I am going to loading up my 80 and doing a 16 day road trip from the Los Angeles area to do some fly fishing in Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado from June 12 through June 28th. I am dubbing this trip Trout Trek 2023. The main destinations along the way are Dutch John, Utah - where I'll fish the Green River for three days, then off to Casper, WY to fish the North Platte River for four days, then down to Breckenridge, CO to fish the Blue, and then across to Delta, CO to (hopefully) fish the salmon fly hatch on the Gunnison. There is a bit of leeway in the schedule, and I would love any suggestions for "Land Cruiser" things to do along the way. I already have plans to drive through Salt Lake City on our way to Dutch John and stop by the Land Cruiser Heritage Museum. Let me know if there are other notable places to see, or LC-oriented businesses to drop in on. I'm aware that Slee and Delta Vehicle Systems are in CO. I'm sure there are many LC shops in Utah. I might be able to pick up something for my cruiser and save on shipping. I could use skid plates for my 80... stuff like that. Much obliged.
Trout Trek 2023 - Land Cruiser things to do while road-tripping through Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado.
- Thread starter Katsuo70
- Start date
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Road Apple
SILVER Star
I’m not familiar with your route. Sounds like you’re already oriented. Some great trails are between Ouray, Telluride, and Silverton. Beautiful area and some fishing opportunities too.
Here’s a bunch of general notes for Colorado.
https://www.fs.fed.us/recreation/programs/ohv/ohv_maps.shtml
SHOP - https://www.transamtrail.com/maps/
2021 Trail schedule
Schubarth Road
Phantum Canyon & Shelf Road Loop
The Gultches (Metberry, Hackett, Longwater)
White Rim (Moab) or Kokopelli
Medano Pass (overnight camping in Sand Dunes, or a day trip)
Cloverdale Mine BBQ, Fishing, Gold Panning (Near Westcliffe)
Tin Cup, Saint Elmo
Mosquito
Kebler Pass
Music Pass
China Wall
11 Mile Canyon
Solid Axle Summit
There will be trails lead each day on what are known as the Ionic trails. Imogene, BlackBear, Ophir, Yankee Boy Basin, Governors Basin and a few others that are on the West side of Red Mountain Pass or the Ouray and Telluride side of the pass.
The East side of the pass is commonly known as the Ouray, Silverton and Lake City side of Red Mountain Pass. This includes Mineral Creek, Engineer, Poughkeepsie Gultch, California pass, California Corkscrew, Hurican Pass, Cinnimon Pass and the cool ghost town know as Animas Forks. I highly recommend Stoney Pass, It's not difficult but the views are outstanding, the summit of the pass is on the Continental Divide and is where the Rio Grande River starts as a trickle from the snow pack.
I agree with BackBear being a little more fun from the Telluride side, unfortunately it is only open to one way traffic just above the steps and swithbacks during the time we are there. In years past the Telluride Rotary Club sponsors a reverse offering on the 4th of July. I don't know if this still happens though.
Animas Forks
Barbour Fork
Black Bear
California Pass
Clear Lake
Cinnamon
Cork Screw
Cunningham
Engineer
Hurricane
Imogene Pass
Maggie
Minnie
Minnehaha
Ophir Pass
Picayune
Poughkeepsie - good camp spot. Drive up Mineral Creek, stay right on Poughkeepsie, camp spot across the creek in the right. Large flat area with about 15 camp spots, a fire ring, and room to park 10 rigs.
South Mineral
Spring Creek - difficult +
Stoney
Wheeler Lake, CO
Visit the town of Rico
Black Bear Pass
Beautiful views
12,840 foot pass
Halfmoon Creek, Leadville Colorado
Nice views, old mines
Above the tree line in some areas
Rimrocker Trail from Montrose to Moab
fairly easy, mostly bumpy road sightseeing with a couple rocky spots and shallow creek crossings
Telluride/Silverton/Ouray
The Alpine Loop- Engineer and Cinnamon Pass, Black Bear Pass, Imogene Pass, Ophir Pass, Poughkeepsie Gulch, Yankee Boy basin, and if you get the chance, drop by the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. Hopefully, most of those won't be closed, but it's really early in the season. June is usually the earliest most stuff opens up there. Be ready for a couple of feet of snow or winter conditions on most stuff that is open. It would be good if you have OK snow tires and lockers along with a lot of recovery gear. plan on bringing at least two vehicles.
planning on driving from US 550 near Ironton, up Corkscrew Pass, then down the "middle" road through Gladstone and down to Silverton.
My favorite alpine basin in Colorado is American Basin, near the top of Cinnamon Pass - close enough to Ouray yet far enough away. And you can bag an easy 14'er nearby - Handies Peak.
Main route: Pitkin - Cumberland Pass - Tin Cup - Mirror Lake - Tin Cup Pass - camped outside St Elmo - Hancock Pass and Alpine Loop back to Pitkin.
Made it over engineer pass today went from Ouray to Lake City
Salida has amazing campgrounds and awesome 4x4 trails from easy to super technical…
Blanca Peak
Alamosa, CO
Think Black Bear pass dropoffs but with a few tougher obstacles. Rock slides can be common in the area. Not anything super hard but can't have someone lose their cool as there are few turnarounds, so not a good ride for new drivers
These are easy trails
Trails will include but will not be limited to Imogene Pass, Alpine Loop, Engineer Pass, Cork Screw Pass, California Pass, Stoney Pass, Governors Basin, Yankee Boy Basin, Animas Forks, Poughkeepsie Gulch (most difficult) and last but not least Black Bear Pass.
