Moab and Southern Utah 2011

[BigDaveZJ]

Putting together some of the basics for a trip we're planning for Late Summer/Early Fall of 2011.

The plan is to depart out of Grand Junction and take the Kokopelli Trail into Moab. If the switchbacks are fixed, I'd like to do White Rim next before heading south through Lockhart Basin down to Hwy 211 and into Needles. Hopefully do Elephant Hill or some of the other roads in the area.

What we do from here is still definitely up in the air. There "appears" to be a road that heads south from the Beef Basin trail to Hwy 95 just east of the Natural Bridges Area. If we go down that far, then we would do Hole in the Rock as well. I don't know that we would have enough time to truly do the area just though. If White Rim isn't fully open by then, I think we'd be more apt to go all the way down to HitR.

I figure 5-6 days of trail time, plus getting to Junction and getting back from wherever our final destination is. Could probably get started on Kokopelli and knock some of that out on day 1 since the drive to Junction certainly won't take all day. That puts us in Moab mid-late day on day 2. If we skip White Rim then we'd make our way down Kane Creek and camp somewhere towards Lockhart. I don't really see us spending more than 1 night at the same campsite, except maybe near Elephant Hill somewhere. That'll make the RTT very nice, as setting up camp and breaking camp the next morning takes just a few minutes.

Once we leave Moab we'll be much more remote than we have been in our CO trips. A SPOT as well as some additional first aid equipment are on the list, as well as reviewing some first aid training. Our buddy Justin who has been on our last couple CO trips will hopefully be able to join us, he just completed his Wilderness First Responder training which could be a big asset out there.

[Ken L]

Dave, do you have any ideas on tentative dates other than late summer/early fall? I really want to go, but I have a wedding (mine) in mid-September. I'd like to start planning and budgeting the time now if I can.

Thanks!

[CrawlerReady]

If I have the FJ80 done by then I would love to do this trip!

[biggoofy]

I really wish I lived closer!

[Cody]

I've done all of those sections, and that's a pretty aggressive schedule that doesn't really account for much exploring, relaxing, down time, or adverse weather. the longer days of summer will help.

We spent 2 solid days and nights on the Kokappelli

white rim can be done in one night, but it's long haul.

Lockhart is longer than you think--We did hw 95 (cottonwood wash area) to Moab via beef basin/needles/lockhart/kane in 4 nights/5 days and we move ass. HW 211 to Moab through Lockhart is probably 8+ hours by itself.

HITR will take a day in and day out minimum.

If I were to try and plan this, I would figure

night 1: get as far as you possibly can on the kokapelli--figure 6 hours trail time.

night 2: finish kokappelli (haul ass), fuel and restock in Moab, and get 10-20 miles into White rim, maybe Labrynth camp. (long day--8-10+ trail hours + time in Moab for fuel etc)

Night 3: Get towards the Moab side of white rim. Airport or Shafer camp. (shorter day--5-6 trail hours)

Night 4: exit white rim, fuel restock in Moab, head into lockhart via Kane...get almost all the way to hw 211 (Long day 8-10+ trail hours + moab time)

Night 5: Fuel at Needles outpost, head into needles via elephant hill and get to ruin park or beef basin (medium day 6-8 trail hours + at least an hour for the slow as fuck pump at needles outpost to dispense everyones $4/gallon gas))

From there you're 2 hours from hw 211 or 6 hours from 95. If you wanted to head into HITR, you would be 6-8 hours from the trail head not accounting for the time to get into Halls Crossing to fuel again and come back. You can camp an hour or two into HITR for night 6, then make a kamakazi run on to the top of Gray's mesa/Rincon area and back to camp for night 7. Then roll home the next day.

All those long days mean no time to relax or see the sites. You'll be setting up camp in the dark some days, getting up early to pack and get back on the trail. Bad weather, mechanical problems, or the desire to swim/shower/hike/enjoy the area will all take away time.

It would be a cool trip though.

[ajmorell]

Depending on the details and my work schedule I'd be very interested.

[Kauzi Zj]

Im hoping we can make this one...naturally our travel will be a little less, starting in GJ, and maybe heading back before you, just depends on how the kids can handle it.

If I make it, I'm sure I will have a buddy or 2 with me in their respective vehicles.

Also, I just finished updating my CPR/First Aid certifications, so I can probably help out, Definitely be able to bring a fairly well stocked kit...

Now I just have to hope I dont have a scheduling conflict...

[BigDaveZJ]

At this point I think a lot of it depends on if White Rim is back open. It looks like they have started working on the switchbacks and they're supposed to be open this spring. I think it's an either/or scenario with WRT and HitR. It would be an amazing adventure to do all of that in one trip, but given the time we'll have available to us I don't think it's really feasible to do both in the same trip with all of the other things we want to do.

The actual timing of the trip is still up in the air right now, so for some of you guys that want to go, if there's weeks that work and weeks that don't, let me know and we might be able to schedule it to work.

Thanks for the info Cody!

[Cody]

I just think the transition time between the different trails--45 miles of pavement between koko and WR, 40 miles of pavement between WR and Kane--and the time fueling is going to make it hard. If some of those days require 10 hours on the trail and another 90 minutes to fuel and transition, you're looking at 11-12 hour days. that's 9-9 on the move. For 5-6 straight days, that gets really old. This is supposed to be fun and relaxing, right?

