The planned highlight of our trip was Slickrock 4WDing in Moab, Utah, the epicentre of 4WDing in the US. Utah is also famous for its National Parks, so we linked these together to form an epic outback touring holiday, our LA to LA loop taking us 21 days and covering nearly 6,500km (4,000 miles).
First steps
In LA we rented a GMC Acadia as our touring vehicle. These have just been released in New Zealand badged as Holdens – our’s was a V6 AWD with different traction control settings and it did a good job - with a lot of right foot and wheel spinning we always made it.
In Moab we rented a heavily customised Jeep Rubicon for Slickrock 4WDing from Twisted Jeeps, as they have the most extreme set-ups available for self-drive hire (because there was no way I was going to Moab and going on a 4WD tour as a passenger!)
Our Rubicon had the standard sway bar disconnects, lockers front/rear plus 37-inch tyres, a suitable lift kit, reduction gears, rock sliders, skid plates etc so was perfect for hard 4WDing but equally wasn’t very suitable for touring, so the combination of both vehicles was perfect for our intended use.
After recovering from our jet lag for a couple of days in Las Vegas, and renewing our vows at the Graceland Chapel dressed as 1920’s gangsters for a bit of fun, we headed north to the Valley of Fire State Park for our first dirt road and real walk to explore the rock formations and Petroglyphs. We then headed to Zion National Park.
After exploring Zion, we headed to Bryce Canyon along Scenic Byway 12, considered one of the most scenic drives in the ‘States and well worth doing (even if it is on the tarmac). Bryce Canyon is described as a walk-through fantasy land as the Hoodoos (pillars created by centuries of erosion) change colour as the sun moves across them.
Over the next couple of weeks, we explored several of Utah’s National Parks and canyons, avoiding the tarmac wherever possible and generally getting off the beaten track. Interestingly, most of these roads were described as having a ‘natural’ road surface, but to us they were more sandy, rutty and ‘washboardy’ – the latter the American term for good old-fashioned corrugations!
On reaching Moab, we made it our base for the next four days as there are over 80 4WD trails close to town. Once at Twisted Jeeps we had to attend a safety briefing and after they assessed my 4WD experience they released the Jeep to us. Nick the owner suggested which trails we should do first in-order to build up confidence in the Jeep’s capability and also to determine our level of comfort as Slickrock 4WDing is very different.
You have fantastic traction so can drive up or down much more aggressive angles than you would normally consider possible (at least in my FJ or with my skillset). He also gave us some tips on local attractions to visit as we explored the area, from natural stone arches, to Indian rock art, even Dinosaur prints, all of which are literally all over Moab and its surrounding area and make the 4WDing even more interesting.
All the trails in the area have been rated from 1 (basically a dirt road) to 9 (the description for which = Extreme and Beyond. The average well-equipped trail rig will have great difficulty completing the latter trails. Expect steps exceeding 60 inches (1.5m), and off-camber steep inclines/declines are prevalent, meaning enhanced off-road equipment including locking devices (front and rear), tall tyres (37 inch plus), maximum ground clearance, minimum wheelbase 100 inches (2540mm), and excellent driving skills are all required, vehicle mechanical or body damage is likely, and rollover are very common.” We decided not to do these!
The most popular trail in Moab is called Hell’s Revenge and is rated a more driveable 6. It’s very close to town and is a challenging, fun, scenic drive and if you only have time for one difficult trail this is the one to do.
It has several large ledges that can’t be by-passed, most of the difficulty comes from the numerous narrow steep sections along slickrock fins, it also has a few optional extreme obstacles like; Hell’s Gate, Mickey’s Hot Tub, Tip over challenge and the Escalator (check them out on You Tube – they are insane).
We manged two trails per day on average. The trails aren’t long, but they are slow going and I found that the concentration required for slickrock driving was very tiring and required several local ales each night in order to refocus the mind again ready for the next day’s 4WD adventure.
After three days 4WDing in Moab we were ready for something new so headed to Monument Valley to enjoy the sunset that started it all and get back into exploring the National Parks and Canyons in Southern Utah.
To read the full story in the NZ4WD Annual go to Zinio.com (December 11) or purchase your own hard copy at the Adrenalin store.
