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CO UT Wheeling Trip *gasp* in CC

72blazer said:
Where else?
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Moab Coffee Roasters makes one of the best damn lattes you'll ever have. JAX pizza is very mediocre. The brewery has damn good grub for pretty crazy cheap for a tourist area. For Utah, the beer ain't bad either. If you like sushi, Sabaku is a lot better than you'd expect to ever find in a landlocked desert.

That pretty much sums up my Moab restaurant experiences. Hotel breakfast, Quesadilla Mobilla when eating lunch, and the brewery for dinner has pretty much become my standard Moab routine.
 
72blazer said:
aren’t you a little positive ray of sunshine!

:rolleyes::flipoff2::laughing:
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He ain't wrong. The available traction is stupid. The rock out there is like sandpaper. I usually put worn out tires on my mountain bike when out there because it really doesn't matter in terms of traction and good tires will just get chewed all to shit with no real benefit provided. You don't really need tread, just rubber.
 
I dont recall the name but there is a burger joint up on like 400 E kind by the way up to Sand Flats that is supposed to be great. I've never been personally but I really want to go.
I like Moab Diner for breakfast and dinner aint bad wither.

Man, Moab in late July....you are brave. I swear even in the mid 80's those rocks make it feel over 100....I cant imagine what 105 feels like out there. Hell if you are up for it maybe I can drive down for a night and hit a couple of trails just to remind myself why Ive never wanted to go there in summer :flipoff2:
 
east_beast said:
He ain't wrong. The available traction is stupid. The rock out there is like sandpaper. I usually put worn out tires on my mountain bike when out there because it really doesn't matter in terms of traction and good tires will just get chewed all to shit with no real benefit provided. You don't really need tread, just rubber.
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From what I’ve heard it’s similar to our Texas granite wheeling. But I agree he isn’t wrong. I believe him.
 
Pike2350 said:
I dont recall the name but there is a burger joint up on like 400 E kind by the way up to Sand Flats that is supposed to be great. I've never been personally but I really want to go.
I like Moab Diner for breakfast and dinner aint bad wither.

Man, Moab in late July....you are brave. I swear even in the mid 80's those rocks make it feel over 100....I cant imagine what 105 feels like out there. Hell if you are up for it maybe I can drive down for a night and hit a couple of trails just to remind myself why Ive never wanted to go there in summer :flipoff2:
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Come on down. That’s what the AC is for!
 
Pike2350 said:
I dont recall the name but there is a burger joint up on like 400 E kind by the way up to Sand Flats that is supposed to be great. I've never been personally but I really want to go.
I like Moab Diner for breakfast and dinner aint bad wither.

Man, Moab in late July....you are brave. I swear even in the mid 80's those rocks make it feel over 100....I cant imagine what 105 feels like out there. Hell if you are up for it maybe I can drive down for a night and hit a couple of trails just to remind myself why Ive never wanted to go there in summer :flipoff2:
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You might be thinking of Milts.

I've been there in august, 90deg by 9am. Tires stick pretty well.

Kevin
 
Bump. If anyone familiar with the Moab trails wants to show us around so we don’t go full retard bashing our rigs let me know. :flipoff2::homer:
 
72blazer said:
aren’t you a little positive ray of sunshine!

:rolleyes::flipoff2::laughing:
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It's a fact. I broke a birfield going downhill because I was turned full lock and just about all of the engine braking was going to my left front. That won't ever happen here in the southeast.
 
You will have no problem. Run poison spider, golden spike, gold bar. I ran the lockers open 98% of the time. Their is nothing out there to get body damage unless you're trying.
Word of caution is the shear drop offs and cliffs. Watch your kids and friends so they don't walk off a cliff during lunch ect.
Don't use alot of throttle all you need is good lines and light bumps to get up stuff.
 
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Already covered most of the things in Moab so far. Our two must eat at places when we're out there are Milts (By Sand Flats) and The Brewery.

Trail wise we always tended to stick to the more mild things since we were out there by ourselves. But as already mentioned, the traction is nuts (compared to what I am used to in the midwest). Really just air down and idle up stuff you wouldn't believe. Yes there are more challenging areas, but it is easy to keep yourself out of a pickle.

