Utah Moab 2024 JuneFest 9th-15th

I am not saying not to go to Moab, just offering up some suggestions:

For cooler temps in June check out Black Hills of SD. Also plenty of other touristy stuff in the area for families. You could definitely get 5 days of wheeling based out of Steel Wheel or Hidden Valley Campground south of Lead and Deadwood.

I also want to check out the Grand Junction/Montrose areas of Colorado and the Independence trail system. As well as the Buena Vista area and all the scenic passes near ouray and telluride, etc..... June maybe too early to hit some of those scenic areas though due to snow cover.

Arizona in Garrett's neck of the woods definitely has a weeks worth of wheeling but it would most likely be too hot in June, need to hit that area in the late fall/winter/early spring.
 
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Looks like you should avoid Pritchett when there's a chance of bad weather or when you have a Gladiator.

 
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JMT said:
I always wanted to do them. There’s just a narrow window when they’re open.
Click to expand...

I did as much of Black Bear as I could when it hadn't yet opened for the year and I visited in September, I heard it opened shortly after we were there. Ran the other passes that time too.

Holy Cross is one I do need to get to.
 
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CO could work, there would likely be a lot more driving on the highway than Moab though if you wanted to hit all these. Holy Cross is quite a ways from the stuff in the alpine loop.

Alot of the stuff in that ouray area is shelf roads if people are ok with that. It would be a decent place for the rest of the family too with hikes and the small towns.

SD sounds cool I don't know the area whatsoever but I wouldn't be opposed. A little cooler would be nice... Although it's not normally as bad as it was this year.

AZ would be cool. I don't know what the difficulty range is like cos the stuff Garrett is doing will be over my head but the wheeling seems really cool.

You've had some pretty cool looking trips in the southwest at parks it looked like @gasiorv. Would those work too?

I think the final decision should probably rely a lot on input from the people on the east/west coasts that are coming... This could effect their trip and planning a lot more than someone centrally located than me?
 
lBasket said:
You've had some pretty cool looking trips in the southwest at parks it looked like @gasiorv. Would those work too?
Click to expand...

I assume you mean Southeast. Windrock is probably big enough to get a week of good wheeling out of, other parks would have to be linked together (few days at one park, load up and head a few hours to another park, etc...). You could easily link some of the parks in KY, east TN and Alabama. You could also link some parks in MO, AR, and OK. The big issue is that some of the parks are only open on the weekends, so you would have to plan the trip to ensure you include a weekend. I actually have a weeklong trip/route planned that includes SMORR, Hot Springs, and some trails in OK, I will have to look through my old emails and see if I can find it.

I just spent the last weekend wheeling trails that were so slick that I couldn't even make it to the obstacle, let alone make the obstacles. All you all from the West want any of that type action? Don't want to hurt anyone's feelings when their all terrains are full of mud and they are trying to crawl slick as ice shale but are actually sliding backwards with their t-shirt soaked full of sweat because it is 95% humidity and 92 deg. All of this while all the east coasters are bouncing off the rev limiter clearing out the TSL's just in time to catch a little bit of traction and hoping for a good bounce. :ROFLMAO: Best time to come east is usually late summer and early fall when there is a chance when it will be actually dry, but even then it could rain and you could go from crawling great trails to bouncing and pulling cable in an instant. Last january I did trail 15 at windrock in the morning when the trail was muddy and it took us about 2 hrs and one broken drive shaft. Went back the next night at it was mud and ice mix and two of us were on our side within the first 200 yards, when we finally made it to the top we decided to call it a night. In October the trail was dry and we did it in about 10 minutes taking all the hard lines and we were wondering why we remembered it being so hard 🤔

My recommend would be to keep the "official" TJ Fest format out West or North and to let smaller groups who want to head to the Southeast get with some of us locals and we can show them around on a case by case basis. I would love to show some people around Hot Springs, SMORR, Windrock, Hawk Pride, Harlan, etc... as my calendar and my wife allows.
 
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Here is the info that I put out for a group who were looking for a Mid West week long loop and were looking to actually drive their rigs between the parks for an "ultimate adventure" type experience. As stated in my message below, I would rather load up and trailer the pavement myself.

