.
Friday morning we got an early start and did the Chicken Corners trail. The route took us through Hurrah pass and down along a shelf road above the Colorado River. The class 2 trail had some obstacles along the way so we turned it into a class 3 route.
Back tracking the trail we passed Lockhart Basin route and stopped at the top of Hurrah pass for lunch. After lunch we came to Kane Creek trail head and turned up this trail.
This trail wasted no time and we had to work our suspension to pass several washed out wash crossings. After 17.5 miles we came to the first obstacle Rocky Road.
With a four foot tall bolder standing across this shelf road with no by-pass I crept up to it and let my front end climb it and tried the Moab Bump, I spun the rock out from under my rear end and chirped the rear tires till I started sliding side ways towards the edge (200-300 foot fall into Kane Creek). Backing down and building a rock ramp I crawled right up this obstacle. Tim taking advantage of my hard work slipped right up with no problems. The second obstacle was a 25 foot narrow wall with small steps. This wall was about 50 degrees and required a slight jog to the right after you start on the left side. Several Moab hops later we found 191 again and drove 9 hours and only put 35 miles on our Jeeps.
Saturday we trailed over to Potash road and did the same trail but from the eastern side of the Colorado river stopping along the way to snap a few pics of where we were. We continued up the road where it turned into Shaffer trail inside the Canyon lands National park. This trail climbs 2100 feet to the top of Shaffer canyon along a switch back road.
10$ later we left the park and made our way back to camp.
After Dinner I went with a neighboring camp and did Fins and Things at night, stopping at the baby Lions back obstacle to dive it both ways.
The next Morning I trailed with our neighbors onto Gemini Bridges trail but turned off onto Golden Bar Rim trail.
This trail got right down to business with several ledges that you had to do the Moab Bump to get up. The first major obstacle is 10 foot drop down a slick rock that puts your ride close to a front roll over. After another 5 miles of 4-5 foot shelves either going up or down we made it onto the Golden Spike trail. Here the trail turns into mostly slick rock and you immediately encounter the first obstacle “Double whammyâ€.
The double Whammy is two set of 5 foot shelves stacked on top of each other. As your coming down it is not so tough since gravity is helping you along the way. But going up sucks since as your rear tires are climbing the first shelve the front is starting to climb the second. The waste land (a small spot near it with broken axles, u-joints, and drive lines) tells of the awesome toll this obstacle has on the jeeps and other 4x4’s. Once past this you face a few other named spots with names like the body snatcher, the water falls ect. ect.
The blacken oil stains on all these obstacles are a good sign that your not in Disney land here.
We finally made it to the Golden Crack the object of our 4.5 hour drive. The crack is a water split in one solid face of slick rock and at some parts is nearly 14 feet deep and over 4 foot wide. We had a nice lunch watching a mixed jeep group attempt this obstacle the best part was watching a ford truck do it at its widest point and making it clean! The hardest part is not breaking a tie rod or a track bar since you take this at a 30 degree angle to the crack, just let the front turn it self and go slow! Your spotter is your friend since at one point you only have two wheels on the ground as you tip to the other set of two to complete this. Yes as an idiot I went through it…both ways since we weren’t going to do Poison Spider Mesa (roughly a 13-16 hour trip). Our Cherokee broke his track arm in half on his trip back through.
The track arm is what connects his steering linkage to his frame. (We pulled the arm off and attached three ratcheting type of straps) yes this really worked because he drove himself out through all of the said obstacles.
With a hurt Cherokee it took us over 5+ hours to make it back to the starting point.
A little over 9 hours to only travel 22+ miles.
With all the bumps and bruises that we took over the last 4 days we made the return trip home a day early. I had placed a beauty mark on my bumper and gas tank plate and think I threw some counter balance weights off my front tires since I now have a small high speed wobble coming out of my front end.
All in all a pleasant trip down to the wilds of Moab.
P.S. Pictures will follow this soon…darn photographers are slow as molasses.
P.S.S. The Moab hop is a trick that you place your front wheels onto the top of the shelve, ledge and slide to with-in 1 foot or so and then give it about 2000 RPM's woth of gas and maintain the foot pressure as your rear end hits it and chirps it way up. Yes I know this sounds scarry but try being in the darn Jeep while doing this....lol!
Days 1-5
Well Thursday morning was bright and promising to be warm. We left the Salt Lake Valley and spent 5 hours on the road till we turned off I-70 onto 191 and could see the first slick rock hills on Dungeon hills. 30 miles later we passed the entrance into Arches National park and passed over the Colorado River and into the town of Moab.
