CO/UT trip (2 Viewers)

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I agree with Sid. Henry, don't rush to get to the Crawl; take your time and see the countryside!
 
The Blessings are around every corner!!! Colors are awesome here in Colorado. We ran Blacktop from DurangotoSilverton (Train Wednesday) Then we ran over Ophir Pass Incredible!!! Saw 25 Big Ass Elk, a Black Bear that went easy 450lbs, and some Deer all at Dusk to Dark. (No Pictures all happened to quick!

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Check out the Odometer We had to stop for that Picture

No freaking Guard rails from Silverton to Ouray--- Edge is within 6 inches of the white line CRAZY STUFF!!!​

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Very cool rig hendog. Wish I could have gone with you with the 40. I'd love to do that trip, except maybe when it's warmer...summertime. Remember I'm a FL. Guy anything under 70 is cold.
 
Very cool rig hendog. Wish I could have gone with you with the 40. I'd love to do that trip, except maybe when it's warmer...summertime. Remember I'm a FL. Guy anything under 70 is cold.
Ummm, I don't think there is such a thing as summer time at 12,000 feet. The weather probably doesn't get any better than it was for this trip I bet. If you want 70's at high elevations, you're gonna have 110+ at the low elevations I have to assume...... Be my guest Mr Florida guy; Let me know how it works out for ya. haha :D (just messin with ya)
 
Kickin the cobwebs off this one. Steve- as discussed in CA lookin at Labor Day weekend 2015.

Already looked at flights into Grand Junction, CO. Calendar doesn't go quite that far forward yet but today $418 gets me there...and back.
 
So what's your basic plan; You planning to ship your rig out with a few others once you find the best way? Fly in to GJ and rent a car or maybe I can pick you all up in the 80 or something?

We need to get Nick in on the conversation ASAP too. Part of the reasoning behind Labor Day week was because he said it might be easier for him to make it. However, from what I heard from a couple of California peeps it is still a little on the warm side at Moab in September and waiting a few more weeks might be preferable.
 
The basic plan as you know is still very much up in the air but I was just assuming I'd fly out to GJ and hook up with you and Josh somehow. Would absolutely LOVE to get my truck out there but I'm not dragging my junk out there with my other junk 4000 miles round trip. Would be cool if we knew someone around the SE who had a 4 car hauler and an interest in going to Moab...

I'm flexible on time of year, cool is best and hot sucks. As you know my boss is an a$$hole but getting time off for these kinds of things can usually be arranged with enough advanced notice.
 
Just bouncing around different forums in the south east and saw yall were kinda sorta planning a trip out. Being I just got back from Moab on honeymoon I thought I'd offer a few travel tips. I took my fj80 out this year but have ran most every trail in my old mini truck on leafs. (3rz, single 4.7 case, built axles and red labels). Get a rental car waaaaayy in advance, Grand Junction, Fruita area is prob the biggest mtn bike destination in the country. If you decide to fly into grand junction. There are like 6 rental car agencies in that air port and for the entire week of our honeymoon we couldn't get one. The enterprise in moab doesn't have any cars to take one way back to GJ. So I had to drive right at 2 hours to pick up our wives and then take them back at the end of the week. Moab to i70- 30 miles, then 89 miles to grand junction. And DO NOT speed on those 30 miles. As far as food its best to cook in my opinion, I've not been "wow" by any of them and I've been 3 times. Casadilla Mobila is about the best there is to me, Moab Brewery is pretty good with some good IPA. I've stayed at the Canyonlands Campground downtown. They have tent sites and a handful of cabins which I highly recommend over a tent. Everything is close and a grocery store a block away. As far as trails, depends on how your heart feels. This trip in the 80, we did some classics with emphasis on sight seeing. Gold bar rim, golden spike, hells revenge, shafer trail, la sal pass and hand ful of things out of the rig like dead horse state park and some hiking. Oh yeah and played around in area Bfe. In the mini truck we hit most of the hard stuff. Area Bfe upper helderado, green day and a few others I can remember. Pritchett canyon, Hells revenge, Escalator, the hot tubs. Behind the rocks and prob a handful I'm leaving out. As far as traveling I've been north to I70 and your tow rig better not have a hick up and some new brakes. Those passes are no joke, make sure you do west of Denver in the daylight, it's beautiful. Across 40 isn't bad at all and seems less stressful do to the lack of hills to pull and descend. Hope this helps some, good luck.
 
Great info, thanks for sharing!!!! I'm most likely flying in as indicated above, any advantages/reasons to fly into Salt lake instead of Moab? I suspect it's cheaper and rental cars may be more available... thanks,
 
Well you can't fly into Moab they are not set up for commercial flights. We chose Grand Junction for the pure fact that it's a shorter drive for the girls. A few things to consider when you see a flight for "$x" from say Atl to Salt lake is the fuel to get to atl and home, parking fee for the week, rental car plus fuel. Cheap flights are attractive but to say drive 3 hours to atl at 3am to get there at 6am, flight time with layovers 5-6 hours, rent a car and drive 4 more hours. I'll pay for a flight closer to home (gsp) and land closer to my destination (grand junction)all day. If you really want to do it on the cheap have the tow rig go 70 and pick you up in Denver. Atl to Denver is stupid cheap round trip if planned well in advance.
 
Well you can't fly into Moab they are not set up for commercial flights. We chose Grand Junction

Yup, what I meant was GJ. Apparently the coffee hadn't really kicked in yet.
 
Definitely appreciate you taking the time to share your experiences with us. And thanks for following the thread so we can continue to bounce ideas off of you as we move forward.

Question #1 from me: I think our time frame is between early September and late October. What's the weather like in that time frame? If it's really good, do we need to worry about big crowds/lots of groups at that time of year?
 
I'd deff shoot for prob early to mid October. It was flat out hot middle Sept. And you can't escape the sun. I almost wish I had an umbrella to use when getting out and spotting. Deff had a sun tan. Downtown is hot. It's the fall so your going to have crowds but the nice thing is even in a semi-built rig you can escape the crowds and other tourist because most of them can't leave pavement. We had the trails completely to ourselves all week. Look at the events calendar for moab and make sure there isn't a big event going on and you should be fine. Please don't limit your self to the hard trails. The last 2 times I went and did just that. I'm almost mad at myself for doing that because there are so many cool trails and sights we never dreamed were out there. The guide books are also hard to go by when trying to decide how bad a trail is. Trails rated most difficult range from Hells Revenge which can be done in a jeep on 31's to Upper Helderado which is almost impossible in the best of built rigs. I have a great book I picked up last year, I'll have to get back to ya on the name but it's a must have.
 
Bump!

Besides me and Josh, who is truly serious about making this trip?
 
I figured you were #1 most likely Ted, but I wanted to see it "in writing". I figured about the same way for John too; really wants to go and is likely to actively try to make it happen.

Either of you even considering trying to get your own rigs there?
 

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