Utah Moab June Fest 2023 Week of June 11th

[Apparition]

I am pretty flexible, but here is my plan.

I will be arriving in the area Thursday night 8th. Since I didn't get anyone to join me for Hole In the Rock on Saturday 17th, I will go there on the Friday 9th instead.

Sat 10th I will be in Moab ready to wheel if anyone is there yet.

Sun- Fri, wheel with the group

Sat 17th, I will be around if anyone wants to wheel that day.

I would like to do Metal Masher at some point during the week since it's been a few years since I have done it.

I'm up for Metal Masher too could do that instead of Steel Bender.

I picked Steel Bender over it in my list due to the proximity of the trail to Moab.

 

[MagnumV8]

I'm up for Metal Masher too could do that instead of Steel Bender.

I picked Steel Bender over it in my list due to the proximity of the trail to Moab.

Wasn't there a day with no trails planned yet? If so, we could do Metal Masher that day without giving up Steel Bender

 

[gasiorv]

I have never done Metal Masher so I would be game for it. How long does it take to run? Can we do it in a morning so I can mt bike in the afternoon or vice versa?

 

[lBasket]

It'd be nice to still do steelbender IMO. Fun time.

MM was on the shorter end of the days as far as I remember.

• Sun - Mt Bike Phil's World in Cortez CO on our way to moab.
• Mon- Run Fins/Hell's with you all in the morning. Then mt bike the slick rock trail in the afternoon.
• Tues - Pritchett with you
• Wed - Trifecta with you (ok if Wed and Thurs swap)
• Thurs - ToTW and Dome Plateau with my buddy in his stock Tacoma. Dome plateau looks scenic and his tacoma should be OK, if need be he can walk the end of ToTW or I can drop off and come back and pick him and his gf up so they can see the view.
• Fri - Mountain Bike Navajo Rocks and do some town shopping
• Sat - Early departure to head home.

• Sunday - I was thinking something like Steelbender as a fairly easy and scenic first day for those there.
• Monday - Baby lions back, Fins (could do the first section back to the road as the rest is about the same as Hell's), Hell's, TotW
• Tuesday - Pritchett / Elephant Hill
• Wednesday - Trifecta
• Thursday - ???
• Friday - ???
• Saturday - ???

Between these two it looks like we could do MM thursday or friday?

 

[gasiorv]

Friday may work out in my favor (hint, hint)

I could do MM in the morning and then go ride Navajo rocks in the afternoon while my wife and Bill's gf shop in town.

 

[JMT]

It's been said on here and also at the link below that there is gas available at the needles outpost.

https://www.gonemoab.com/elephant-hill/

I couldn't recall exactly the details, but I looked it up and I was about to share that needles outpost. We did stop by. I felt like I was in a John Wayne movie.

 

[gasiorv]

With all the excitement and research, I am thinking my work production is going to slowly decay from now until this trip

 

[Apparition]

I have never done Metal Masher so I would be game for it. How long does it take to run? Can we do it in a morning so I can mt bike in the afternoon or vice versa?

I'm always up for getting out on the trails early to avoid some heat and just incase something goes wrong we've got time to get off the trail.

 

[MagnumV8]

I

Friday may work out in my favor (hint, hint)

I could do MM in the morning and then go ride Navajo rocks in the afternoon while my wife and Bill's gf shop in town.

Think MM is 3-4 hours, but its been a few years so I could be wrong

 

[gasiorv]

I'm always up for getting out on the trails early to avoid some heat and just incase something goes wrong we've got time to get off the trail.

Most of us will still be on Central Time so early won't seem that early in Mt time.

 

[JMT]

@lBasket and @gasiorv. It would have been fun to have some MTB'ers at our April/may trip. As it was I didn't do any trails this time around. Next time we'll have to go together.

Phil's World was so fun when my boys and I went to Moab in 2018. We MTB'd all the way up from Fredericksburg, TX, stopping in Lubbock, TX, Albuquerque, NM, Cortez, CO, and then Moab. Phil's was our favorite trail, especially doing the Rib Cage about 3 times. We rode about 23 miles that morning. In Moab we spent a lot of time in the Gemini Bridges area, Navajo Rocks, and did the Slick Rock trail in Sand Flats area. Our favorite trail was the next trip when we did Captain Ahab. It starts near Cliffhanger. I can't say the climb up was fun for me, but it was doable. The descent was spectacular, especially when it got flowy near the end around the cliff edge. I want to go back already! They want to do Magnificent Seven. Too much for me. Hope y'all have a great trip!

 

[lBasket]

How about this then? Also I was pretty happy with our 8 or 8:30 trailhead meeting times in the past. And it'll only be nicer in June at that time.

• Sunday - I was thinking something like Steelbender as a fairly easy and scenic first day for those there.
• Monday - Baby lions back, Fins (could do the first section back to the road as the rest is about the same as Hell's), Hell's, TotW
• Tuesday - Pritchett / Elephant Hill
• Wednesday - Trifecta
• Thursday - ???
• Friday - Metal Masher
• Saturday - ???

 

[lBasket]

@lBasket and @gasiorv. It would have been fun to have some MTB'ers at our April/may trip. As it was I didn't do any trails this time around. Next time we'll have to go together.

