Nothing Special's Moab trip, 2019

[Nothing Special]

Last year my wife and I went to Ouray for a week of 'wheeling in my '71 Bronco. That was actually plan B. Plan A had been that Lesley always had wanted to go to the Grand Canyon, and Moab Utah has been on my list for decades. We had thought we'd combine those two destinations in one trip. But the trip was going to be in July (we had a Disney World trip scheduled for the fall), and when we looked up typical temperatures in those locations in July we decided that we had to come up with a plan B. But that left plan A available for another year, so this year we scheduled it for September.

This was supposed to be our third vacation of the summer. But the summer had other plans for us. We ended up having to cancel the first one entirely. The second was with my extended family, and I ended up having to miss it while Lesley went (it's a long story that isn't suited for an internet bulletin board). So we were REALLY ready to spend some time together on this trip, and a few weeks ago we loaded up the motorhome, hooked up the Bronco and headed west (well, south first...). We've been back from the trip for a couple weeks now, and I'm finally getting around to posting about it here. Like I did with my Ouray trip report last year, I'll do separate posts for each day (after getting the first 5 non-Moab days in this one post). Hopefully I'll get about one report per day, but we'll see how it goes.

It's about a two day drive from St. Paul to the Grand Canyon. I left work at noon on Thursday, so we got there on Saturday afternoon. That let us get set up (we stayed in Trailer Village RV park on the South Rim) and take a walk along the rim before dinner. Then we went back to the rim for sunset.

Sunday we hiked down Bright Angel trail. This is the trail that goes ~8 miles and 4500 vertical feet, all the way down to the Colorado River, but we were content to hike 1.5 miles down to the first "rest stop". We spent the rest of Sunday riding the shuttle bus and getting off at different places along the South Rim. We hadn't even unhooked the Bronco from the motorhome, so pulling out on Monday was pretty simple. So now we've been to the Grand Canyon. Neither of us had been there before, and we were glad we went. It is a very impressive hole in the ground! But the length of time we spent there was about right for us. If someone wanted to do a lot of hiking, especially with some back-country camping, a longer stay would be great. But for just the sightseeing this worked out well.

OK, time for pictures! This is at a rest stop in Colorado

... and the Grand Canyon at sunset

Here's the canyon from near the top of Bright Angel. You can see the trail in a few places (one by the red arrow). The river is a couple thousand feet below the black arrow.

And then this guy strolled through our camp site Sunday evening

Monday we headed back up to Moab. We had actually drove through it on Saturday and we were looking forward to spending more time there! We were staying in Canyonlands RV Park, right in Moab. We usually don't aim to camp in a city, but there are no trees or shade outside of Moab, and Canyonlands is a pretty nice place. Plus we found that being within walking distance of downtown Moab was pretty nice. We ended up taking that walk (about 2 miles to get to the far end of town and back) most nights. And we at least made it to the Moab Diner for ice cream every night!

For full disclosure, the sites in Canyonlands are pretty small and the roads are tight. We were able to fit with our 28' class C motorhome, but anyone with a bigger rig might have some challenges. But when we go back to Moab (and we will!), we'll definitely stay there again.

That brings us up to when we started hitting the trails on Tuesday. More on that to come!

[Gary Lewis]

So THAT'S where you've been! Have missed you. But glad you finally got to go. And can't wait for the trail reports.

As for the Grand Canyon, I think you missed an option for things to do there: ride the mules down & back. What a way to spend two days and see the river where you pointed that black arrow. Oh, and to see Bright Angel Trail as we came back that way. Boy were we tired then.

Yes, it is a huge hole in the ground. But from the bottom looking up it is unbelievable. To think that water did all of that. And to feel the temp difference from the South Rim to the river is hard to fathom as well.

Anyway, I look forward to more pics and more of the report.

[Nothing Special]

So THAT'S where you've been! Have missed you. But glad you finally got to go. And can't wait for the trail reports.

As for the Grand Canyon, I think you missed an option for things to do there: ride the mules down & back. What a way to spend two days and see the river where you pointed that black arrow. Oh, and to see Bright Angel Trail as we came back that way. Boy were we tired then.

Yes, it is a huge hole in the ground. But from the bottom looking up it is unbelievable. To think that water did all of that. And to feel the temp difference from the South Rim to the river is hard to fathom as well.

Anyway, I look forward to more pics and more of the report.

We'll probably go back some time, so we saved the mules for the future trip! But yes, terrain like that is much more impressive from below. That's partly why we hiked down at all (plus just to say we had done it). And we got to experience cliffs from above and below in Moab.

