MOAB travel/route recommendations?

Caver Dave

Caver Dave

Just holdin' it down here in BFV
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Planning a trip to Moab in April 2017...

At this point, working on getting both towrig & Jeep up to snuff, so I won't (hopefully) spend the entire trip wrenching... though it can always happen.

I may have additional riders/drivers along, but since I can't bank on that until the minute trip starts, "Plan A" is to do the round-trip by my lonesome... planning on about 3 weeks total, minimum of 1 week in Moab and the rest getting to/from, with maybe some side jaunts (never been west of BFIowa/St.Louis area).
 
Don't do the central or northern route. Go through the South (GA, AL, MS, TX, OK, NM, etc). Scenery is ten times better.

Took us like 39 hours out and like 33 hours home. But I was flat towing with a 5 cyl H3.... So you can prob knock some serious time off of that.
 
REDLYNER said:
Don't do the central or northern route. Go through the South (GA, AL, MS, TX, OK, NM, etc). Scenery is ten times better.
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X2 and theres lots youll want to stop and look at along the way.The Memphis to Knoxville leg is just a miserable grind,I hate it.
 
I'm assuming you *want* to do the road trip, and *want* to be driving Mossy on the trails... but if looking for an alternative... last October a bunch of us from my club went. About half drove and half flew. I flew w/ a buddy into Denver, rented a car and drove it to Moab. In Moab we rented a JK for the week. Ponied up for the "extreme" version. Split between the two of us this was definitely more cost effective than the cost of gas/maintenance etc on hauling our own junk out there.
Of course back then gas was more than today, who knows what it will be next year.

We took that JK just about anywhere I would have driven myself. There ntal company has some "restricted" trails you're not supposed to be one... we may, or may not, have covered up their logo on teh Jeeps and done them anyway...
 
I 40 if your towing, if you go I 70 you will get to experience the great plains and the rocky mtns, and I think everyone should see. Towing over the rockies would SUCK though

In my opinion, which is worthless, the drive through Texas, new mexico is boring as hell!
 
Oh yeh, and if you can by any means take your own Jeep. Its Freaking Moab, best wheelin you will ever do. This is what you build your junk for, it will mean more to you.
 
What motor is in the tow rig? If it's a boosted diesel, go west on I70 and east on I40.

If you have a choice about when to go, wait until Labor Day and wheel Colorado, too.
 
ecoast said:
SLC is a little closer if you wanted to have anyone fly in to meet you...
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yeah but the drive from Denver is better :flipoff2:
 
Subscribed. Moab is in my sights for either next year or 2018. This August I am going to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and taking I-40 like my last trip to AZ back in 2009.

From my years in Texas I can say that the I-10 route is definitely more scenic on this end of the country but gets that above mentioned "miserable" mark about 300 miles into Texas (a little past San Antonio). After that it's not scenic at all for a LONG time...like the next 1000 miles. I-20 is OK from here to around the middle of Texas (Abilene) then it is basically the same as I-10, then they merge. Either one is a really bad idea for Moab because it puts you WAAAAYYY too far south of Utah.

I like the I-40 route but that stretch across AR, OK, and TX is just plain boring. There are a few "killer hills" for towing (the one just east of Albuquerque heading east is the one I remember) but other than that it is a pretty moderate route.

I would like to learn more about I-70. Rockies or not that sounds like fun.
 
I-70 from Topeka, KS to Limon, CO is not... exciting. It's grass and rolling hills for hours upon hours. But coming from the east coast, that's pretty interesting in itself. We'd pick a point out on the horizon and see how long it actually took to get there. And it's pretty in its own way. The thing about I-70 is that it has a payoff. Starting around Limon, you can see the mountains. You can see the front range, you can see Pike's Peak, you can start to see Denver, etc. Then you get into Denver, deal with Denver traffic, then all of a sudden, the entire interstate goes straight up the mountain. From there to Grand Junction, it's fucking amazing. Past Grand Junction, you're in the desert. Looks kinda like eastern Colorado did, but dryer and redder. Then you get off on 128 and come into Moab the back way through Arches.

Heading out of Moab to the south, you can go down through Cortez and into Durango before heading south to ABQ.

But since it sounds like you have some time on your hands, find out about all the other cool/interesting places you can stop along the way. There's Arches and Canyonlands, of course. But there's also the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Canyons of the Ancients, etc.

Again, April weather will be dodgy at higher elevations, and a lot of shit will still be snowed in. But I'd try to spend as much time out that way as you can manage. There's tons to see, most of which we've never managed to pull off because it was always haul-ass-and-get-there.
 
Left Grand Junction sunny and 68 degrees May 19th of last year. This was Vail pass the same day. Loveland was worse. Been both 40 & 70 a couple times. This yr we're taking the southern route to Memphis then 40 out and 70 back. It's a fairly long drive. I'd split it up.
 

