White Rim Trail 5/14

Tackled the White Rim Trail with the family on our first ever trip to Moab in May.
Took 2 days, camped at Murphy's site A. Unbelievable views, sights and scenery. Nothing too challenging 4x4 wise. But some tight trails and narrow cliff roads. Weather was amazing, sunny and warm. Wildflowers were in full bloom, all in all an awesome trail.

In the park!


Had to leave the Pup in Moab (Karen's K9 campground. Fully recommend it!) and they weren't kidding about the narrow roads!


Starting the Schaefer switchbacks



Descending into the canyon


Colorado river overlook


Mussleman Arch





Wildflowers EVERYWHERE



Coming through the crack


Ridiculous views everywhere you look, and for as far as you can see!



Beginning the climb up Murphy's hog back


Note the angle, it's a bit steep

And narrow!


Made It! Murphy's campsite A. (Best views of the 4 sites, IMHO. However not very well protected from wind, of which there was plenty!)


Great views for miles!


All set up


The lil one,


Headed off for an evening hike



Sunset truck shot



Headed down the backside of Murphy's the next day


Crazy overhang



More unbelievable views...


The Green River



Stopped at Potato Bottom for lunch and a nice rest.


Back on the trail heading up Hardscrabble Hill


And finally on our way out. Mineral Springs rd.



Such an awesome experience. Certainly not a challenging trail in the 4x4 sense, but over 70 miles of fun dirt and rock shelf roads, with breathtaking views at every turn. Absolutely worth doing, and worth taking your time. To complete the trail in a day wouldn't do it justice, and would be a looooong day.

 

Looks like you and your family had a great time. My wife and I are headed to Moab this Friday and will run the White Rim trail next Thursday and Friday. We are staying at Murphy C. I just got an email from Canyonland National Park. There is an alert that says the Green River is over the White Rim Trail at Upheaval Bottom and is impassible. I say all of that to ask this question: How much gas did you use? If I go to Hardscrabble and turn around, this will put me on the trail for 72 miles and 72 miles back to Trailhead. 144 miles would normally use about half a tank of gas. But I have no clue how much gas I would use on the trail.

 

That looks amazing, congrats on an awesome time! Thank you for sharing!

 

I know exactly where they are talking about, a low wash that leads through a creek bottom. Looked like it'd have been very interesting with any wet weather!

You should be fine on fuel. I used less than half a tank doing the whole run, and that includes the 30+ miles to and from town. Do you carry extra fuel? I'd recommend bringing some, just for peace of mind. With wet weather you never know if you might end up with an unexpected event...

Have fun!

 

envy

 

Nice! Definitely want to do this some day.
Great photo of you with your kid in the backpack, too!

 

Thanks! It was a blast.

Haha, I'm counting the days till I can go back

Thank you, ya that ones a keeper. Even with my awesome farmer's tan

 

Great pics thanks.

Quick question. How bad was the climb up Murphy's. I've heard that the road has become rutted and some would say dangerous over the past few years.

Did you have any issues with the climb? I would imagine you were in 4LO for the climb.

 

It wasn't bad. It was steep, with a sheer drop on the left, but the road was plenty wide, and not too rutted. It was dry when we did it. I imagine the pucker factor would increase x1000 if it was wet and snotty.

4lo and just crawled up it. Same with the climbs up Hardscrabble hill towards the end of the trail. Slow and go.

The biggest challenge is trying to see over the big fat hood on the Tacos. When you're pointed up a steep hill ya can't see shit!

 

My wife and I ran the white rim in June. I was very nervous thinking about ascending Murphy. She kept reading about Murphy and was pretty scared. It was scary, but when we got to the top we decided it was not that bad. The Green River was over thr trail near Hardscrabble, so we had to go back down Murrphy the way we came. I found that walking the trail first helped seeing the trail was not too bad. It looks much better on foot then looking through the Tacoma windshield. I hope it is okay that I throw in my two cents here. If anyone ever gets the chance to run the White Rim Trail they should. No other adventure I have been on compares.

 

Thanks guys thats all great info. I'm heading out there in Sept with my 03 Tacoma TRD O/R. 2.5 inch lift and 265/75/16 Duratracs. Should be a fun week.

 

Looks awesome. Mostly commenting to show lisa later.....

 

Awesome! I hope I'll be able to check out some of White Rim next month but all the camping sites were full.

 

^yeah they fill up early. We booked our sites on the first day they were available (4 months in advance) but I've heard they often have cancellations so it'd be worthwhile to check in at the ranger station. Plus even if you don't camp out, it's absolutely worth doing a day trip. Come in through the Schaefer side and do the switchbacks, mussleman arch.

 

Looks like you guys had a great trip. Everything I read about Murphy's was that it was going to be a nightmare. It wasn't so bad....and I did it when it was covered in snow back in January!

