Moab Off-Road Trip

Just returned from a 9 day trip to Moab, Utah. I left Houston for Albuquerque and picked my buddy up at the airport Friday night. We gathered provisions and headed for the trails. Below is the itinerary:

Day 1 - Left Houston for Albuquerque. Picked up my friend there and stayed in a hotel.
Day 2 - Loaded up with provisions and headed for Moab area. Coming from the south, we stopped in Canyonlands area and camped in the Hamburger Rock area.
Day 3 - Continued on the Lockhart Canyon/Lockhart Basin Trail into Hurrah Pass. The trails were terribly marked and we ended up on the Jackson Hole trail to nowhere. Camped at the base of the Hurrah Pass trail.
Day 4 - Finished Hurrah Pass trail into Moab. Took showers and continued on to Fins'n'Things. Did both sides of the trail and left Fins'n'Things for Gemini Bridges. Camped at Bull Canyon.
Day 5 - Left Bull Canyon for Top of the World trail. Continued to Delores River for a mid-day swim. Made Camp on the Dome Plateau Ridge overlooking the Colorado River.
Day 6 - Broke camp and headed to a nearby lodge to participate in the Bronco Off-Roadeo test drive. Took a 2 door Badlands on 33's on the Dome Plateau Trail. Returned to lodge and ate dinner. Left the lodge and made camp at Hurrah Pass.
Day 7 - Left Hurrah Pass for Hell's revenge. Went back to nearby Fins'n'Things so my buddy could drive the trail. Left Fins'n'Things for Mills Creek Swim area. Hiked a good ways up stream and found a nice quiet place to nap. Left Mills Creek and set up camp in the Picture Frame Arch area.
Day 8 - Left Picture Frame Arch area and headed back to ABQ. Slept in hotel.
Day 9 - Dropped buddy of at ABQ airport and drove back to Houston. End Trip.

The weather was a bit warm in the day, especially at the beginning of the week, but the nights were cool and great for tent sleeping. Again, finding camping spots that were legal seemed a bit hit and miss to me. Any of the information we read seemed to indicate that if the site had a fire ring, than it was permissible to camp there. I'll update this thread with more info as I unwind from the trip. It was great fun and I would recommend it to anyone looking for some good camping and great off-roading.

 

I was in Moab 9/18 - 9/22. Amazing place

 

Looks like yall had fun. It's even better when you.live up here lol

 

Looks like a great trip. Once you start going exploring Moab, its hard to not want to keep coming back!

 

Beautiful scenery! Thanks for sharing your experience.

Ed

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How was the Bronco Off-Rodeo? We are attending one next week in Moab as well.

Any suggestions for scenic trails to hit in my stock 2nd Gen?

 

Gemini Bridges is outside of the park and a great scenic trail, especially when you get to the bridges and canyons. Easy 2wd friendly route

 

@KTM753 assuming you are stock 4wd.

Onion creek , white rim, Shafer trail, rimrocker (overland route to montrose colorado) Gemini bridges .

Also checkout trailsoffroad.com

 

The Bronco thing was better than I expected. The Moab one is the only one that utilizes a real trail, rather than one built specifically for the Off-Roadeo. They spend a few minutes at the beginning of the trail showing you how the features work and when to use them, after that, it's just trailing.

There's a ton of easy trails around Moab. Hurrah Pass might be a good one. Gemini Bridges has good scenery and the trails are easy/fun. Hamburger Rock Area is fun too, but I wouldn't take a stock truck through Lockhart Basin.

 

I second this. There's only a one mile section that's hard after that is like white rim part deux , but that one mile section will tear up a stock vehicle pretty good

 

MOAB looks awesome. I need to make it out west with my Taco ASAP.

 

Maybe one or two of you guys can answer this question for me. The wife and I are in the early stages of planning a 2024 trip; we usually do one a year.

I would love to see Moab but she does not do camping or sleeping outside of any sort

Is Moab still worth doing if you aren’t camping out in the desert? I have no concept of how much is reachable just during day trips and everyone I see that goes out there sleeps in RTTs or camps, etc.

 

Depends on how much off roading you want to do. It is very much doable to stay in Moab and venture out to Arches and close by during the day for sight seeing.

My issue with Moab is more the crowds. In tourist season it is over crowded with tourists. And very expensive.

You can definitely make a trip out of Utah (Arches, Zion, etc) with off roading built in. Just know that hotels are expensive and you will be going out of your way at times to sleep.

 

Ok great, that’s exactly the type of info I was looking for. Thanks so much I really appreciate it!!

 

I think Moab is probably one of the better places for what you're looking to do. The actual town of Moab is central to several national parks as well as a whole system of marked and maintained trails. Lots of good/trendy restaurants and coffee shops to visit and several different lodging options. You'll be good!

As for crowds, we were there the 2nd week of September. Overcrowding was a non-issue.

 

Oh perfect, I was worried that the opposite would have been the case and we wouldn’t have been able to find much to do other than drive to and from a hotel. Thanks so much for your info, that saves me a ton of time and annoyance in terms of research. Sounds like based on what you guys are saying, it would be a good trip.

 

I'm down for a trip to Moab!

 

Plenty of dirt outside/in/around Moab. So much dirt you will hate it by the time you leave lol

Roads leading off into the desert basically everywhere. (Not that you should take many of them)

As for crowds, it’s hit or miss. But Moab can be a “happening” place.

 

I would have never guessed that it gets crowded but I guess that makes sense. What would be considered the “busy” time of year?

 

“Moab's main seasons are March to early May and September to October.” - https://www.visitutah.com/places-to-go/cities-and-towns/moab/best-time-to-visit

I think I was there in October when it was very busy.