Quote from email so some might not pertain to anything:
Hot Springs is open 7 days a week and Green Acres is pretty much open all the time (just fill out form and drop money in box). You can connect those two with some of the Kiamichi Trail if you wanted to do some trail/gravel between parks in lieu of all asphalt (That would take a little more coordination and planning). Flat Nasty has new owners and I believe are now open every day. Disney is open every day, and I believe Rush is open everyday.

For me, the wheeling and the hanging out afterward would be what I would be interested in and not whether or not my rig can make it 3-5 hours on pavement. So, wheel a day(or two) at a park, camp at that park that night so you can have some beers and BS around a fire and fix what needs fixing, next day trailer 3-5 hours and wheel that afternoon, camp, wheel.

One idea-
Sat SMORR - meet at 9am in parking lot ( for those that could travel the night before or that morning)
Wheel all day, camp that night.
Sun SMORR - wheel all day camp that night.(for those that travelled on Sat and didn't wheel on Sat you would still get in a day at SMORR with the group).
Mon- travel to Flat Nasty (2 hour drive), wheel all day, camp that night (not sure if Flat Nasty has enough for 2 days)
Tues - travel to Hot Springs (5 hour drive), wheel rest of day, camp that night.
Wed - wheel Hot Springs all day, camp that night
Thurs - Travel to Clayton (3 hour drive), wheel all day at Green Acres. Green Acres is a park like no other I have been to, you may only do one trail all day and you may have the best time of your life or the worst doing it. So based on the consensus at end of day you determine Fri itinerary. But at least you are now back to a weekend where other parks will be open on Fri.
Fri - wheel again at Green Acres or move on to RMR (less than an hour drive) and wheel.
Sat - drive to disney and wheel or disembark and head home.

Smorr to Disney somewhat of a circle. That is somewhat centered for all those in KS, MO, AR, OK. For me in Memphis, I would probably join at SMORR on Sat and end my trip in Hot Springs on Wed. However, my wife is a school teacher and school is in in Oct so not sure she would be able to get Mon-Wed off and she could balk me going on my own. So I may just end up wheeling SMORR during the weekend. Taking off the whole week is a commitment that I am not sure my wife is willing for me to make.
 
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Here is my California itinerary that I put together for this year, but will not be able to do it due to having to use my vacation for other things this year. Dusy doesn't open until Aug 1 and that can be pushed based on snow fall and trail conditions so you would not be able to include the Dusy (and possibly other trails) in June.

Quote from my email to a friend (so disregard some of it), but if anyone is interested in this type of trip in the future, let me know!!
As I say at the bottom we can identify the must do trails from this list and sacrifice the other trails as required to shave time or to account for issue on the trail. Review the below, let me know what you think, and then we can modify from this schedule. Below schedule is a full two weeks, Sept 6-Sept 22, 2024

Depart Memphis on Friday Sept 6
Arrive in Tahoe/Truckee area on Sunday Sept 8

Sunday Sept 8
Stage Truck/Trailer in Truckee or at end of Rubicon Trail
Drive Rigs to Wright Lake Campground
Truckee to Wright Lake - 71 miles (2.5-3hrs in Rigs)
Rubicon Trail Staging Area to Wright Lake - 51 miles (2 hrs in rigs)
Camp at Wright Lake

Monday Sept 9
Barrett Trail Lake Trail - 10.2 mile round trip
Depending on time we finish, camp at Wright Lake or move to Loon Lake and camp.
Wright Lake to Loon Lake - 32 miles (1 hr in rigs)

Tues Sept 10
Rubicon Trail Start at Loon Lake to Buck Island
Camp on Trail

Wed Sept 11
Rubicon Trail Buck Island to End
Relocate to Truckee 25 miles/1 hr (via rigs or truck/trailer depending on where truck/trailer is parked)
Stay in Motel in Truckee (Tonya can get a shower, we can resupply and find a brew pub)

Thurs Sept 12
Drive to Fordyce Start (Truckee to Start - 24 miles/ 1 hr in rigs)
Fordyce to Meadow Lake
Camp at Meadow Lake

Fri Sept 13
Meadow Lake to Truckee to get truck/trailer - 34 miles / 1.5 hr in rigs
Load up trailer and relocate to Lake Alpine Campground - 104 miles (3 hrs in truck)
Stage truck/trailer at lake alpine and hit Slick Rock Trail.
Camp at Lake Alpine Campground

Sat Sept 14
Load up on Truck Trailer and Relocate to Dusy Ershim - 200 miles 5 hr drive time in truck/trailer
Need to find a place to stay where Tonya can take a shower! Possibly at Kevin's possibly at a hotel out at the interstate. Will get with Kevin on this when we get closer.

