Moab & Southern CO Trip 05/24 - 06/2

@45Short @Springsboy Thanks for your input, y'all have helped me out a lot to be honest

I've been researching today and looks like We could go from Sand Dunes to Lake City to Ironton (via 1/2 Alpine Loop) and then from there head NW to Black Canyon. From Black Canyon the quickest way to Moab is up hwy 50 to I-70 which would take us right by Colorado National Monument, which I genuinely hadn't heard of until today. That would be a necessary stop for sure

I'm leaning towards this route and skipping Rimrocker due to time constraints.

Do y'all think it would be worth it to head from Ironton up Ophir pass across to 145? I was looking at it on Google and it looks really similar to the Alpine Loop

 

my opinion: alpine loop would be enough....

 

you're taking on a lot for sure.

you can roll through colorado national monument in an hour or two, just depends on how much you want to stop and see. the road itself isn't very long, just slow with the speed limit and traffic. you would most likely be coming in from the east and leaving on the west side, both from and to i70. im not too familiar with the south west entrance/exit

i haven't done black canyon or alpine loop, but from what i hear those are pretty long days, alpine loop is at least. its real slow going and usually a ton of people.

if you do ophir pass, skipping black canyon would make more sense. otherwise you would back track a bit. just go straight west and come in from the south side of moab. this would mean skipping colorado national monument too. i don't think 141 to 90 is rimrocker, but its close.

the san juans are a great area, but might be a bit much to bite off for this trip.

its your trip though. the last 2 week trip i did was 2 weeks in oregon. 2 days to oregon, then i limited each day to 4 hours of driving from spot to spot if we were moving. we did do 8-10 hours with traffic from the redwoods to lake tahoe, but that was straight there only stopping for food and gas. no sight seeing and we rolled into camp in the dark. then 12 hours from lake tahoe to colorado because we decided to stay there an extra day, then 6 the next day back home. i felt 4 hours was enough time to factor in stops at places while still having enough time and energy at our destinations to enjoy it (except that traffic jam in waldport where we were 5 miles from our campsite but took over an hour and i really had to poop).

 

Thank you for the input and opinions. You're right, it is a lot. I'm trying to whittle it down to what we really want to do the most.

I've been guilty of trying to pack a two week trip into one week multiple times before. For example, a college roomate and I visited 6 national parks, drove 2,400 miles, and hiked over 100 miles all in the course of 7 days. Once in a lifetime trip, but never again will I put my body through that. I also once put 800 miles on a rented Bronco during only a 6 day stay in Hawaii.

While there's nothing wrong with covering a lot of ground and seeing a lot of sights, the one thing I don't want to feel is rushed, which has happened before. We definitely run the risk of feeling rushed unless I can cut down on my current itenerary

I do like the idea of limiting each day to a maximum amount of driving, aside from our dedicated "travel days" on the way out and back. 4 hours seems like a good number, since odds are it will be spread throughout the day.

 

Just did a big SW trip ending in Moab on the 1st of March. My advice is remember why you came and watch your time....so much stuff to see and do on the way there, we only ended up staying two nights in Moab before we had to start back ( 3rd gen tacoma off road long bed stock everything except front and Tranny skid plates. Maybe for the best only had time for chicken corners......).

 

Sounds like an amazing trip! One big callout is that the alpine loop is usually impassable until June due to snow blocking the trail. I would definitely recommend calling someone from the BLM to confirm if it's open / drivable closer to your suggested dates. Here's a link to National Forest Service page that has a lot of information about driving the route & contact info for a ton of the surrounding BLM offices.

 

Thank you! That's a great point. I was just reading up on AllTrails and I could not find any reviews of the trail that were published in May. Most of them were July-September.

Going to have to have a contingency plan!

 

We ended up booking a spot at Sun Outdoors Campground. It's not really our style, but the price and the walkability to downtown is what made my wife choose it.

Booked our timed entry for Arches as well.

I appreciate your recommendations! We will definitely hit up the Moab Brewery as well as a couple of the restaurants you recommended, since most of them are walking distance from our campsite.

 

One other thought. If you can swing it, getting rock sliders, a

$133 BODYARMOR 5136 Universal Hitch Skid Universal Hitch Skid, Black

hitch skid (my buddy @LunarTaco13 runs this one & it's done amazing on trails like Flat Iron Mesa and Wheeler Lake), and a heavier duty engine skid, would be solid "peace-of-mind" upgrades for your truck & would give you a lot more trail options for this trip - esp in Moab. With you current build & those few protection / armor upgrades, you can tackle a ton of trails (all the way up to what RR4Ws consider 6s or 7s).

 

I have picked up tours from Sun Outdoors, it's a fine spot. Hope you enjoy, have fun and be safe out there in the desert!

 

You're definitely right. One of my buddies has one of the hitch skids and I planned on borrowing his. I've been lurking on marketplace trying to find a pair of used sliders that I could pick up for cheap, because I don't want to cough up the $$ for a good pair right now. Engine skid definitely wouldn't hurt either.