For conditions and trail info
https://www.sanmiguelcountyco.gov/590/Coronavirus
Rimrocker, Montrose to Moab over 3 days ish
Lead King Basin in Colorado
Between Marble and Crested Butte
Beautiful views
Independence Trail
Pikes Peak Nat'l forest, just East of Victor, CO off Gold Camp Rd. Excellent site!!
Tabeguache Trail
Montrose to Grand Junction
Details on adventr.co
Paradox Trail
Starts at the Kokopelli Trail near the La Sal Mountains and ends up at the Tabequache Trail near Montrose.
Kokopelli Trail near the La Sal Mountains
Red Cone and Webster Pass in Grant, Colorado, which is a 12,800’ pass. Red Cone is a moderate trail, with rocky boulder over boulder. It’s one-way if you go from the summit down to Webster Pass due to the steepness and shale rocks. Beautiful views from the top. Not for stock vehicles.
Tincup pass buena vista colorado
Georgia pass. Just wanted to avoid traffic in Frisco. 8 hours later we made it down the continental divide and into Montezuma.
First time on La Plata Peak Trail head in Colorado this Weekend. Wow not disappointed at all.
Middle St. Vrain Trail is a 6.2 mile heavily trafficked out and back trail located near Lyons, Colorado that features beautiful wild flowers and is good for all skill levels. The trail is primarily used for hiking, running, camping, and ohv/off road driving and is best used from May until October. Dogs are also able to use this trail but must be kept on leash.
Wheeling Lake
Near FairPlay
Fire roads with occasional obstacles
GPS Trail Routes
Trail Maps | boar-offroad - https://www.boaroffroad.com/trail-maps
B.O.A.R. Routes
AF Canyon
5 Mile Pass
Tintic Train Tunnel
Inspiration Point
Bountiful - Farmington
Ophir/Jacob City Area
Squaw Peak to Hobble Creek
Hanging Tree
Eureka Area
Transcontinental Railroad Byway
Pony Express to Wendover
Trail Maps
Click on a link below to load the desired maps
Maps provided with permission from Utah State Parks
DNR Trail Maps
The Switzerland Trail is a dead end, even though some gps maps show it as a thru trail. Numerous rollover recoveries have occurred there.
Where we camped and staged for the event, the exact routes starting on Italian Pass, taking us to Pearl Pass, and going over Taylor pass. If you decide to run the route the opposite side be aware that going up Taylor would be considerably harder than going down because of the river bed and how the obstacles are laid out. Also on two of the three trails the funtreks GPX file is embedded into this file so if you want to follow along in your book for 2 of the 3 runs this would be possible.
This route (see attached GPX file) goes from the little town of Del Norte up to Highway 114 through BLM land and the western part of the Rio Grande National Forest. We did this a few years back when we were returning from riding the C&TSRR with the club.
The highlights:
A volcanic fin ridge that turned into a natural arch
Some seldom-traveled BLM roads
A fun road that crosses the Saguache Creek
Lots of beautiful, wide-open spaces
A lone grave of a Private in the US Army with a sad story
Some interesting old cabins
Forest Road 675.3P
We didn't have that much time to explore as we needed to get home but there are a lot of interesting-looking roads we passed.
I'll put a few photos below. There are a few more on this page and also on this page. Note that I misidentified the mountain range we were in on that page
I don't recall seeing many posts on the forum of folks going into this part of Colorado to 4x4. My suspicion is there aren't many challenging roads in this area. However, it's really beautiful and with lots of wide-open spaces. I highly recommend this area for more mild exploration if you're looking for somewhere new.
Just noticed this new category and figured I'd kick it off with a really pleasant campsite we stopped at when returning north from the train run in 2016. It is on the west side of County Road 14 in federal land according to the maps we had at the time.
GPS coordinates: 37.5767288,-106.3894577
There is probably enough room for five or six tents on flat ground with plenty of space in between. We didn't see any other vehicles and didn't hear anyone else although you aren't all that far from a couple scattered houses.
We entered at the south end of the road and exited at the north end.
Here's a photo of the view:
Colorado Springs
Rainbow falls...aka mini Moab
Garden of the Gods to the southern entrance to Rampart Range Rd.
Numerous trails off of Rampart Range. Schubarth trail is a fun easy trail off of Rampart.
Old Stage Road and Gold Camp are fun.
In that direction you can run Mt Rosa, second half of Eagle Rock over to Bull Canyon.
You can take Upper Gold Camp to Cripple Creek and take the highway back via Woodland Park.
Here’s a bunch of general notes for Colorado.
https://www.fs.fed.us/recreation/programs/ohv/ohv_maps.shtml
SHOP - https://www.transamtrail.com/maps/
2021 Trail schedule
Schubarth Road
Phantum Canyon & Shelf Road Loop
The Gultches (Metberry, Hackett, Longwater)
White Rim (Moab) or Kokopelli
Medano Pass (overnight camping in Sand Dunes, or a day trip)
Cloverdale Mine BBQ, Fishing, Gold Panning (Near Westcliffe)
Tin Cup, Saint Elmo
Mosquito
Kebler Pass
Music Pass
China Wall
11 Mile Canyon
Solid Axle Summit
There will be trails lead each day on what are known as the Ionic trails. Imogene, BlackBear, Ophir, Yankee Boy Basin, Governors Basin and a few others that are on the West side of Red Mountain Pass or the Ouray and Telluride side of the pass.