Sun Sept 15
Stage Truck/Trailer to end of Dusy
Drive rigs to start of Dusy
Start on Dusy
Camp on Trail

Mon sept 16 or Tues Sept 17 (depending on how long Dusy takes us)
Finish Dusy and load up on truck
Stage truck/trailer to do red/coyote/mirror lake, where?
Camp where? Will get with Kevin on this.

Tues Sept 17 or Wed Sept 18
Red/Coyote/Mirror lake trails.
Load up and find a good place to stay for night that has shower. Get with Kevin on recommen or possibly stay with him.

Thurs Sept 19 or Fri Sept 20 start the trip back to Memphis. Giving a two day window here at the end to account for any delays. I think we should identify trails that are a MUST do and then protect those trails by sacrificing others as needed. My list of Must Do would be Rubicon, Fordyce, Dusy Ershim and possibly Barrett Lake. I can sacrifice slick rock and the Red/Coyote/Mirror day.

Home on Sat Sept 21 or Sun Sept 22

Next big thing to plan would be gas stations/locations along the way. Once we get the actual trails/schedule nailed down I will start working on that.
 
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gasiorv said:
I assume you mean Southeast. Windrock is probably big enough to get a week of good wheeling out of, other parks would have to be linked together (few days at one park, load up and head a few hours to another park, etc...). You could easily link some of the parks in KY, east TN and Alabama. You could also link some parks in MO, AR, and OK. The big issue is that some of the parks are only open on the weekends, so you would have to plan the trip to ensure you include a weekend. I actually have a weeklong trip/route planned that includes SMORR, Hot Springs, and some trails in OK, I will have to look through my old emails and see if I can find it.

I just spent the last weekend wheeling trails that were so slick that I couldn't even make it to the obstacle, let alone make the obstacles. All you all from the West want any of that type action? Don't want to hurt anyone's feelings when their all terrains are full of mud and they are trying to crawl slick as ice shale but are actually sliding backwards with their t-shirt soaked full of sweat because it is 95% humidity and 92 deg. All of this while all the east coasters are bouncing off the rev limiter clearing out the TSL's just in time to catch a little bit of traction and hoping for a good bounce. :ROFLMAO: Best time to come east is usually late summer and early fall when there is a chance when it will be actually dry, but even then it could rain and you could go from crawling great trails to bouncing and pulling cable in an instant. Last january I did trail 15 at windrock in the morning when the trail was muddy and it took us about 2 hrs and one broken drive shaft. Went back the next night at it was mud and ice mix and two of us were on our side within the first 200 yards, when we finally made it to the top we decided to call it a night. In October the trail was dry and we did it in about 10 minutes taking all the hard lines and we were wondering why we remembered it being so hard 🤔

My recommend would be to keep the "official" TJ Fest format out West or North and to let smaller groups who want to head to the Southeast get with some of us locals and we can show them around on a case by case basis. I would love to show some people around Hot Springs, SMORR, Windrock, Hawk Pride, Harlan, etc... as my calendar and my wife allows.
Click to expand...

I don't know how I'd feel about the mud you're right. It'd definitely be a hard top and full doors trip. Probably wouldn't be my first choice after hearing that haha but I'd sure go if it was where we were going.

gasiorv said:
Here is the info that I put out for a group who were looking for a Mid West week long loop and were looking to actually drive their rigs between the parks for an "ultimate adventure" type experience. As stated in my message below, I would rather load up and trailer the pavement myself.

Quote from email so some might not pertain to anything:
Hot Springs is open 7 days a week and Green Acres is pretty much open all the time (just fill out form and drop money in box). You can connect those two with some of the Kiamichi Trail if you wanted to do some trail/gravel between parks in lieu of all asphalt (That would take a little more coordination and planning). Flat Nasty has new owners and I believe are now open every day. Disney is open every day, and I believe Rush is open everyday.

