Moab vanlife advice?

[Boissal]

I'm in Toronto and have been making the three day drive out to spend time in Grand Junction / Fruita and Moab once or twice a season for the last handful of years. (First world problems) but not going this year has really had me down this summer.

Inspired by skardshtles post. In my first trip out that way I drove right through and spent the night in Cortez, not knowing Phil's World was right there. Also went site seeing at Bryce Canyon, not aware of the riding at Thunder Mountain.

That's quite the drive, your dedication is laudable!

I visited Bryce my first year in UT back in '04, waited until '19 to discover Thunder Mtn. Took me quite a while to see the light even though I was driving through the area 5 or 6x a year to go climb.
I rode Moab a whole bunch on my first year here (7 or 8 trips including day trips from SLC) but haven't gone back since.
Been doing it all wrong for 15 years!

[alpinevibes]

Bringing it back to the present: we’ve been out to Moab twice in the last month, including this last weekend. We usually get there 3+ times a year over the last decade and this fall has been noticeably more busy than ever before.

Nothing that hasn’t been said above, but for the vanlife types - there are people everywhere. We drove in Thursday night and there were so many vans within 100ft of the hwy, everywhere from Klondike to Bar M. People seemingly on every dirt road you can imagine. Grandstaff parking for Porcupine was also unimaginably busy a few weeks back.

It’s been a long COVID summer in aspen with visitors and vanlife refugees but Moab is next level.


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[Roxtar]

First Moab experience was 2001 24 Hrs of Moab race. Team "Cooking with Chamois Butter"
Hung out and rode there for the next week.

[babybear]

Y'all can hate if you want. I wanna go back. Just, you know... maybe not on a weekend.

At least as far as I’m concerned it’s all lament and no hate.
I dig your style. So as people that seem similar - take our word that it’s crazier than you’d imagine if you have not been there this summer compared to your previous experiences.

I know it will level out eventually but it’s beyond expectations and I deal with yellowstone style crowds lol

[rideit]

I opine that you two would get along very well.

[cbgarrett]

As someone that goes to Moab 3-5x per year for the last 10 years, and about 1x per year the previous 10 years, we have definitely seen the increase in visitation. However, there is no thought of any lament or hate from us. We love Moab and the riding there remains second to none. We never have a bad time. The level of fun has remained constant and high. Much of the issues this year are due to the road construction.

In the trips we have made this year, we have never found crowded trails. Rode Mag7 this past Saturday morning and saw about a dozen other riders total. Rode Ahab that same afternoon and saw about 10 riders, even though the parking lot was 2/3 full.

Moab always delivers for us in the fun department.

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

North Klondike is hoppin. Got one of the last usable spots at 10pm last night. My mag 7 shuttle today was cancelled. Thinking cliffhanger > rockstacker > ahab.

WE shuttle tomorrow with a buddy coming over from CO.

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[rideit]

You are going to have tons of fun on that 150 down there. Enjoy!

[skaredshtles]

North Klondike is hoppin. Got one of the last usable spots at 10pm last night. My mag 7 shuttle today was cancelled. Thinking cliffhanger > rockstacker > ahab.

Do yourself a favor and loop Ahab *before* you go out and do Rockstacker, then finish with Jackson's.

WE shuttle tomorrow with a buddy coming over from CO.

Come on... there is NO fucking way TWE is open completely.

[muted]

just left yesterday. Weather is perfect, and crowds aren't bad.

[joetron]

Do yourself a favor and loop Ahab *before* you go out and do Rockstacker, then finish with Jackson's.


Come on... there is NO fucking way TWE is open completely.

This. Mostly the Amasa Back route...less the WE nomenclature, but sounds like it’s Koko down. Which is still rad. You might get lucky with Hazzard tmrw


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[rideit]

Anyone know the history of the Enchilada moniker?

[evasive_MT]

Do yourself a favor and loop Ahab *before* you go out and do Rockstacker, then finish with Jackson's.


Come on... there is NO fucking way TWE is open completely.

This is the way.

[evasive_MT]

Anyone know the history of the Enchilada moniker?

As I understand it, it was originally the locals’ term for riding Burro/Hazzard/Koko/UPS/LPS/Porc from town. They called a shuttled ride to the top just “Burro down”. But visitors wanted to say they rode “the whole enchilada” and the bike shops and the rest of town are in the business of making them happy, so in common use TWE came to mean Burro down.

[skaredshtles]

As I understand it, it was originally the locals’ term for riding Burro/Hazzard/Koko/UPS/LPS/Porc from town. They called a shuttled ride to the top just “Burro down”. But visitors wanted to say they rode “the whole enchilada” and the bike shops and the rest of town are in the business of making them happy, so in common use TWE came to mean Burro down.

This. Saying you've done TWE when you've only done Burro down is disingenuous.

Full disclosure: I've done Burro down and called it TWE.

[skaredshtles]

So... any of you old Moab-ridin' codgers remember Megalodon?

[rideit]

Of course!
And a few others...

[skaredshtles]

Of course!
And a few others...

Did you ever get an opportunity to rideit?

[rideit]

More like Walkit

[muted]

I remember that name but can't picture it, where was it?

[Dantheman]

So... any of you old Moab-ridin' codgers remember Megalodon?

That was a cool trail. Managed to ride a lot of it but certainly not all of it. The landowner reportedly dynamited the cliffside waterfall section near the bottom.

I remember that name but can't picture it, where was it?

Started off La Sal Loop Rd maybe halfway up to Koko and descended down towards Kens Lake.

[skaredshtles]

I remember that name but can't picture it, where was it?

It was somewhere south of Sand Flats Rd IIRC. Started... above the Porc Rim cattle trough... I think. There was a brief kerfuffle in the late 90's (?) when the BLM destroyed it.

Kinda wished I'd had an opportunity to walkit.

[Dantheman]

It was somewhere south of Sand Flats Rd IIRC. Started... above the Porc Rim cattle trough... I think. There was a brief kerfuffle in the late 90's (?) when the BLM destroyed it.

Kinda wished I'd had an opportunity to walkit.

Hmmm.... The times I got to ride it were circa 2009-2010 and the subsequent destruction was carried out by a private landowner.

[skaredshtles]

Hmmm.... The times I got to ride it were circa 2009-2010 and the subsequent destruction was carried out by a private landowner.

My rememberer is really poor - so my timeline could be completely wrong. It was south of Sand Flats, though, weren't it? Maybe somewhere in Rill Creek canyon or Mill Creek?

[Dantheman]

It was south of Sand Flats, though, weren't it? Maybe somewhere in Rill Creek canyon or Mill Creek?

Yeah, it started off La Sal Loop Rd and more or less followed Mill Creek down towards Kens Lake.