Moab, an off-road paradise. To top it off this is also the Easter Jeep Safari event, lucky us! On any day of the week there are Jeeps, Razers, 4-wheelers and any kind of off road vehicle you can imagine, but during Jeep week, Jeepers rule the streets and trails.
We are camping at Horsethief BLM camping area. It is a bit of a drive to Moab from where we are but it is quiet, in the wilderness, and the views are amazing.
Today we went into the town of Moab to locate the grounds where the big Jeep show will be held at the end of the week. Jeep is apparently unveiling their newest “super/ultimate” Jeep and we hope to get a look at it.
There is no easy way for us to get to Moab from where we are camping. John spent some time looking at the maps and said he found a shortcut from our campsite, over to a scenic byway that leads into Moab. Okay! Let’s go!
We turned onto the road and soon we were greeted with a spectacular view of the valley. What a playground! Notice the nice dirt road.
The farther down the road we went the better the views became.
Look, the Colorado river winding its way towards the Grand Canyon.
Our drive was progressing as we expected, then we turned the corner. This ride just got fun!
At the bottom of the hill we saw our next obstacle. We wouldn’t have wanted to be around when that rock fell over. We just hope it stays put.
No sweat.
John saw signs up ahead indicating that there was a reclamation area for big horn sheep. Yeah, I’ve been looking to spot these in the wild since our first trip to Colorado back in 2006.
Well what do we see here? Sheep, goats….I’m going with sheep. At more than 400 yards away, I was having trouble holding the camera still. We watched the ones on the upper rocks jump up there from below. Amazing!
I wouldn’t exactly call Long Canyon Road a shortcut to anywhere, but it sure did have some purdy scenery.
We finally arrived in Moab, located the show arena and stopped at a rock shop. Time to head home. No we aren’t taking the highway or the byway home. We are taking Hell’s Roaring Rim Jeep trail via Hey Joe Canyon Jeep trail.
The trail is rated a 3. In Moab language that means that the terrain will be difficult, you must have a 4-wheel drive vehicle with good clearance and low gears. Sounds reasonable enough.
We climbed a few sets of what I call “stairs.”
Yes folks, Jeeps can climb stairs. (*giggle)
They can also go down “stairs.”
It wasn’t all smooth sailing however. Though we have trail maps clearly defining each Jeep trail, there are off shoots going in all directions. One of those side roads took us off our desired trail.
It brought us to a point with a left, straight or right option for getting down a hill. I went out scouting trying to pick the best route down. What happened to our 3 rated trail?
It seems we might have moved into a 3.5 – 4 trail.
It really is hard to give you a perspective. At this point I have my feet on the dash. We need pictures!! I hop out and John is yelling for me to hurry up before the Jeep slips down the hill on its own.
He is so full of drama. We eventually made it down the hill. What a cool spot.
So. Now we know we are on the wrong trail what do we do? We try again. It seems we did a big loop and almost ended up where we started. Determined to drive the whole Hell’s Roaring Rim trail we started again.
Yes the trail is marked even when you are driving on mostly rocks. They use white markers spray painted on rocks. Look, more stairs!
Many intersections look like this, with no markers….you have to guess sometimes.
We did manage to navigate the trail in its entirety, and we got a special gift for our efforts.
On our first time around, at the beginning of the trail, we passed a cow lying under a tree, all by herself. On our second time around she was standing up. Then we noticed a newborn calf lying at her feet, wet, umbilical cord attached, and looking around at her new world! We must have missed the actual birth by minutes.
We thanked God for the gift and kept moving so as not to disturb mom and baby.
Can’t wait for day 2.