[ArdWrknTrk]

We'll probably go back some time, so we saved the mules for the future trip! But yes, terrain like that is much more impressive from below. That's partly why we hiked down at all (plus just to say we had done it). And we got to experience cliffs from above and below in Moab.

Beautiful country!

Looking forward to pics of your Moab wheeling adventures.

That bull elk looks pretty chill.

I got to experience the national elk refuge when I was in the Tetons 30 years ago.

They can be impressively large, but certainly not as stocky as the moose here in the northeast.

Subscribed. Thank you for sharing!

[Nothing Special]

....That bull elk looks pretty chill.

I got to experience the national elk refuge when I was in the Tetons 30 years ago.

They can be impressively large, but certainly not as stocky as the moose here in the northeast....

Yeah, we had seen some of his wives a few times earlier, but the big guy was certainly the most impressive!

There was one campsite that had a leaky water spigot. We had seen a few of the locals bellying up to the bar there, and right before this guy strolled through our camp site he had stopped off for a drink. Here he is taking a break from his drink to see if he should ask Lesley to dance (or something...). Ultimately he decided she wasn't worth bothering with and went back to his drink.

And yes, his antlers were very close to that truck. And they got closer when he'd swing his head around! The young German couple that had rented that truck and camper were nervously taking pictures. It made me think of the Farmer's Insurance commercials: "We know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two!" But he never made contact with the truck, so they didn't need to explain anything away!

I've seen moose a few times too. Those things are monsters! Elk are kind of funny though. When you see the cows they just look like good-size deer. But then if you see actual deer (we saw a mule deer buck and a handful of does in the campground as well), they look like little babies. And I'm not sure how much bigger this bull was than the cows. Certainly bigger, but maybe 30%? But the rack just makes him look HUGE!

[Nothing Special]

....That bull elk looks pretty chill.

I got to experience the national elk refuge when I was in the Tetons 30 years ago.

They can be impressively large, but certainly not as stocky as the moose here in the northeast....

Yeah, we had seen some of his wives a few times earlier, but the big guy was certainly the most impressive!

There was one campsite that had a leaky water spigot. We had seen a few of the locals bellying up to the bar there, and right before this guy strolled through our camp site he had stopped off for a drink. Here he is taking a break from his drink to see if he should ask Lesley to dance (or something...). Ultimately he decided she wasn't worth bothering with and went back to his drink.

And yes, his antlers were very close to that truck. And they got closer when he'd swing his head around! The young German couple that had rented that truck and camper were nervously taking pictures. It made me think of the Farmer's Insurance commercials: "We know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two!" But he never made contact with the truck, so they didn't need to explain anything away!

I've seen moose a few times too. Those things are monsters! Elk are kind of funny though. When you see the cows they just look like good-size deer. But then if you see actual deer (we saw a mule deer buck and a handful of does in the campground as well), they look like little babies. And I'm not sure how much bigger this bull was than the cows. Certainly bigger, but maybe 30%? But the rack just makes him look HUGE!

Tuesday, Sep 17 - Hell's Revenge

I researched trails for this trip through YouTube videos as well as asking people on another forum I belong to. They made something like 8 trips to Moab in 2018, so they were a lot of help. One suggestion that was very helpful was to order this book:

https://www.amazon.com/Guide-Moab-Backroads-4-Wheel-Drive-Trails/dp/193483825X/ref=sr_1_2?crid=36K1RWX8UNXEY&keywords=moab+trails+book&qid=1559311439&s=gateway&sprefix=moab+trails%2Caps%2C181&sr=8-2

We were planning on 'wheeling four days on this trip, with one "tourist" day. It's possible to fit 2 or 3 trails into one day, but we didn't want that kind of work-out. So I had a list of 4 trails that I planned to do, with a couple of "backups" as well.

On Monday night Lesley asked me what trail we were going to start with. I told her "Hell's Revenge" so she looked it up in the book and freaked out a little when the book listed it as a "difficult" trail. She eventually accepted my explanation that the book was aimed at a broad audience and it wasn't going to be difficult for us (at least not in a bad way!). So on Tuesday, with significant trepidation on Lesley's part, we headed for Hell's Revenge.

(The book lists trails as "easy", "moderate" and "difficult." By the end of the week my assessment is that what it calls "easy" is basically a poorly maintained dirt road, nothing a stock 2WD pickup couldn't handle. "Moderate" starts to require a little more driver attention and possibly 4WD and/or a little more ground clearance. "Difficult" ranges from trails that any competent driver could do in a stock SUV up to trails that are very likely to damage even a very well-built rock crawler. So we ended up focusing on the easier end of the "difficult" trails, not looking at all at any of the "easy" or "moderate" trails. They might be good choices for people looking to get out of town and see some cool stuff, but they aren't at all what I'd consider 'wheeling trails.)