I'll also echo watch the cliffs. Many areas have some pretty shear drops. So if you have young kids in the group that tend to wander, it would do you well to keep an eye on them.

You're probably overloaded with info on the places at this point, but here's what we have out there on our trips to Utah and CO. Lot's of awesome hiking out that way too if you're into that:

Utah:
http://midwestnomads.com/utah/

Co:
http://midwestnomads.com/colorado/

Hope that helps! And the good news is this is one of those trips you can "Screw up" planning and still have an awesome time!
 
I have done Moab and the San Juan mountains several times, so I figured I would chime in. The Charles Wells trail books are definitely worth the money for both these areas, especially if you have never been before. I highly recommend buying them and reading about the trails before you go and picking them out ahead of time. Just a heads up though if you do get the books, he makes everything sound much more intimidating than it actually is. Many of the trails he classifies as difficult would be classified as easy or moderate in my local area. The "moderate" trails in his books are basically all stuff you would be perfectly fine taking a bone stock Jeep on, and the "easy" trails are pretty much just dirt roads.

The group I go with likes to camp, and honestly, I think that is half the fun, so I don't really have recommendations for restaurants and such. We have gone to the local breweries and restaurants in both locales, which were decent, but honestly none that were memorable enough for me to recommend.

The San Juan mountains are extremely scenic, but also extremely easy. I shit you not, I have encountered Subarus on just about every trail I have run out there. Point being, there is essentially zero concern for a group of Jeeps on 37" tires on any of the trails out there, other than the catastrophic consequences of going off the side of a shelf road. A bone stock Jeep wouldn't have the slightest issue with 90%+ of the trails out there.

My personal trail recommendations are:

Poughkeepsie Gulch - The hardest trail in the San Juans, but still not that hard and very scenic. It is enough of a challenge that it makes bringing the Jeep worth it instead of being something you would do in your tow rig.
Black Bear Pass - The second hardest trail, and probably the quintessential San Juan trail (a bone stock Ridgline was on the trail with me when I ran it and had no problem other than dragging his hitch/rear bumper in a few spots). Extremely scenic when you drop down into Telluride, the only issue is there is often a ton of traffic on this trail. The most technical part of the trail is the switchbacks, which will require multi-point turns in 4 door Jeeps.
Imogene Pass - The highest pass in the San Juans, and probably the third "hardest" trail in the area, and extremely scenic. It is a good one to combine with Black Bear.
Stony Pass - One of the trails with less traffic that passes near the headwaters of the Rio Grande.
Corkscrew Gulch - Also one of the trails with less traffic, but one of the most scenic as well with the red mountains.
Yankee Boy Basin - Cool scenic trail where you drive under a rock outcropping and end up at a lake at the end.

I feel like the Alpine loop is over rated and there is a ton of traffic. Especially annoying are all the side-by-sides.

Moab is an awesome place, it has both fantastic scenery and challenging trails. I have gone in July several times, and as others have mentioned, it is brutally hot with almost no shade. Like 100ºF+ every day hot, and this is coming from someone from southern New Mexico. Also, as others have mentioned, the risk of body damage (other than dragging your rear bumper) is pretty low on most trails since they are very open. The main risk is a rollover since many of the trails have very steep climbs and off-camber turns. Jeeps on 37" tires and lockers front and rear should be able to do most any trail in Moab depending on how hard you want to push it. Most of the trails are more of a test of driver cajones than vehicle capability.

Here are my personal trail recommendations:

