- Thread starter
- #1
LINKS TO ENTIRE MOAB MEET UP TRIP REPORT SERIES:
Moab Meetup Day 1 Journal: Elephant Hill Rd 4-29-24
Moab Meet up Day 2: Gold Bar Rim 4-30-24
Moab Meet Up Day 3: Flat Iron Mesa 5-1-24 [This Entry]
Moab Meet Up Day 4: Onion Creek 5-2-24
Moab Meet Up Day 5: Cliff Hanger 5-3-24
Flat Iron Mesa 5-1
Rated 6-9
Along for the ride:
Felix808 & Wife JJ
@El Diablo & Camera man Kenny
@F150rubyred & Wife Carolyn
@NORCALGXP
@J-Willz & Wife Belinda
We met at the shell station at Spanish trail and rolled out at 8:30
The trailhead was a little tricky to find, especially if you have your e-map set for Behind the Rocks
so unfortunately it took 3 times to locate the trailhead. When you finally do end up at the right unmarked turn off, the trailhead is about 20 feet below the road and hooks back making it impossible to see from the highway. You gain access through a cowboy gate that you need to close as your last vehicle enters. Leave gates as you find them.
Once past the gate we made our way down into the canyon snaking round the shrubs you come to a decent ledge to climb up not far from the start. Later down the trail you come upon a large mound that you can circle around to get a better lineup for tight turn & the drop into the canyon as you twist your way up and down.
Latter you climb up a rubble hill that is a little loose but not a big deal. You find yourself on top of a mesa looking towards the La Sal Mountains to the east and Muleshoe Canyon on the northside.
You went up a rubble hill a minute ago so guess what, you get to go down one now.
You make your way through some more ledges and then into a very tippy blind passenger down hill turn. The obstacle is called the Tilt-a- Whirl.
Then you are off to drop down a number of bigger ledges. @F150rubyred got high centered on one of the ledges. We stacked a few rocks but wasn’t quite getting it done. I climbed down the hill and looked to get @El Diablo & a strap ready but the crew kept playing with rocks. I went over to find it was very close so I started lifting and bouncing the rear while I had @F150rubyred get gently on the throttle and he was freed to make his way down the large dropping wall. Then up to the other side of the canyon to find some large undercut ledges and a v-notch. I took a really aggressive line on the v-notch & it stood my truck on it’s tail as the front end came off the ground for a moment
. This was all done at a crawl and could not imagine if I had any speed behind that moment. Fortunately it came down softly but unfortunately, the cameraman was in the vehicle behind me sitting on his camera at the time, but they did say it was pretty exciting 
.
Next up was the Chutes. @F150rubyred @NORCALGXP & I all decided we came to play. After walking up & determining the line I started it off. The main climb was pretty uneventful so I decided I would give the buggy line a go. I tried 3 x’s before I called it. I was getting too close to the big rock that really wanted to take a bite out of my passenger door. I had smoked the tires for a good bit, but couldn’t get them to bite & figured I better not push it so I backed it down & went around the steep off camber turn around point which feels very tippy. Next up was @F150rubyred. I spotted him up and again it was uneventful. He went directly to the turnaround. Then @NORCALGXP got up the chutes easily enough with minimal coaching & went for the buggy line. He tried 2 or 3 times with the similar results that I had, but then he decided to try something I forgot to do and saw the wheel into the corner wall which allowed it to bite and pull him up. Once I saw it bit I shouted on the radio GO GO GO!!! & up he went. I was glad for him but a little disappointed knowing I could do it next time, but it would have to wait
.
So, after you come out of the chutes, you need to link up to the bypass to catch the rest of the group. While we following the labeled route out of the chute turnaround fin, @F150rubyred & I followed the marked route not knowing at the time there was an unlabeled route that would have. linked up with the buggy route. We traveled for a good bit, but never caught back up with them. Instead, we ended up in front of them as they needed to drive a little further to the connection point. This is where having a paper map is very good to have. While electronic gizmos are great when they work, they are paper weights when they don’t. Thumbs up to @NORCALGXP for having one on hand. After referring to the Moab Bible (Small map inside) We determined where we were & how they needed to travel to us. After sometime, we meet between the meadows.
Once we met up, it wasn’t long before we were dropping down some big undercut ledges. Some parts of the trail are not well marked and a few illegal routes were made by others. Again This is why trails get closed! At one point we missed the down turn of the trail and ended out on and overlook ledge. We turned around and dropped down the large undercut ledges.
