Poison Spider Mesa
It had been way too long since we did the Trifecta (Poison Spider Mesa, Golden Spike, and Gold Bar Rim), and it was one of our primary goals for the "classic Moab" trip. It was Niko's first time wheeling in Moab with his Jeep, and we wanted to show him all that Moab had to offer. We were all pretty excited as we stopped by the petroglyphs to take photos and enjoy the cool morning air. We were already aired down, so we drove through the parking area at the trailhead to start the trail.
The early switchbacks were fun, with ledges that were chunkier than we remembered. We dropped through the Chutes without much fanfare, and then we went to the Big Ledge. That's when we got out to watch each other tackle the obstacle. It was a great way to start the day.
We cruised around the corner and decided to take a spur to see if we could find the Applecore Arch. We wandered around for a bit but didn't find it. We had a lot of trail yet to do, so we went back to the main trail and kept going.
The Prelaunch Pad was fun, and no one had any issues on it. When we got to the Waterfall we were careful and spotted each other, but it really wasn't necessary. The long-wheelbase Jeeps had a really easy time, and the shorter Jeeps also didn't have any problems. We initially missed the sharp left turn and wandered around a bit before figuring it out.
We stopped in the Wedgy to take lots of photos, and Niko put his GoPro in the crack to drive over it. That obstacle will always be fun.
We cruised along High Speed Mesa and stopped at the little girl's grave site. Instead of only coins, now people were leaving candy, toys, and other things. We all found something interesting to leave there, and then we pushed on.
We were sad to see the Sand Bowl fenced off. We didn't know what kind of damage a vehicle could do to sand while doing donuts in it, so we were confused. It's a bummer, but there is still a lot to the trail.
Our goal was the Trifecta, and when we got to the intersection with Golden Spike we talked about it for a bit before deciding to skip the far end of Poison Spider Mesa in order to save time. We'd end up stuck behind some other groups throughout the day who were having some bad luck, and that meant we finished the trail at dusk next to the pavement. It was a good choice. We turned onto Golden Spike.
Reports from Other Days: 10
Use the arrows or dots to flip through the previews of the other reports for Poison Spider Mesa. Click one of them to read more and see all of the photos from that day.