The East side of the pass is commonly known as the Ouray, Silverton and Lake City side of Red Mountain Pass. This includes Mineral Creek, Engineer, Poughkeepsie Gultch, California pass, California Corkscrew, Hurican Pass, Cinnimon Pass and the cool ghost town know as Animas Forks. I highly recommend Stoney Pass, It's not difficult but the views are outstanding, the summit of the pass is on the Continental Divide and is where the Rio Grande River starts as a trickle from the snow pack.
I agree with BackBear being a little more fun from the Telluride side, unfortunately it is only open to one way traffic just above the steps and swithbacks during the time we are there. In years past the Telluride Rotary Club sponsors a reverse offering on the 4th of July. I don't know if this still happens though.
Animas Forks
Barbour Fork
Black Bear
California Pass
Clear Lake
Cinnamon
Cork Screw
Cunningham
Engineer
Hurricane
Imogene Pass
Maggie
Minnie
Minnehaha
Ophir Pass
Picayune
Poughkeepsie - good camp spot. Drive up Mineral Creek, stay right on Poughkeepsie, camp spot across the creek in the right. Large flat area with about 15 camp spots, a fire ring, and room to park 10 rigs.
South Mineral
Spring Creek - difficult +
Stoney
Wheeler Lake, CO
Visit the town of Rico
Black Bear Pass
Beautiful views
12,840 foot pass
Halfmoon Creek, Leadville Colorado
Nice views, old mines
Above the tree line in some areas
Rimrocker Trail from Montrose to Moab
fairly easy, mostly bumpy road sightseeing with a couple rocky spots and shallow creek crossings
Telluride/Silverton/Ouray
The Alpine Loop- Engineer and Cinnamon Pass, Black Bear Pass, Imogene Pass, Ophir Pass, Poughkeepsie Gulch, Yankee Boy basin, and if you get the chance, drop by the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. Hopefully, most of those won't be closed, but it's really early in the season. June is usually the earliest most stuff opens up there. Be ready for a couple of feet of snow or winter conditions on most stuff that is open. It would be good if you have OK snow tires and lockers along with a lot of recovery gear. plan on bringing at least two vehicles.
planning on driving from US 550 near Ironton, up Corkscrew Pass, then down the "middle" road through Gladstone and down to Silverton.
My favorite alpine basin in Colorado is American Basin, near the top of Cinnamon Pass - close enough to Ouray yet far enough away. And you can bag an easy 14'er nearby - Handies Peak.
Main route: Pitkin - Cumberland Pass - Tin Cup - Mirror Lake - Tin Cup Pass - camped outside St Elmo - Hancock Pass and Alpine Loop back to Pitkin.
Made it over engineer pass today went from Ouray to Lake City
Salida has amazing campgrounds and awesome 4x4 trails from easy to super technical…
Blanca Peak
Alamosa, CO
Think Black Bear pass dropoffs but with a few tougher obstacles. Rock slides can be common in the area. Not anything super hard but can't have someone lose their cool as there are few turnarounds, so not a good ride for new drivers
These are easy trails
Trails will include but will not be limited to Imogene Pass, Alpine Loop, Engineer Pass, Cork Screw Pass, California Pass, Stoney Pass, Governors Basin, Yankee Boy Basin, Animas Forks, Poughkeepsie Gulch (most difficult) and last but not least Black Bear Pass.
For conditions and trail info
https://www.sanmiguelcountyco.gov/590/Coronavirus
Rimrocker, Montrose to Moab over 3 days ish
Lead King Basin in Colorado
Between Marble and Crested Butte
Beautiful views
Independence Trail
Pikes Peak Nat'l forest, just East of Victor, CO off Gold Camp Rd. Excellent site!!
Tabeguache Trail
Montrose to Grand Junction
Details on adventr.co
Paradox Trail
Starts at the Kokopelli Trail near the La Sal Mountains and ends up at the Tabequache Trail near Montrose.
Kokopelli Trail near the La Sal Mountains
Red Cone and Webster Pass in Grant, Colorado, which is a 12,800’ pass. Red Cone is a moderate trail, with rocky boulder over boulder. It’s one-way if you go from the summit down to Webster Pass due to the steepness and shale rocks. Beautiful views from the top. Not for stock vehicles.
Tincup pass buena vista colorado
Georgia pass. Just wanted to avoid traffic in Frisco. 8 hours later we made it down the continental divide and into Montezuma.
First time on La Plata Peak Trail head in Colorado this Weekend. Wow not disappointed at all.
Middle St. Vrain Trail is a 6.2 mile heavily trafficked out and back trail located near Lyons, Colorado that features beautiful wild flowers and is good for all skill levels. The trail is primarily used for hiking, running, camping, and ohv/off road driving and is best used from May until October. Dogs are also able to use this trail but must be kept on leash.
Wheeling Lake
Near FairPlay
Fire roads with occasional obstacles
GPS Trail Routes
Trail Maps | boar-offroad - https://www.boaroffroad.com/trail-maps
B.O.A.R. Routes
AF Canyon
5 Mile Pass
Tintic Train Tunnel
Inspiration Point
Bountiful - Farmington
Ophir/Jacob City Area
Squaw Peak to Hobble Creek
Hanging Tree
Eureka Area
Transcontinental Railroad Byway
Pony Express to Wendover
Trail Maps
Click on a link below to load the desired maps
Maps provided with permission from Utah State Parks
DNR Trail Maps
The Switzerland Trail is a dead end, even though some gps maps show it as a thru trail. Numerous rollover recoveries have occurred there.
