White Rim Advice

[EWG]

Sweet all, thanks. We've got like 8 people supported by a Jeep GC so space is at a premium.

And if anyone has a decent campsite to gather at the night before, let me know where if you don't mind. PM is fine if you don't want to give away your secret spot. Usually we all just crash randomly on the side of the road somewhere and then meet up in the morning at the visitor center but this year we have a bunch of newbies and they all want to camp together the night before night.

[Danno]

Some in my group once camped down this side road, right near the start of the mineral bottom descent: https://maps.app.goo.gl/uwihQV2GZdkRVSbw9

Pretty decent, and a few options, no idea how likely there will be space

Edit: we usually just get hotels in fruita the night before

[muted reborn]

There will be space somewhere on Mineral. I had a dispersed designated campground to myself in April, 8 miles down Mineral with a bit of a view, on the edge of North fork Of Mineral (right side of the road heading to the river). There's other options too on that road too.




I may regret sharing this, but if you all have pickups or are comfortable driving something like an outback on a dirt road looks hard but isn't if you go slow, for a short stretch, this site can't be beat.

[EWG]

Great stuff all. Really appreciate it. One last question. I've done this a bunch of times but I've never used my own vehicle. Do you guys air down your tires or not? If yes, what pressure are you running? I'm on stock Goodyear Wrangler AT wheels, no bead seals.

[grabtindy]

Depends on the tire size and how heavy your vehicle is, but IME you can drop your pressure by at least 50% before you need to start worrying about rolling a bead. I would do it for a stretch that long.

[EWG]

Thanks for the thoughts. I'm thinking of running around 25-28. I think the highway pressure is like 37. So it won't be plush, but it'll be a lot plusher than 37.

[jummo]

The only significant sand was between Hardscrabble and Labyrinth, where it is always deep. The road is in excellent condition and we didn't air down and had no trouble whatsoever in a Tundra.

[Danno]

I've never aired down. :shrug:

[EWG]

Mini TR with answers to my own questions:

6 people with 1 vehicle - that's about the limit. Would have been tight (but maybe just possible) to fit in a 7th. But 6 was really the practical limit. Opted to meet at a BLM spot on the outskirts just to make it easy for everyone to congregate without cell service.

Kuat trailer hitch worked fine. Road was in great shape - not as sandy as some years past. Hardscrabble was worse than Murphy's for 4x4 but my lovely wife's off road rig handled both without breaking a sweat. I aired down from 40 psi to 30 psi and I could immediate tell the difference. Good idea. When you only have one vehicle the margin for error is smaller which was something I hadn't considered - always had more than one support vehicle in the past. Also had 4 newbies out of 6 and I turned into outfitter/tour guide which was also kinda different with less room for error.

Some small issues - broken chain but I had a spare (which was fun to fix in the wind), pretty gusty here and there, etc. Last night out we had 60+ mph gusts which trashed the large, high profile tent I had even though it's a quite nice one, forcing my aforementioned lovely wife and I to drop the tent and sleep in the front seats of the vehicle. The two other tents, both extremely light 2 person backpacking tents, made it through fine. Gooseberry and Airport are pretty damn exposed to wind. I know better than to take a high profile tent into the desert when high winds are predicted so I feel dumb, but it was just a blip in an otherwise perfect trip.

Saw a stock Mazda CX-5 and a Mercedes Unimog based thing (maybe a Rise) both at Mussleman Arch, which was fucking hilarious in juxtaposition.

The last day was overcast and we saw a single guy and a separate team of two absolutely cranking, obviously shooting for 1 day PRs. The single guy was flying. We gave him a pickle chip handup which he greatly enjoyed as he grabbed it on full gas. Schafer, as always, is a helluva sight at the end of 3 days and a super satisfying climb at the end. I guarantee that I was much slower up it than the 1 day PR guys, but still feels good at the top.

Great trip. Went as well as you could possibly hope for it to go.

[Danno]

Just got back. More of a driving trip than a biking trip, 8 people in 3 cars with only 2 nights on the rim. It was a blast. I did learn that 50 miles is too much to drive in a day, oof.