Hell's Revenge is very close to Moab (about a 5 minute drive from our campground). And I have to agree with the "experts" I consulted with, as well as the book, if you're in Moab, Hell's Revenge is a must-do trail! It ended up being both Lesley's and my favorite trail of the trip! The terrain is so unlike anything we typically see. And experiencing the traction you get on slickrock is amazing! Throughout the week there were several places that I couldn't walk on, but the Bronco could just putt up or down easily! It took a few of these for the butterflies to settle down to the point where it was just fun, but a few butterflies are fun too! There were a few places that made me pick a line carefully, but nothing I would consider difficult for me or my vehicle (we took the bypasses on all of the named obstacles: Hell's Gate, the Escalator and Tipover Challenge, as well as all of the hot tubs). Overall we spent about 5 hours on the trail, including time for lunch, watching a few others play, and taking 187 pictures! We ran into three other groups of Jeep-sized vehicles, one solo, two groups of side-by-sides and two different solo side-by-sides. So not at all busy, but not desolate either.

Enough of listening to me talk. Time for some of those 187 pictures!

This fin is right near the start of the trail, giving you a quick intro to what's different about 'wheeling in Moab!

Again near the start of the trail. This was the only place I needed to engage my front locker (the Detroit in the rear is always working of course). I couldn't stay to the right of the center ditch (Broncos are too wide) and I don't have enough flex to keep enough tires planted to crawl this without the front locker. By the way, a little while later we caught up with the Jeeps you see behind me here (I let them pass as soon as I got to a wide spot). One had forgotten to unlock his front diff and broke a Dana 60 U-joint with the good traction you get on slickrock. That made me decide I wasn't going to use my front locker except when I needed to, which ended up being pretty rarely.

Another fun section, showing the "amazing" flex of a Bronco front axle!

We got to watch some "big dogs" play on Hell's Gate.

Along with the less-than-stellar flex, a down-side to Broncos off-road is the huge flat hood. This is all you can see out of the windshield pretty frequently on this trail!

I've been a little concerned about my front overhang since I added the receiver-mount winch. I guess I don't need to worry so much! I was sure I was going to stuff it at the bottom of this hill and it looks like I've got about 10" of clearance still.

Also in that picture you can see how lightly loaded my right rear tire is. Some of these hills are STEEP! They can be very difficult to walk up or down, and are a little spooky (although not difficult) to drive. I find that I REALLY like the low crawl ratio (71:1) and manual trans. I just let it idle down hills like this, never touching the brakes.

We also got to watch some of the big dogs on Escalator. We didn't see this guy start up, but their guide was explaining that he had gone too far left in that hole and slid his right tires to the bottom. That stuffed his right rear corner into the hole so he couldn't back up, and when he went forward his left front reached for the sky (the Jeep wave?). We got there just as they were rigging the winch line to hold his front end down.

After his buddy stayed too far left, this guy wasn't going to make that mistake! He stayed too far right and flopped it on its left side! He was able to put it in reverse and back out of this, flopping back onto all fours. He then motored up pretty easily. But this cemented the idea that we weren't doing Escalator on this trip!

Anyway, that was Hell's Revenge! For people thinking about taking this trail with a full-size truck, I don't think it would be a big problem. Rear overhang on a stock pickup might be an issue on a few of the climbs, but you'll just be dragging a bumper, and with a lift it might not be an issue at all. A long wheelbase truck might also drag its belly on some of the breakovers, so careful line selection would be more important.

Also, there are parts of this trail that are a little scary if you aren't an experienced 'wheeler. Lesley and I have an understanding. When I scout an obstacle I'll tell her if she can ride it, if she'll need to close her eyes, or if she should get out and take pictures (the next level beyond that is me turning around!). As I said,we have 187 pictures from this trail! Lesley walked a lot of it! So if Moab is one of your (or your wife's) first 'wheeling trips you might not want to do this trail on day 1.

Thanks for reading, and there's more to come!

[Ray Cecil]

....That bull elk looks pretty chill.

I got to experience the national elk refuge when I was in the Tetons 30 years ago.

They can be impressively large, but certainly not as stocky as the moose here in the northeast....

Yeah, we had seen some of his wives a few times earlier, but the big guy was certainly the most impressive!

There was one campsite that had a leaky water spigot. We had seen a few of the locals bellying up to the bar there, and right before this guy strolled through our camp site he had stopped off for a drink. Here he is taking a break from his drink to see if he should ask Lesley to dance (or something...). Ultimately he decided she wasn't worth bothering with and went back to his drink.

