Fun weekend trip with the Club

[Kerensky97]

Many people think living in Utah is a bad thing.
To prove how wrong they are the UXOC went down for a quick weekend of running trails in Moab. (only a 3 hour drive! )

We spent one night down there, those that had Monday off spent two.
Dinner at Eddie McStiffs (service was slow, but beer was good!)
Breakfast at the Moab Diner (Best Green Chili in the state)

Saturday's trail was to the Top of the World.
A simple, fun, trail turned into a challenge when the snow got more than 2 feet deep at the top.
With the sudden gain in elevation and powdery snow under the wheels only 2 of the 5 Xterras were able to make it to the top. The rest of us fell out within walking distance and made plans to upgrade tires in the near future.

Sunday we went along the Klondike Bluffs trail then crosed over to Tower arch and took it into the park, then with about an hour of daylight left we headed out along Willow Creek Road.

A Great time was had by all!

Well enough talk here's the pics:

Snow in Moab.
This was when it wasn't deep. (Those of us in the desert aren't as used to it as those up North)
[IMG]http://communities.msn.com/_Secure/0LwDPBKEPuVmqocez5kTY6XV!LrPoSVrT*vFy25kw8joI711FR RficANq3wD2ArXvm06sGVXDbqU/005_3.JPG[/IMG]

The required Slickrock Pic
[IMG]http://communities.msn.com/_Secure/0MABuBtUPvWOo2U9rA1s9RJk44czPwNOXD4nuA*ZRsBuTiJAgD lnMid5XqamRlFZKgjBo*a7z*lwAAAAAaAB0AA/016_14.JPG[/IMG]

This incline looks steeper, but if it was the Parking Brake wouldn't have held.
[IMG]http://communities.msn.com/_Secure/0MACEBtwP*GQGQnD3qHS2MR17PZhTRnVwVLAKtOxr!YOfv!JhV ptRbIf8VMaA4JCRRDrIcooYcORnAGkAaAB0AA/02_00A.JPG[/IMG]

Never looks as tough in the pictures does it?
This was a much steeper incline than the picture shows.
[IMG]http://communities.msn.com/_Secure/0MACbBuYPpmaIiMfRRVfX1u50L8EFmFf3FJWWOE5x3Yt9RreUS JCx*Wi*dyRlkOwytSAgPTmOpv5AdGkNaAB0AA/21_18A.JPG[/IMG]

Lining up for a last group shot toward Klondike Bluffs
[IMG]http://communities.msn.com/_Secure/0MACEBukPN2fl6xMffhUANXwdvqpsI8l3sKiGgJSKXxGvOoYXh MqO8cR*R0RvZ66PBVAuGuatYD5nAGkAaAB0AA/27_24A.JPG[/IMG]

The rest of the pictures are here:
MSN Communities/Dustin's Xterra/Moab Xterra

Enjoy!

[Schludwiller]

Moab and snow. I'll have to do that some time.

[Kerensky97]

You'd probably have much better luck than I did going up.

I was really out of my element in that snow, Todd made it up but he had Goodyear MT's and a supercharger (which was screaming on the last hill at the top).
Brian had Goodyear MT's too, watching him go up was one of the first times I've actually seen the Nissan LSD engaged and working, it looked like he was running a locker in the rear.

I'm going to have to go up there again just to prove to myself I can do it.

[ScottG]

Beautiful pics! It looks like you picked the best time of year to go to Moab. No crowds!

[Schludwiller]

I recognize the "baby Golden Crack" from Klondike on your album. Did you guys check out the dinosaur footprints?

[Kerensky97]

Yeah the first few dinosaur tracks looked like normal indentions in the slickrock, and we were skeptical.
Then Robert showed us some more (he'd been there before) and you could actually see the left and right footprints of one dino and measure its steps.
I was impressed.
Fun trail, glad I finnally got to do it.

Going over the hill about 5 miles into klondike bluffs from one trail to the other was a little bit more technical than I expected, still not as bad as Poison Spider but enough to keep you on your toes.

And the sand going south from Tower Arch to Eye of the Whale rocked!
Sailing 35 MPH on the straightaways and it still felt like you're floating on a cloud.

I can't wait till March!

[tk1]

Dustin, you forgot to mention the two jeeps that also didn't make it all the way up Top of the world.

[Schludwiller]

Originally posted by tk1
Dustin, you forgot to mention the two jeeps that also didn't make it all the way up Top of the world.

Oh, that's just embarassing. Top of the World is a great trip, but any Jeep should make it up there.

[tk1]

Originally posted by Schludwiller


Oh, that's just embarassing. Top of the World is a great trip, but any Jeep should make it up there.

I think that they were scared to scratch their jeeps. You had to get up a fair amount of momentum to make it up the last steep section.

BTW, I had 30psi in my tires!

[Kerensky97]

Originally posted by Schludwiller
Oh, that's just embarassing. Top of the World is a great trip, but any Jeep should make it up there.

The snow was BAD, so bad that the tires never touched ground, everybody was just floating on powdery snow.
No traction, I was impressed that Todd made it up, with the supercharger screaming and jets of snow flying up in the air.

The both the Jeeps had street tires, the WJ did pretty good but it was decked out too quadratrac, leather, everything.

Plus they were always trying to show us up.
If any of us took the easy route they'd have to go up the hard route...
And spent twice as long doing it.

We all could have made it to the top but we wanted to get back when it was still dayilight.

Then that DAMN WJ DRIVER NEARLY RAN ME OVER TRYING TO GET UP THAT LAST HILL!
He couldn't wait till I was out of the way before gunning it?


Man, thanks Todd I forgot about those guys.

[Schludwiller]

Gotcha. Forgot there would be snow up there. The Jeep was probably racing you to here (only room for 1 truck).

[tk1]

With snow on the overhang I was too chicken to park on it, hell I'm almost to chicken to look over the edge for very long!

[Schludwiller]

Yeah, that's a hairy spot. Even where Chuck's truck is sitting in that photo you can't see the ground.

[fastdrmr]

To help show how much fun we had we put these 3 videos together. (They are also on XOC...) Thought this community would enjoy them as well. Enjoy!

Day 1 - large or Day 1 - small

Day 2 - large or Day 2 - small

Day 3 - large or Day 3 - large

Robert

[Kerensky97]

After seeing videos like that you'd think people wouldn't be so afraid to goto Moab.