For me, the wheeling and the hanging out afterward would be what I would be interested in and not whether or not my rig can make it 3-5 hours on pavement. So, wheel a day(or two) at a park, camp at that park that night so you can have some beers and BS around a fire and fix what needs fixing, next day trailer 3-5 hours and wheel that afternoon, camp, wheel.

One idea-
Sat SMORR - meet at 9am in parking lot ( for those that could travel the night before or that morning)
Wheel all day, camp that night.
Sun SMORR - wheel all day camp that night.(for those that travelled on Sat and didn't wheel on Sat you would still get in a day at SMORR with the group).
Mon- travel to Flat Nasty (2 hour drive), wheel all day, camp that night (not sure if Flat Nasty has enough for 2 days)
Tues - travel to Hot Springs (5 hour drive), wheel rest of day, camp that night.
Wed - wheel Hot Springs all day, camp that night
Thurs - Travel to Clayton (3 hour drive), wheel all day at Green Acres. Green Acres is a park like no other I have been to, you may only do one trail all day and you may have the best time of your life or the worst doing it. So based on the consensus at end of day you determine Fri itinerary. But at least you are now back to a weekend where other parks will be open on Fri.
Fri - wheel again at Green Acres or move on to RMR (less than an hour drive) and wheel.
Sat - drive to disney and wheel or disembark and head home.

Smorr to Disney somewhat of a circle. That is somewhat centered for all those in KS, MO, AR, OK. For me in Memphis, I would probably join at SMORR on Sat and end my trip in Hot Springs on Wed. However, my wife is a school teacher and school is in in Oct so not sure she would be able to get Mon-Wed off and she could balk me going on my own. So I may just end up wheeling SMORR during the weekend. Taking off the whole week is a commitment that I am not sure my wife is willing for me to make.
Click to expand...

These are the muddy trails you're talking about? This is a good plan, you can really see why Moab is a such a good place for the TJ fest though with how many times you need to pack up and move on a trip like this.

gasiorv said:
Here is my California itinerary that I put together for this year, but will not be able to do it due to having to use my vacation for other things this year. Dusy doesn't open until Aug 1 and that can be pushed based on snow fall and trail conditions so you would not be able to include the Dusy (and possibly other trails) in June.

Quote from my email to a friend (so disregard some of it), but if anyone is interested in this type of trip in the future, let me know!!
As I say at the bottom we can identify the must do trails from this list and sacrifice the other trails as required to shave time or to account for issue on the trail. Review the below, let me know what you think, and then we can modify from this schedule. Below schedule is a full two weeks, Sept 6-Sept 22, 2024

Depart Memphis on Friday Sept 6
Arrive in Tahoe/Truckee area on Sunday Sept 8

Sunday Sept 8
Stage Truck/Trailer in Truckee or at end of Rubicon Trail
Drive Rigs to Wright Lake Campground
Truckee to Wright Lake - 71 miles (2.5-3hrs in Rigs)
Rubicon Trail Staging Area to Wright Lake - 51 miles (2 hrs in rigs)
Camp at Wright Lake

Monday Sept 9
Barrett Trail Lake Trail - 10.2 mile round trip
Depending on time we finish, camp at Wright Lake or move to Loon Lake and camp.
Wright Lake to Loon Lake - 32 miles (1 hr in rigs)

Tues Sept 10
Rubicon Trail Start at Loon Lake to Buck Island
Camp on Trail

Wed Sept 11
Rubicon Trail Buck Island to End
Relocate to Truckee 25 miles/1 hr (via rigs or truck/trailer depending on where truck/trailer is parked)
Stay in Motel in Truckee (Tonya can get a shower, we can resupply and find a brew pub)

Thurs Sept 12
Drive to Fordyce Start (Truckee to Start - 24 miles/ 1 hr in rigs)
Fordyce to Meadow Lake
Camp at Meadow Lake

Fri Sept 13
Meadow Lake to Truckee to get truck/trailer - 34 miles / 1.5 hr in rigs
Load up trailer and relocate to Lake Alpine Campground - 104 miles (3 hrs in truck)
Stage truck/trailer at lake alpine and hit Slick Rock Trail.
Camp at Lake Alpine Campground

Sat Sept 14
Load up on Truck Trailer and Relocate to Dusy Ershim - 200 miles 5 hr drive time in truck/trailer
Need to find a place to stay where Tonya can take a shower! Possibly at Kevin's possibly at a hotel out at the interstate. Will get with Kevin on this when we get closer.

