Pardon my indiscretion of barging into your forum!
Historically this run has been great fun, but it would be great to have more Canadians, on the past runs Drew has been greatly outnumbered by desert dwellers!;p Anyway a few notes to help with your planning, what to expect:
… When is it decided where the pre-run trips will go? ...
We aren’t very good planners, so if you’re the type that expects a set itinerary and to run said itinerary, will likely be disappointed. We will know what towns we are staying in/near each night, have a list of trails that we would like to run and probably have trails penciled in for each day. May or may not run those trails due to; weather, hearing of other trails that sound cool, choice of the group, etc. The goals are to see cool stuff and have a good time, so easily influenced by suggestion.
Trail selection is subject to change up to and including on the trail. One of the very dangerous things to mention on the trail is, “I wonder where that trail goes?” That is likely to bring the caravan to a halt, maps, PCs consulted, discussion and ending up somewhere unplanned!
If you have a fear of heights, don't like standing/walking/driving on cliff edges, SE Utah will make you uncomfortable!
We go to cliff edges for the great views, but normally avoid the cross axle/off camber/driving off the cliff stuff on the prerun, there is plenty of that available on the normal CM runs.
… This will be my first time wheeling that kind of terrain so I'm thinking easier to start (maybe as a pre-run) to medium. I'll save the harder trails for another year I think. ...
The prerun goal is exploring, we attempt to start easy and move to slightly more challenging as the group gels, topping in the 3 range out of 5 rating. Most would be doable in a stock Cruiser, but lift, bigger tires, locker will make life easier. The “we attempt” is because most are exploratory, it’s possible (read likely) that we wont know where we are going, so may get into something more challenging than we want. In this case we are also skilled at turning around and that leads to, another on trail selection change!
One exception is Hotel Rock, it a great trail, one of my favorites, but has some ~4ish challenges in the beginning. We have run it twice, haven’t heard much discussion on it this year, so may not run it?
The way we roll isn’t for everyone, expect to leave in the morning and not arrive back in town till duskish (read dark) and be ready to repeat tomorrow, lots of dirt miles. Some, especially kids find this tiring. Most areas are very remote, may not see another rig all day, so rig reliability is of prime importance.
Most of us are experienced, but don’t camp on these trips, find it easier to stay in hotels vs. making camp in the dark every night. Good camping is available close to all places where we stay, if that is your choice. The hotels in Blanding, Monticello are about half of the price of Moab hotels, ~$50 vs. ~$100. They usually give us a discount, when we get what towns we are staying in each night hammered out, will call and post the info.
If your planning to attend, post in the CSC planning thread. The opinions, trail preferences, etc, of everybody attending is important.
https://forum.ih8mud.com/az-copper-state-cruisers/349701-cruise-moab-2010-planning.html
Some previous trip threads.
https://forum.ih8mud.com/az-copper-state-cruisers/282439-cruise-moab-2009-pix.html
https://forum.ih8mud.com/az-copper-state-cruisers/218506-cm08-pix.html
https://forum.ih8mud.com/az-copper-state-cruisers/154428-cruise-moab-2007-pictures.html
