west tex
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Left El Paso early morning on Monday, Oct 25th and arrived in Moab mid afternoon, about 10.5 hours on the road. It was warm and sunny with plenty of fall colors, but the weather report was for a cold front overnight. It arrived with wind, lots of rain and a 30degree drop in temperatures.
Even with the lousy weather the wife and I headed out to the trails; first up, Fins n Things. Since it was still coming down hard, I didn't get out into the weather to air down or disconnect the sway bar. My Wrangler is a 2021 2dr 80th Edition with rock rails, rear LSD and 33s. No lift. Fins had some challenging spots, but wasn't too bad. Very few other vehicles out on that trail in the weather. Finished around noon, maybe a little after.
Next; Hell's Revenge. Weather started to lift with broken clouds and some sun. Still windy and cold. This time, I aired down to 18 psi and disconnected the sway bar. I really enjoyed HR much more than FnT. The obstacles were more challenging, but the little Wrangler just crawled right over each one w/o breaking a sweat. But I wasn't going to do the "optional" stuff; Hot Tub, Tip Over Challenge or Hell's Gate. Somehow I lost the trail markers and ended up on a RZR trail. Kept getting narrower and nastier, but on we went. Soon, a group of 4 RZRs overtook us and I was glad to have someone ahead of me who seemed to know where they were going. At one point, one of the RZRs went over on its side, but no injuries other than a bruised ego. Ended up in what looked like the parking lot of a quarry. Aired up, reconnected and then back to La Quinta.
Early Wed morning, it was time to try Poison Spider Mesa. Aired down, disconnected and off we go. That initial climb up to the mesa top was rough, crawling over rocks the size of a large dog, some even bigger. The "waterfall" wasn't as hard as it looked. Some other unnamed obstacles were difficult because everything was still wet from the previous day with large puddles of standing water in every low spot, especially at the base of most obstacles, making traction iffy. This trail was about as tough as I was willing to take my Jeep through. The skid plates and rock rails got a workout. And I no longer have a round tailpipe. Again, finished around noon. Then on to Gemini Bridges, an easy trail that's mostly rough, rocky, rutted poorly maintained county roads. Next stop, Dead Horse Point. Don't miss this if you're ever in Moab. It is truly spectacular.
My plan for Thur was to go to Top of the World. But my copilot objected after two days of rock crawling, so we took on Dome Plateau instead. This trail is listed in the Wells book, Guide to Moab Trails as the most difficult of the moderate trails. It was challenging in a few places, but a scenic and enjoyable drive. We encountered a Bronco Off Roadeo group there. Eight 4dr Broncos in various trims, all Squatched except for one Badlands. A Ford guide in the front and rear vehicles, with the middle 6 occupied by customers waiting for their long delayed steeds. It's a Ford promotion to keep them interested and introduce them to the Bronco's off road features. They were friendly folks and we had a good chat with them before we went onward. They couldn't keep up, as the drivers they were herding had varying degrees of off road abilities. The Broncos looked enormous to me, even though their dimensions are only a little larger than a Wrangler's. They were handling the trail well.
That afternoon, we visited Fisher Towers and Onion Creek. Scenic places, but nothing a 2WD with decent tires couldn't handle.
Friday, it was another 10.5 hr drive back to The Pass. BTW, I got 27/28 highway mpg with the 2.0T both up and back. Very happy with that little Italian powerplant.
Dead Horse Point
On a fin at Hell's Revenge
The Bronco crowd on Dome Plateau
More pics in the "Scenic Jeep Photos" thread.
Even with the lousy weather the wife and I headed out to the trails; first up, Fins n Things. Since it was still coming down hard, I didn't get out into the weather to air down or disconnect the sway bar. My Wrangler is a 2021 2dr 80th Edition with rock rails, rear LSD and 33s. No lift. Fins had some challenging spots, but wasn't too bad. Very few other vehicles out on that trail in the weather. Finished around noon, maybe a little after.
Next; Hell's Revenge. Weather started to lift with broken clouds and some sun. Still windy and cold. This time, I aired down to 18 psi and disconnected the sway bar. I really enjoyed HR much more than FnT. The obstacles were more challenging, but the little Wrangler just crawled right over each one w/o breaking a sweat. But I wasn't going to do the "optional" stuff; Hot Tub, Tip Over Challenge or Hell's Gate. Somehow I lost the trail markers and ended up on a RZR trail. Kept getting narrower and nastier, but on we went. Soon, a group of 4 RZRs overtook us and I was glad to have someone ahead of me who seemed to know where they were going. At one point, one of the RZRs went over on its side, but no injuries other than a bruised ego. Ended up in what looked like the parking lot of a quarry. Aired up, reconnected and then back to La Quinta.
Early Wed morning, it was time to try Poison Spider Mesa. Aired down, disconnected and off we go. That initial climb up to the mesa top was rough, crawling over rocks the size of a large dog, some even bigger. The "waterfall" wasn't as hard as it looked. Some other unnamed obstacles were difficult because everything was still wet from the previous day with large puddles of standing water in every low spot, especially at the base of most obstacles, making traction iffy. This trail was about as tough as I was willing to take my Jeep through. The skid plates and rock rails got a workout. And I no longer have a round tailpipe. Again, finished around noon. Then on to Gemini Bridges, an easy trail that's mostly rough, rocky, rutted poorly maintained county roads. Next stop, Dead Horse Point. Don't miss this if you're ever in Moab. It is truly spectacular.
My plan for Thur was to go to Top of the World. But my copilot objected after two days of rock crawling, so we took on Dome Plateau instead. This trail is listed in the Wells book, Guide to Moab Trails as the most difficult of the moderate trails. It was challenging in a few places, but a scenic and enjoyable drive. We encountered a Bronco Off Roadeo group there. Eight 4dr Broncos in various trims, all Squatched except for one Badlands. A Ford guide in the front and rear vehicles, with the middle 6 occupied by customers waiting for their long delayed steeds. It's a Ford promotion to keep them interested and introduce them to the Bronco's off road features. They were friendly folks and we had a good chat with them before we went onward. They couldn't keep up, as the drivers they were herding had varying degrees of off road abilities. The Broncos looked enormous to me, even though their dimensions are only a little larger than a Wrangler's. They were handling the trail well.
That afternoon, we visited Fisher Towers and Onion Creek. Scenic places, but nothing a 2WD with decent tires couldn't handle.
Friday, it was another 10.5 hr drive back to The Pass. BTW, I got 27/28 highway mpg with the 2.0T both up and back. Very happy with that little Italian powerplant.
Dead Horse Point
On a fin at Hell's Revenge
The Bronco crowd on Dome Plateau
More pics in the "Scenic Jeep Photos" thread.
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