Where we camped and staged for the event, the exact routes starting on Italian Pass, taking us to Pearl Pass, and going over Taylor pass. If you decide to run the route the opposite side be aware that going up Taylor would be considerably harder than going down because of the river bed and how the obstacles are laid out. Also on two of the three trails the funtreks GPX file is embedded into this file so if you want to follow along in your book for 2 of the 3 runs this would be possible.
This route (see attached GPX file) goes from the little town of Del Norte up to Highway 114 through BLM land and the western part of the Rio Grande National Forest. We did this a few years back when we were returning from riding the C&TSRR with the club.
The highlights:
A volcanic fin ridge that turned into a natural arch
Some seldom-traveled BLM roads
A fun road that crosses the Saguache Creek
Lots of beautiful, wide-open spaces
A lone grave of a Private in the US Army with a sad story
Some interesting old cabins
Forest Road 675.3P
We didn't have that much time to explore as we needed to get home but there are a lot of interesting-looking roads we passed.
I'll put a few photos below. There are a few more on this page and also on this page. Note that I misidentified the mountain range we were in on that page
I don't recall seeing many posts on the forum of folks going into this part of Colorado to 4x4. My suspicion is there aren't many challenging roads in this area. However, it's really beautiful and with lots of wide-open spaces. I highly recommend this area for more mild exploration if you're looking for somewhere new.
Just noticed this new category and figured I'd kick it off with a really pleasant campsite we stopped at when returning north from the train run in 2016. It is on the west side of County Road 14 in federal land according to the maps we had at the time.
GPS coordinates: 37.5767288,-106.3894577
There is probably enough room for five or six tents on flat ground with plenty of space in between. We didn't see any other vehicles and didn't hear anyone else although you aren't all that far from a couple scattered houses.
We entered at the south end of the road and exited at the north end.
Here's a photo of the view:
Colorado Springs
Rainbow falls...aka mini Moab
Garden of the Gods to the southern entrance to Rampart Range Rd.
Numerous trails off of Rampart Range. Schubarth trail is a fun easy trail off of Rampart.
Old Stage Road and Gold Camp are fun.
In that direction you can run Mt Rosa, second half of Eagle Rock over to Bull Canyon.
You can take Upper Gold Camp to Cripple Creek and take the highway back via Woodland Park.
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Road Apple
SILVER Star
Here’s Utah notes
Recovery
Utah Off Road Recovery Team - FB page
Utah Off-Road Rescue and Recovery - FB
Moab Motorsport
Trail Recovery and Welding
(435)259-1109
Evan and Sons Automotive and Towing
(801) 975-9422
Grand Company
MoabUT84532
(435)210-1426
(435) 355-3001
Winder Off Road Recover
455 N. 2260 W.
Hurricane, UT 84737
(435)635-2231
Near Zion NP
SHOP - https://www.transamtrail.com/maps/
Have you visited www.expeditionutah.com? It's worth registering
Toqueville Falls
Camping right next to the falls
No shade
Sand Hollow State Park
Wheeling, boating, swimming, camping
No shade
Rimrocker Trail
Overlanding from Moab area to the Colorado Rockies
The Rimrocker Trail is a newly connected trail that allows you to enjoy 160 miles of off-pavement travel while experiencing the many different stunning landscapes that connect Montrose, Colorado to Moab, Utah. The roads on the eastern half are graded gravel roads that are two vehicles wide and would easily be traveled in a family sedan. It would be a fantastic destination to travel through the aspens during their fall color changes as well as stopping for the fantastic views at the overlooks.
DIRECTIONS From the intersection of the West Main Street and Townsend Avenue, travel SW on West Main Street which will turn into Colorado 90 for 7-1/2 miles until reaching the three way intersection with Shavano Valley Road to the north and 90 Road to the South. This intersection is the official start of the Rimrocker Trail. There is no parking lot or area to safely assemble a group at this intersections but if you proceed another half mile down the trail there are some dirt pull off areas that could be used.
Kokopelli Trail
142 miles
Moab
Dan Muck - guides Moab
Hire John Marshall, Cayote Adventures, to guide.
NAVTEC Expeditions
Guided 4x4, river rafting, canyoneering
NAVTEC Expeditions - Home - https://navtec.com/ they take you out in their 80 if you didn’t bring yours
800-833-1278
Rubi IMO was way more techincal than the runs at Moab I took. F'n'Things was a fun warm up. The next to days were more diffucult (Golden Spike and ???). However we didn't get out to Prichett and some of the more difficult stuff at Moab.
Behind the Rock loop
Steel Bender
Hole in the Rock
Potash rd never disappoints. If ever in Moab, check it out. Beautiful
Top of the world. Great trail! Near Moab
The best trail with off shoots is twin arches. There are canyons and great sights on that trail not to mention twin arches.
Don’t hire a guide. There are trail guides in town that are very accurate! We did several trails but twin bridges was by far the best for sites and good off shoots. Metal masher is on the twin bridges trail. The books will give you mileage estimates for cool sites like gooney bird etc so set your tripometer. Best of luck and have fun. Redcliffs is a great place to stay by the way. It is 15 miles out of town but clean and private. Also by the year pass if you go in Arches. It is good everywhere. We just used it at Yellowstone. Arches has some trails for 4x4 only which might be fun. I did not go on those. Hope this helps.
Metal Masher is short and scenic. Hells Revenge is short and always fun. Gemini Bridges is closed now at the end. If going there do Bull Canyon and see the bridges from below. Moab Rim is pretty short. Fins and Things is nice as it is easy to bail to the main road at any time if you find yourself short on time. Where are you headed afterwards? If headed to Colorado, top of the world is spectacular.
