Getting Started.
We met at the north end of town and drove north about 10 miles.
Just past the road that goes to Canyonlands Natl. Park we turned left off the highway at a large parking lot where we stopped to air down the tires.
7 Mile Rim.
From the parking lot we headed up a very dusty road.
After a couple miles we came to the 7 Mile Rim trail. Here we turned left and continued to climb up through the rocks.
Uranium Arch.
The trail was like this for most of the way. Eventually we saw a sign for Uranium Arch which is our first stop.
We went down hill for a while and came to the arch.
The Uranium Arch.
We hung around here for a short time and then headed up a steep hill and continued our ride.
We got into a rocky patch on top of the hill.
Monitor and Merrimack.
We are crossing a large area of slick rock. Our next destination is the Monitor and Merrimack, two huge monuments that you can see for a long distance.
The one on the left is the Monitor and the one on the right is the Merrimack.
After bouncing along over the slick rock for a couple of miles we came to a stretch that was soft sand. Kind of a nice change from the rocks.
Eventually we crossed between the two monuments on more slick rock.
We stopped here for pictures.
Here is a group picture minus Patti at the base of the Merrimack.
Heading for Wipeout Hill.
After several pictures we continued on around the Merrimack toward our next stop.
A bit of a tight spot.
This section of the trail becomes very tippy. It gets real scary at the apex of the turn,
and also as you turn to go down this steep hill.
Wipeout Hill.
Our destination for lunch is Wipeout Hill. This is a very steep drop to a flat spot.
Getting down isn’t to bad but getting back up is the challenge.
There are two ways to get out of here. One is over some big rocks up the left side. This is a two locker job.
Dennis M tried first. It took him a couple of tries but he made it.
Next was Dennis K’s turn. He also made it.
Bill went next but had some problems and eventually had to be pulled up.
Greg went next and made it after a little messing around.
Since I don’t have front and rear lockers I elected to go back up the way we came down. It looked very doable.
Dennis K came back down to pick up Becky so we watched him go back up the way we were going. It looked like a piece of cake.
Once Dennis was clear, we started up. I did real good all the way to the top.
But here I lost traction and couldn’t get over the hump. I tried a couple of times and it got kind of scary as when the tires spun it would try to turn the jeep sideways.
Eventually they hooked me to a strap and helped me up.
Tusher Tunnel.
Once we got my jeep out of the hole we headed for Tusher Tunnel.
Nice rock formations along the way.
As we dropped into a narrow canyon we came to a section where there obviously is a spring; the trail had water running along it.
We drove along for a while up a long grade.
We turned up this steep hill to a flat.
When we got on top we realized that we had passed the turn off to Tusher Tunnel.
We went back down the hill and found the correct road. We parked in the parking area and walked up hill to the entrance to this natural tunnel.
The tunnel goes a couple hundred yards through the mountain.
We stood around here for a while checking things out.
Eventually we went back through the tunnel.
Heading for Home.
Once we got out of the tunnel we headed for home. It was pretty easy, if a bit dusty ride back to the highway.
Once back at the highway we aired up the tires and headed for Moab.
We had dinner at the Broken Oar. It has a lot of stuff on the menu but most of us had burgers. The burgers were very good but the service was a little slow.
Okay that was todays ride, it was fun as usual.
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