Phil's World was so fun when my boys and I went to Moab in 2018. We MTB'd all the way up from Fredericksburg, TX, stopping in Lubbock, TX, Albuquerque, NM, Cortez, CO, and then Moab. Phil's was our favorite trail, especially doing the Rib Cage about 3 times. We rode about 23 miles that morning. In Moab we spent a lot of time in the Gemini Bridges area, Navajo Rocks, and did the Slick Rock trail in Sand Flats area. Our favorite trail was the next trip when we did Captain Ahab. It starts near Cliffhanger. I can't say the climb up was fun for me, but it was doable. The descent was spectacular, especially when it got flowy near the end around the cliff edge. I want to go back already! They want to do Magnificent Seven. Too much for me. Hope y'all have a great trip!

I've never been MTBing. Road biking is an exercise in masochism, so if MTBing is anything similar I doubt I'd enjoy it. And I hear you can't use e-bikes on the trails, right?

It does seem like fun, but I am just too out of shape to find hours of endurance

 

[JMT]

Don't forget to bring some extra water for MTB'ers, especially on a trail like the Trifecta, and also on Hell's since it will cross Slick Rock trail a few times. Always nice from a MTB'ers perspective to have some extra water, since they are limited in what they can carry.

 

[JMT]

With all the excitement and research, I am thinking my work production is going to slowly decay from now until this trip

Mine is decaying just watching y'all prepare for the trip. Vicarious trips are never as fun.

I've never been MTBing. Road biking is an exercise in masochism, so if MTBing is anything similar I doubt I'd enjoy it. And I hear you can't use e-bikes on the trails, right?

It does seem like fun, but I am just too out of shape to find hours of endurance

My bad, I saw on the prospective schedule

• Sun - Mt Bike Phil's World in Cortez CO on our way to moab.

That must have been gasiorv.

 

[lBasket]

Don't forget to bring some extra water for MTB'ers, especially on a trail like the Trifecta, and also on Hell's since it will cross Slick Rock trail a few times. Always nice from a MTB'ers perspective to have some extra water, since they are limited in what they can carry.

This reminds me, I need to figure out a better way to carry food this year. I'm kinda tired of jamming everything in my backpack and letting it get hot all day. Maybe I'll just go pick up a cheap small cooler

 

[JMT]

I've never been MTBing. Road biking is an exercise in masochism, so if MTBing is anything similar I doubt I'd enjoy it. And I hear you can't use e-bikes on the trails, right?

It does seem like fun, but I am just too out of shape to find hours of endurance

I don't know about e-bikes on trails in Moab, but I know they are here to stay.

 

[lBasket]

That must have been gasiorv.

Yeah sorry that could've been clearer. Leaving a paper trail trying to iterate on the schedule lol.

I don't know about e-bikes on trails in Moab, but I know they are here to stay.

Yeah, I heard they're basically restricted to where dirtbikes can go AKA OHVs. So restricted to the same trails as us in our jeeps basically?

 

[JMT]

This reminds me, I need to figure out a better way to carry food this year. I'm kinda tired of jamming everything in my backpack and letting it get hot all day. Maybe I'll just go pick up a cheap small cooler

Expensive, but this cooler would be awesome for Moab day trips (or even overnight).

https://www.dometic.com/en-us/outdoor/coolers/electric-coolers/dometic-cfx3-25-259746

Mine was a 45qt this trip, and it was too big. I had it anchored to the seat across the middle on the drive down, but as I was driving I couldn't hear my subwoofer which is a box built under my rear seat. I thought the positive or negative wire came detached from the box so I took everything out of there only to find that it was the cooler muffling it. So, I moved it behind my driver seat positioned the other way. It was hard up against my seat, so I had to sit up a little bit (which is helpful for wheelin anyway). If I had to do it again I'd put it on the passenger side like that, but I didn't have an anchor in that foot well.

Zoom in and you can see it sandwiched and anchored behind my driver seat. It stayed perfectly in place during my flop, which was nice. This thing kept going for 9 days straight in my Jeep.

 

[Alex01]

I will probably do the following as of right now, but it can and will most likely change;
Sun - Mt Bike Phil's World in Cortez CO on our way to moab.
Mon- Run Fins/Hell's with you all in the morning. Then mt bike the slick rock trail in the afternoon.
Tues - Pritchett with you
Wed - Trifecta with you (ok if Wed and Thurs swap)
Thurs - ToTW and Dome Plateau with my buddy in his stock Tacoma. Dome plateau looks scenic and his tacoma should be OK, if need be he can walk the end of ToTW or I can drop off and come back and pick him and his gf up so they can see the view.
Fri - Mountain Bike Navajo Rocks and do some town shopping
Sat - Early departure to head home.

Will probably join you all at the campfire the one night and also ride the Moab BRAND trails one night.

We did dome Plateau. A stock Tacoma will walk through it. When you see the old mining huts walk down the road to the right and you'll find a small mine. Additionally, there are a few more mines to explore in the immediate area. The best way I can describe it is when you stop at the huts, if you're standing in front of your jeep walk straight and to the right towards the canyon. Down the path, you'll see a few more mines. Nothing huge but fun to explore.

10 or 15 min down the road is a great lunch stop with multiple natural caves.