Another Moab area wrap up from April 20-26

[upcruiser]

Well here's another thread of Moab pics to add to KC's. I brought Dana out with me for some meetings for work I had in Park City then we busted down to Moab for 6 days of play. Here's a collection of images from our outing. We took my Tundra which is bone stock other then the cap, rack, and bed/drawer system I built for the back. Honestly it was a refreshing experience running a stock rig. Anyway, here's some shots, hope you enjoy..

From our first evening in town. We found a great camp spot up near the rim of Bull Canyon. This shot is from the way up the road to Gemini Bridges/Bull Canyon.

As we setup in our spot for the night, the full moon came up over the La Sals.

Shot of the camp the next morning.

After checking out Gemini Bridges and generally lounging about taking in some vistas we headed out to locate our next camp location.

Sitting around the campfire at one of the coolest camp spots I've ever had. Great little spot on point off of the Porcupine Rim overlooking Castle Valley. We were fairly close to the base of the La Sal's and had great views of the valley.

Dana modelling the digs on a paticularly cold night.

Some shots the next day showcasing the views from the camp spot.

Hitting up a mtb ride on the Porcupine Rim

 

[upcruiser]

On the way back down to Moab we played around a bit on Baby Lion's Back

Next we headed out the Potash Road with the plan of spending a couple of days in Canyonlands.

Petroglyphs along the Potash Rd.

Colorado River from Potash Rd below Dead Horse Point. I hadn't been to this spot in 12 years and it was just as cool as I remembered.

Musselman's Arch off of the White Rim Trail

 

[Willman]

Nice shots!

 

[upcruiser]

Self portrait on the White Rim

The Shafer trail switchbacks.

Looking down on the White Rim from Murphy's Hogback overlook trail

Got Vertigo?

Mid-day Siesta



Overall, great time in Canyonlands.

Flexing out the Tundra

We spent the good portion of a day running the Chicken Corners trail and did some sightseeing and hiking along the way. This shot is from the end of the road at Chicken Corner.

One common theme we had during our trip was wind. Wind wind wind. We ate more sand on this trip, it was in everything. It made for some fun dune driving in places though.

Hitting the road back!

We had a great trip and it was fun taking Dana to the redrocks country for her first time. Our trip ended up being about 5,000 miles once we got back. We stopped in Colorado on the way out and way back and played a bit too but I'll hold on those pics. I've already posted plenty.

 

[mountainpete]

Those are awesome pics!

I'm really curious about Shafer trail. I've never been to the area... where exactly is it? Is it open to truck traffic? We have nothing like that up here and I would love to run a trail like that!

Pete

 

[Purple People Eater]

I'm running this area mid August. It's gonna be HOT! Nice pictures, makes me excited for my own trip. How much fuel did you use?

 

[Elvota]

Answering phones at a call center tonight... 47 calls over the last 8 hours.

Your pics kept me sane. Utah is always endless... thanks for sharing.

 

[OverlandZJ]

You guys are killing me with these Utah threads and pics...

Great Pics Christian, what temps did you experience?

 

[kcowyo]

Most excellent! :clapsmile

Now I'm wondering if I didn't see you in town on Saturday the 26th. At one point a gray Tundra with a rack and bike on top went right by us at the Brewery. Mia thought it was a T100 until I pointed out the access cab doors.

Great panorama pics. Love that full moon over the La Sal's and the headlamp shots. I dig the simple set up in the bed, the ideal way to travel IMO. I can only guess it was the wind that made the hazy mornings that week but it always seemed to clear up by lunch.

Can't believe we missed out on a possible meeting so far from both of our homes. With your wild schedule, I can only hope we're able to hook up this Fall.

:beer:

 

[upcruiser]

Those are awesome pics!

I'm really curious about Shafer trail. I've never been to the area... where exactly is it? Is it open to truck traffic? We have nothing like that up here and I would love to run a trail like that!

Pete

The Shafer Trail/Road is a popular road that, depending on the direction that you run the White Rim will either be the first thing you go down, or last part of the loop that you climb out of. If you drive from Moab into Canyonlands via the Potash Road you reach the Shafter Road at the intersection of the White Rim Trail. A stock 4wd will have no problem on it. When we drove up it, there was a German tourist in a rented Chevy Equinox that stopped us to ask if he could folllow us up since he was alone. He had a fear of heights and didn't feel comfortable driving the little Chevy up it. We drove slow and he tailed us to the top where he explained how terrifying it was to him. He did fine though and made it up without even scraping the underbody of the Equinox.

