Howdy All, I have never ridden off road in the Moab area, Don and I will be riding our Ural two wheel drive side-car rigs in that area the later part of April and early May of this year. If anyone has any tracks that they think we would be interested in riding I sure would like to get a copy of them. Thanks.
Dave, You and Don are indeed "Howling Mad" and will be in heaven in the Moab area! Good paper maps will suffice for most stuff. Hope you have a week or more - there's so much to see! The White Rim trail is a must! Try to keep all three wheels down - Larry
You should ride in Kane Canyon to Harah Pass and out to Chicken Corners. I have attached a GPS track. Also is a lap around Jackson Hole. Nice Scenic Bute. Enjoy GpsKevin
Howdy Levity, I have heard that the White Rim Trail, has some very steep spots, the Urals just don't have the power to climb the stuff that dirt bikes can just whiz up or that Jeeps can winch over. We plan to be in the area for at least 5 days maybe more. We will just try to do as much as we can, if we get to a place were we can't go any further we'll just turn around. The thing I am most concerned with is getting into a situation where we go down something that if we had to turn around we couldn't get back up, that would truly suck.
Howdy Glassett, Thank you very much for the GPS track, I'll down load it and give it a try. I realize we won't be able to do any of the super nasty stuff but we want to ride in this bueatiful country and get some super photos. We'd like to do like we did in Death Valley, camp out on the trail and get some great sunset photos. Thanks again for posting the track.
The white rim trail would be just fine for the Ural. It can be done in a 2 wheel drive car. But it is long and sometimes borring. I recommend the harah Pass option. Attached is the White Rim tracks
try this site out....lots of info.... http://www.treknow.com/ Here's the Moab Utah specific info. http://www.treknow.com/products/ut-moab.htm I haven't shelled out the dough for any of the CD's....but I've talked with someone who has and had a look at his CD....pretty comprehensive....
Howdy Gpskevin, Thank you for the track. Please bear with my computer and GPS ignorance, I noticed that your track has 1,898 points my PGS can only hold 500 points in a track, if I download this track will my GPS take it? Also I noticed that the track dead-ended in the middle of no where, is this a trail that you have to turn back on and retrace or is it a loop that will connect with another road or trail going back to the main road? I have never been there so I am asking the questions now rather then find myself in a bad situation when down there. Thanks for any additional information you can give.
You must filter the track down to 500 points, this depends on what software you are using. If you are running Mapsource you just double click on the track to open it, then select the filter and maximum 500 points. It is good practice not to filter a track until you want to upload it to a gps. That is why I sent you the track with so many points. This way you can keep the high quality data for later editing. I have included a reduced copy if you have trouble use this small one. Kevin
As Sherpa said, the Treknow CD for Moab is a great tool. You can download tracks into your GPS and print rollcharts for them. I found that using the GPS and rollchart together saved mistakes at intersections. I have a Garmin III+ which is an older memory deprived unit. The program will allow you do download tracks in the lower number of points to which the older units are limited. I don't want to dispute Gpskevin's word, but I don't think I would take a 2 wheel drive car up or down Murphy's Hogback. I saw lots of bicycle tour service trucks in 2 and 4 wheel drive, but they came in from both ends. They didn't attempt that climb. Wayne
Howdy Wayne, Thank you for your input. The Urals are capable of doing some pretty hard core stuff but they just don't have the horse power or low enough gearing to do long steep climbs. That is the only fear I have, going down something that if we had to we could not get back up. The worst thing that could happen to us would be to go down something that if we had to turn around because of some obstacle we couldn't deal with and then turn around and not be able to get back up what we had gone down. I have had that happen on a dirt bike and it's a bitch at least on a bike if you have the help of a few folks you can get out with the Urals loaded down with camping gear, etc. we're talking about having to push, pull or carry over 1,000 pounds:eek1
Howdy Mutt, Well your a year to late to see us in Moab, we went last April and had a blast. I posted a pretty good ride report detailing the trip, "Ural-a-ling in Moab". We had so much fun we're thinkin of doing it again this year.
Dave, I will be in moab in april from the 27th through may 5th or so. I am trying to decide which bike to take. big dual sport 900 cagiva or 605 atk dual sport. Never been there so any advice would help from anyone who has been there. Surfed all the Moab sites and it looks like more of a small bike ride.
Howdy Yota, Based on my experience and that isn't much, I would suggest taking the SMALLEST bike with the LARGEST gas tank you can find. We had no problem in carrying the fuel, the Urals were just to big and over geared to do the real nasty stuff. We were limited to doing things that wouldn't burn up the clutch, so no ledge hopping or super steep climbs were in our ride. There are many folks here who have spent a lot of time in the Moab area, I would suggest posting in the regional forums and asking for advise on bikes and gear.
Yota, I spent 6 days in Moab on my XR650L. I've also spent a few days mountain biking there also. We rode a lot of awesome slick rock trails. There are MANY trails within just a few miles of town. I would see no reason to take a big trallie over a dual sport to Moab, unless you needed the big bike to ride all the way there. If your trucking your bike, definetly take the smaller bike. Some of those trails are HAIRY.:eek1 ie...Lions back, cliff hanger, golden crack, potatoe salad hill, amasa back.
Thanks guys I think I am leaning towards the ATK as it looks to be a little to loose and sandy to have fun with the bigger bikes. We are taking the bikes in a truck to Moab anyway.