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Overlanders Unlimited This is a forum to discuss expedition vehicles and trailer options, a place to talk about builds, modifications, and designs, as well as past and future adventure trips.

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Old 05-05-2008, 09:19 PM
DC DC is offline
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Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: La Sal, Utah
Posts: 531
Outfitter White Rim Trail Expedition

After having run the White Rim Trail in years past in small 4WD vehicles (Scout II, XJ, TJ), my wife Janet and I had the opportunity to go on this really great 4x4 trail in our Dodge 3500/Outfitter Apex 8 pop-up truck camper from March 15th through March 17th. We were joined by Steve & Shin Urban from California in a Ford F350/Outfitter Apex 9.5 and Ben & Tory Matthews from Louisiana in a Ford F350/Outfitter Apex 8.

The White Rim Trail is a 100+ mile long 4x4 trail in the Island in the Sky section of Canyonlands National Park in southeastern Utah near Moab. What makes this rugged trail so special are the truly scenic backdrops of red rock cliffs, canyons, and rock formations along with the Colorado and Green rivers, and the La Sal Mountains to the east.

We started out on 3/14 by meeting at Arch View RV campground just outside of the park, and spent the night there. Unfortunately, the Shafer Trail (the usual starting point for the White Rim Trail), was closed due to significant ice in the shaded sections, so we entered the park via the Potash Road near Arches National Park on the morning of 3/15. After joining the White Rim Trail (WRT) just below Shafer Canyon, we got this shot of Steve & Ben traveling along the rim:


We then stopped at Musselman Arch. Here is a shot of Steve & Shin on the top of the Arch:


We were slated to stay the first night at White Crack camp (at the 40 mile point on the WRT). On the way there, we grabbed this photo looking east towards the La Sal Mountains:


We didn?t take any photos while at White Crack camp, but here is a shot looking back at White Crack point to the southeast as we left the next morning:


The second half of the WRT presents the most challenging obstacles for larger vehicles (as compared to the first half). Prior to getting to Murphy Hogback, here are a couple of shots of a short climb up to a shelf trail:




Here is a photo of our trucks & campers lined up on the road leading to Murphy Hogback:


And here is a shot looking southwest from the WRT. The two buttes in the distance are Elaterite (center) and Bagpipe (to the left), and both are beyond the Green River and in the Maze District of Canyonlands NP (which, believe it or not, is an even more isolated section of the park than the WRT in the Island in the Sky District):


The first big challenge is Murphy Hogback. This shot does not do justice to just how steep this shelf road is in places, but here is Ben & Tory coming up the last fairly level section:


What goes up must come down, so here is a shot of yours truly and Steve coming down the backside of Murphy Hogback:


Here?s an ?advertisement shot? for Outfitter with Candlestick Tower in the background:


For the second big obstacle, here is Steve & Ben coming up to the entrance of Hardscrabble Hill. This is much longer than Murphy Hogback, with a lot of switchbacks that are steeper in quite a few sections. You basically need to just keep on going up and up in 4-wheel-low (so not many photos got taken during this section):


Here is Steve & Ben coming down the back side of Hardscrabble where it?s getting pretty easy again:


And here is a long-distance shot of our second camp at Taylor Canyon (at roughly the 80 mile mark on the WRT). You can see our three trucks parked down near the wash:


It rained a bit on the night of 3/16, so while a bit damp, we did not encounter any significant mud on the remaining part of the WRT when we left Taylor Canyon that morning (versus the heavy rain that had been forecasted). Just when we thought we had put all the difficult stuff behind us, we ran into a really narrow shelf section of the trail with a rock wall on the passenger-side and a vertical drop-off on the drivers-side overhanging the Green River. We lightly tagged the casing of our side awning against the wall when we rocked a bit at one point (luckily it?s mostly a cosmetic crease in the outer casing). Anyway, here is a shot of coming up the side of the mesa on the Mineral Bottom Road leading up to the top of Island in the Sky (and you can see the Green River down in the bottom of the canyon):


Once we got on top, we saw that the rain we had down at the 5000 foot level on the WRT had turned to snow at the 6000 foot level of the mesa top. Here is a shot of that before we headed out the remaining 11 miles of the Mineral Bottom Road (or Horsethief Trail) before rejoining Hwy 313 and pavement.


