Lockhart Basin & Moab Trails, Sept. 2012 Pictures & Trip Report

[dzJeepChic 2,897]

After going up The Wall, the trail dropped into a ravine and the out onto an open sandy, scrubby plain. We were making pretty fast travel on the smooth sand until we came to this bad washout. It was a good thing we hadn't done this trail the day before after all, because it looked like it had gotten a lot of rain.

 

 

Someone before us had gone around the washout off to the left side, through the scrub brush. We wanted to avoid doing that, and hopefully make the trail more passable for others, so we straddled the washout avoiding the plant-life as much as possible.

 

 

Randy wanted to try filling in part of the washout and spotting Scott driving across the fill in to straddle it.

 

 

 

 

Then everybody went the way George had gone, and in the end the trail was in much better condition than before we got there, at least it was easier to straddle the washout.

 

 

 

 

We were almost to the Slickrock Fin named in the trail book as a good lunch spot, shown here toward the left of the frame. You can see tire tracks on it.

 

 

 

We parked on top of it and enjoyed a rest and some refreshments. The views from the fin were spectacular!

 

 

From there the trail begins a gradual ascent along the west side of North Fork Mill Creek. It was really scenic all along this area.

 

 

 

We stopped at an overlook of the Mill Creek canyon and walked to the edge to check it out.

 

 

So we're standing there gazing across when I notice ONE piece of litter just barely over the highest point of the edge. I mentioned to everyone the awkward placement of trash, and so Scotty volunteered to retrieve it if I had a place to stow it. Silly me, I agreed. Because when I opened the rear hatch on Clifford to stow said crummy trash, the right side hinge popped off of the pin and there was a loud crunching sound when the plastic trim broke. So yeah, there's an update coming soon to Clifford's build thread; G did an amazing fab-up of new hinge pegs; replaced both and the broken trim! (Photo courtesy of Maddogjeeper)

Oh, and ORP left Mill Creek canyon overlook nicer than how they found it...

 

 

This section of Steel Bender trail was really easy, and quite a bit faster travel. But even still, a small group of 2 built JKs and a built CJ was traveling faster and we moved aside to let them pass. We passed on spot where we could see Moab in the distance:

 

 

And the views were beautiful in all directions

 

 

We caught up with the trio who'd passed us when we got to 'The Fall', pretty much the most aptly named obstacle in Moab. Our view arriving at The Fall:

 

 

Scruffy mutts

 

 

Big dawgs

 

 

Both these sweet JKs were on 1 ton axles and approximately 40" tires and were powered by hemi's. Of course they also had numerous other modifications made to them. I only mention this because watching them go down The Fall and taking into account their tire sizes and wheelbases influenced our approach to the obstacle quite a bit. The obstacle itself doesn't really look like much, but then considering that its next to a cliff makes it a little more scary.

 

First JK going down The Fall

 

 

 

Piece of cake, right? Watch the video of them:

 

 

Still, not too bad, right? Now try to visualize this; in the following picture, ChrisD is facing the obstacle, standing directly in the line of travel of those Jeeps, and George & Randy are on the side checking out the drop off.

 

 

Their buddy in the CJ took a line to the left that George had been scoping out. It seemed pretty tippy but safer. This picture was taken from a bad angle, but you'll see some from below in a second.

 

 

Kind of an interesting side note, this is the picture of The Fall in the Well's trail book:

 

 

This is what it looked like when we were there - apparently they stack it for Easter Jeep Safari:

 

 

Continued

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[dzJeepChic 2,897]

So our options are The Fall and the line to the left. This is the top part of the line to the left, it's pretty tippy:

 

 

Then Wayne found a by-pass way over to the right; there was a trail that led down to a ledge which looked like you could drive on it and then climb a short steep loose hill to the level of the landing of The Fall. So he drove down there but as he went along the ledge he said it got too tippy. He had to come back the way he went, and we were back to 2 options.

 

 

I took video of everyone on this obstacle and I haven't had time to put it together, but I'll post it when I do. For now I have some still photos. George went first, down the line to the left. Tippy at the top:

 

 

Slowly...