Hell's Revenge is fun. Poison spider/gold bar rim/golden spike trio is a good run, but it'll take all day and then some. I’ll second Hell’s revenge. If you only have a day do that and fins and things. Both trails are great and within the same Sand Flats rec area. Higher traffic so if you have any issues it won’t be long before somebody is along to help. A lot of Moab is pretty desolate (which is a great thing except when you’re wheeling alone).
Poison Spider trio is my favorite there. Hells and Fins are great too. Elephant Hill is a little out of the way, but also fun and you can check out the slot canyons while there. Just being in Moab is fantastic. One of my favorite places in the world.
So the Triple Threat. (Poison Spider, Gold Bar Rim, and Golden Spike). All the trails connect. It can be done in one day. Enjoy
Seven Mile Rim if you only have one day and you want to be sure you drive out. Seven Mile Rim has Uranium arch which is awesome!!!
Top of the World
Easy
Beautiful view
Gemini Bridge
Cliff Hanger - very difficult
Pritchett Canyon - very difficult
Shafer Trail
Kane Creek OHV Trail - moderate
Kane Springs Canyon
13.2 mile moderate trail
Lots of creek crossings
Difficult rock ledges
A very diverse trail
Hamburger Hill is challenging
Poison Spider Mesa Trail
Chicken Corners Trail
Gemini Bridges Trail
Moab Rim Trail
Kokopelli trail
Travel up Salt Creek to Horse Canyon
Visit Paul Bunyan’s Potty and see the Four Faces pictograph panel and lots of arches
front locker a handful of times on some of the toughest obstacles. Pritchett Canyon is the only trail I'd say you really "need" a front locker. Some of the BFE buggy trails of course will need dual lockers but not a lot of 80's are running those trails. There are some other tougher obstacles on other trails that a front locker would help with but the obstacles are mostly optional and can still be done with just the rear locked. The obstacles not on Pritchett that I've used a front locker on are Double Whammy (Golden Spike Trail), Rock Chucker (Metal Masher Trail), Widow Maker (Metal Masher Trail). Transfer case and/or diff gears are "nice to have's" but also not necessary.
Sevenmile Rim
Meeting location, North parking lot: 38°36'07.4"N 109°34'32.6"W
Dome Plateau
- meeting location, south parking lot:
38°36'04.9"N 109°34'30.5"W · 1770 N Hwy 191, Moab, UT 84532 - https://maps.app.goo.gl/HMFRuzbABsKYPmSZ7
Canyonlands NP
Mesa Arch, island in the sky section of Canyonlands
White Rim trail 100 miles
Maze District
Horseshoe Canyon
Elaborate life sized rock art panel
The best in the US
High Spur slot canyon
Needles District
Elephant Hill
Hike the Joint Trail to Chesler Park
Schaffer switchbacks
We ran the West Rim trail along with a few parts of Renegade on the first day. The second day we hit Triple 7's, Milt's Mile and a little bit of TNT. All of these trails were pretty challenging for the stock FJ and he was dragging bottom a lot but made it through almost everything with a little effort.
St. George / Zion Area
If you are running around that area, take a trip up to Grosvenor Arch, "the Gut" and Cottonwood creek. It will take you down to HWY 89 near Page and Lake Powell. Won't regret it, the colors of the land are out of this world.
we ventured in to Zion on roads less traveled. We found some great spots for primitative camping near a great trail in the Red Cliffs park area north of St George. Next weekend, weather permitting we will head to Salt Lake City. Plan B is the Sandy Hollow off road trails. So far Hurricane has been nothing short of amazing.
Sand Hollow/Sand Mountain area near St George for a while and we wanted to check it out and finally made the trip. What a cool place! Really fun trails and a variety of terrain, although mostly sandstone and sand.
San Rafael Swell - South
Off Hwy 70 at mile marker 22
Fin Rock
Eagle Arch
Little Grand Canyon
Head of Sinbad
Turkey Tower
Family Butte
Other
Sundance/ Alpine Loop
Lock Hart Trail
Sawtooth Mountain Range, UT
San Juan Co, UT
https://risingsun4x4club.org/xf/threads/st-george-ut-trails-primer.30418/
We traveled to St.George over New Years... @bassguyry asked about the trails we found that he might be able to hit to or from his Mojave trip. Figured this would be a good place to share what we discovered. Also adding in a few other trip details that might be helpful for you guys that might want to head there to escape Colorado winter for a few days.
THE DRIVE OUT - @Lefty and drove down with our families in our 80s. From Denver it's 4 lane hwy the whole way so it feels super quick and easy. Google shows it as a 9hr drive, but in a pair of 25 year old LCs plus family stops it's closer to 12. The drive out there actually took a bit longer because it snowed non-stop between Grand Junction and Cedar City. The most snow was in Cedar City 3-4" + whiteout conditions. The snow stopped and turned to rain in the last 20 miles down into St. George. The quick change in climate was surprising and amazing. It felt so damn good!
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THE DESTINATION - We stayed at a house in Hurricane outside of St.George. The goal was to get out of the snow for a week and we succeeded. We weren't sure how much different the weather in SW Utah would be from Moab. But as noted above, turns out it's waaaaay nicer. High of 50 and low of 30. There was a light rain the night we arrived but the rest of the trip was dry. Camping would defiantly be possible this time of year if you are prepared for the short days and chilly nights. I can imagine it would be a lot more fun in Feb/March.