With the town of Moab filled for Labor day we snaked our way through traffic to Kane Creek Road and turned west towards the Colorado River again. On a shelf road we found our camp site ( and yes the term Kamp Krusty does apply).
In no time we had our camp set and decided to do some afternoon wheel-in.
We drove down a class 2 road to the where the trail splits one heading to Kane Creek trail and the other towards Hurrah pass and Chicken Corners and Lockhart Basin.
This is far as we went and decided to call it a day.
Friday morning we got an early start and did the Chicken Corners trail. The route took us through Hurrah pass and down along a shelf road above the Colorado River. The class 2 trail had some obstacles along the way so we turned it into a class 3 route.
Back tracking the trail we passed Lockhart Basin route and stopped at the top of Hurrah pass for lunch. After lunch we came to Kane Creek trail head and turned up this trail.
This trail wasted no time and we had to work our suspension to pass several washed out wash crossings. After 17.5 miles we came to the first obstacle Rocky Road.
With a four foot tall bolder standing across this shelf road with no by-pass I crept up to it and let my front end climb it and tried the Moab Bump, I spun the rock out from under my rear end and chirped the rear tires till I started sliding side ways towards the edge (200-300 foot fall into Kane Creek). Backing down and building a rock ramp I crawled right up this obstacle. Tim taking advantage of my hard work slipped right up with no problems. The second obstacle was a 25 foot narrow wall with small steps. This wall was about 50 degrees and required a slight jog to the right after you start on the left side. Several Moab hops later we found 191 again and drove 9 hours and only put 35 miles on our Jeeps.
Saturday we trailed over to Potash road and did the same trail but from the eastern side of the Colorado river stopping along the way to snap a few pics of where we were. We continued up the road where it turned into Shaffer trail inside the Canyon lands National park. This trail climbs 2100 feet to the top of Shaffer canyon along a switch back road.
10$ later we left the park and made our way back to camp.
After Dinner I went with a neighboring camp and did Fins and Things at night, stopping at the baby Lions back obstacle to dive it both ways.
The next Morning I trailed with our neighbors onto Gemini Bridges trail but turned off onto Golden Bar Rim trail.
This trail got right down to business with several ledges that you had to do the Moab Bump to get up. The first major obstacle is 10 foot drop down a slick rock that puts your ride close to a front roll over. After another 5 miles of 4-5 foot shelves either going up or down we made it onto the Golden Spike trail. Here the trail turns into mostly slick rock and you immediately encounter the first obstacle “Double whammyâ€.
The double Whammy is two set of 5 foot shelves stacked on top of each other. As your coming down it is not so tough since gravity is helping you along the way. But going up sucks since as your rear tires are climbing the first shelve the front is starting to climb the second. The waste land (a small spot near it with broken axles, u-joints, and drive lines) tells of the awesome toll this obstacle has on the jeeps and other 4x4’s. Once past this you face a few other named spots with names like the body snatcher, the water falls ect. ect.
The blacken oil stains on all these obstacles are a good sign that your not in Disney land here.
We finally made it to the Golden Crack the object of our 4.5 hour drive. The crack is a water split in one solid face of slick rock and at some parts is nearly 14 feet deep and over 4 foot wide. We had a nice lunch watching a mixed jeep group attempt this obstacle the best part was watching a ford truck do it at its widest point and making it clean! The hardest part is not breaking a tie rod or a track bar since you take this at a 30 degree angle to the crack, just let the front turn it self and go slow! Your spotter is your friend since at one point you only have two wheels on the ground as you tip to the other set of two to complete this. Yes as an idiot I went through it…both ways since we weren’t going to do Poison Spider Mesa (roughly a 13-16 hour trip). Our Cherokee broke his track arm in half on his trip back through.
The track arm is what connects his steering linkage to his frame. (We pulled the arm off and attached three ratcheting type of straps) yes this really worked because he drove himself out through all of the said obstacles.
With a hurt Cherokee it took us over 5+ hours to make it back to the starting point.
A little over 9 hours to only travel 22+ miles.
With all the bumps and bruises that we took over the last 4 days we made the return trip home a day early. I had placed a beauty mark on my bumper and gas tank plate and think I threw some counter balance weights off my front tires since I now have a small high speed wobble coming out of my front end.
All in all a pleasant trip down to the wilds of Moab.
P.S. Pictures will follow this soon…darn photographers are slow as molasses.
P.S.S. The Moab hop is a trick that you place your front wheels onto the top of the shelve, ledge and slide to with-in 1 foot or so and then give it about 2000 RPM's woth of gas and maintain the foot pressure as your rear end hits it and chirps it way up. Yes I know this sounds scarry but try being in the darn Jeep while doing this....lol!
Sully
