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We are camping out in Hovenweep Park tonight. There is no cell coverage there. YAY!

That’s why we decided to knock out 4 at once @ Four Corners.

Today we took a day trip to Arches National Park to see the massive rock formations.  The trip went well, did a little bit of hiking and a lot of picture taking.  To leave the park, we decided to take the back dirt road, which turned into a nice little off road trail.   Check out the Photo Gallery for a lot of pics of the trip.

Dan with his friend Q

When I see pictures and videos of trails in Moab, they are almost always on large sand stone hills with steep ascends and decends.  The trails we’re done the last couple of days were nothing like that.  They were all dirt trails winding through vegetation with rock ledges here and there.  As much fun as they were, it was not what I had in mind.

There were no guided trail rides on Friday.  I guess the organizers took into account that people will need to work on their trucks a bit after 2 days of wheeling.  While Ryan did exactly that, the rest of us decided to do a short 5 mile trail.  We want to be back in time for the “vendor night” at the rally which started at 4pm.

The trail we chose was a nearby one called Hell’s Revenge. I know, it sounds bad, but it was rated a 4 in our guide book.  The ratings go from 2 to 9.  That Steel Bender one we did on the first day was rated 6, Top of the World yesterday was also a 4. This trail turned out to be exactly what I was imagining Moab to be

Hell’s Revenge starts off in one of the state parks.  You pay a fee to get into the park, which is good for 3 days.  This trail starts next to the now closed Lion’s Back trail and intertwines with the famous Slick Rock mountain biking trail.  We saw bikers throughout the day as we were crisscrossing Slick Rock.  This trail is definitely not for those who are not comfortable with heights.  Though not as bad a the Rim trail, Hell’s Revenge has its moments, especially since this is our first time in Moab.  We are used to east coast wheeling where boulders and mud are the norm.  Overall, the trail itself was not all too difficult.  There are black rubber lines on the rock surfaces from the frequent use so you know pretty much where to put your tires.  Once you get over the fear of driving on a sliver of rock that’s is just wide enough for your truck, with drops on both sides, you are fine.  There is plenty of traction and at one point my inclinometer read 47 degrees on a climb.

There were a few challenges along the way, one of them was called the Black Hole.  This is literally a hole worn into one of the hills by erosion.  It is black from the tires of all the trucks that have tried it.  It is about 2 truck lengths at the bottom and 2 trucks deep with near vertical walls on the sides and a 45 degree drop-in and exit.  If you picture 4 trucks stacked in a square 2×2 config, that’s about the size of the hole.

We made it out of the trail around 2:30pm. We came back to the house, rested a bit then headed off to the Rally site to see the vendor displays.  After that, we went to a local Mexican place for dinner.  It was SOOOO GOOD to have real food for once.  We’ve been eating fast food and restaurant chains for most of this trip.  That gets tiring fast.

It is now Saturday morning.  We have decided on a late start as everyone is worn out by 3 days of wheeling.  We will probably look for another 4-rated trail this afternoon.  The rally banquet is this evening so we will need to be back for that.

I am off to work on my truck for a bit while waiting for everyone else to wake up

Went to grab a shirt out if my bag and found this little guy hanging out.

Yesterday we ran the Top of the World Trail, which is a 4-rated loop that leads up to a 7,000 ft panoramic view of Fisher Valley and Onion Creek.  The trail itself was not extremely challenging, but there were some places that allowed us to play around a bit.   On the way up the trail, Christine’s GPS bounced out of the truck, and we did not notice until about 5 miles after it happened, so Dan, myself and Christine went down the way we came looking for it, and managed to find it at the first real bouncing obstacle!

I’ll post pictures shortly…  just as a reminder, check out the Photo Gallery for pictures from the first day of wheelin’.

Haha…not what you are thinking but did get to the Top of the World.