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REDLYNER said:
Took us like 39 hours out and like 33 hours home. But I was flat towing with a 5 cyl H3.... So you can prob knock some serious time off of that.
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Does that include stops for fuel, caffeine, pisstops?

1-tonmudder said:
The Memphis to Knoxville leg is just a miserable grind,I hate it.
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I *DESPISE* that section more than I-85 from Durham-Petersburg!

Jason W. said:
Oh yeh, and if you can by any means take your own Jeep. Its Freaking Moab, best wheelin you will ever do. This is what you build your junk for, it will mean more to you.
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Absolutely! That's the purpose of the trip... taking my Commando out west for the 50th Anniversary.

shawn said:
What motor is in the tow rig? If it's a boosted diesel, go west on I70 and east on I40.
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'04 F-350 SC 4x4 C&C dually w/ 6.0L/5-spd auto

shawn said:
Again, April weather will be dodgy at higher elevations, and a lot of shit will still be snowed in.
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GONOVRIT said:
Left Grand Junction sunny and 68 degrees May 19th of last year. This was Vail pass the same day. Loveland was worse.
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*FAWK!* :eek: Not relishing the thought of towing in the snow/slush on grades, but that's (and wet grass) why I went 4x4...
 
Caver Dave said:
*FAWK!* :eek: Not relishing the thought of towing in the snow/slush on grades, but that's (and wet grass) why I went 4x4...
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Check the weather. It's snowing in Vail every day this week, and we're a couple of weeks later than what you're talking about.

If you're set on going that early, I'd seriously consider skipping the CO route and just going through New Mexico. If you get a decent enough storm in CO, you might be required to run chains (trailer too!) or even have to wait until the road re-opens.
 
Kinda leaning towards I-40 or maybe even I-20 just to see/visit TX/OK/AR (never been to those states)... plus, well over my lifetime quota of fawking cornfields in IA/KS and towing on frozen/crusty roads!
 
Caver Dave said:
plus, well over my lifetime quota of fawking cornfields
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AMEN!!

Ex-inlaws in Central Illinois, 2-3 visits a year....come off the mountain and pass Louisville to nothing but CORN for 100's of miles. All roads intersect at 4-way stops and you get one paved road per county (usually referred to as the SUPER-slab)
 
OK, so we're a little more than 4 months to go... still haven't done shat to either towrig or Moss.
Trying to gauge the travel times for PTO/PDO input...

A couple of buds have said they tag-teamed 24+ hours straight thru and were cooked ("jet lagged"/lethargic as hell) for 2 days afterwards.
The return and subsequent trips, they broke it up with shorter 12 hour days, more stops, etc.... a little more time, but didn't feel run over.

What have you done??
 
Jason W. said:
I 40 if your towing, if you go I 70 you will get to experience the great plains and the rocky mtns, and I think everyone should see. Towing over the rockies would SUCK though

In my opinion, which is worthless, the drive through Texas, new mexico is boring as hell!
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Agreed, We've been both routes to moab and I prefer the northern route. The scenery alone is worth taking I-70 route, weather permitting, imho.

The tow over the passes in Colorado wasn't nearly as bad as everyone made it out to be. I heard all the horror stories from losing transmissions to motors catching fire. This last trip, in Sept., we took a 12 Dodge Ram Dually with a 3 car gooseneck, 3 buggy's, parts, gear, spares, etc. (grossing almost 30k) and we still averaged 40-45 mph up the passes both ways.

We drove through the night into mid Kansas, slept and then finished up the next day into moab. on the way out. Coming back we drove straight through, swithching drivers at each fuel stop, (5-6 hours w/ a 75 gal. aux. tank.)I much preferred that.

If you have any questions, slide by the shop one day.

It's a trip of a lifetime, enjoy!
 
You face the likelihood of snow and ice on the I-70 route through May.

That's one of many reasons it's a better trip in the fall.

Every time we've been, I did it in three legs each way. First two were 12-18 hours, third was shorter.
 
Oliver's said:
If you have any questions, slide by the shop one day.
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Will take you up on that sir!

Loganwayne said:
I'd do the 24 straight threw IF there is three people to help drive.
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3 people? Hell, I *may* be the only driver!

shawn said:
You face the likelihood of snow and ice on the I-70 route through May.

That's one of many reasons it's a better trip in the fall.

Every time we've been, I did it in three legs each way. First two were 12-18 hours, third was shorter.
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Unfortunately, the event is when it is, and 75% of the reason for going.
Will likely take I-40 to (hopefully) bypass any weather issues.
Right now, thinking 2 long days and a 1/2 day in will be the plan...
 
Out of five trips out west we've only stopped for a hotel on one of them. I don't like to stop but I recover well from an all nighter or whatever and have always had another driver.
 
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