I took a quick weekend trip down to the Moab area to meet up with my son Taylor who was there with two of his buddies on a mountain biking trip. I made the drive down on Friday after work after a week of unsettled wet weather. The forecast for the Moab area was looking promising for Saturday and Sunday, but Friday evening still looked like it could be wet. And sure enough shortly after merging on to I-70 Eastbound, I was hit by some really wicked weather. The rain was pummeling sideways being driven by hurricane force winds. I thought, yikes!…this is going to be an interesting night out camping.
Meanwhile Taylor and his buddies were searching the Moab area for a camp spot, but text messages were not sounding too favorable. They were only able to find one spot and it was nothing more than a mud pit! Finally meeting up with him in town as the darkness began to fall, we all made the decision it would be best to try and find a hotel for the night and worry about the campsite the following day. Fortunately, one was found at a very reasonable price. We brought our needed bags inside, headed down to the Moab Brewery for some eats and then it was time to crash for the night.
The following day the plan was that Taylor and his friends would spend the day getting some short rides in and try to secure a campsite somewhere while I spent the day four wheeling it out on the White Rim Trail. I had my sites set on making to a location called Lathrop Canyon which cuts its way down from the White Rim to the Colorado River below.
I was up before the dawn to catch the morning light along the Potash Road which follows the Colorado River as it snakes its way into Canyonlands National Park.The day dawned partly cloudy with the previous days storm passing by. I had hoped that all the rain would not make the trail out to Lathrop un-passable. After all. it was about 45 miles one way out to the Lathrop Trail.
I took my time and made many stops along the way at vantage points along and above the Colorado River as I made my way out to the White Rim Trail.The White Rim Trail is a 100 mile un-maintained 4-wheel drive road that winds around and follows the White Rim Sandstone under the 1200 foot high cliffs of the Island In The Sky. Under favorable weather conditions, the White Rim Trail is considered moderately difficult for high-clearance, four-wheel-drive vehicles. The going gets to be very slow and in some areas requires dropping the transmission into 4-Low to pass particularly gnarly sections.
Around the time I made it to the White Rime, the texts began to come in from Taylor that they had secured a great campsite at the Slickrock Campground and were going to spend the day mountain biking the famous Slickrock Trail. When i made it out to the Lathrop road, which is a very remote place, I decided I would walk the switchbacks on the upper section that i had read about being the most difficult. Although I probably would have made it, I decided to forego the drive down to the Colorado as there was one spot that looked like if you didn’t hit it just right it would likely tear a hole in the oil pan after ripping through the skidplate.
So I turned around after a quick break for some lunch of beef jerky and trail mix and made the slow drive 45 miles back to Moab and the Slickrock campsite that Taylor and the guys had secured. After another dinner at the Moab Brewery, we headed back to camp for a short hike to view the sunset and then stories around the campfire. It was a whrlwind trip to the canyons, but then again any adventure to the canyons is worthwhile…