 

 

 

The Jeep skidded down the last part and poor Randy darted like a rabbit!

 

 

Wayne opted for safety - we attached Maddog's winch and he eased it down The Fall.

 

 

Maddog also chose the safest route - ChrisD hooked up to him.

 

 

ChrisD asked George to drive his JK down, which G was happy to do! I asked him later how he liked driving it, and he said: "I liked driving it very much! Can we get one?" Scotty lined up to offer moral support:

 

 

Look how light it is on driver rear!

 

 

 

By now our Jeeps needed to be moved down the 2nd part of the obstacle before Scott could go.

 

 

This was also on the side of a drop off, just not as steep, and then you had to squeeze between a big rock and the edge.

 

 

 

 

 

Scotty's turn!

 

 

 

 

 

Continued

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[dzJeepChic 2,897]

What, there's more? Yep, we were only about half way through the trail! But the rest of the trail was fairly moderate with a few fun obstacles here and there - nothing difficult or scary for the rest of the day!

 

 

Plenty of scenic backdrops:

 

 

The Witches Step:

 

 

 

 

Some steppy areas

 

 

The sun was sinking when we dropped back down into Mill Creek, crossed it for the last time, and turned right onto a smooth graded road.

 

 

 

Dude, we made it!

 

 

The graded road pops out behind Ken's Lake, in the Spanish Valley area south of Moab, a bit south of where we'd begun the trail. We were all tired, we didn't even air up, we just slowly worked our way back to camp.

 

 

More Steel Bender Photos >> Click Here

 

Stay tuned for Kane Creek Canyon, our final day's trail in Moab.

 

Continued

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[stockjeep 43]

nice pics D, the Wall doesn't look that bad in the pictures so I must be getting spooked in my old age

[dzJeepChic 2,897]

nice pics D, the Wall doesn't look that bad in the pictures so I must be getting spooked in my old age

 

I agree the pictures make it look like a mole hill, but it was pretty scary in person, and I don't think age has anything to do with it unless age = good sense.

[Number7 89]

Steel Bender was a great trail, The Fall was the major obstacle. The picks look like it's not bad, But it is! We spent an hour and a half on this. Team work got us through to continue this trail. We had great equipment (winches, straps and chains) to make this happen. We also had a great spotter, Randy, that made sure you were on the right line. I had a blast because of this challenge. George:cool:

[dzJeepChic 2,897]

Day 6 - Friday: Kane Creek Canyon

 

Friday was our last day in Moab, and we decided to run Kane Creek Canyon, which nobody in the group except for Wayne had ever done. To get there we went north into Moab, and turned left on Kane Creek Blvd., the road we originally arrived into town on Monday. Kane Creek Blvd. follows the southern side of the Colorado River straight across from Potash Rd 279 on the northern side of the river we took to Poison Spider Mesa. The way the two roads are accessed from Moab makes it hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that they're a stones through from each other...

 

Looking forward

 

 

Looking back

 

 

We stopped for Gearhead to air-down

 

 

It was a beautiful day

 

 

 

Regrouping at the trail head

 

 

Looking into the canyon from the start of the trail

 

 

The trail starts out on a wide plateau between canyon walls that are far apart. Looking at Google Earth after the fact I realized that the Behind the Rocks Road was above us to the left as we made our way into the canyon.

 

 

The trail goes around a rock that looks like it just fell there, and it almost seems like you're going to scrape it as the trail tips toward it.

 

 

G checking out a washout

 

 

No big deal

 

 

The trail then dropped down through a ravine

 

 

 

 

 

We came to a slightly moderate section where we had to carefully go between a couple rocks along the edge of a ledge.

