Gold Bar Rim
It's like a roller coaster ride, the Trifecta of Poison Spider Mesa, Golden Spike, and Gold Bar Rim. We'd just done the first two trails, and now it was time to do Gold Bar Rim. We stopped at the top to check out the view, but we didn't do the ledges at the top. After the awesome obstacles we'd done already, it didn't seem worth the effort to go another few feet along the trail. After checking out the scenery, we headed down.
It's always so nice to be doing Gold Bar Rim in the daylight. Route finding at night on slickrock is pretty difficult, and we were happy to have a lot of sunshine left in the day. The trail was scenic, and no one had any issues with it.
Mike knew there was a grave marker near Slide Rock, and we planned on checking it out. When we got near the obstacle we saw a few side-by-sides working on it, so we stopped to go to the marker. It seemed like such a random place for it.
We drove up to get in line at Slide Rock and they were really having some issues. It seemed one was underpowered and was having trouble using the winch point on the hill, and another had a broken drive shaft. The vehicles were piling up, and they kept working on it rather than letting anyone go by. We were there to help if they wanted us to use a tow strap to drag them up, but no one wanted it. We sat there as the sun started going down and it started getting chilly.
When it was our turn, Mike had some issues finding the right line so he winched up. Then everyone else found a good line on the right side. It took some momentum and wheel stands, but everyone else drove up it with a lot of fanfare.
A group behind us caught up so we let them pass, and then we caught up to them at Improbable Hill. One of the big Jeep Grand Cherokees cruised up it like it was just a tiny hill, and it was cool to watch. We skipped it, trying to get back to town before it was completely dark.
We drove over Gooney Bird Rock's toes for good luck, and then made good time getting up and over to the highway. When we got there, we found lots of developed parking areas and people camping. Things have really changed. We put in a few windows to cut out the cold, and then headed into Moab. What a fantastic day!
Reports from Other Days: 11
Use the arrows or dots to flip through the previews of the other reports for Gold Bar Rim. Click one of them to read more and see all of the photos from that day.