Fins 'N' Things - The perfect introductory Moab Trail in my opinion. It is easy, but still challenging enough to be fun (3 or 4 on a 10 scale), and gives you a great picture of what Moab is all about. It is also a good trail to combine with Hell's Revenge.
Hells Revenge - One of the Moab classics. The trail itself isn't much harder than Fins 'N' Things, but the climbs are a lot bigger, and there are lots of optional obstacles to turn up the heat if you want. All but one of the optional obstacles are really easy with the perfect line, but can go south in a hurry if you you are off the line even a little bit. The only optional obstacle that is hard regardless of line is the big hot tub. A buddy I ran Hell's Revenge with did it with almost no wheeling experience in a TJ with nothing more than a 4" lift and 33" mud tires. It was an early 3 speed auto with 3.07 axle gears and open diffs front and rear, and I don't think he even slipped a tire, although he didn't attempt any of the optional stuff.
Golden Spike - This is my favorite trail I have done in Moab, and one of the classic trails. You do significant portions of Poison Spider Mesa and Gold Bar Rim as part of Golden Spike, and it is a long day. I did it with two other guys, and it was a 10 hour day; granted we stopped a bit and weren't rushing, but we were definitely ready to be off the trail by the end. If you bypass all of the optional obstacles, I would say the trail is a hard moderate bordering on an easy hard (5 or 6 on a 10 scale). With the optional obstacles, you can make it a solid hard trail. The trail is also incredibly scenic. I think this one is a must do considering your group and how long it will be before you get back to Moab the next time.
Kane Creek - This is a great trail for the hot days since you spend a good bit of time down in the shady part of a canyon with a bunch of creek crossings. The only challenging part is the climb out which is fairly technical shelf road that seems to be getting harder and more chewed up as time goes on.
Metal Masher - Despite its name, it is not terribly difficult, and does not have a particularly high potential for body damage, but it is a fun trail, with great scenery, and some good optional obstacles that are fairly difficult but well suited for long wheelbases. This trail is also not as well-known or crowded as some of the other trails.

There are tons of great, scenic, easy trails around Moab as well, but since pretty much all of the trails are scenic, I prefer the ones with a bit of a challenge to make it worth the hassle of trailering a rig all the way to Moab. There are a few trails in Arches National Park (where Delicate arch is), but honestly, they are pretty underwhelming compared to stuff outside the park, and only worth it if you are planning on spending a day visiting the park anyways. The park itself is fantastic, but I am not sure it is worth the price of admission considering it is not all that much different than what you see on the trails outside the park for free.

The group I go with doesn't care as much for the hard stuff as much as I do, so I haven't run Moab Rim, Cliff Hanger, Behind the Rocks, Pritchett Canyon, Rusty Nail, or Pickle, but I have heard they are all great trails and are on my list. Your rigs are capable of running these trails, but depending on the attitude of your group, you may want to skip these, at least on your first trip out since they are the hardest trails in the immediate Moab area. I have done a lot of the less popular moderate trails around Moab, but for the amount of time you are going to be there, the ones I recommended should keep you busy and give you a pretty fun experience. Other trails worthy of consideration are Flat Iron Mesa, Steel Bender, Top of the World, and Seven Mile Rim.
 
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DirtRoads said:
It's a fact. I broke a birfield going downhill because I was turned full lock and just about all of the engine braking was going to my left front. That won't ever happen here in the southeast.
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No shit; eh?! :eek:


nOOB question:
Would 'one side locked/other side unlocked' make a difference?
 
CDA 455 II said:
No shit; eh?! :eek:


nOOB question:
Would 'one side locked/other side unlocked' make a difference?
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I doubt it. I had a spartan front locker so it shouldn't have been bound up. It was a sharp downhill left turn on Hell's Revenge. I was running an older and weaker style Samurai chromoly birfield on 32s
 
DirtRoads said:
I doubt it. I had a spartan front locker so it shouldn't have been bound up. It was a sharp downhill left turn on Hell's Revenge. I was running an older and weaker style Samurai chromoly birfield on 32s
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So an open diff would have/should have been the answer then? :confused:


I'll assume your Sami is under 4,000lbs?

AND you're running chromoly birfields?

AND running relatively small tires?

That sounds more like a successful recipe, than one that would break an aftermarket axle. :confused:


Where did the break occur on said axle?
 
'84 Bronco II said:
I have done Moab and the San Juan mountains several times, so I figured I would chime in. The Charles Wells trail books are definitely worth the money for both these areas, especially if you have never been before. I highly recommend buying them and reading about the trails before you go and picking them out ahead of time. Just a heads up though if you do get the books, he makes everything sound much more intimidating than it actually is. Many of the trails he classifies as difficult would be classified as easy or moderate in my local area. The "moderate" trails in his books are basically all stuff you would be perfectly fine taking a bone stock Jeep on, and the "easy" trails are pretty much just dirt roads.

The group I go with likes to camp, and honestly, I think that is half the fun, so I don't really have recommendations for restaurants and such. We have gone to the local breweries and restaurants in both locales, which were decent, but honestly none that were memorable enough for me to recommend.