Next up was Easter Egg Hill & The Intimidator. This is an all or nothing choice as the bypass misses both and you are committed to doing both if you choose to bypass the bypass. I supposed if you wanted you could go back up Easter Egg Hill and out the Bypass if you had to. No one in the group took the bypass .
As you come up to Easter Egg Hill, it can get a little tippy. There is a big Easter Egg rock right in the middle of the top of the hill you need to go down while surrounded by another large rock that you need to squeeze by while not getting high centered on the Easter Egg in the middle of the trail. We guided everyone through the obstacle and down the hill with little trouble. Though both @F150rubyred & @J-Willz thought I was guiding them into harms way. For @F150rubyred he was concerned by the large boulder salivating at a taste of his passenger mirror & the fact that I took the opportunity for a teaching moment as I pivoted him on his rock rail to make the line & @J-Willz thought for sure I was going to feed his passenger mirror to that giant boulder. Trust your spotter gentlemen
Next up was the Intimidator. This is a real sweater
& should not be attempted without a good experienced spotter. Never drive this alone as the penalty for failure will be unrecoverable. You are less that a foot away from the cliff on your passengers side as you skirt around a giant boulder. The route is anything but smooth, more like rocky but not broken up. Slow & steady is the way. @NORCALGXP Found us the best possible line through & I went for it. Yeah, not what I would exactly call fun . Then @NORCALGXP got them started on the back side of the big boulder while I carried them through to safe ground. We were doing great until @J-Willz got hung up on his passengers rear lower control arm. He was anchored pretty good while being only a couple feet off the cliffs edge. I went over & got him to back off the rock he was on & proceeded to stack rocks. Here’s a tip when stacking or throwing rocks, move your free hand out of the trajectory of the rock then throw the rock . I apparently, am truly dyslexic and reversed this order smashing the tip of my pinky. I was wide awake now if I wasn’t before. After giving a blood sacrifice, we were able to get @J-Willz to safety. Still not sure how his seat cover stayed on through all of that 
.
After that we could all breathe a little easier. There were still plenty of large ledges and drops and option walls that @NORCALGXP & I decided to ham it up on.
What an amazing trail! This has moved into the top 2 for me of Moab trails. This trail really has it all!
I would not recommend less than 35” tires for this unless you want to stack rocks all day. There are numerous big ledges & drops to get hung up on & in along the way.
What an Amazing day & great group we had. I appreciate each of you for making the trek out to come run with us.
Please add photos, videos & comments.
Moab Meetup Day 1 Journal: Elephant Hill Rd 4-29-24
Moab Meet up Day 2: Gold Bar Rim 4-30-24
Moab Meet Up Day 3: Flat Iron Mesa 5-1-24 [This Entry]
Moab Meet Up Day 4: Onion Creek 5-2-24
Moab Meet Up Day 5: Cliff Hanger 5-3-24
Flat Iron Mesa 5-1
Rated 6-9
Along for the ride:
Felix808 & Wife JJ
@El Diablo & Camera man Kenny
@F150rubyred & Wife Carolyn
@NORCALGXP
@J-Willz & Wife Belinda
We met at the shell station at Spanish trail and rolled out at 8:30
The trailhead was a little tricky to find, especially if you have your e-map set for Behind the Rocks
Once past the gate we made our way down into the canyon snaking round the shrubs you come to a decent ledge to climb up not far from the start. Later down the trail you come upon a large mound that you can circle around to get a better lineup for tight turn & the drop into the canyon as you twist your way up and down.
Latter you climb up a rubble hill that is a little loose but not a big deal. You find yourself on top of a mesa looking towards the La Sal Mountains to the east and Muleshoe Canyon on the northside.
You went up a rubble hill a minute ago so guess what, you get to go down one now.
You make your way through some more ledges and then into a very tippy blind passenger down hill turn. The obstacle is called the Tilt-a- Whirl.
