Canyonland's White Rim - gas? (Apr '07)
- Thread starter MHead
- Start date
kcowyo
ExPo Original
The last gas stop is in the town of Moab, some 15-20 miles from the start of the Shafer Switchbacks and the White Rim Trail. The Horsethief Trail, at the western end of the WRT, is 35-40 miles back to Moab.
90% of the trail can be done in 2WD if it's dry. I don't recall my exact MPG's, but I filled up in Moab, did the WRT and didn't fill up again till I got up to Green River, UT on the interstate some 60 miles north of the WRT.
You should be OK with a 20 gallon tank.
90% of the trail can be done in 2WD if it's dry. I don't recall my exact MPG's, but I filled up in Moab, did the WRT and didn't fill up again till I got up to Green River, UT on the interstate some 60 miles north of the WRT.
You should be OK with a 20 gallon tank.
2500Adventures
Adventurer
But to be safe I'd probably take a gas can...you never know what may happen...
teotwaki
Excelsior!
Think of it this way:
You have a rough and sometimes muddy or snowbound trail and operate in low gears. On your last day you are towards the end and will climb back up out of the canyon. A landslide has blocked the last switchback and now you have to turn around and go all the way back.
So let's guess that you'll get 13 MPG average based on a heavy load and using low gears as needed.
Last gas station 20 miles after you have topped off to top of Schaefer switchbacks.
White Rim trail inbound 100 miles to "landslide"
White Rim turn back 90 miles to top of Schaefer or maybe out to the the lower highway
Last gas station 20 miles to get more gas
Total worst case est miles = 230
Gas tank is 20 gal x 13 MPG = 260 mile range
Most optimistic case is 16 MPG where you'lll have a 320 mile range for a 140 mile trip.
YMMV :smiley_drive:
You will absolutely LOVE the scenery!!!
You have a rough and sometimes muddy or snowbound trail and operate in low gears. On your last day you are towards the end and will climb back up out of the canyon. A landslide has blocked the last switchback and now you have to turn around and go all the way back.
So let's guess that you'll get 13 MPG average based on a heavy load and using low gears as needed.
Last gas station 20 miles after you have topped off to top of Schaefer switchbacks.
White Rim trail inbound 100 miles to "landslide"
White Rim turn back 90 miles to top of Schaefer or maybe out to the the lower highway
Last gas station 20 miles to get more gas
Total worst case est miles = 230
Gas tank is 20 gal x 13 MPG = 260 mile range
Most optimistic case is 16 MPG where you'lll have a 320 mile range for a 140 mile trip.
YMMV :smiley_drive:
You will absolutely LOVE the scenery!!!
paulj
Expedition Leader
Any recommendations on cans for carrying gas on trip like this? A classic 5 gallon metal can seems like overkill for occasional use like this, plus it is an awkward size to carry upright on a conventional roof rack. I was thinking of a couple of 2 gallon Blitz cans. I think they would fit in my Sidekick roof box, though I also would have space on an open platform on the other half of the roof rack.
paulj
paulj
etbadger
Adventurer
You may also want to consider going in via Potash (signs just north of Moab). This bypasses the park entry-station, Shafer switchbacks, and some number of miles of pavement in exchange for some more dirt and some interesting scenery of the Colorado river canyon with the mountains in the back.
We have a log of our White Rim trip a bit over a year ago at: http://www.badgertrek.com/weblog/2005-12weblog.html starting about 2/3 of the way down the page.
Very beautiful. Enjoy.
-Erik
We have a log of our White Rim trip a bit over a year ago at: http://www.badgertrek.com/weblog/2005-12weblog.html starting about 2/3 of the way down the page.
Very beautiful. Enjoy.
-Erik
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devinsixtyseven
Explorer
Have you looked at the Scepter plastic cans? I haven't used their fuel cans (I have other stuff), but you can fill their water cans with 5g, turn them upside down and shake them...no leaks. I didn't try the drop testpaulj said:
.Also they are 10L, so they actually fit 5.5 gallons, not 5g.
You could take two and lay both on their sides on the roof, if you're ok with heavy stuff riding high--about 6.5# per gallon, so about 70# on the roof for a pair.
Personally I wouldn't worry about trail conditions right now. Unless there's a significant amount of rain predicted, or the ground is still really, really wet, you should be fine. WRT gets a huge amount of traffic (hikers, 4WD, motos, MTB), and the Park keeps the place on a short leash and generally in very good condition. You'll see plenty of people, especially in spring time and around EJS. If any part of the road were damaged, NPS would be out in a hurry to clean it up...they take great care of the roads out there (WRT is pretty much a road, not a trail...minimal need for 4LO).