THE TRAILS WE DROVE - We decided on the St. George area after reviewing trails on trailsoffroad.com. The first drive we did to Toquerville Falls (Green Route) is pretty well known and can be found on other sites like alltrails.com. The second drive we did up Rattlesnake Gultch (Blue Route) was only listed on Trails Offroad. I don't know why we couldn't find info for it anywhere else, maybe it's just not that well known. Cat's out of the bag now! As a bonus, Hurricane is only 30 min from Zion, which obviously isn't an off-road loop, but it's definitely worth at least a day trip or drive through if you're down that way.
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DRIVE #1 TOQUERVILLE FALLS (Green) - The most popular trail drive down there seems to be Toquerville Falls. It's basically an hour long dirt road out to small waterfalls and a swim hole. Too cold to swim for us in late Dec. The road is pretty easy but there are a couple spots that are just rough enough I wouldn't drive a Sprinter or and Outback out there. Stock Toyota 4x4's should be fine.
DRIVE #2 RATTLESNAKE GULCH (Blue) - There is an alternate 8 mile route to get to the falls heading up Rattlesnake Gultch. This trail starts off much more rough than Drive 1. The full trail is rated a 6 on Trails Offroad but the first half isn't too bad and easily passable with a lift and 33's. Probably even a stock 4x4. The very beginning is riddled with a web dirt bike and quad trails, but once you get past the first 3 miles (Waypoint 6) we found some great camping spots up the valley along the creek for about 1.5 miles (photo). Once you are 4.5 miles in, you get to the first real obstacle (Waypoint 7). After you get through it you basically have a creek with a field of boulders to navigate. The only line we thought we could make it through in our trucks was 80% up the creekbed, which was running too high (from the recent snow in higher elevations) for our comfort. We turned around at this point but we think it would be passable with our rigs with lower runoff in the late summer/fall. The parts of the trail we didn't get to look really cool in the photos we've seen. Even though it's only rated 6 I'd probably not drive anything other than a dedicated trail rig past Waypoint 7. If you want more details the Trails Offroad drive-through is really good. Attached is the GPX file from their site. We were bummed we couldn't finish the route up to the falls but we were happy to find this section of trail. We didn't see anybody else the whole day and the camping options looked great. We will definitely go back and try again.
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TRAILS WE DIDN'T DRIVE - For the most part it sounds like the trails around St.George are either really easy or really hard. We heard about another easy route that goes over the north side of the city called Cottonwood Springs. Highly recommended by a couple different locals. And then Sand Hollow is the playground for quads and crawlers that most of us have heard about before. I talked to a guy named Steve Nantz from a local shop Sand Hollow Offroad Hurricane to get beta on the nearby trails. It was interesting to find out he moved there from Moab because the crawler trails are harder. Not really our style but it sounds like there are some good routes for us 5-6 difficulty types. We didn't explore any of that area on this trip but will dig into it on the next. There are also some moderate rated trails northwest of St George which would probably be fun Fall/Spring camping that we want to go back and explore.
SUMMARY - The best discovery about St. George is that it's an easy destination for Colorado guys to get to and springboard into a lot of other fun SW trail networks pretty quick. Grand Canyon, Mojave, DV, etc are all within easy reach. We are currently planning a Northern Arizona Traverse from East to West and it's nice to know that we can finish in St.George then have a simple 1 day drive home on the interstate once we're done.
Happy to answer any questions about this trip that might pop up. If you have any trail/camping info to share about the St.George area please add it to this thread!
The next trip, the long one, left from Colorado Springs and included heading west through Breckenridge, then out the I-70 to Moab, south into Canyonlands, drive they White Rim Trail, then RimRocker from Moab to Montrose, CO. After that, through Gunnission and back to the Springs via the 50. Six nights, seven days, never in the same spot. Basically, it was a huge loop including all types of terrains and altitudes.
Recovery
Utah Off Road Recovery Team - FB page
Utah Off-Road Rescue and Recovery - FB
Moab Motorsport
Trail Recovery and Welding
(435)259-1109
Evan and Sons Automotive and Towing
(801) 975-9422
Grand Company
MoabUT84532
(435)210-1426
(435) 355-3001
Winder Off Road Recover
455 N. 2260 W.
Hurricane, UT 84737
(435)635-2231
Near Zion NP
SHOP - https://www.transamtrail.com/maps/
Have you visited www.expeditionutah.com? It's worth registering
Toqueville Falls
Camping right next to the falls
No shade
Sand Hollow State Park
Wheeling, boating, swimming, camping
No shade
Rimrocker Trail
Overlanding from Moab area to the Colorado Rockies
The Rimrocker Trail is a newly connected trail that allows you to enjoy 160 miles of off-pavement travel while experiencing the many different stunning landscapes that connect Montrose, Colorado to Moab, Utah. The roads on the eastern half are graded gravel roads that are two vehicles wide and would easily be traveled in a family sedan. It would be a fantastic destination to travel through the aspens during their fall color changes as well as stopping for the fantastic views at the overlooks.
DIRECTIONS From the intersection of the West Main Street and Townsend Avenue, travel SW on West Main Street which will turn into Colorado 90 for 7-1/2 miles until reaching the three way intersection with Shavano Valley Road to the north and 90 Road to the South. This intersection is the official start of the Rimrocker Trail. There is no parking lot or area to safely assemble a group at this intersections but if you proceed another half mile down the trail there are some dirt pull off areas that could be used.
Kokopelli Trail
142 miles
Moab
Dan Muck - guides Moab
Hire John Marshall, Cayote Adventures, to guide.
