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BradW
Explorer II
Jun 10, 2018

Moab, Utah early Oct 2019 - CG Suggestions

Moab, Utah early Oct 2019

We are in the early planning for a two week trip to Moab, Utah. We will primarily be off-roading in Jeeps (75%) with some time visiting the nearby National Parks (25%).

We want a nice developed commercial CG, clean, maintained, good bathhouses, dog area, wi-fi, etc. It needs to be centrally located to the offroad trailheads if possible. We will be in a truck camper pulling a small boat and we will be driving our Jeep Rubicon. Currently we are looking at the Moab KOA. We stay in KOAs a lot and this one looks very nice. We know nothing about the campgrounds or the Moab area. We have only passed thru Moab one time many years ago.

As mentioned before, we will be there primarily to ride the local trails in our lightly modified Jeep Rubicon. There will be other friends traveling/riding with us with their Jeeps. Will mainly be on the easy-moderate trails.

The approximate dates are 1-14 Oct 2019.

Thanks for any help or suggestions,
BradW
  • https://funtreks.com/product/guide-moab-backroads-4-wheel-drive-trials-3rd-edition/
  • BTW; the road off Rt 279 that you will automatically connect to as U come out of the canyon bottom past the Evaporation pools company may be called Jug Handle arch not Tea pot. There is a 4x4 book sold all over Moab town, about $20 at the visitors center. It Fully describes all the trails in the Moab area with point to point and even turn by turn with GPS coor. It breaks down trails acording to difficulty, easy, fair, hard, you WILL break something and You may die categories.
  • BradW wrote:
    jolooote wrote:
    Either the ones on the north side of town so U don't have to drive thru town traffic whenever U go somewhere. The best located for off roading is Arch View. Just be aware, if you don't ask, they will automatically rent you an 'Improved' RV site. Cost alot more. Only improvement at these sites is you can see the Arches in the Nat'l pk. When Jeepin, make sure to do the easy Shaffer Trail loop. Go out Rt.313 (May want to stop at the visitors center to ask trail conditions) to the pull out for Shaffer Trail switchbacks. It looks alot scarier from the top than it really is.(In dry weather only)go down the switchbacks into the bottom of the canyonlands, past "Thelma & Louise point where they drove the car off the cliff in the movie, continue all the way past the evaporation pools. Watch carefully for the left turn across train track at Tea pot arch. Drive all the way up this canyon (Long canyon) under the giant fallen rock(Pucker Pass) to the top. Get out and take some of the most amazing pictures ever. Continue following the good dirt road to reconnect with Rt 313. Turn right to go back down to the Arch View Camp. Also, see the Gemini Twin arches. Two ways to get their...the fun, fairly easy Jeep trail, up the cliffs across from the Campground or the good gravel road that can be done in any car. Ask at the office.


    Great trail info. I'm printing it out and its going in the trip folder. Our jeep club has gone to Colorado many times, but next year they want to go to Moab. None of use have spent more than a day there, so we have started research early. I will be driving our "city Jeep" so we will be looking for the fun scenic trails and not the more challenging trails with difficult extreme obstacles. Can you recommend a good 4x4 trail guide book for the Moab area?

    Thanks all for the great info!

    BradW


    4runnerguy has done a lot of the research for you. Take a little time and read through his info and you will learn a lot on Moab.

    Be sure not to Miss RT 128 along the Colorado River, not 4x4 but just beautiful with a few good drives along the way

    Best of luck,
  • jolooote wrote:
    Either the ones on the north side of town so U don't have to drive thru town traffic whenever U go somewhere. The best located for off roading is Arch View. Just be aware, if you don't ask, they will automatically rent you an 'Improved' RV site. Cost alot more. Only improvement at these sites is you can see the Arches in the Nat'l pk. When Jeepin, make sure to do the easy Shaffer Trail loop. Go out Rt.313 (May want to stop at the visitors center to ask trail conditions) to the pull out for Shaffer Trail switchbacks. It looks alot scarier from the top than it really is.(In dry weather only)go down the switchbacks into the bottom of the canyonlands, past "Thelma & Louise point where they drove the car off the cliff in the movie, continue all the way past the evaporation pools. Watch carefully for the left turn across train track at Tea pot arch. Drive all the way up this canyon (Long canyon) under the giant fallen rock(Pucker Pass) to the top. Get out and take some of the most amazing pictures ever. Continue following the good dirt road to reconnect with Rt 313. Turn right to go back down to the Arch View Camp. Also, see the Gemini Twin arches. Two ways to get their...the fun, fairly easy Jeep trail, up the cliffs across from the Campground or the good gravel road that can be done in any car. Ask at the office.


    Great trail info. I'm printing it out and its going in the trip folder. Our jeep club has gone to Colorado many times, but next year they want to go to Moab. None of use have spent more than a day there, so we have started research early. I will be driving our "city Jeep" so we will be looking for the fun scenic trails and not the more challenging trails with difficult extreme obstacles. Can you recommend a good 4x4 trail guide book for the Moab area?

    Thanks all for the great info!

    BradW
  • Either the ones on the north side of town so U don't have to drive thru town traffic whenever U go somewhere. The best located for off roading is Arch View. Just be aware, if you don't ask, they will automatically rent you an 'Improved' RV site. Cost alot more. Only improvement at these sites is you can see the Arches in the Nat'l pk. When Jeepin, make sure to do the easy Shaffer Trail loop. Go out Rt.313 (May want to stop at the visitors center to ask trail conditions) to the pull out for Shaffer Trail switchbacks. It looks alot scarier from the top than it really is.(In dry weather only)go down the switchbacks into the bottom of the canyonlands, past "Thelma & Louise point where they drove the car off the cliff in the movie, continue all the way past the evaporation pools. Watch carefully for the left turn across train track at Tea pot arch. Drive all the way up this canyon (Long canyon) under the giant fallen rock(Pucker Pass) to the top. Get out and take some of the most amazing pictures ever. Continue following the good dirt road to reconnect with Rt 313. Turn right to go back down to the Arch View Camp. Also, see the Gemini Twin arches. Two ways to get their...the fun, fairly easy Jeep trail, up the cliffs across from the Campground or the good gravel road that can be done in any car. Ask at the office.
  • X3 we stayed at Archview too.. Liked being away from town
  • We stayed at the koa and it was fine. I liked the Canyonlands downtown better and I liked the Archview even better but it's north and not as close to town. We had dirt bikes when at Archview so it was close to Gemini bridges Rd, 313/Canyonlands park and willow springs ATV trails.

    Of the three, Archview was the easiest to maneuver and easy overflow parking for our families Jeep trailer. Again, it's north of town. If you want to walk to grocery and bar/restaurant Canyonlands was good. I did not use it but Canyonlands seem to have a large bathroom shower room. They also have an overflow parking area and pool.

    We went around the middle of October I believe that's the weekend that kids are off of school. Check Moab activities I'm not sure what happens at the beginning part of the month sometimes there are Jeep jamborees or mountain bike groups things like that. It's a big mountain bike area too.

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