And yes, his antlers were very close to that truck. And they got closer when he'd swing his head around! The young German couple that had rented that truck and camper were nervously taking pictures. It made me think of the Farmer's Insurance commercials: "We know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two!" But he never made contact with the truck, so they didn't need to explain anything away!

I've seen moose a few times too. Those things are monsters! Elk are kind of funny though. When you see the cows they just look like good-size deer. But then if you see actual deer (we saw a mule deer buck and a handful of does in the campground as well), they look like little babies. And I'm not sure how much bigger this bull was than the cows. Certainly bigger, but maybe 30%? But the rack just makes him look HUGE!

Havent been to Moab yet, but I have hiked the canyon about 15 years ago. Just about died of heat stroke. Its a long story. But several buds went with us and a couple of them were puking by the end of the day.

[Gary Lewis]

Tuesday, Sep 17 - Hell's Revenge

I researched trails for this trip through YouTube videos as well as asking people on another forum I belong to. They made something like 8 trips to Moab in 2018, so they were a lot of help. One suggestion that was very helpful was to order this book:

https://www.amazon.com/Guide-Moab-Backroads-4-Wheel-Drive-Trails/dp/193483825X/ref=sr_1_2?crid=36K1RWX8UNXEY&keywords=moab+trails+book&qid=1559311439&s=gateway&sprefix=moab+trails%2Caps%2C181&sr=8-2

We were planning on 'wheeling four days on this trip, with one "tourist" day. It's possible to fit 2 or 3 trails into one day, but we didn't want that kind of work-out. So I had a list of 4 trails that I planned to do, with a couple of "backups" as well.

On Monday night Lesley asked me what trail we were going to start with. I told her "Hell's Revenge" so she looked it up in the book and freaked out a little when the book listed it as a "difficult" trail. She eventually accepted my explanation that the book was aimed at a broad audience and it wasn't going to be difficult for us (at least not in a bad way!). So on Tuesday, with significant trepidation on Lesley's part, we headed for Hell's Revenge.

(The book lists trails as "easy", "moderate" and "difficult." By the end of the week my assessment is that what it calls "easy" is basically a poorly maintained dirt road, nothing a stock 2WD pickup couldn't handle. "Moderate" starts to require a little more driver attention and possibly 4WD and/or a little more ground clearance. "Difficult" ranges from trails that any competent driver could do in a stock SUV up to trails that are very likely to damage even a very well-built rock crawler. So we ended up focusing on the easier end of the "difficult" trails, not looking at all at any of the "easy" or "moderate" trails. They might be good choices for people looking to get out of town and see some cool stuff, but they aren't at all what I'd consider 'wheeling trails.)

Hell's Revenge is very close to Moab (about a 5 minute drive from our campground). And I have to agree with the "experts" I consulted with, as well as the book, if you're in Moab, Hell's Revenge is a must-do trail! It ended up being both Lesley's and my favorite trail of the trip! The terrain is so unlike anything we typically see. And experiencing the traction you get on slickrock is amazing! Throughout the week there were several places that I couldn't walk on, but the Bronco could just putt up or down easily! It took a few of these for the butterflies to settle down to the point where it was just fun, but a few butterflies are fun too! There were a few places that made me pick a line carefully, but nothing I would consider difficult for me or my vehicle (we took the bypasses on all of the named obstacles: Hell's Gate, the Escalator and Tipover Challenge, as well as all of the hot tubs). Overall we spent about 5 hours on the trail, including time for lunch, watching a few others play, and taking 187 pictures! We ran into three other groups of Jeep-sized vehicles, one solo, two groups of side-by-sides and two different solo side-by-sides. So not at all busy, but not desolate either.

Enough of listening to me talk. Time for some of those 187 pictures!

This fin is right near the start of the trail, giving you a quick intro to what's different about 'wheeling in Moab!

Again near the start of the trail. This was the only place I needed to engage my front locker (the Detroit in the rear is always working of course). I couldn't stay to the right of the center ditch (Broncos are too wide) and I don't have enough flex to keep enough tires planted to crawl this without the front locker. By the way, a little while later we caught up with the Jeeps you see behind me here (I let them pass as soon as I got to a wide spot). One had forgotten to unlock his front diff and broke a Dana 60 U-joint with the good traction you get on slickrock. That made me decide I wasn't going to use my front locker except when I needed to, which ended up being pretty rarely.

Another fun section, showing the "amazing" flex of a Bronco front axle!

We got to watch some "big dogs" play on Hell's Gate.

Along with the less-than-stellar flex, a down-side to Broncos off-road is the huge flat hood. This is all you can see out of the windshield pretty frequently on this trail!