NAVTEC Expeditions
Guided 4x4, river rafting, canyoneering
NAVTEC Expeditions - Home - https://navtec.com/ they take you out in their 80 if you didn’t bring yours
800-833-1278
Rubi IMO was way more techincal than the runs at Moab I took. F'n'Things was a fun warm up. The next to days were more diffucult (Golden Spike and ???). However we didn't get out to Prichett and some of the more difficult stuff at Moab.
Behind the Rock loop
Steel Bender
Hole in the Rock
Potash rd never disappoints. If ever in Moab, check it out. Beautiful
Top of the world. Great trail! Near Moab
The best trail with off shoots is twin arches. There are canyons and great sights on that trail not to mention twin arches.
Don’t hire a guide. There are trail guides in town that are very accurate! We did several trails but twin bridges was by far the best for sites and good off shoots. Metal masher is on the twin bridges trail. The books will give you mileage estimates for cool sites like gooney bird etc so set your tripometer. Best of luck and have fun. Redcliffs is a great place to stay by the way. It is 15 miles out of town but clean and private. Also by the year pass if you go in Arches. It is good everywhere. We just used it at Yellowstone. Arches has some trails for 4x4 only which might be fun. I did not go on those. Hope this helps.
Metal Masher is short and scenic. Hells Revenge is short and always fun. Gemini Bridges is closed now at the end. If going there do Bull Canyon and see the bridges from below. Moab Rim is pretty short. Fins and Things is nice as it is easy to bail to the main road at any time if you find yourself short on time. Where are you headed afterwards? If headed to Colorado, top of the world is spectacular.
Hell's Revenge is fun. Poison spider/gold bar rim/golden spike trio is a good run, but it'll take all day and then some. I’ll second Hell’s revenge. If you only have a day do that and fins and things. Both trails are great and within the same Sand Flats rec area. Higher traffic so if you have any issues it won’t be long before somebody is along to help. A lot of Moab is pretty desolate (which is a great thing except when you’re wheeling alone).
Poison Spider trio is my favorite there. Hells and Fins are great too. Elephant Hill is a little out of the way, but also fun and you can check out the slot canyons while there. Just being in Moab is fantastic. One of my favorite places in the world.
So the Triple Threat. (Poison Spider, Gold Bar Rim, and Golden Spike). All the trails connect. It can be done in one day. Enjoy
Seven Mile Rim if you only have one day and you want to be sure you drive out. Seven Mile Rim has Uranium arch which is awesome!!!
Top of the World
Easy
Beautiful view
Gemini Bridge
Cliff Hanger - very difficult
Pritchett Canyon - very difficult
Shafer Trail
Kane Creek OHV Trail - moderate
Kane Springs Canyon
13.2 mile moderate trail
Lots of creek crossings
Difficult rock ledges
A very diverse trail
Hamburger Hill is challenging
Poison Spider Mesa Trail
Chicken Corners Trail
Gemini Bridges Trail
Moab Rim Trail
Kokopelli trail
Travel up Salt Creek to Horse Canyon
Visit Paul Bunyan’s Potty and see the Four Faces pictograph panel and lots of arches
front locker a handful of times on some of the toughest obstacles. Pritchett Canyon is the only trail I'd say you really "need" a front locker. Some of the BFE buggy trails of course will need dual lockers but not a lot of 80's are running those trails. There are some other tougher obstacles on other trails that a front locker would help with but the obstacles are mostly optional and can still be done with just the rear locked. The obstacles not on Pritchett that I've used a front locker on are Double Whammy (Golden Spike Trail), Rock Chucker (Metal Masher Trail), Widow Maker (Metal Masher Trail). Transfer case and/or diff gears are "nice to have's" but also not necessary.
Sevenmile Rim
Meeting location, North parking lot: 38°36'07.4"N 109°34'32.6"W
Dome Plateau
- meeting location, south parking lot:
38°36'04.9"N 109°34'30.5"W · 1770 N Hwy 191, Moab, UT 84532 - https://maps.app.goo.gl/HMFRuzbABsKYPmSZ7
Canyonlands NP
Mesa Arch, island in the sky section of Canyonlands
White Rim trail 100 miles
Maze District
Horseshoe Canyon
Elaborate life sized rock art panel
The best in the US
High Spur slot canyon
Needles District
Elephant Hill
Hike the Joint Trail to Chesler Park
Schaffer switchbacks
We ran the West Rim trail along with a few parts of Renegade on the first day. The second day we hit Triple 7's, Milt's Mile and a little bit of TNT. All of these trails were pretty challenging for the stock FJ and he was dragging bottom a lot but made it through almost everything with a little effort.
St. George / Zion Area
If you are running around that area, take a trip up to Grosvenor Arch, "the Gut" and Cottonwood creek. It will take you down to HWY 89 near Page and Lake Powell. Won't regret it, the colors of the land are out of this world.
we ventured in to Zion on roads less traveled. We found some great spots for primitative camping near a great trail in the Red Cliffs park area north of St George. Next weekend, weather permitting we will head to Salt Lake City. Plan B is the Sandy Hollow off road trails. So far Hurricane has been nothing short of amazing.
Sand Hollow/Sand Mountain area near St George for a while and we wanted to check it out and finally made the trip. What a cool place! Really fun trails and a variety of terrain, although mostly sandstone and sand.
