Moab vanlife advice?

[smmokan]

The Whole Enchilada on a Saturday in October, right before it snows... that sounds like a fine idea. Please report back.

[Canada1]

If you’re going into or through town, do it in the early morning. The traffic jams are legit. Even the bike paths are messed up on both sides of the road. It is quicker to run to green river for supplies than go into town.

[BoulderBreak]

+1 for not going through town. Had to pass through Sunday PM would not recommend, almost surely quicker to get to Green River. Plenty of space out there to spread out when not in town proper

[grskier]

Man... brave heading to Mojab in October, esp this year. From all 1st hand reports I've heard, it's been an *extra* special shitshow this autumn.

Then again, it's Moab... so fun will be had regardless of the shitshow.

That last part. We had to have a friend who lives out there find us an established campsite (4 kids in our group, so pit toilets are a nice amenity).
We ended up out on 128 and that was rad, camp site was full, but no real char heads. We only went out onto 191 once to bring the kids to Bar M. We made the call to go out to Deadhorse before we went back to camp, it would have been faster to go all the way up to 70 and back to 128 to get to camp.

Bring enough food to stay out of town.

[bagtagley]

Liar, kids love to poop in a hole or bucket or anywhere new and weird. It was the wives, wasn't it?

[babybear]

we passed thru last week thinking we might spend the night on our way back towards home and here’s the traffic backed up all the way from town to the arches entrance.


we split town and went out to the san raphael swell instead

[jackstraw]

we passed thru last week thinking we might spend the night on our way back towards home and here’s the traffic backed up all the way from town to the arches entrance.


we split town and went out to the san raphael swell instead

jfc

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

Damn. Supposed to meet friends from Eagle County. They aren't quite as hardcore as me. I have the super rustic poop in hole and stay on BLM for days self supported thing kinda dialed.....but I am a single dude with dirtbag roots.

[slcdawg]

I was there last week near the South/Standard Klondike trailhead. Cell coverage is good in places. While the area was packed with RVs and tents, if you get there with daylight you should be able to find a spot with some breathing room. Dino on Klondike was busy (popular for kids/beginners) but all the other trails (Mega/Baby/etc) was pretty much empty on Saturday. The trails near Arth's corner were mostly empty. As noted, there is construction and you'll hit traffic headed into town in the afternoon. We also hit traffic to get into Sand Flats to ride Slickrock, but the trails and parking lot were not that crowded, FWIW.

[skaredshtles]

Damn. Supposed to meet friends from Eagle County. They aren't quite as hardcore as me. I have the super rustic poop in hole and stay on BLM for days self supported thing kinda dialed.....but I am a single dude with dirtbag roots.

Be advised - pooping in a hole is NOT allowed any longer. Make sure to bring a portable crapper with you.

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

Be advised - pooping in a hole is NOT allowed any longer. Make sure to bring a portable crapper with you.

Contractor bags count as a "portable crapper" right? Been doing that for a while now anyway, because when you shit in the desert doesn't it just stay forever and never breakdown?

[slcdawg]

Be advised - pooping in a hole is NOT allowed any longer. Make sure to bring a portable crapper with you.

True Dat. Our dog discovered tons of shallow buried treats last week.

[rideit]

The Whole Enchilada on a Saturday in October, right before it snows... that sounds like a fine idea. Please report back.

Pretty fast group, we are leaving well before the shuttles. its gonna be COLD, which will mitigate some people. We may possibly be the first ones down if things go smoothly...

[skaredshtles]

Contractor bags count as a "portable crapper" right? Been doing that for a while now anyway, because when you shit in the desert doesn't it just stay forever and never breakdown?

I'd think so... but you might call and check with the local BLM office to get the scoop on what's acceptable.

