Moab Trip Report

[TomHatch]

UPDATE Lots of pictures are posted on my website. www.tomhatch.com Click on 'Gallery' and then 'NEW Moab 2006'

Unstuck and I got back from Moab late Saturday night. We wheeled all day Thursday and Friday. It was my first trip to Moab and I can?t wait to go back!! On Thursday we ran Hell?s Revenge.

HR is a fun trail with beautiful scenery. The second half of the trail is the most exciting part. We almost missed Hell?s Gate because neither of us knew exactly where it is. I got a little tippy half way up?luckily I was able to back down and regain the right line. After Hell?s Gate we made our way to the Escalator?an optional obstacle that looks much easier than it is. A couple of old timers were there waiting for some of their friends. I asked them how the Escalator was. They said it was easy and that I would make it right up. I should have been suspicious when they immediately went for their cameras. To make a long story short, on the second step (the hardest part) I took a bad line and ended up against the wall resting on my rear corner and roll cage. The wife was not too excited about being that close to the rock wall. Being totally stuck, I hooked up my winch to a Cherokee at the top of the hill and pulled myself up the step. It only took about 6 inches before my tires grabbed again and I was able to make it the rest of the way up. TJs beware of the Escalator; it favors long wheelbases and doesn?t like rear steer.

On Friday we ran the Poison Spider Mesa/Golden Spike/Gold Bar Rim loop. At first, we set out to only run Poison Spider. We reached the lookout (end of the trail) pretty early and decided to hit Golden Spike. GS is the most intense trail I have ever been on. Anyone who has run this trail can attest to its non-stop action. The trail never lets up. If you like rock steps/waterfalls, this is the trail for you. Unstuck broke his rear differential yolk between Double Whammy and Body Snatcher (two great obstacles). Having left his spare parts at home, we scavenged a u-joint and some u-bolts from a fellow Jeeper. We waited for a rig set up with on-board welding that was coming up close behind us (we were playing leap frog most of the day). They helped us out by welding the u-joint, u-bolts, and yolk together. A number of people stopped to make sure we were ok and we all decided to travel together the rest of the way as it was getting dark. Just as the sun was going down, we made it to the end of Golden Spike and turned onto Gold Bar Rim. I can?t say enough about these trails so you?ll have to run them yourself. These three trails can be run in a loop to avoid back-tracking. Leave early and carry spare parts. We saw 5 broken rigs all on Golden Spike.


Who else loves Golden Spike? :D :D :D

[azquadrider]

Thanks for the review, it made my mouth water. I hope you don't mind me posting this but I just love Moab. Under ATV Adventures there are 3 galleries of our trip to Moab in March of this year. There are some jeeps in day 3.
Follow the link: http://www.azquadrider.smugmug.com/

[Gizmo]

Unstuck and I got back from Moab late Saturday night. We wheeled all day Thursday and Friday. It was my first trip to Moab and I can’t wait to go back!! On Thursday we ran Hell’s Revenge.

HR is a fun trail with beautiful scenery. The second half of the trail is the most exciting part. We almost missed Hell’s Gate because neither of us knew exactly where it is. I got a little tippy half way up—luckily I was able to back down and regain the right line. After Hell’s Gate we made our way to the Escalator—an optional obstacle that looks much easier than it is. A couple of old timers were there waiting for some of their friends. I asked them how the Escalator was. They said it was easy and that I would make it right up. I should have been suspicious when they immediately went for their cameras. To make a long story short, on the second step (the hardest part) I took a bad line and ended up against the wall resting on my rear corner and roll cage. The wife was not too excited about being that close to the rock wall. Being totally stuck, I hooked up my winch to a Cherokee at the top of the hill and pulled myself up the step. It only took about 6 inches before my tires grabbed again and I was able to make it the rest of the way up. TJs beware of the Escalator; it favors long wheelbases and doesn’t like rear steer.

On Friday we ran the Poison Spider Mesa/Golden Spike/Gold Bar Rim loop. At first, we set out to only run Poison Spider. We reached the lookout (end of the trail) pretty early and decided to hit Golden Spike. GS is the most intense trail I have ever been on. Anyone who has run this trail can attest to its non-stop action. The trail never lets up. If you like rock steps/waterfalls, this is the trail for you. Unstuck broke his rear differential yolk between Double Whammy and Body Snatcher (two great obstacles). Having left his spare parts at home, we scavenged a u-joint and some u-bolts from a fellow Jeeper. We waited for a rig set up with on-board welding that was coming up close behind us (we were playing leap frog most of the day). They helped us out by welding the u-joint, u-bolts, and yolk together. A number of people stopped to make sure we were ok and we all decided to travel together the rest of the way as it was getting dark. Just as the sun was going down, we made it to the end of Golden Spike and turned onto Gold Bar Rim. I can’t say enough about these trails so you’ll have to run them yourself. These three trails can be run in a loop to avoid back-tracking. Leave early and carry spare parts. We saw 5 broken rigs all on Golden Spike.

I took lots of pictures and am in the process of getting them up on my website. I’ll keep you all posted when they are ready.

Who else loves Golden Spike? :D :D :D

Nice report, look forward to the pictures. A question from a Newby waiting to purchase my first jeep. You mentioned that the Escalator favors a longer wheelbase, as I am not familiar with the terrain and a newby, so bear with me here, would'nt a longer wheel base hang up in the middle? Is there then an advantage to the Wrangler Unlimited other than the extra passenger and cargo space that the longer wheelbase affords?