A note on Potash Road...it's usually freakish washboard, air down once you hit dirt. There's another route you can take that may be interesting, take 313 (Canyonlands entrance road) to Pucker Pass, down to Potash Road to WRT. Great views there too, or so it looks from the photos. Not been, myself.
-Sean
teotwaki
Excelsior!
etbadger said:
Folks,
I highly recommend Erik's web page. Amazing how he wheels that ride of his everywhere! Great pictures and write ups. Cute technical terms for Bad Camping Neighbor Disease ("yucky-neighbor-hives") and a story about the funny attractions that hummingbirds have to things other than flowers.
paulj
Expedition Leader
When carrying extra gas, when do you transfer it to the main tank?
My default thinking has been to keep the gas in reserve, using it only if the main tank ran dry, or at least low. At that point I would be focused on getting to the nearest gas station, and it would give me some peace of mind, and extra chance of getting there.
But it occurred to me that if I transferred it as soon as the main tank had enough space, I would have less weight on the roof, and fewer worries about gas spills etc. I'm not sure about fire risks, since the fumes in an empty can can be as deadly as the full one. Alaska ferries wanted me to put my cans in their paint locker, even if they were empty.
Objectively it shouldn't matter - the extra gas would extend my range by the same amount regardless of when I used it. But it could make a difference in my spur-of-the-moment route decisions.
paulj
My default thinking has been to keep the gas in reserve, using it only if the main tank ran dry, or at least low. At that point I would be focused on getting to the nearest gas station, and it would give me some peace of mind, and extra chance of getting there.
But it occurred to me that if I transferred it as soon as the main tank had enough space, I would have less weight on the roof, and fewer worries about gas spills etc. I'm not sure about fire risks, since the fumes in an empty can can be as deadly as the full one. Alaska ferries wanted me to put my cans in their paint locker, even if they were empty.
Objectively it shouldn't matter - the extra gas would extend my range by the same amount regardless of when I used it. But it could make a difference in my spur-of-the-moment route decisions.
paulj
etbadger
Adventurer
paulj said:
Hi Paul
For ourselves, we carry it in the seperate containers as long as possible for a couple reasons:
- The main reason is to keep a backup as long as possible. If we get a hole in the fuel tank for some reason, we could loose all of our fuel if its all in the tank early. If we have the fuel in cans we can patch the hole and at least have some mobility left to get out.
- Its heavy, if we get stuck we can off-load more weight from the vehicle easily to lighten the load for getting un-stuck. May not be applicable in some places, but consider in sandy or muddy terrain.
- If we run the tank dry somehow, and have to transfer the fuel over it is a very noticable warning that we are getting low. If we transfered it early then this event would be more common, not as noticable, and we might forget that we are out of reserve.
We do keep the cans low to reduce our roll-over risk and reduce the swaying moment as well (we are pretty high to begin with).
-Erik
DaveInDenver
Middle Income Semi-Redneck
My reasoning is pretty much the same as Erik's. I don't have a low fuel light, but I know that when the needle says 'E' there's still pretty much gas in the tank, about 3 gallons safely. I tend to start putting fuel in to keep the needle at or just above 'E' so that the fuel pump stays wet. The last thing I need is the pump burning out and as long as there's a few gallons in the tank the pump gets splashed and with be cooled a little. Also I don't want to run the tank completely dry if I don't have to so that there's a little less chance of sucking up gunk.
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devinsixtyseven
Explorer
Same reasoning here as Erik and Dave.
I only add what I need, and try to run entirely on the main tank...tho I often run it nearly dry.
The only exception is near the end of a trip, with fuel readily available...transferring any remaining payload to the main tank before hitting the pump on the way home.
If it's a staged trip, I'll only keep in reserve what I reasonably might need at any stage...no reason to carry 20g of spare fuel when I'm less than ten miles from a pump.
-Sean
I only add what I need, and try to run entirely on the main tank...tho I often run it nearly dry.
The only exception is near the end of a trip, with fuel readily available...transferring any remaining payload to the main tank before hitting the pump on the way home.
If it's a staged trip, I'll only keep in reserve what I reasonably might need at any stage...no reason to carry 20g of spare fuel when I'm less than ten miles from a pump.
-Sean