Onion Creek to Dewey Bridge: A taste of the Kokopelli Trail and Rose Garden Hill

[99Discovery]

As part of our final trips for 2019, a group of us got together for some trail riding in Moad in late fall. Part of us were to spend the time around Moab, living it large in a Condo (I was part of this group, my son and I bummin' a ride with my Dad in his JK Unlimited). The rest of our group was set to hit some Moab area trails on their way to a "conventional" overland trip through Canyonlands and Elephant Hill.

On the first day, all of us got together for some easy riding through beautiful Onion Creek. Back in the day, you would drive through the wash, but due to water quality concerns and increased traffic, the road now takes you on the ridge, but you still get to enjoy several water crossings. The original plan was to head south back to Moab once we reached the Fisher Valley; however, we had some time and we wanted to check out Rose Garden Hill.

Those with more modified rigs attempted the trail. It is an incredible loose scramble for its entire length. Many who "overland" the Kokopelli from Colorado to Moab go down Rose Garden to make it significantly easier...I can see why. Once the bigger rigs made it to the top, we really didn't want to go back down, so we split our groups and decided to meet back in Moab for dinner.

It was much easier on our way out to the Dewey Bridge, but it still took some time. And as with any Moab trail, we were rewarded with world-class vistas and a beautiful sunset highlighting the red rocks.

Here are my short reviews of the two trail segments, Onion Creek being easy (cross over friendly) and then Rose Garden to Dewey Bridge:

 

[99Discovery]

Sunset on highway 128, following the Green River back into Moab.

 

[99Discovery]

The Shura road, right before dropping off at the Dewey Bridge.

 

[Beowulf]

Very nice recap of the trail.

 

[jadmt]

Yup rose garden is the real deal. does not look like you guys aired down. Drop down to 12-15
psi and see the difference.

 

[Jeep or Tacoma]

Were you in low range. It seemed on the video that the Jeep was moving pretty fast for low 1?

 

[99Discovery]

We were aired down. The first Jeep (the one with the most footage) was on a new set of KM3s at 18psi. He could have gone lower, but he wasn't that high. Load Range E just doesn't flex unless you are in the single digits, and without beadlocks, he didn't want to go that low. He said he'd try 15psi next time.

As for climbing up, we were definitely in 4-Lo. Again, on the JL, the first third of the hill was in Drive. Typically this makes no difference for me on any climb, but the JK/JL is pretty finniky in low range, if you aren't in "1", it's almost as if it starts in "2". His results were much improved in "1".

The last JK (after we had found our line) went up the easiest. I didn't include much footage of his ascent...because where is the fun in that?

Plenty we could improve on, especially filming. The challenge is always trying to capture how steep it is. You can catch a couple of glimpses of how loose/steep the hill was by the spotters nearly falling in a few of the frames.