When we did the traverse last summer (4 corners (SE Utah) to 3 corners (NW utah) it was almost 1000 miles of dirt and we did it in 4 nights 5 days...and we were on the move pretty much 12-14 hours per day. By the middle of the trip everything blended together and it was exhausting. When we did SLC to Tahoe we only planned for 6-8 trail hours per day, but with 7 rigs we had 3 hours of down time every day for random problems which turnd 6-8 hour days into 9-11 hour days. If you have mixed company with mixed levels of perparedness and mixed levels of proven ability to handle that kind of speed over that many miles, you're going to have issues whether they be flats, mechanical, or emotional. Between those two trips above, we had 12 flat tires ha ha.

Honestly, if you have 5-6 days, I think the Koko directly into Kane/lackhart, then into beef basin via needles will be hard to get through on it's own. Adding either WRT or HITR just seems unrealistic to me.

[BigDaveZJ]

So if one were to make a loop out of Elephant Hill and Beef Basin what would be the best way to do so? According to the Wells book there are a few one-way sections on EH that complicate things a bit. After reading through some threads on ExPo I have no reservations about taking the M416 through EH.

If we start out on EH we'll have to backtrack through 2/3 of the loop, and if we start out on Beef Basin we'll miss out on 1/3 of the loop. Anyone know if the westernmost portion of the one way loop that runs north is really one way or is it just a suggestion?

[Cody]

It is one way, and you won't have any troubles with your trailer (have you not been down there before?). There are some tight switchbacks, but you'll get through them.

That section of loop is the least of your worries for time.

You want to go in through EH, go to Beef Basin, then come back out EH? I would just head into Beef Basin through EH, and then exit beef basin to hw211 and head out. No need to go back out the way you just came in.

Here is a link to the article we did on our trip through this area. The write up starts on pg 12

http://www.u4wda.org/thecompass/u4wda.compass.20074.pdf

[BigDaveZJ]

I was planning to run BB and EH as a loop, so take one into the other, just wasn't sure which would be best way, west to east or vice versa. Never been down to EH before, which is one of the primary reasons it's included in the trip.

[Cody]

Elephant hill is cool...I guess in my mind I think of it as north to south. If you're coming out of Lockhart, then definitely enter over EH and run through canyonlands south to ruin park/ BB area. Lots of camping in that area, and once you exit needles you can make decent time. Amazingly gorgeous area. You can't camp in Needles without a permit (which is only a problem on busy weekends)

Looking down into BB, coming from the South



Shit like this all over the place in beef basin. a lot of it has been taken off of maps to keep so many people from finding it..

[BigDaveZJ]

Looks like we will be leaving Denver Oct 1st or 2nd. Need to be back by Sunday, but will probably be back in Denver Saturday 10/8. Not sure of much of the itinerary around that. The switchbacks on WRT have been fixed, but not sure if it will be included or not.

[Kauzi Zj]

As long as I dont have to work, I am there! I say we bring different micros for each night...

[ajmorell]

If I've got the available time off and the ZJ is ready I'm in. It might work out well for me since I'll have labor day off and I can arrange it so that the 7th would be my off Friday.

[BigDaveZJ]

The trip's coming up, think I've got a plan laid out, assuming we can still get reservations on WRT. If not, replace WRT with Kokopelli.

Sat 10/1
Denver - Moab, stay in town somewhere Saturday night.

Sun 10/2
Canyonlands, WRT, camp between Murphy Hogback and Potato Bottom

Mon 10/3
Finish up WRT, maybe Long Canyon back to Moab, refuel, head out Kane Creek/Hurrah Pass and find a place to camp.

Tues 10/4
Lockhart south, maybe stop at Indian Creek BLM campground

Wed 10/5
Needles Outpost for fuel, Elephant Hill, maybe hike to the Confluence, then south towards Ruin Park and Beef Basin.

Thurs 10/6
Head further into Ruin Park and Beef Basin. Depending on how things are going we would either camp again down there or head back to Moab on pavement.

Friday 10/7
Drive home.



A couple of you mentioned interest in going along, if you're going to be there for the WRT portion, we need to get reservations made ASAP (assuming there's any still available at all).

[ajmorell]

Yeah def. not happening for me (what else is new). I don't think 2wd would get me far.

[BigDaveZJ]

You've got a skinny pedal right?

If you don't make it to GSW 2012 I'm confiscating your ZJ.

[ajmorell]

That's fair. Things have moved slower than I had hoped in terms of building it, but the 8.8 will be swapped in my GSW 2012

[Stealth Crawler ZJ]

This sounds like a pretty sweet trip I want in!!!

Dave: are you still planning on bringing the trailer?

If we go we will probably bring mine.
and is the plan to tow rig out to Moab, park then to the trail?

[BigDaveZJ]

Yup, we're bringing the whole armada with us, tow rig, gooseneck, ZJ, M416. Hoping to park in Moab somewhere, working on those details now. We may need to split up into different campsites for WRT as each camp can hold 3 vehicles.

[Stealth Crawler ZJ]

cool yea let me know the details. should be a blast!

how many do you have so far?



John: so are you gonna do it?

[BigDaveZJ]

how many do you have so far?

Sitting at 3 so far, me, a buddy in his XJ, and another in a JK.

[OverlandXJ]

Dave, i spoke with a ranger a few weeks ago about WRT camp permits (my son and i may be running out real quick soon) and he mentioned all campsites full on weekends and most weekdays around your time frame.. with the exception of the first one or two on either end. You could start at Shaefer early am, run the trail to Taylor Canyon and have time to setup before dark without feeling too rushed. Or maybe catch a break and someone cancels for that day..

Look fwd to your trip report, enjoy.