Then you are off to drop down a number of bigger ledges. @F150rubyred got high centered on one of the ledges. We stacked a few rocks but wasn’t quite getting it done. I climbed down the hill and looked to get @El Diablo & a strap ready but the crew kept playing with rocks. I went over to find it was very close so I started lifting and bouncing the rear while I had @F150rubyred get gently on the throttle and he was freed to make his way down the large dropping wall. Then up to the other side of the canyon to find some large undercut ledges and a v-notch. I took a really aggressive line on the v-notch & it stood my truck on it’s tail as the front end came off the ground for a moment
. This was all done at a crawl and could not imagine if I had any speed behind that moment. Fortunately it came down softly but unfortunately, the cameraman was in the vehicle behind me sitting on his camera at the time, but they did say it was pretty exciting .Next up was the Chutes. @F150rubyred @NORCALGXP & I all decided we came to play. After walking up & determining the line I started it off. The main climb was pretty uneventful so I decided I would give the buggy line a go. I tried 3 x’s before I called it. I was getting too close to the big rock that really wanted to take a bite out of my passenger door. I had smoked the tires for a good bit, but couldn’t get them to bite & figured I better not push it so I backed it down & went around the steep off camber turn around point which feels very tippy. Next up was @F150rubyred. I spotted him up and again it was uneventful. He went directly to the turnaround. Then @NORCALGXP got up the chutes easily enough with minimal coaching & went for the buggy line. He tried 2 or 3 times with the similar results that I had, but then he decided to try something I forgot to do and saw the wheel into the corner wall which allowed it to bite and pull him up. Once I saw it bit I shouted on the radio GO GO GO!!! & up he went. I was glad for him but a little disappointed knowing I could do it next time, but it would have to wait
.So, after you come out of the chutes, you need to link up to the bypass to catch the rest of the group. While we following the labeled route out of the chute turnaround fin, @F150rubyred & I followed the marked route not knowing at the time there was an unlabeled route that would have. linked up with the buggy route. We traveled for a good bit, but never caught back up with them. Instead, we ended up in front of them as they needed to drive a little further to the connection point. This is where having a paper map is very good to have. While electronic gizmos are great when they work, they are paper weights when they don’t. Thumbs up to @NORCALGXP for having one on hand
. After referring to the Moab Bible (Small map inside) We determined where we were & how they needed to travel to us. After sometime, we meet between the meadows.Once we met up, it wasn’t long before we were dropping down some big undercut ledges. Some parts of the trail are not well marked and a few illegal routes were made by others
. Again This is why trails get closed! At one point we missed the down turn of the trail and ended out on and overlook ledge. We turned around and dropped down the large undercut ledges.Next up was Easter Egg Hill & The Intimidator. This is an all or nothing choice as the bypass misses both and you are committed to doing both if you choose to bypass the bypass. I supposed if you wanted you could go back up Easter Egg Hill and out the Bypass if you had to. No one in the group took the bypass
.As you come up to Easter Egg Hill, it can get a little tippy. There is a big Easter Egg rock right in the middle of the top of the hill you need to go down while surrounded by another large rock that you need to squeeze by while not getting high centered on the Easter Egg in the middle of the trail. We guided everyone through the obstacle and down the hill with little trouble. Though both @F150rubyred & @J-Willz thought I was guiding them into harms way. For @F150rubyred he was concerned by the large boulder salivating at a taste of his passenger mirror & the fact that I took the opportunity for a teaching moment as I pivoted him on his rock rail to make the line & @J-Willz thought for sure I was going to feed his passenger mirror to that giant boulder. Trust your spotter gentlemen
Next up was the Intimidator. This is a real sweater
& should not be attempted without a good experienced spotter. Never drive this alone as the penalty for failure will be unrecoverable. You are less that a foot away from the cliff on your passengers side as you skirt around a giant boulder. The route is anything but smooth, more like rocky but not broken up. Slow & steady is the way. @NORCALGXP Found us the best possible line through & I went for it. Yeah, not what I would exactly call fun . Then @NORCALGXP got them started on the back side of the big boulder while I carried them through to safe ground. We were doing great until @J-Willz got hung up on his passengers rear lower control arm. He was anchored pretty good while being only a couple feet off the cliffs edge. I went over & got him to back off the rock he was on & proceeded to stack rocks. Here’s a tip when stacking or throwing rocks, move your free hand out of the trajectory of the rock then throw the rock . I apparently, am truly dyslexic and reversed this order smashing the tip of my pinky. I was wide awake now if I wasn’t before. After giving a blood sacrifice, we were able to get @J-Willz to safety. Still not sure how his seat cover stayed on through all of that .After that we could all breathe a little easier. There were still plenty of large ledges and drops and option walls that @NORCALGXP & I decided to ham it up on.
What an amazing trail! This has moved into the top 2 for me of Moab trails. This trail really has it all!
I would not recommend less than 35” tires for this unless you want to stack rocks all day. There are numerous big ledges & drops to get hung up on & in along the way.
What an Amazing day & great group we had. I appreciate each of you for making the trek out to come run with us
.Please add photos, videos & comments.
Sponsored
Last edited:
