WeBeJeepin’ Moab

Last Sunday, May 27th, a group of us went out to run Rusty Nail. We had a couple guests from RME (Rocky Mountain Extreme) and with the worst of the windstorms behind us, we set off to have a great day in Moab.

Everyone has names for these obstacles on this short spur trail between Gold Bar Rim and the Golden Spike but Jim calls them Rocky #1, Rocky #2, and Rocky #3. The last obstacle I’ve always heard called No Left Turn. Here’s Larry on Rocky #1.

Gene was our trail leader today and he put his CJ through it’s paces. He elected to bypass Rocky #1 by using Rocky #2 which is just to the left. By the way, none of these obstacles are by any means easy. A couple of ATV’ers came up to the base of Rocky #2, watched us for awhile and then went back the way they had come. Here’s Gene’s attempt at Rocky #3 on the left side which was not successful. He elected to back off and let someone else go. This turned out to be me and after 20 minutes on the right hand side with lots of rock stacking and excellent spotting, I made it up.

This set the stage for everyone else to go (and everyone did!) Here’s Susan.

And of course, here comes Rick on his favorite obstacle.

Another gal Jeeper from RME. Sorry, I’m terrible with names but she did a great job with some good on-board spotting.

Here we are on No Left Turn. Gene was first down and the rest of us followed, sans spotter. By the time he came back to check on us, most of us were already down.

Here’s Larry on the lower rock portion.

And Rick in Flipper.

The weather started moving in and I had lots of chores to do so Melanie, Susan, and I decided to head back using Gold Bar Rim while the others went on to Where Eagles Dare. Here’s a great shot of Jeep Arch as we made our way onto the Gold Bar Trail.

Another shot looking out across Canyonlands with the Colorado River in the background.

The girls made it off with plenty of time to get ready for a BBQ while many of the guys went all the way through to Poison Spider trailhead. Rick and Jeff came back across the Spike using Gold Bar and apparently Rick’s Flipper broke down, requiring some on-trail welding. Jeff made it to the BBQ just in time to eat though.

Another nice trail day.

Trail Reports

Jim took a group of us out to the Rainbow Terrace area which is located off Hwy 313, out and around Dalton Wells last Saturday, May 26th. The day started out lovely but breezy so we took advantage of the weather and started off looking for rock art.

Our first stop was this rock art panel located very near the turn off from 313. These rock paintings are called pictographs and the type is considered Barrier Canyon style, dating anywhere between 1500 and 4000 years old.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrier_Canyon_Style My husband and I have been watching the television show Ancient Aliens and this panel with the alien gray figure fits right into those theories. Notice those giant eyes and gray color as compared to the other figures? Scary!

After exploring around the rock art walls, we set off again, heading towards the Dellenbaugh Tunnel. The incredible beauty of the day was to be short-lived as the breezy weather turned into a sand storm. That didn’t stop us from heading on to the Tunnel and making the hike down and through the other side.

Here’s a photo of us stopped at the tunnel with what we call “franken-rock” in the background. After we hiked through the tunnel, we went over to the donkey rocks area for lunch. A sandstorm descended and we decided to call it a day. A nice short trip though.

Trail Reports