[yeahman]

Make Moab Quiet Again

[Name Redacted]

Some observations that we made through our recent trip to Moab:
A) construction is the route of most of the traffic, crowds really aren't that bad, if you are coming in from the north or east get in before rush hour which is 3pm.
B) Natl Parks are crowded, but if you go before the guard shack opens, it is dead, and you just pay at the visitors center. Super mellow on weekdays.
C) Sand Flats is busy but only took 30 mins to get through on a Friday. You could go the back way in if ya wanted.
D) Whole Enchilada is busy, like every day, but just accept that, and roll with it. We had a big group one day and there were agro DHers but we actually finished before them because they were the hare, and we were the tortoise. Fucking morons, sorry if the cows fucked up your strava.
E) Don't try to find a campsite on a Saturday night. Duh.

[snowaddict91]

Some observations that we made through our recent trip to Moab:
A) construction is the route of most of the traffic, crowds really aren't that bad, if you are coming in from the north or east get in before rush hour which is 3pm.
B) Natl Parks are crowded, but if you go before the guard shack opens, it is dead, and you just pay at the visitors center. Super mellow on weekdays.
C) Sand Flats is busy but only took 30 mins to get through on a Friday. You could go the back way in if ya wanted.
D) Whole Enchilada is busy, like every day, but just accept that, and roll with it. We had a big group one day and there were agro DHers but we actually finished before them because they were the hare, and we were the tortoise. Fucking morons, sorry if the cows fucked up your strava.
E) Don't try to find a campsite on a Saturday night. Duh.

I haven't been to Moab proper in a minute but I'll agree. But even finding a campsite on a thursday or friday night can be tough IME. lots of people in SLC have fridays off.

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

Gonna try to get down there midweek and find a good camp spot and claim it for a few days. Gonna do a TWE and Mag7 shuttle most likely....again during weekdays. I rode like 85% of Mag 7 a couple springs ago and pedaled all the way back up after. Actually wasn't bad though. Kinda have to ride Portal though, no?

[homemadesalsa]

North Klondike has been my go-to for a while now. Decent cell service, 2 shitters, and fun riding right from camp. But if the wind blows, ugh.

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[BFD]

i come up from the south so I stay windwhistle campground. was very quiet last time I was there. Have not been back for a couple of years as I made the mistake of pedaling up part of mag7 and was traumatized by the crowds. Not sure about internet but Monticello library has it. Have to drive through Moab but drive was not bad and gave stuff time to warm up. Drive through town now may be too much.

[North]

Honestly the doomsday stories seem overblown to me. Was in Moab Friday - Wed of last week. Traffic is bad when you’d expect to be. Weekends are busy, avoid town when possible or get in early. Weekdays less so. Not rocket surgery.

[Wapow]

And all while Utah is setting new records of daily new covid cases. Good buddy just got back from Moab. He said very few masks and dining in restaurants is close to "normal". I'm gonna skip it this year, which sucks!

[babybear]

well glad to hear it is not as busy at camping spots and trails as it seemed when we passed through last week.
i’ve been to moab 1-2x every yr for the past 20 yrs and it was by far busier than i’ve ever seen it. Which we had expected, but it seemed worse than expectations, -ie not one parking space at the City Mkt- so we kept going.
I think people are being pushed out of recreation in N CO too with the fires so probably contributing to more crowds as well
But Rideit enjoy your almost birthday riding! as we passed through we were reminiscing about the Ho downs when we had a bunch of mags doing it. maybe a gathering next yr?


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[cat in january]

I know you are asking for boondocking, but horsethief is a good campground although it can be windy

[Name Redacted]

Gonna try to get down there midweek and find a good camp spot and claim it for a few days. Gonna do a TWE and Mag7 shuttle most likely....again during weekdays. I rode like 85% of Mag 7 a couple springs ago and pedaled all the way back up after. Actually wasn't bad though. Kinda have to ride Portal though, no?

"Riding" the Portal, everyone should do it at least once. We ended up coming down it at night in the rain one time because of slow partners and losing the trail a few times, that was fun, headlamp battery died too. You can bail out early to the road (313), and that's probably not that bad of an idea if you are just looking for a fun ride, adding Portal on definitely commits you to some more serious climbing and descending which is a much different kind of riding than Mag7.

If you stay up 313, and want a mellow down-day ride, we thought "Rodeo" was a super fun loop of consistently blue tech terrain. Ride right out of Horsethief campground.