Summer Jeep Odyssey: Virginia - Grand Canyon - Moab - Telluride - Virginia

[Murphydog]

A day behind in updating. Made it in to Moab Wednesday evening. By that point the kids and I needed a hotel night. Showers, laundry, a little pool / hot tub relaxation, and a meal not cooked on a camp stove. We got all that and by Thursday late morning we're recharged and ready to go.

Figured Fins and Things would be a good place to start. We ran both the North and South sections, took about 5 hours, though that includes lots of picture stops and a few stops to watch other vehicles. We ran the hard routes at every choice point except one, where there was an off camber section that I didn't want to take with 150lbs of stuff on my roof rack. We hit 32 degrees down angle and 34 degrees up angle at the steepest decent and climb spots. Jeep did great, really fun trail and good place to start.

After a great run on Fins and Things, we headed up to the Manti-La Sal National Forest to camp. We didn't have a specific campsite in mind, but ended up at Mason's Draw Campground. It was absolutely beautiful. Very peaceful, a couple others campers there, one with a nicely set-up JK.

Great up date.
How’s the heat at night? I assume it cools off to a comfortable level?

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[Themistocles]

Great up date.
How’s the heat at night? I assume it cools off to a comfortable level?

Down at the Moab level seems like mid 70s. Up at the campground it was mid 50s... campground is at 8300ft.

 

[Murphydog]

Down at the Moab level seems like mid 70s. Up at the campground it was mid 50s... campground is at 8300ft.

We will be there end of August/first part of September. We are splurging with an AirBnB for the week. I’m told the night sky is spectacular

 

[Themistocles]

We will be there end of August/first part of September. We are splurging with an AirBnB for the week. I’m told the night sky is spectacular

We are doing Airbnb today through the 5th as well, then back up to the mountains for a while. Sky last night from the mountains was phenomenal. Kids and I just stared at it for quite a while.

 

[KNN]

Awesome adventure please keep documenting your trip! I’m planning a Moab trip for next summer w/ 3 kiddos & wife. Leaving from close to NoVa on MD side. Def following this thread.

 

[Themistocles]

My wife flew in to Grand Junction on the 1st, so most of that day was spent packing up camp in the Manti-La Sal, driving the 130 or so miles to Grand Junction and back...then getting in to the airbnb. My wife will be here until the morning of the 5th, so planned a bunch of Moab adventure stuff (ropes course, river rafting, horse riding, etc) for the time she is here. The 2nd was the only day of that time not scheduled...reserved it as back up in case of flight delays. So since flight was as scheduled, we had a full day today to spare. To her everlasting credit, my wife agreed to take that time and run Elephant Hill.

Started the day with a great breakfast at the Moab Diner then straight out to Elephant Hill. The drive out from Moab is about an hour and a half and you do need to make back country reservations and pay for park entry. Once in the park everything is clearly marked and trailhead is easy to locate. The entire drive was absolutely amazing, the scenery was like nothing I have every seen before. The trail was not that difficult. There were a few tight sections and a couple places with some decent steps. I locked the rear a couple times and at one point locked both to clear a step. Probably didn't need to, a little work would likely have gotten me through those sections without locking but was trying to reduce the drama for my wife and locking was easy. The backing section (down...and up) was a bit interesting...up harder than down. But still not that hard.

Overall, a really great trail. Absolutely worth the drive.

 

[Themistocles]

Last few days have been pretty packed. As covered in the last post, the whole family did Elephant Hill on the 2nd, then the 3rd we did a ropes course followed by a 1/2 day rafting trip. The 4th we started with a morning horseback trail ride, and then after a bit of pool time with kids we walked around downtown Moab and the watched the fireworks from the Moab park.

On a side note, after multiple years of watching the "Nation's Fireworks" in DC, I must say I prefer the small town America display. It was a great time, kids playing in the park, folks picnicking on blankets, everyone friendly...it was really a good 4th.

Took my wife back to the Grand Junction Airport, the morning of the 5th and was back to Moab by around 1530. The kids still had some energy and I didn't want to end the day as only an airport day, so we headed up to Hell's Revenge. Ran the trail in about 3.5 hours and had an absolute blast. Kids loved the trail...my 9 year old daughter is still saying that was the best thing we did in Moab (though she did walk a few sections). Hell's had a great mix of terrain....good ascents and decents, nice steps, a few kind of technical sections, great views...and dinosaur tracks. Really great trail.

 

[Themistocles]

Lots to cover, but will just hit Top of the World in this one.

Top of the World has always been high on my list of trails I wanted to run at Moab. So, bright and early on the morning of the 6th, after breakfast at Moab Diner, we headed out. The drive is about 45 minutes from Moab up 128. The turn is right at Dewey Bridge Campground. I had Gaia running with the trail map downloaded, but really was pretty easy to find.

The road up to the quasi-trailhead is dirt/gravel with the some rocks and washboard. I was planning on airing down at the trailhead, but after a couple minutes of rattling my teeth on washboard I pulled over and aired down on the side of the road.