 

 

Here's a really weird story: Friday morning we bought a case of bottled water that George and I split with Scott. Well, I opened one right away and drank some, only to find that it was completely gank. I don't know if it sat outside in the sun for too long or if it was just gank to begin with, but by now I had actually begun to worry about getting dehydrated and having a headache because I was really having a hard time choking it down. So we rounded the bend that you see in the picture above, and my eye caught something on a rock beside the road up ahead that I thought looked like a case of bottled water. I figured I was daydreaming because, I mean c'mon, what are the chances, right? But when George parked and ran back to spot people, and I went to see what it really was. Unbelievably it WAS a case of bottled water, seriously! And it was dirty, as if maybe it had fallen off a Jeep or something, but it was cool since it was still early. Sceptically I wiped one down and opened it, took a big slug, and boy was that good. Sweet, clean, pure, delicious water! I downed the entire bottle. Was that divine intervention?

 

George spotted everyone through the tricky spot.

 

 

 

 

 

Soon after that the trail dropped down into the wash and wound back and fourth across the river, through tamarisk trees, rocks and mud. After a while we found a place wide and dry enough to stop for lunch.

 

 

 

After lunch the trail continued along the creek as the canyon walls rose up on both sides.

 

 

 

 

Then the trail began to climb out of the canyon floor up one side, and became a little more moderate as we encountered the occasional rock or washout.

 

 

 

And then we came to a particularly intimidating section of the trail. It ran along a high ledge and was rocky and badly rutted. After walking it George found a line right along the edge that really wasn't difficult, but it was pretty scary.

 

Walking the trail:

 

 

 

My little buddy while I did my photography thing:

 

 

George drove Clifford up the line he'd mapped out, and to be sure, even though it was close to the edge, the vehicle never appeared to be tippy nor did it lose traction.

 

 

This was really the worst spot because there was a little bit of a dip on the outside edge while on the inner side there were some rocks, but as you can see, the vehicle had great traction and was not tippy. Pucker, yes!

 

 

Scotty going up

 

 

 

 

Maddog

 

 

A little help from my friends

 

 

George drove ChrisD's Jeep for him, while Chris rode shotgun

 

 

 

Wayne just brought it, I didn't get as many pictures of him.

 

 

And then Gearhead did what we at ORP refer to as 'Spank the Trail', in this case it means that he took his almost stock '91 YJ on open diffs up a difficult section of trail that we all used lockers on. I only got one picture of Gear on this part because, even though he did it in a very controlled and fluid manner, it went by pretty fast. That's how Gearhead earned the first ever bestowed title of Wheeler of the Day!

 

 

Around the bend there were a few minor obstacles as we looked down from a shelf road into a picturesque canyon.

 

 

The final obstacle listed in the book was a simple climb up a steppy little hill

 

 

 

 

There we saw a carving on a rock that was 21 days shy of being 90 years old.

 

 

The creek along this part of the trail was perfect for swimming and camping, so we walked around a bit checking it out before finishing the trail. From there the trail crosses the creek several more times before climbing out onto a pipeline road that takes you to Hwy. 191 about a mile south of the Hole N The Rock tourist stop.

 

Continued

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[dzJeepChic 2,897]

Last air-up in Moab

 

 

When we got to pavement we slowly limped it up to the Hole N the Rock where we aired up and checked the place out.

 

 

Dude, gimme some of your chips

 

 

 

Oh my gosh, look at that guy up there!

 

 

I guess the person who owns the Hole N the Rock is an artistic welder because there are many metal sculptures all around the property. This CJ is particularly cool to look at.

 

 

The 'tires' are various parts welded into the exact form of the real thing. We all wonder how he did that?

 

 

 

This thing is cool, I think it looks like the Offroad Passport logo.

 

 

Other random shots

 

 

 

Rock chair

 

 

 

I was a little disappointed in 'Big Foot'

 

 

 

I coaxed G into the Twirly Bird, luckily he was able to extract himself after!

 

 

 

All of my Kane Creek Canyon photos are Here.

 

It was a very fun trip. Even though Moab is always a blast, it was the people who were there that made it the most fun! Thanks everyone who came out for this epic adventure!

 

Until Next Time!

Diane

[ehall 8]

Impressive, what a great trip report. Loved all the pictures. The water bottle story? You must of had some good karma comin your way.

[gearhead 693]

Great write up Diane! Very nice pictures too!