The San Juan mountains are extremely scenic, but also extremely easy. I shit you not, I have encountered Subarus on just about every trail I have run out there. Point being, there is essentially zero concern for a group of Jeeps on 37" tires on any of the trails out there, other than the catastrophic consequences of going off the side of a shelf road. A bone stock Jeep wouldn't have the slightest issue with 90%+ of the trails out there.

My personal trail recommendations are:

Poughkeepsie Gulch - The hardest trail in the San Juans, but still not that hard and very scenic. It is enough of a challenge that it makes bringing the Jeep worth it instead of being something you would do in your tow rig.
Black Bear Pass - The second hardest trail, and probably the quintessential San Juan trail (a bone stock Ridgline was on the trail with me when I ran it and had no problem other than dragging his hitch/rear bumper in a few spots). Extremely scenic when you drop down into Telluride, the only issue is there is often a ton of traffic on this trail. The most technical part of the trail is the switchbacks, which will require multi-point turns in 4 door Jeeps.
Imogene Pass - The highest pass in the San Juans, and probably the third "hardest" trail in the area, and extremely scenic. It is a good one to combine with Black Bear.
Stony Pass - One of the trails with less traffic that passes near the headwaters of the Rio Grande.
Corkscrew Gulch - Also one of the trails with less traffic, but one of the most scenic as well with the red mountains.
Yankee Boy Basin - Cool scenic trail where you drive under a rock outcropping and end up at a lake at the end.

I feel like the Alpine loop is over rated and there is a ton of traffic. Especially annoying are all the side-by-sides.

Moab is an awesome place, it has both fantastic scenery and challenging trails. I have gone in July several times, and as others have mentioned, it is brutally hot with almost no shade. Like 100ºF+ every day hot, and this is coming from someone from southern New Mexico. Also, as others have mentioned, the risk of body damage (other than dragging your rear bumper) is pretty low on most trails since they are very open. The main risk is a rollover since many of the trails have very steep climbs and off-camber turns. Jeeps on 37" tires and lockers front and rear should be able to do most any trail in Moab depending on how hard you want to push it. Most of the trails are more of a test of driver cajones than vehicle capability.

Here are my personal trail recommendations:

Fins 'N' Things - The perfect introductory Moab Trail in my opinion. It is easy, but still challenging enough to be fun (3 or 4 on a 10 scale), and gives you a great picture of what Moab is all about. It is also a good trail to combine with Hell's Revenge.
Hells Revenge - One of the Moab classics. The trail itself isn't much harder than Fins 'N' Things, but the climbs are a lot bigger, and there are lots of optional obstacles to turn up the heat if you want. All but one of the optional obstacles are really easy with the perfect line, but can go south in a hurry if you you are off the line even a little bit. The only optional obstacle that is hard regardless of line is the big hot tub. A buddy I ran Hell's Revenge with did it with almost no wheeling experience in a TJ with nothing more than a 4" lift and 33" mud tires. It was an early 3 speed auto with 3.07 axle gears and open diffs front and rear, and I don't think he even slipped a tire, although he didn't attempt any of the optional stuff.
Golden Spike - This is my favorite trail I have done in Moab, and one of the classic trails. You do significant portions of Poison Spider Mesa and Gold Bar Rim as part of Golden Spike, and it is a long day. I did it with two other guys, and it was a 10 hour day; granted we stopped a bit and weren't rushing, but we were definitely ready to be off the trail by the end. If you bypass all of the optional obstacles, I would say the trail is a hard moderate bordering on an easy hard (5 or 6 on a 10 scale). With the optional obstacles, you can make it a solid hard trail. The trail is also incredibly scenic. I think this one is a must do considering your group and how long it will be before you get back to Moab the next time.
Kane Creek - This is a great trail for the hot days since you spend a good bit of time down in the shady part of a canyon with a bunch of creek crossings. The only challenging part is the climb out which is fairly technical shelf road that seems to be getting harder and more chewed up as time goes on.
Metal Masher - Despite its name, it is not terribly difficult, and does not have a particularly high potential for body damage, but it is a fun trail, with great scenery, and some good optional obstacles that are fairly difficult but well suited for long wheelbases. This trail is also not as well-known or crowded as some of the other trails.