San Rafael Swell - South
Off Hwy 70 at mile marker 22
Fin Rock
Eagle Arch
Little Grand Canyon
Head of Sinbad
Turkey Tower
Family Butte
Other
Sundance/ Alpine Loop
Lock Hart Trail
Sawtooth Mountain Range, UT
San Juan Co, UT
https://risingsun4x4club.org/xf/threads/st-george-ut-trails-primer.30418/
We traveled to St.George over New Years... @bassguyry asked about the trails we found that he might be able to hit to or from his Mojave trip. Figured this would be a good place to share what we discovered. Also adding in a few other trip details that might be helpful for you guys that might want to head there to escape Colorado winter for a few days.
THE DRIVE OUT - @Lefty and drove down with our families in our 80s. From Denver it's 4 lane hwy the whole way so it feels super quick and easy. Google shows it as a 9hr drive, but in a pair of 25 year old LCs plus family stops it's closer to 12. The drive out there actually took a bit longer because it snowed non-stop between Grand Junction and Cedar City. The most snow was in Cedar City 3-4" + whiteout conditions. The snow stopped and turned to rain in the last 20 miles down into St. George. The quick change in climate was surprising and amazing. It felt so damn good!
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THE DESTINATION - We stayed at a house in Hurricane outside of St.George. The goal was to get out of the snow for a week and we succeeded. We weren't sure how much different the weather in SW Utah would be from Moab. But as noted above, turns out it's waaaaay nicer. High of 50 and low of 30. There was a light rain the night we arrived but the rest of the trip was dry. Camping would defiantly be possible this time of year if you are prepared for the short days and chilly nights. I can imagine it would be a lot more fun in Feb/March.
THE TRAILS WE DROVE - We decided on the St. George area after reviewing trails on trailsoffroad.com. The first drive we did to Toquerville Falls (Green Route) is pretty well known and can be found on other sites like alltrails.com. The second drive we did up Rattlesnake Gultch (Blue Route) was only listed on Trails Offroad. I don't know why we couldn't find info for it anywhere else, maybe it's just not that well known. Cat's out of the bag now! As a bonus, Hurricane is only 30 min from Zion, which obviously isn't an off-road loop, but it's definitely worth at least a day trip or drive through if you're down that way.
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DRIVE #1 TOQUERVILLE FALLS (Green) - The most popular trail drive down there seems to be Toquerville Falls. It's basically an hour long dirt road out to small waterfalls and a swim hole. Too cold to swim for us in late Dec. The road is pretty easy but there are a couple spots that are just rough enough I wouldn't drive a Sprinter or and Outback out there. Stock Toyota 4x4's should be fine.
DRIVE #2 RATTLESNAKE GULCH (Blue) - There is an alternate 8 mile route to get to the falls heading up Rattlesnake Gultch. This trail starts off much more rough than Drive 1. The full trail is rated a 6 on Trails Offroad but the first half isn't too bad and easily passable with a lift and 33's. Probably even a stock 4x4. The very beginning is riddled with a web dirt bike and quad trails, but once you get past the first 3 miles (Waypoint 6) we found some great camping spots up the valley along the creek for about 1.5 miles (photo). Once you are 4.5 miles in, you get to the first real obstacle (Waypoint 7). After you get through it you basically have a creek with a field of boulders to navigate. The only line we thought we could make it through in our trucks was 80% up the creekbed, which was running too high (from the recent snow in higher elevations) for our comfort. We turned around at this point but we think it would be passable with our rigs with lower runoff in the late summer/fall. The parts of the trail we didn't get to look really cool in the photos we've seen. Even though it's only rated 6 I'd probably not drive anything other than a dedicated trail rig past Waypoint 7. If you want more details the Trails Offroad drive-through is really good. Attached is the GPX file from their site. We were bummed we couldn't finish the route up to the falls but we were happy to find this section of trail. We didn't see anybody else the whole day and the camping options looked great. We will definitely go back and try again.
View attachment IMG_4225.jpg
TRAILS WE DIDN'T DRIVE - For the most part it sounds like the trails around St.George are either really easy or really hard. We heard about another easy route that goes over the north side of the city called Cottonwood Springs. Highly recommended by a couple different locals. And then Sand Hollow is the playground for quads and crawlers that most of us have heard about before. I talked to a guy named Steve Nantz from a local shop Sand Hollow Offroad Hurricane to get beta on the nearby trails. It was interesting to find out he moved there from Moab because the crawler trails are harder. Not really our style but it sounds like there are some good routes for us 5-6 difficulty types. We didn't explore any of that area on this trip but will dig into it on the next. There are also some moderate rated trails northwest of St George which would probably be fun Fall/Spring camping that we want to go back and explore.
SUMMARY - The best discovery about St. George is that it's an easy destination for Colorado guys to get to and springboard into a lot of other fun SW trail networks pretty quick. Grand Canyon, Mojave, DV, etc are all within easy reach. We are currently planning a Northern Arizona Traverse from East to West and it's nice to know that we can finish in St.George then have a simple 1 day drive home on the interstate once we're done.
Happy to answer any questions about this trip that might pop up. If you have any trail/camping info to share about the St.George area please add it to this thread!
The next trip, the long one, left from Colorado Springs and included heading west through Breckenridge, then out the I-70 to Moab, south into Canyonlands, drive they White Rim Trail, then RimRocker from Moab to Montrose, CO. After that, through Gunnission and back to the Springs via the 50. Six nights, seven days, never in the same spot. Basically, it was a huge loop including all types of terrains and altitudes.
- Thread starter
- #4
Wow! Thanks for sharing all that. There's some seriously valuable info there. I literally had to save it all to a file for future reference. I think you just gave me ideas for future road trips for the next several years. But I will also see what I can fit in on this years' trip too. Much obliged!