Sun Sept 15
Stage Truck/Trailer to end of Dusy
Drive rigs to start of Dusy
Start on Dusy
Camp on Trail

Mon sept 16 or Tues Sept 17 (depending on how long Dusy takes us)
Finish Dusy and load up on truck
Stage truck/trailer to do red/coyote/mirror lake, where?
Camp where? Will get with Kevin on this.

Tues Sept 17 or Wed Sept 18
Red/Coyote/Mirror lake trails.
Load up and find a good place to stay for night that has shower. Get with Kevin on recommen or possibly stay with him.

Thurs Sept 19 or Fri Sept 20 start the trip back to Memphis. Giving a two day window here at the end to account for any delays. I think we should identify trails that are a MUST do and then protect those trails by sacrificing others as needed. My list of Must Do would be Rubicon, Fordyce, Dusy Ershim and possibly Barrett Lake. I can sacrifice slick rock and the Red/Coyote/Mirror day.

Home on Sat Sept 21 or Sun Sept 22

Next big thing to plan would be gas stations/locations along the way. Once we get the actual trails/schedule nailed down I will start working on that.
Click to expand...

You sure know how to plan a cool vacation. Two weeks sounds awesome. It seems like in a trip like this it is a lot more necessary for everyone to be in a similar skill level too. Doesn't seem like you can just split up on different trails and reconvene as easily.

AZ early in the year leaves space for the California stuff later in the year though 🤔
 
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Victor - you are a Master Wheeler. I have never met anyone who has the trail knowledge that you do. I always enjoy wheelin’ with you. Sorry I had to miss last weekend.

(…and you’re pretty good dude too.)
 
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NashvilleTJ said:
Victor - you are a Master Wheeler. I have never met anyone who has the trail knowledge that you do. I always enjoy wheelin’ with you. Sorry I had to miss last weekend.

(…and you’re pretty good dude too.)
Click to expand...

We missed you and the sound of that hemi making up for something :ROFLMAO: I will keep you in the loop on when we go again.
 
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gasiorv said:
I assume you mean Southeast. Windrock is probably big enough to get a week of good wheeling out of, other parks would have to be linked together (few days at one park, load up and head a few hours to another park, etc...). You could easily link some of the parks in KY, east TN and Alabama. You could also link some parks in MO, AR, and OK. The big issue is that some of the parks are only open on the weekends, so you would have to plan the trip to ensure you include a weekend. I actually have a weeklong trip/route planned that includes SMORR, Hot Springs, and some trails in OK, I will have to look through my old emails and see if I can find it.

I just spent the last weekend wheeling trails that were so slick that I couldn't even make it to the obstacle, let alone make the obstacles. All you all from the West want any of that type action? Don't want to hurt anyone's feelings when their all terrains are full of mud and they are trying to crawl slick as ice shale but are actually sliding backwards with their t-shirt soaked full of sweat because it is 95% humidity and 92 deg. All of this while all the east coasters are bouncing off the rev limiter clearing out the TSL's just in time to catch a little bit of traction and hoping for a good bounce. :ROFLMAO: Best time to come east is usually late summer and early fall when there is a chance when it will be actually dry, but even then it could rain and you could go from crawling great trails to bouncing and pulling cable in an instant. Last january I did trail 15 at windrock in the morning when the trail was muddy and it took us about 2 hrs and one broken drive shaft. Went back the next night at it was mud and ice mix and two of us were on our side within the first 200 yards, when we finally made it to the top we decided to call it a night. In October the trail was dry and we did it in about 10 minutes taking all the hard lines and we were wondering why we remembered it being so hard 🤔

My recommend would be to keep the "official" TJ Fest format out West or North and to let smaller groups who want to head to the Southeast get with some of us locals and we can show them around on a case by case basis. I would love to show some people around Hot Springs, SMORR, Windrock, Hawk Pride, Harlan, etc... as my calendar and my wife allows.
Click to expand...

Trail 15 is the one that BleepinJeep runs frequently.

 
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