 

I've read on the canyonlands website that a rockfall during one of the monsoon rainstorms this summer poses a serious challenge and may turn people around near the top of the hogback as you're coming around in a clockwise direction (that's also very close to the halfway point of the entire White Rim Road just for informational purposes). I wouldn't want to back down that hill if I couldn't get past the obstruction. If anyone's doing the Rim in the near future make sure you ask the rangers about it. I also wouldn't want to do any of this trail if it was very wet.

I drove to the Maze Overlook over July 4th weekend in the Maze District and that trail got rained on overnight and it's no joke. Much more difficult than the White Rim Road but still, it's the same geology you drive on so be very careful and just bag it if heavy rain is approaching-you could be stuck out there on the clay sections (not obviously evident to me when i'm driving on clay as opposed to just regular dirt, I suppose the clay is a bit lighter in color and I suppose you'll see somewhat deep tire marks from others who got caught out there in a rain storm and just powered on through).

The White Rim is very remote, even by Utah standards (and the Maze is much worse) so heed the warnings of the rangers-that's not a good place to break down or get stuck. It's an expensive tow out so make sure you have newish tires and a fully charged battery.

I did the White Rim three years ago in May so it was dry and my stock tacoma had absolutely no problems at all. Only needed 4 hi on the climb up the Hogback and Hardscrabble Hill, though I don't think I even needed it on Hardscrabble. Coming up hardscrabble from Mineral Bottom I'd think you'd need 4 Hi though as it's steep and sandy. I also hear that the NPS now requires day reservations on the White Rim Road if you're planning on doing it in one long day (it took me about 9 hours with all the usual side trips).

Here is a typical shot you'll see on this drive. This is from Murphy Camp "A" looking southwest into the Maze District with Ekker Butte in the mid-foreground and Elaterite Butte looming behind. The land of standing rocks is in the distance on the left and the orange cliffs are in the far distance. Amazing place.

However, if you're deciding if you should go...do it. It's definitely a once-in-a-lifetime kind of trip. That road is nowhere near as bad as everyone makes it out to be...in normal conditions I think a stock Subaru Outback could easily handle it, but it sounds like it's not in "normal" shape right now. I'm not sure how often maintenance is done on this road so it might be a long time before that obstacle on the Hogback is cleared-again, ask the rangers and have a great time!

 

Looks like fun. I almost went this past July but the fam wanted to do PCH hwy1. Although PCH was nice, I regret not doing Moab. I'll hit it next year.

What's a good time of year to go? Not too hot or too Rainy?

 

We went in May, turned out to be perfect, but I know you can still hit rain in May sometimes. Late summer sept/early oct might be good too.

 

April and may are good times (though they got quite a bit of rain over this memorial day weekend...and last from what i've heard). Honestly, though it would take a LOT of rain to really cause damage to the point where the road is impassable, so think July through mid-September as that is the monsoon season. Obviously, avoid December through March as the big storms roll in from the pacific but you can go during that time and luck out with the weather (the shafer trail switchbacks were closed in February one time when I was there due to snow, but as others have posted, you can still do this trip via the Potash Road to the White Rim-that's actually a good introduction if you've never driven on dirt roads in this part of the country before).

The best, most reliable times for dry weather are definitely April-early June and the two months between late Sept and mid-November. it depends on how much heat you can take, remember that the white rim road is between 4000 and 5000 feet above sea level so it's quite a bit cooler than at sea level. also, i did my trip on memorial day weekend 2012 and though it was in the mid-high 80s in Moab it never got above 70 on the trail itself-this is probably due to the remoteness away from "town". it was pretty much perfect. naturally, you might want to wait a week after a heavy rainfall for things to settle down a bit but in my opinion, there's probably only a about 10 days a year where the road should be considered a no-go.

If you're from humid environments the dry desert air will come as a huge relief as even 90 feels more like 80 would on the east coast.

another thing I've found is that tent stakes are generally useless on the hard dirt to be found in the greater Moab area (and obviously on slickrock) so I don't even bother with tents anymore-I generally sleep in the bed of my Tacoma with a thin air mattress and sleeping bag. It usually works out great as long as it doesn't rain. I've seen people put rocks inside the tent to keep them taut in the wind, but that's more trouble for me than it's worth, and yes, I'm pretty lazy when it comes to setting up camp.

As far as taking your family, remember this is very remote country...unless you're used to camping out in the wilderness with a high degree of self-sufficiency, the stillness out there can often come as a bit of a shock. Some people may not be used to being so alone (though I love it), so judge what's best for your family. I'm sure you're used to it but I can think of people I would definitely NOT do a trip like this for that very reason-a freakout by one member of your party will probably ruin it for everyone else. Just something to consider.

Hope this helps and have a great time.