I might add that Steve had kidded before the trip that he hoped to run into mud since he had bought a new set of ProComp M/T tires for the trip. Well, he got his wish on this road. The further we traveled on it, the worse it got. We were all throwing copious amounts of mud up under our trucks and all over the leading surfaces of our campers. You had to keep your speed up though and stay in the center, crowned part of the dirt road as things got pretty squirrelly and it would be easy to get bogged down. This ultimately led to an almost hour visit at a car wash place in Moab, where we must have sprayed off more than a 100 pounds of mud from each vehicle. Here?s a shot of that happy effort:


After fueling up and grabbing a quick bite of lunch, we headed into Arches National Park just north of Moab. We hiked around the Windows section getting a number of shots of the many arches in that section of the park. Here is one of Double Arch:


We then headed west on the Salt Valley Road, which is a sandy road in a wash bed that leads to Klondike Bluffs and then out of the park onto BLM land as Salt Valley continues westward. We scouted out a nice camp next to a rocky ridge on a side road for our last camp before we all split up and went our separate ways the next day on 3/18. Here is a shot of our camp for the night of 3/17:


To say the least, we all had a total blast and enjoyed each other?s company. The weather mostly cooperated, and the superb scenery was far better than our photos could do justice to. In many cases, the best shots of our rigs getting through the worst of the various obstacles couldn?t be had as we were busy getting through or over them.

For those who might be interested in attempting the White Rim Trail, you have to get on a waiting list with the park service for the dates you are interested in. It can then sometimes take up to a year to finally get your dates and reservations for a backcountry permit, as it is really a popular destination and the park limits the number of people that can go in on the trail at any given time. Fall and spring are the best (and most popular) times to go on the WRT, with the summer months being far too hot, and the winter being too cold and snowy for most people?s tastes. I would not recommend this trail for heavy, hard-sided campers, or DRW pickups. Going slow is the rule, with 2 to 5 MPH in the more difficult sections, and maybe 10 to 15 MPH when you hit ?good? spots (the latter of which don?t last very long). Of course, with a Jeep or other small 4x4 vehicle, the trail can be run much faster and easier.

Again, this was nothing short of a totally fantastic trip with good folks. And it just goes to show how 4x4 truck camper rigs (in this case, with pop-up style campers), can really go into some pretty amazing and rugged country and make it out to tell the tale.

By the way, I have future plans to get a hitch extension so I can flat-tow our TJ, so we can hit some even more challenging areas while using our camper as a base camp. But for now, we are really enjoying taking our Dodge & Outfitter camper into some pretty cool and rugged areas.

Don

P.S. Here are some specs on our truck and camper:

- 2007 Dodge Ram 3500 Heavy Duty QC SB SRW 4x4 with 6.7L Cummins turbo diesel, 68RFE 6-speed automatic transmission, 9.25 front axle/11.50 rear axle with AAM TracRite-GT limited slip differential, exhaust brake, 35x12.50 Toyo Open Country M/T tires mounted on Power Wagon 17x8 forged aluminum wheels, full skid plates, Firestone Ride-Rite air bags (with in-cab controls, compressor & tank), Rancho RS9000XL shocks, Amp Research power retractable running boards, Road Armor rear bumper, Line-X bedliner, Undercover tonneau cover. Soon to be added: Buckstop Baja front bumper with Warn 16.5ti 16,500 lb winch and PIAA fog & driving lights.
- 2007 Outfitter Apex 8 customized & modified with 220W solar, Blue Sky Solar Boost 2000E MPPT controller, twin 6 volt T-145 Trojan batteries, Xantrex Prosine 2000W inverter/converter/charger, Honda EU2000i generator, Tundra refrigerator, Polar Cub A/C, Suburban 20,000 BTU furnace, Atwood XT propane/AC water heater, ShurFlo Extreme 4 variable speed water pump, shower, Thetford marine toilet, 44 gallons fresh water/16 gallon gray water/16 gallon black water tanks, microwave, Suburban 3-burner cooktop with oven, twin Fantastic fans, queen-size cab-over bed, Happijac tie-down system with Fast Guns, electric Happijac jacks, side/rear awnings, stereo system with outside speakers, etc.

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