We passed about 5 vehicles that were coming down as we were heading up it along with a handfull of cyclists making the slog up. I had the pleasure of biking up it a few years ago on my mountain bike trip of WRT. I felt there pain. Though when I did it I had a fully loaded bob trailer on my bike but I was smart enough to drain my 7 gallon water tank. haha

 

[upcruiser]

I'm running this area mid August. It's gonna be HOT! Nice pictures, makes me excited for my own trip. How much fuel did you use?

I'd plan on doing most of my activities early in the morning if I were you. I've been to Moab around 12 times now and its always been in the spring or fall other then one time I went in early June. It was so hot that biking on the Slick Rock Trail at around 10am it felt like I was getting cooked by the sun above and at the same time from the rock below. It was pretty brutal. Though I'm not much of a warm weather guy.

As far as fuel? On the total trip I spent just shy of $1k. Fortunately for me my work is reimbursing me for the majority of it since I was out there for work. Gas prices ranged from around $3.75 in my home area to $3.40 in Iowa and then everywhere in between was somewhere in between. I calculated fuel economy on every tank. Higway driving I was getting around 17-18mpg (1 tank at 19). While in Moab we spent about 80% of the time in 4lo and I was getting around 11-12mpg on those tanks. For the highway portions I put my fuel cans, water can, bike, and storage box inside the truck to reduce drag. Highway driving I kept it to 70mph and below (Actually drove 65 on the way out) in an effort to stretch the mileage.

 

[upcruiser]

You guys are killing me with these Utah threads and pics...

Great Pics Christian, what temps did you experience?

During the day temps were anywhere from 60-70, so just perfect. Night time everything from 30's to 50's. The night up at the top of the Porcupine Rim was below freezing but we were at 7,500 feet.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Great pics

Gotta ask, where do you buy your gas in Moab... cheapest I saw was $3.49

 

[upcruiser]

Most excellent! :clapsmile

Now I'm wondering if I didn't see you in town on Saturday the 26th. At one point a gray Tundra with a rack and bike on top went right by us at the Brewery. Mia thought it was a T100 until I pointed out the access cab doors.

Great panorama pics. Love that full moon over the La Sal's and the headlamp shots. I dig the simple set up in the bed, the ideal way to travel IMO. I can only guess it was the wind that made the hazy mornings that week but it always seemed to clear up by lunch.

Can't believe we missed out on a possible meeting so far from both of our homes. With your wild schedule, I can only hope we're able to hook up this Fall.

:beer:

Funny you say that because I saw a T100 on Saturday I believe that had a FWC on it. I always thought your truck was a different color till I saw your latest thread. It might have been you. If it was you I passed, then I was downtown heading out towards the Colorado River and you were heading south. The town was inundated with all the hotrods so I was rubber necking my way across town and just caught a glimpse of your rig at the last minute when you were passing. Was that you?? Funny if it was. I was just taking Dana to the Poison Spider Bike shope for her 1 splurge of the week, a hot shower! haha We had been using my solar shower all week till that point.

The sleeping arrangments worked really well. We used a futon mattress and it ended up being much more comfortable then the setup I have in the Land Cruiser(I'm going to reengineer that). I have two 4 foot sliding drawers and a storage compartment behind those that allowed me to store all of my gear, food, etc. It was a super simple yet effective setup. The only thing I put on the roof was my spare fuel, water, bike, and one storage box.

Yeah, it was very hazy pretty much every day we were there from all the blowing dust and sand in the air. Even in town when it felt calm, a gentle shower of sand seemed to settle upon everything. Each night at camp we had to shake out the fine linen as I learned just how NOT dust proof the tail gate is. haha!

Do you have set dates yet for the fall? Northern Explorer and I are putting together an overland outing sometime probably in late summer but it will likely end up being before your trip. Anyway, like I said, if I'm in town I'll definately join up with you for a portion, play tour guide, whatever. :elkgrin:

 

[upcruiser]

Great pics

Gotta ask, where do you buy your gas in Moab... cheapest I saw was $3.49

Ha ha! Major mistype of the gas prices, I better edit that! Those ones are supposed to be 3's. I'm not the brightest bulb.