[UNSTUCK]

Maybe I can jump in here and help you out Bruce. The longer your wheelbase is the harder it is to tip over forward or backward. At the same time, the wider your track width is, the harder it is to tip over sideways. This is why the Unlimiteds or scramblers are so nice. Like you said though, thier brakeover angle is poor. Add the smallest lift possible to fit the biggest tires possible and you have a very capable trail rig.

Oh, and check out my moab trip report. The hills there are steeeeep! Longer wheelbase would have been great.

http://virtualjeepclub.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5521&stc=1&d=1146526922

[TomHatch]

The second step in the Escalator is pretty high. My front tires barely cleared the top when my passenger side rear tire fell into a hole at the bottom. This caused my driver's side front tire to reach for the sky. Every cm I crept forward caused my front to jump higher and higher. Eventually I was leaning my passenger corner and roll cage up against the passenger wall. A longer wheelbase would allow your front tires to establish traction before your rear tires hit the wall. Of course if you are too long-without enough lift-you will drag belly over a steep/tall step. A local ?expert? said that lifted Cherokees have a relatively easy time on Escalator (everybody watch Nick?s head grow). The local expert tried the obstacle and ripped his steering box off his frame. That made me feel a little better about getting stuck.

http://www.virtualjeepclub.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5530&stc=1&d=1146626510

This picture shows my rear tire starting to fall into the hole/softspot. As usual, this photo does not showhow steep or narrow this climb is. It is much more tricky than Hell's Gate.

Hey Josh, Thanks for the spot!!:D

[UNSTUCK]

The second step in the Escalator is pretty high. My front tires barely cleared the top when my passenger side rear tire fell into a hole at the bottom. This caused my driver's side front tire to reach for the sky. Every cm I crept forward caused my front to jump higher and higher. Eventually I was leaning my passenger corner and roll cage up against the passenger wall. A longer wheelbase would allow your front tires to establish traction before your rear tires hit the wall. Of course if you are too long-without enough lift-you will drag belly over a steep/tall step. A local ?expert? said that lifted Cherokees have a relatively easy time on Escalator (everybody watch Nick?s head grow). The local expert tried the obstacle and ripped his steering box off his frame. That made me feel a little better about getting stuck.

http://www.virtualjeepclub.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5530&stc=1&d=1146626510



This picture shows my rear tire starting to fall into the hole/softspot. As usual, this photo does not showhow steep or narrow this climb is. It is much more tricky than Hell's Gate.

Hey Josh, Thanks for the spot!!:D

Or lack of spotting! But hey, Im famous...I can see half of my body in that pic!:)

[TomHatch]

Pics are available on my website. See the first post in this thread.

[Sedona Jeep School]

Who else loves Golden Spike? :D :D :D
I do believe UNSTUCK posted a pic of the famous "Texas Teeter" obstacle on Golden Spike. :D

Let me throw in my 2 cents about the longer wheel base. It is not that it is necessarily harder to roll or tip--you still will roll at the same pitch or roll as a TJ. It is that the longer wheel base allows you more more gradual adjustments to your weight distribution. The adjustments to your center of gravity are spread out over a few more inches, and so a sudden weight shift is not as likely to throw you over. Basically, the longer wheel base is slightly more human-error proof. :D Clear as mud?

[Crawldad]

I was there all week with ROF. I wheeled 7 mile rim, Steelbender, Metalmasher, Green Day in Area BFE,& Poison Spider, Golden Spike & Gold Bar Rim. I have to agree that Golden Spike was my favorite. Here are a couple pics.
Double Whammy
http://i1.tinypic.com/xe1j5g.jpg
Others from GS
http://i2.tinypic.com/xe1l36.jpg
http://i3.tinypic.com/xe1lie.jpg
This was my first time to Moab. I can't wait to go back next year.

[UNSTUCK]

Isn't Golden Spike just an awsome trial. Can you belive that all day we were climbing ledges like those in doulble whammy with no poblems. Then, just about a hundred yard up from double whammy, I went up a very small ledge and blew out my rear drive shaft. In fact it might be the ledge just to the right of your spotter in your pic, back in the distance. Oh well. Good times.

[Craig]

I was there all week with ROF. I wheeled 7 mile rim,

Did you go out on Uranium Arch? That gave me the most pucker of any obstacle in Moab.


http://www.virtualjeepclub.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5586&stc=1&d=1147042711

[TomHatch]

Pucker Factor... This ledge is about 1500 ft up.

http://www.virtualjeepclub.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5590&stc=1&d=1147071630

[Craig]

I can walk out on stuff like that ... for a little while anyway. Then the vertigo starts to build and build. :eek: Its funny... when I was young I used to do a lot a rock climbing and never had an issue with it, even on some pretty big walls. Now its a different story.

[Symon623]

Its funny... when I was young I used to do a lot a rock climbing and never had an issue with it, even on some pretty big walls. Now its a different story.

When were you young Craig? You still are!! I just think it's cos you have more to lose now then you did say 10 years ago. That's what it's like for me.

I'm wishin I woulda went with you guys.

[Crawldad]

Did you go out on Uranium Arch? That gave me the most pucker of any obstacle in Moab.


http://www.virtualjeepclub.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5586&stc=1&d=1147042711
Not sure if thats the same arch but it looks like the one @ Gemini Bridges we crossed.
http://i3.tinypic.com/xmpycx.jpg
Here's the Rockchucker on Metal Masher
http://i2.tinypic.com/xmq5b8.jpg
Here's an Unlimited with Prorock 60's & 40' Tires on Helldorado BFE
http://i1.tinypic.com/xmqzr5.jpg
http://i1.tinypic.com/xmr310.jpg