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Rimrocker/Moab

in4aride

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Montrose
Here’s some pics from the trip. Ended up being a solo run, so ran all the way to Moab in first day and caught an Airbnb (last one available).
I made a 40 mike mistake right out the gate. I took 540 instead of staying on 402. I could have take it to Nucla and not had to back track, but I didn’t want to miss that much of the trail. I took the houser cutoff which did eliminate some of the trail (couple miles). It was supposed to be more rugged, it wasn’t. I recommend after dropping into Utah, going straight to highway 46 and roading into Moab. The la sal pass section was absolutely brutal on me. 3 mph. Softball rocks. Goat trail. Zero visibility (tall brush) tight. Pinstripe trees. It sucked. Was not worth doing at all. The signage on Utah side is lacking for sure and caused for a few back tracks which were also frustrating. Buckhorn reservoir was a great lunch spot, or camp spot as it’s about 2/3 the way through. Has group and solo camp sites. And it is nice and quiet. Made whole trip (minus my early mistake) in 7.5 hours. But I was movin pretty good. Hells revenge today.


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Here’s my trip info. You can see the mistake and back track right off the bat.
In last pic you can see where my speed drops a ton on south end of la sal mountain. Next time I’ll just skip that and hop right down to highway 46 which you can see right below.
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Ran hells revenge. Was a dummy and ran hells gate solo and no spotter. Was fun. Couple pics.
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Ok. Two maps. Several points.
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Colorado side
A- fast easy and fun. Just dirt road.
B- I skipped this running the houser cutoff below it. The cutoff was just dirt road as well so I imagine the upper section would be just as easy.
C- pretty fun. Some open road. Some water washes and creek crossings. More desert. Great views.
D- after crossing highway, it sucks. It’s a series of trail jumps that run you mad as you reconnect same trails multiple times. Signage is hit or miss at this point. You have to know you’re route.
E- back to being open road and fun. Where the lake camp spot is. Road narrow in some spots.

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Utah side
A- starts off super gorgeous. Private property. Super lush and quiet. Turns to like section A on Colorado side. Was heaviest with traffic through here.
B- **** B. No really. This section sucks. No real scenery. Softball to bowling ball sized rocks. Tight paths, expect pinstriping. No where to pass or let others by. Plus really bad signage through here. I would avoid it next time. I’ll just drop down to the highway and run in that way.
C- I did not run. I came in section B by area bfe and was so over it after that section I hopped on the highway and skipped that section. Looks like rancher roads.


Overall. Was fun. All doable with a stock rig. Nothing I would stress over. Need a quality all terrain though. Air down just to deal with the rocks (ran 15psi). Easy trip.


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I take geyser pass from Moab, and bypass the section south of the la sals too. You don't have to deal with the big rocks that way.
And I prefer that to taking 46.
But I don't like the part from nucla to Montrose, it's like a gravel freeway.
 
I take geyser pass from Moab, and bypass the section south of the la sals too. You don't have to deal with the big rocks that way.
And I prefer that to taking 46.
But I don't like the part from nucla to Montrose, it's like a gravel freeway.

Yeah it’s just a logging FS road for sure. That la sal pass connection sucked. How is the geyser pass option? After Nucla was probably my favorite part for sure.
 
Thanks for sharing Mike, looks like our kinda trip.
Good to know about what to bypass, don't know whether non-stop bumpiness or mud is my least favorite wheeling, and if it's not scenic either then the highway is my way.
 
Thanks for sharing Mike, looks like our kinda trip.
Good to know about what to bypass, don't know whether non-stop bumpiness or mud is my least favorite wheeling, and if it's not scenic either then the highway is my way.

Yeah it was just unnecessary section to go. I’m hoping the guy above gives another good option vs the highway. But really it only ends up being a half hour on asphalt which is acceptable I think. There are lots of off shoots to explore and check out along the way that I didn’t mess with. But the overall area was great. And sliding/jumping the Tacoma up dirt roads was a total hoot
 
We've taken the back roads from Ridgway through La Sal to Moab and back a couple times and enjoyed that, so doing any significant portion on dirt would be great.
 
We've taken the back roads from Ridgway through La Sal to Moab and back a couple times and enjoyed that, so doing any significant portion on dirt would be great.

Montrose to Nucla is all open dirt. Initially after Nucla is too. Then it turns into dirt roads through water washes with some Small creek crossings. Until the highway jump.
 
Gravel freeways are way better than Chicago freeways, maybe after we've been moved out to AZ for a while they won't seem so great but hopefully it'll take a while to get so spoiled :D
 
Gravel freeways are way better than Chicago freeways, maybe after we've been moved out to AZ for a while they won't seem so great but hopefully it'll take a while to get so spoiled :D

Ha. Anything beats Chicago highways (trucker nightmare that town was).
 
So to be more specific, the way I go is from Moab to the La Sal Mt. loop road, up to Geyser Pass road (there is a sign) and up and over Geyser Pass, and continue past Dark Canyon Lake, to Two Mile Road and head east on Two Mile Road. And that puts you back on the official Rimrocker route again. It's much more scenic and much faster than the RR trail. And it's a lot quicker than La Sal pass road.
 
I just did the majority of this on a 250CC dualsport fully loaded, that was a blast!

Instead of the last section of the La Sal range into Moab, we dropped down to the highway and rode into the city of La Sal, and then spent the night at the 3 Step Hideaway.

Much more enjoyable I would imagine than the Jeep.
 
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