Moab 2019 Trail Report

[BusaDave9]

We had 9 jeeps on the 2nd Annual Jeep-CJ.com Moab trail ride.
A million thanks to Posi for planning this and to MrIPlayBass for leading the way on the trails.

Ben pulled my Jeep to Moab with his pickup. I shot this picture on the way.




Monday we went on SevenMile Rim trail north of town. Here's a GPS map of our route:
https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=1db6e5cce24b8ddcf3&hoursPast=0&showAll=yes



OldJeepLady noticed some coolant under my Jeep. A small nut has been pinned next to my radiator. The vibrations created a leak. Shooby gave my some Radiator Stop Leak. I never saw another drop of coolant the rest of the week.





This trail has some ledges.







The view from the top was fantastic.













The others may be posting here or they may start their own thread.



To be continued ...

 

[oldjeeplady]

Some coolant..?

LOL

sent from Moab

 

[oldjeeplady]

A few more pictures from day 1 in Moab:

Driver's meeting

The trailhead where BusaDave9's CJ marked his territory.

And a few out on the trail.

We only lost one jeep...but of course we backtracked and found them. What a fun trail, and good to actually see it in the daylight... hahaha

Taken in Moab, sent from Colorado Springs

 

[Lumpy Grits]

How was the weather for that week?
LG

 

[BusaDave9]

How was the weather for that week?
LG

The weather was very good. The forcast was not good but it never turned out as bad as what the weatherman was saying it would be. On Monday we got some light rain. And on Tuesday it was raining at the beginning of the day but the sun soon came out.

 

[coldair]

Seven mile rim.

 

[BusaDave9]

Some coolant..?

OK, this was more than "some coolant". I was getting quite a puddle under my Jeep. OldJeepLady saw the leak at the front, bottom of the radiator.

There was a bolt lodged next to my radiator. We loosened up the radiator and removed the bolt.

Then a continuous stream of coolant shot out of the hole. This was the first day of the trail rides and was very disappointing for me. What should I do? Try to limp back to town? Have a radiator shop fix it? Will I be able to join the group for any trail rides? Shoobie had some Radiator Stop-Leak. We opened up the cap and poured it in. The radiator must not have been leaking very long because the coolant was right up near the top.

I kept a close eye on it, especially at first. I never found a single drop dripping from my radiator for the rest of the trip.

 

[BusaDave9]

The routes and trails were all planned out by Posi. MrIPlayBass also had a big hand in leading and organizing this year's Moab trail ride. Every evening at dinner MrIPlayBass was going over the maps, book and schedule to make sure the next day's trail ride would be a success. I can't thanks those two enough.

Tuesday morning we headed out to Hell's Revenge. Later in the day we'll be going through the Fins and Things trail.

Here's a link to a GPS map of our route:
https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=1dbbd5ccf98d6a8e2a&hoursPast=0&showAll=yes

As you can see the trail-head was just east of town. This is Sand Flats
Recreational Area.

It was raining in the morning. We paid the entrance fee to the Sand Flats Recreational Area. After airing down in the parking lot we immediately took to the trail that headed up a steep (wet) rock fin.





These were some steep trails but they were also Slick Rock. Slick Rock is anything but slick (unless it's raining).



We encountered a Ford Bronco group.
These guys went up Hell's Revenge.



The driver of this white Bronco had a hard time keeping his tires on the ground. It looked like he was going to roll over backwards.



There were lots of steep slick-rock slops.



There was very little dirt, mainly just rock.





We came down this very steep slope. ColdAir went back up it to try it again. He was always up for challenges.



Next we went by The Escalator. The next picture is of the same White Bronco that looked like he might roll over backwards down Hell's Revenge. On The Escalator he didn't seem to be doing much better. His right tires fell into the crevasse and it looked like he sustained some body damage on the right. We didn't stick around to find out the details.





After Hell's Revenge Trail we continued on to the Fins and Things Trail.



We still encountered a lot of steep rock slopes. This next picture is Bobbie. He had a bypass he could have used.



Most of the steep slopes had bypasses ... until we got to this hill. This one was ridiculous. MrIPlayBass was the first to try it. He spun all four tires and after they were warm continued up the slope.









We had one stock jeep in the group. It was decided to winch this jeep up. The rest of us made it up the slope.

This was another great day of wheeling.

to be continued ...

 

[JR74CJ5]

Looks like another awesome trip all

Can't wait to see most of you in Ouray again soon!

 

[mtnwhlr]

And thanks for all the pics looks like a great time.

 

[jfmcj7]

We have been there once with our JK. Had a blast. Can't wait to take my CJ there. Only problem is I don't have a car / truck to tow it and I don't feel the urge to drive it there. That will be a long trip.