There are tons of great scenic easy trails around Moab as well, but since pretty much all of the trails are scenic, I prefer the ones with a bit of a challenge to make it worth the hassle of trailering a rig all the way to Moab. There are a few trails in Arches National Park (where Delicate arch is), but honestly, they are pretty underwhelming compared to stuff outside the park, and only work it if you are planning on spending a day visiting the park anyways. The park itself is fantastic, but I am not sure it is worth the price of admission considering it is not all that much different than what you see on the trails outside the park for free.

The group I go with doesn't care as much for the hard stuff as much as I do, so I haven't run Moab Rim, Cliff Hanger, Behind the Rocks, Pritchett Canyon, Rusty Nail, or Pickle, but I have heard they are all great trails and are on my list. Your rigs are capable of running these trails, but depending on the attitude of your group, you may want to skip these, at least on your first trip out since they are the hardest trails in the immediate Moab area. I have done a lot of the less popular moderate trails around Moab, but for the amount of time you are going to be there, the ones I recommended should keep you busy and give you a pretty fun experience. Other trails worthy of consideration are Flat Iron Mesa, Steel Bender, Top of the World, and Seven Mile Rim.
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That is some great intel of the area. Thanks for the heads up on everything. We may have to revisit our itinerary a little bit. What part of Southern NM are you in? I live in Roswell.
 
Projectfreedom said:
That is some great intel of the area. Thanks for the heads up on everything. We may have to revisit our itinerary a little bit. What part of Southern NM are you in? I live in Roswell.
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I am from Las Cruces, but I have been living up between Tijeras and Edgewood (~20 miles east of Albuquerque) for the last 4 years.
 
CDA 455 II said:
That sounds more like a successful recipe, than one that would break an aftermarket axle. :confused:


Where did the break occur on said axle?
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You would think :laughing:. The birfield inners exploded and chewed up the shaft also. It was a shitty Chinese part, I replaced it with a less shitty Chinese part with a 30 spline outer that held up better. Toys and RCVs now, I don't think I will have that problem anytime soon.
 
DirtRoads said:
You would think :laughing:. The birfield inners exploded and chewed up the shaft also. It was a shitty Chinese part, I replaced it with a less shitty Chinese part with a 30 spline outer that held up better. Toys and RCVs now, I don't think I will have that problem anytime soon.
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So the birfield inners was Chicom shit?
 
DirtRoads said:
It's a fact. I broke a birfield going downhill because I was turned full lock and just about all of the engine braking was going to my left front. That won't ever happen here in the southeast.
Click to expand...

I once broke a Rockwell birfield joint on flat dirt ground. It happens! :laughing:
 
72blazer said:
Never been to Moab myself so I can’t say. How does it compare to Katemcy or WolfCaves?
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The TX granite is similar for traction and actu'ly more destructive on tires. Moab has the good traction without the cheesegrater effect on the tires. I've shed a lotta rubber at Katemcy. You'll learn soon enuf what the 'Moab chirp' is.

July's miserable in Moab for the heat and still lots of snow in the CO mountains. Be lucky if the passes are open that early in the year. Honestly not sure what kinda winter they had this year tho.

I do Moab in early spring (this year gonna be late fall) and CO in mid-August. Hard to combine them two trips weather-wise. Basic'ly ... July ain't real good for neither.
 
Kowboy said:
The TX granite is similar for traction and actu'ly more destructive on tires. Moab has the good traction without the cheesegrater effect on the tires. I've shed a lotta rubber at Katemcy. You'll learn soon enuf what the 'Moab chirp' is.

July's miserable in Moab for the heat and still lots of snow in the CO mountains. Be lucky if the passes are open that early in the year. Honestly not sure what kinda winter they had this year tho.

I do Moab in early spring (this year gonna be late fall) and CO in mid-August. Hard to combine them two trips weather-wise. Basic'ly ... July ain't real good for neither.
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Most of the passes are open. They’re thinking Black Bear and Imogene in Early July. Engineer is open. They just had a snow a couple of days ago. I’ve been watching a SJM FB group for daily updates.

i would have liked to have gone in late August or September but difficult with kids school and my
work schedule. Seems the best mod for the trip will be the AC :laughing:
 
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