Moab Rim Trail Moab Utah
To get to Moab Rim Trail leave Moab for the Chicken Corners trail. Two miles past "500 West St.," signs show the trail start [0.0]. This is not a sneaky trail; you know what you are in for in the first hundred yards, as it starts up a steep rock slope with a harrowing drop-off to the left. From here, specific directions are impossible. Just watch for a possible route, often marked by black spots (tire rubber) and light-colored gouges in the rock (made by trailer hitches or more-tender underbelly parts). Some paint marks have been made for a mountain-bicycle route and are often, but not always, the best 4WD route.
There is a nice parking lot that will allow everyone to air down that is directly at the bottom of Moab Rim. This is alos a good place to use the restrooms it will be a couple of hours before you reach a place on the trail where you are able to use the restrooms again.
As we began Gene lead the way with his wonderfully renovated Jeep Army Truck.
The first 3/4 of mile contained several ledges and crevices and provided several challenge.
The first ledge was fairly steep and was an excellent way to start the trail. Gene climbed up the ledges with ease, following him came Mark in his Rubicon.
Once Mark cleared the ledge Dan came up
followed by Rich and DJ
with Roy bringing up the rear.
Next came a very off-camber spot that in reality was very safe but felt very ackward.
Rich shows exactly how off-camber the spot is.
Roy takes a slightly better line and doesn't appear to be tipping quite as bad.
We all made it past without a problem, but little did we know what was to come.
Everywhere we looked we saw tremedous views of the canyons.
The next major obstacle was a ledge that had a boulder placed directly in line with the path we needed to take in order to navigate the ledge. Gene was able to find a path around it and gave us all an example to follow.
Mark followed and showed that although a little it was a little ackward to line up, navigating the ledge was not that difficult.
Directly behind there was a second ledge, although not tall it was a ledge that sat in front of a cliff wall that forces a hard left turn to be taken right as you come up the ledge.
Next Came Dan
With Rich and DJ close behind.
Once again Roy showing us how it is done.
There was a short ledge that necessitated a hard right in order to avoid a large drop on the left side.
All made it through fine and we continued up the rim. In order to make it to the top there were only a few more small ledges and we were home free.
The view from the top was spectacular. From one side we had a view of the Town of Moab and the snow capped mountains in the distance.
While the backside gave us a view of one of the many canyons and the Colorado River that runs through it.
Coming down was something we all knew we had to do. This is a trail that you must navigate down the way you came. Those obstacles we all got to climb now became obstacles we had to "drop off of" in order to get home.
The first major obstacle down was the ledges with the nicely placed boulders that help complicate the line we had to take down.
Gene showed us that this could easily be done and we had nothing to worry about.
Next came Mark and he drove right down.
The negotiations around the boulder area did not deter Mark as he made his way down.
Next came Dan following the same path the others before him had persued.
Rich chose a slightly different line to take his TJ. In the end it proved to be a good choice.
Roy decided he was going to go yet a different line and provided the most entertainment that afternoon.
Sliding just ever so lightly to the left forced is left front tire to fall into a large hole and made his Jeep appear as though it might roll.
Roy didn't panic and drove through the obstacle avoiding the roll over. Sorry Roy for our lack of confidence in you abilities!
The last major obstacle of the day was Devil's Crack. From our positions above we saw several vehicles almost tip over trying to navigate this obstacle.
We had a secret weapon, one all the rest before us didn't have, Gene. With his vast experience and knowledge he guided us through this section without a scratch.
We all made it down without a scratch. Patrol 6 would like to thank Gene from the Red Rock Wheelers for his excellent leadership and spotting, it was really nice wheeling with you and we hope to see you again soon.
Dan & Rachel Kimball
On The Rocks Patol 6