It was nice seeing all the pictures you took. That is a magical place.

 

[BusaDave9]

Wednesday the plan was to go on Steelbender trail.

Here's a GPS route of our trail ride.
https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=1dc4a5cd21025f249f&hoursPast=0&showAll=yes



There were a few water crossings.









We encountered a ledge that the CJ's, especially the CJ5 's could not easily go down. For safety reasons we could winch the jeeps down. Bobbie took his TJ down the ledge. We decided not to winch the jeeps down. Instead we went back the way we came. Friday we'll come back.







After the Steelbender trail we went on Kane Creek road.



This was an easier trail than most we have gone on.



It was also very dusty.



We were debating if we should go on another trail. We decided it would get too late so we headed back.







Another great day of wheeling in Moab.

to be continued ...

 

[bluerocket]

Here is an album of pictures I took during the trip.
5198 miles, 425 gallons of diesel!

https://1drv.ms/a/s!ApKUFIFlAbEep9x-lIll57t9i-lhCw

 

[Lumpy Grits]

:ty: Great pictures.

Really like your 4-legged tour guide

LG

 

[coldair]

It was someones birthday Wednesday last week



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[mriplaybass]

I'm still in the process of organizing our pictures, but thought that I would post the trails that we drove each day in case others would like to post their pictures according to the trails we drove. There were only a few changes to Posi's original itinerary made to accommodate things as we went along.

Monday: Seven mile rim

Tuesday: Hell's Revenge, and Fins n things

Wednesday: The plan was to do part of Steel Bender loop, then continue on to Steel Bender Flat route, but 2 steep ledges made us rethink things. We ended up doing the full Steel Bender Loop instead, then doing Hurrah Pass.

Thursday: Flat Iron Mesa

Friday: We decided to go at Steel Bender Flat route from the other end. We drove up to the 2 ledges that we stopped at on Wednesday, and turned around.

 

[BusaDave9]

Thursday was not a good day for me. I found out I had problems with the reservations I had for my U Haul trailer. They didn't have the trailer in Moab. I'd have to drive 80 miles to get my trailer. When I made my reservations I was told I could pick up the trailer in Moab. That was wrong. My resurvations were for the Salt Lake City area of Utah and they would try to get a trailer for me in Moab.

Today's plan was to go on Flat Iron Mesa. We went south of Moab on the highway to the trailhead. Then we aired down.Very early on the trail my valves started making a bad ticking sound. We removed the valve covers and found a push rod for cylinder 2 to be very loose. The lifter has collapsed. It was decided to tow my CJ back to the road. People scouted out our options. If we were to continue on we could get to a 2 wheel drive road but there is a big hill on the way. If we went back the way we came there were a few dips and obstacles that seemed like nothing but would be really hard to tow a jeep through. We decided to pull my forward, over the hill. I costed down the other side with my brakes on. I have power steering but I went down slowly enough that it wasn't an issue. At the bottom of the hill we were on the 2 wheel drive road and it was smooth sailing back to the parking area.

I didn't take any pictures but someone else might post my jeep being towed.

Now to tow my jeep back to Moab ... or ...

Bobbie volunteered to trailer my jeep back to Durango. This was a very generous offer. He drove back to Moab and soon came back with his pickup and trailer. We got back to Durango in less than 3 hours.

We left my CJ in the garage and headed back to Moab. We made good time until we got to Monticello UT. There the highway was closed. A policeman told us it will be 45 minutes until it opens up again. I asked about an alternate route. He said the only alternate route goes through the mountains and is blocked by snow. Moab is normally less than an hour drive from Monticello but we went to look for a place for dinner. We got into Moab at about 10 pm.

One more day of jeep'n but I don't have my jeep anymore.

to be continued ...

 

[BusaDave9]

an update to my valve-train problems with the lifter. After getting home I looked up the documents the previous owner gave me regarding my jeep. He had the engine rebuilt just before selling it to me. He installed Edelbrock Performer Plus kit with lifters and camshaft. I wanted to get the same lifters but the only part number I could find was for the whole kit with the camshaft and all. I called up Edelbrock support. I talked to two support technicians, one of whom had over 20 years experience with Edelbrock. They discussed my options and told me not to replace all 16 lifters. I would be "opening a can or worms" if I didn't also replace the cam. Their recommendation was to replace only the bad lifter. They sent me a replacement free of charge. What service!

Ben has volunteered to help me do this repair.

 

[Belizean]

Glad you got it back down off the mountain ok !

 

[BusaDave9]

Here's some pictures Coldair took when I had engine trouble.