Headed to Southern Utah -- any advice?

[c-dubb]

Going to be in Washington so a stone's throw from Sand Hollow and Quail Creek. I did the Moab Off Roadeo and have done some lighter Northern Utah trails with the Braptor.

I have a compressor, traction boards, and a flag/mount for dunes. Any other essential equipment I should consider? I'd prefer not to use them, but would like to try something that could provide a pucker moment or two. Any recommendations on trails I should tackle with the wife and pre-teen kids in tow?

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[Dusty]

As Matt from Matt's Off-Road Recovery says, if you can get yourself out with traction boards, you were'nt really stuck LOL

Your Bronco Raptor is capable enough to do almost all of the rock trails there, but it's hard to recommend anything without knowing your skills and experience. As for the sand dunes, you'll have an absolute blast on them in the Braptor.

Best is to tackle any of the rock trails with a group or at least someone who knows the trail, unless you're an expert rock crawler with a lot of seat time already. If you've never driven that type of terrain, probably not a good idea to go tackle The Maze by yourself LOL. That said, when are you going? A bunch of us will be there later this week for United By Bronco. If you're going some other time, post up and surely someone will be around that you can meet up with to hit some trails. Join the Utah Bronco Club facebook group if you haven't already. Great group of guys with local knowledge.

 

[c-dubb]

As Matt from Matt's Off-Road Recovery says, if you can get yourself out with traction boards, you were'nt really stuck LOL

Your Bronco Raptor is capable enough to do almost all of the rock trails there, but it's hard to recommend anything without knowing your skills and experience. As for the sand dunes, you'll have an absolute blast on them in the Braptor.

Best is to tackle any of the rock trails with a group or at least someone who knows the trail, unless you're an expert rock crawler with a lot of seat time already. If you've never driven that type of terrain, probably not a good idea to go tackle The Maze by yourself LOL. That said, when are you going? A bunch of us will be there later this week for United By Bronco. If you're going some other time, post up and surely someone will be around that you can meet up with to hit some trails. Join the Utah Bronco Club facebook group if you haven't already. Great group of guys with local knowledge.

Thanks! Great advice. We'll be there at the very end of March. Biggest rock trail experience I have is just from the Moab Off Rodeo and another trip when we did Fins and Things in a Jeep. So probably only enough to get me in trouble.

 

[Dusty]

Thanks! Great advice. We'll be there at the very end of March. Biggest rock trail experience I have is just from the Moab Off Rodeo and another trip when we did Fins and Things in a Jeep. So probably only enough to get me in trouble.

An easy one to recommend for a solo trip* would be Toquerville Falls. It's a fairly easy dirt road up over a ridge and down to the falls. There's a more hard core route down the creek from there (VERY fun but not recommended alone) but you can come back out the way you went in, to keep things easy.

*the caveat is that if it's been raining much, the road down to the falls can get slicker'n owl shit. That red clay turns into grease, and even an inch or two of it on the road can make climbing back out of there next to impossible. That happened to us once and we had to go down the creek (that route is called Rattlesnake Gulch and is something like 6 miles with dozens of water crossings). We had a blast but we feel like we got lucky since we had no clue about what we were getting in to, then later seeing how many swamped and broken rigs Matt's Off-Road has had to pull out of there.

You might want to look up a trail that takes you to "Babylon". It's an easy, scenic trail that ends at some neat old ruins next to the Virgin River (if you have small children, shield their eyes from some of the graffiti on the ruins LOL). There are some dinosaur tracks and petroglyphs to see along the way, so do a little research ahead of time so you'll know where to look for those.

Within the Sand Hollow area, you'd probably be fine doing West Rim by yourself. It's not too hard, and most of the harder sections have bypasses. Plus there's usually a lot of people doing that trail in case you have any issues, someone will probably be along soon to lend a hand.

 

[Scott R Nelson]

I have a compressor, traction boards, and a flag/mount for dunes. Any other essential equipment I should consider?

The local 4x4 club has a list of stuff that you should carry with you. The only stuff on their list that isn't already a part of the Bronco is:
. . c. Fire extinguisher
. . f. Tow strap with no metal hooks.

They also strongly recommend 2-way radios, but you only really need those if you're with another vehicle. I also got a couple of soft shackles to go with my tow strap so that I could easily hook it up on both ends. In addition I added a very small shovel in case I need to dig something out using more than my fingers. All of this stuff fits under the floor in my 2-door, but it is tightly packed, so I couldn't add much else.

 

[c-dubb]

The local 4x4 club has a list of stuff that you should carry with you. The only stuff on their list that isn't already a part of the Bronco is:
. . c. Fire extinguisher
. . f. Tow strap with no metal hooks.

They also strongly recommend 2-way radios, but you only really need those if you're with another vehicle. I also got a couple of soft shackles to go with my tow strap so that I could easily hook it up on both ends. In addition I added a very small shovel in case I need to dig something out using more than my fingers. All of this stuff fits under the floor in my 2-door, but it is tightly packed, so I couldn't add much else.

Good call, thanks. I do have an extinguisher. Recommendation on tow straps/soft shackles? Hard to know which brands to trust with all the crud on amazon.

 

[Scott R Nelson]

Good call, thanks. I do have an extinguisher. Recommendation on tow straps/soft shackles? Hard to know which brands to trust with all the crud on amazon.

I stopped by at a local 4x4 shop and picked up what seemed to meet my needs. It's a short tow strap, just enough to get somebody out of a ditch or something. The soft shackles as well as the strap are rated way beyond how much weight I expect to pull with them.

I buy everything locally if they can come within maybe 10% of what I could get online, because I want the local businesses to stay in business. And I know I won't end up with any junk that way.

 

[Dez Pony]

Hey Calvin, I'll be in Hurricane with two Jeeps starting April 1st. Always nice to get with others in case of getting stuck or ?. We have recovery equipment; dynamic ropes x 2, soft clevis x7 and a winch. Look for my Bronco, shown below. Plus a stock white Rubi and a grey modded Rubi. If you are interested in joining us, let me know and I'll get phone/radio contacts. We'll be there until Thursday.

 

[c-dubb]

Hey Calvin, I'll be in Hurricane with two Jeeps starting April 1st. Always nice to get with others in case of getting stuck or ?. We have recovery equipment; dynamic ropes x 2, soft clevis x7 and a winch. Look for my Bronco, shown below. Plus a stock white Rubi and a grey modded Rubi. If you are interested in joining us, let me know and I'll get phone/radio contacts. We'll be there until Thursday.

Dang! The 1st is when we'll be driving back home (UT County).

 

[Dez Pony]

Well, have a great time while you get to roam Sand Hollow! Remember Matt's Off Road Recovery, they can get you out if needed and you can go in their store and get good recovery stuff. You know, to get somebody else out.

 

[c-dubb]

Had a great time! Toquerville Falls and Mollie's Nipple were the highlights. Found out sand dunes just aren't our thing. Maybe I did them wrong? Anyway, a fun family trip! Hoping to do more trails at Sand Hollow next time.

 

[userdude]

Found out sand dunes just aren't our thing.

Right there with you.

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