I've been a little concerned about my front overhang since I added the receiver-mount winch. I guess I don't need to worry so much! I was sure I was going to stuff it at the bottom of this hill and it looks like I've got about 10" of clearance still.

Also in that picture you can see how lightly loaded my right rear tire is. Some of these hills are STEEP! They can be very difficult to walk up or down, and are a little spooky (although not difficult) to drive. I find that I REALLY like the low crawl ratio (71:1) and manual trans. I just let it idle down hills like this, never touching the brakes.

We also got to watch some of the big dogs on Escalator. We didn't see this guy start up, but their guide was explaining that he had gone too far left in that hole and slid his right tires to the bottom. That stuffed his right rear corner into the hole so he couldn't back up, and when he went forward his left front reached for the sky (the Jeep wave?). We got there just as they were rigging the winch line to hold his front end down.

After his buddy stayed too far left, this guy wasn't going to make that mistake! He stayed too far right and flopped it on its left side! He was able to put it in reverse and back out of this, flopping back onto all fours. He then motored up pretty easily. But this cemented the idea that we weren't doing Escalator on this trip!

Anyway, that was Hell's Revenge! For people thinking about taking this trail with a full-size truck, I don't think it would be a big problem. Rear overhang on a stock pickup might be an issue on a few of the climbs, but you'll just be dragging a bumper, and with a lift it might not be an issue at all. A long wheelbase truck might also drag its belly on some of the breakovers, so careful line selection would be more important.

Also, there are parts of this trail that are a little scary if you aren't an experienced 'wheeler. Lesley and I have an understanding. When I scout an obstacle I'll tell her if she can ride it, if she'll need to close her eyes, or if she should get out and take pictures (the next level beyond that is me turning around!). As I said,we have 187 pictures from this trail! Lesley walked a lot of it! So if Moab is one of your (or your wife's) first 'wheeling trips you might not want to do this trail on day 1.

Thanks for reading, and there's more to come!

Well, if that "fin" is right at the start, Janey isn't going. (I haven't shown her the pic, but after 50 years you kinda start understanding how the other person thinks.) She MIGHT let me, but there's not a chance she is going to ride over it.

And several of the shots of your Bronco make things look STEEP. I'll take your word for the traction, especially if that guy broke a D60's u-joint. But I'd need to get more experience before I tackled much of Hell's Revenge.

But wow, those are cool pics! My nephew had similar ones from when they took the RZR's earlier this year. I'm looking forward to more pics and more writeups. I do hope at least my son and I can go.

[Nothing Special]

Well, if that "fin" is right at the start, Janey isn't going. (I haven't shown her the pic, but after 50 years you kinda start understanding how the other person thinks.) She MIGHT let me, but there's not a chance she is going to ride over it.

And several of the shots of your Bronco make things look STEEP. I'll take your word for the traction, especially if that guy broke a D60's u-joint. But I'd need to get more experience before I tackled much of Hell's Revenge.

But wow, those are cool pics! My nephew had similar ones from when they took the RZR's earlier this year. I'm looking forward to more pics and more writeups. I do hope at least my son and I can go.

Unfortunately it's not very reasonable to bypass that fin by walking. It's too steep to hike up and down very easily, and it didn't look like an easy walk around. Lesley wasn't at all sure about it, but did ride because there wasn't much of an option. But yes, it's things like this that led me to say perhaps it's not the day 1 trail for many.

But the traction you get there really has to be experienced to be believed! As I noted, there were several places where I couldn't walk the trail on foot, but I could easily crawl it in the Bronco. And this fin is actually a pretty good one to get that experience on. It was my first experience with it and while it did raise my adrenaline level a bit, I had no concerns that I couldn't do it. That let me gain some confidence before doing some of the steeper ones. But I still chose to bypass a few of the steeper optional ones (including the climb up to the overlook at the far end of the Hell's Revenge loop). And again, I'm not saying you should put Janey on this on day 1!

[Nothing Special]

Well, if that "fin" is right at the start, Janey isn't going. (I haven't shown her the pic, but after 50 years you kinda start understanding how the other person thinks.) She MIGHT let me, but there's not a chance she is going to ride over it....

Gary, I told Lesley what you said about Janey on this trail. Lesley said:

"It (that first fin) really isn't that bad. For one thing it comes so early in the trail that you don't have time to think about it, you're just on it. And it really is pretty wide once you are on it."

I'm not saying Janey would be excited to go on that fin! And we need to keep in mind that Lesley has been doing this with me for 29 years now, so her willingness doesn't necessarily translate to a newcomer to fourwheeling. But Lesley isn't the most daring trail rider and that was her input. So I thought I'd share it.