The trailhead is really not much different than the road leading up to it. Just kind of slowly becomes the trail. Not as clearly differentiated as Fins or Hell's or Elephant Hill.

The first 3/4 of the trail is pretty tame, maybe a 3 on the RR scale. After that there are a couple of sections with decent steps. A group of pretty decently built Toyotas on 33s and 34s was in front of me and they struggled, but made it up. I locked my rear and walked up without spinning a tire or struggling much at all. Same scenario a couple more times... pick a good line and walk up. The Toyota guys commented when we met on top that they either needed 35s or a Jeep. They seemed a little perturbed with their rigs.

The top portion of the trail is a loop, I naturally picked the right side to go up, with the idea to come down the other side. Did the standard Top of the World pictures and had lunch with the kids up on top. Wonderful view and absolutely worth the trip...though I am not sure I would run it repeatedly if I were in the area. But absolutely worth one run up it.

After lunch and pictures we headed down the opposite side of the loop. Up to this point I was confused by the trail's seemingly uncalled for high rating. After only a couple minutes on the downside of the trail I realized where the ratings come from. On the way down there were a few spots I had to get out, walk up and down and then sit a just look at it for a while to figure out a route. Actually had my son get out a few times and spot me down. This was hands down the toughest section of any trail I ran. Dragged both diffs, rock rails, DEF tank skid, tow hitch, both rear lower shock mounts, and front lower control arms. Plus relocated my rear bumper up about 1/4 inch...fixed the next day.

I didn't have to resort to stacking rocks, but was really close to it. I never pulled out the measuring tape, but there were a few pretty much unavoidable steps that looked to be at least 36 inches...and those were interspersed with large rocks and other steps. In the end we made it down with no real damage, and it was actually a lot of fun, but I would say 35s and a 2.5" lift are about the minimum for that section of the trail.

Roughest part of the up section.

Standard Top of the World photo

One of the down hill sections...pictures don't even come close to doing it justice.

 

[Murphydog]

Great write up! So if you did top of the world again would you do the hard way down, or return the way you came up?

 

[Themistocles]

Great write up! So if you did top of the world again would you do the hard way down, or return the way you came up?

That depends. That was the only section of the trail that was challenging, so if I was running the trail again for a challenge or to see if some new upgrade was performing then yes. If I was going up for the view, no I wouldn't. I did meet up with a gentleman from Grand Junction yesterday. He is part of a local club, drives a great JT on 39s, and said most locals avoid that section and just go down the way they came up.

 

[KNN]

Your pics look great. What camera(s) are you using?

 

[Themistocles]

Your pics look great. What camera(s) are you using?

Thanks. I am using my phone, a Pixel 6 Pro. I am continually amazed by how good its camera is.

 

[Themistocles]

After our day at Top of the World both the kids were ready to move on to Colorado. This vacation is as much about showing them new country and getting them to enjoy wheeling as it is about me getting to wheel, so I figured there was no reason to push it. I had Poison Spider Mesa on the list, but will get it next time.

The one thing we absolutely had to do before we left was the jet spin boats. So I booked a two-hour tour for the morning of 7 July. It departed from the bridge just outside of Moab and headed up river for about 45 minutes, then back down river with a few float sections and time to play in the rapids. The tour was great and the kids absolutely loved it.

After the Jet Boat tour we grabbed some lunch at Milt's and then headed out for the trip across the Rimrocker Trail to Montrose Colorado. For those who have not heard about it, the Rimrocker Trail is an almost all unpaved route from Moab to Montrose (maps found at: Trail Maps and GPS | Rimrocker Trail). It was a wonderful route and great fun for all of us. It offered everything from dusty washboard, to high-clearance rocky trail, to beautiful smooth gravel through high desert, hills, and Utah and Colorado alpine. With all the great stuff we have done the Rimrocker Trail stands out as one of my favorites. Now with that said, to do this trail you have to really like driving off pavement...it is 160 miles and provides hours on end of bumping and jostling over rough, rocky, washboard roads. But if that sounds fun I can not more strongly recommend the trail. It was remote, great fun, and amazing scenery.

Lots of wildlife along the trail. We saw innumerable dear, foxes, a bear, an eagle, and a few turkeys.

Stopped at a beautiful little lake just across the border in Colorado.

And a panorama of the same spot.

The trail was very clearly marked with little markers like this at every turn.

And had some really interesting things to see...this one was a new one for me.

Overall, the Rimrocker was a great little adventure and the one of my favorite things we have done so far. Highly recommend. Next Colorado.

 

[RugbyRef]

What an supremely excellent experience for your kids to be able to do this with you! My wife and I are planning a similar trip toward the end of September, and it is such a pleasure reading about your trip. Well done!

 

[Themistocles]

What an supremely excellent experience for your kids to be able to do this with you! My wife and I are planning a similar trip toward the end of September, and it is such a pleasure reading about your trip. Well done!

Thanks, agree it has been great to be able to share this with them, watch them see new things and appreciate the amazing beauty of these places. This is also their first real experience with more than a day or two of camping, and they are loving it which makes me very happy. They are also great travelers...and pretty much always have been. Overall, just a great experience.

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