My wife and I were trying to come up with something to do for our anniversary when she said "Why don't we go back to Moab?" Well, how could I refuse an invitation like that? We drove up from Albuquerque on Monday and checked into our tiny house lodgings at HTR Moab Lodge. Nice place, although the "loft" was more like an attic. We slept downstairs. The next day we headed east for about 30 miles to take on the Top of the World trail. It is rated as difficult, and there were a few places that qualified as challenging, but most of the time it consisted of one ledge after another, followed by more ledges, then a few more... you get the picture. It was also pretty steep for nearly the whole route, especially the last half. Anyway, here we go with the pics...
At the trailhead we met a family from Nashville, TN, Ed and Carly Wansing and their two sons. They own a built LJ that they left at home for this trip, and they have lots of experience on East Coast trails but are pretty new to the West. They had rented a pretty nice JLR from Cliffhanger Jeep Rental, and we decided to tackle the trail together. That's Ed on the right.
This is the first major obstacle on the trail, about 4 feet tall and undercut a bit.
Ed spotted me and made some great suggestions, He said I made it look easy, but it was easy because I had really good spotting.
After that it was ledges, ledges and more ledges, all the way to the top, but only a few were more than an average challenge. Lots of scraping noises and a bang or two, but no damage for either of us. That fresh gouge just right of center was my contribution - I left more than my share of them on the way.
And here we are at the top of Top of the World, with its obligatory and iconic poser shot.
It occurred to me that, while the reason the poser shot was iconic was because everyone took pics of that spot, no one ever showed what it is like from the driver's point of view. So here ya go. When you drive out on the ledge the WOW! factor is huge - vertigo is optional...
After surviving the photo op, it's time for a lunch break. Be sure you park carefully - if you don't block your tires your jeep will likely roll all the way back to the trailhead on its own.
The trail was just as fun going down, but with added momentum. I didn't take any pics of that part of the trip. My thanks to Ed Wansing and his family. I'm not sure I was as much help to him as he was to me, but it's always a pleasure to meet new folks and learn to depend on each other, if only for a day. It's what Jeeping is all about.
I'll save the second day's narrative for tomorrow or the next day, it's getting late and I'm old. G'night all.
At the trailhead we met a family from Nashville, TN, Ed and Carly Wansing and their two sons. They own a built LJ that they left at home for this trip, and they have lots of experience on East Coast trails but are pretty new to the West. They had rented a pretty nice JLR from Cliffhanger Jeep Rental, and we decided to tackle the trail together. That's Ed on the right.
This is the first major obstacle on the trail, about 4 feet tall and undercut a bit.
Ed spotted me and made some great suggestions, He said I made it look easy, but it was easy because I had really good spotting.
After that it was ledges, ledges and more ledges, all the way to the top, but only a few were more than an average challenge. Lots of scraping noises and a bang or two, but no damage for either of us. That fresh gouge just right of center was my contribution - I left more than my share of them on the way.
And here we are at the top of Top of the World, with its obligatory and iconic poser shot.
It occurred to me that, while the reason the poser shot was iconic was because everyone took pics of that spot, no one ever showed what it is like from the driver's point of view. So here ya go. When you drive out on the ledge the WOW! factor is huge - vertigo is optional...
After surviving the photo op, it's time for a lunch break. Be sure you park carefully - if you don't block your tires your jeep will likely roll all the way back to the trailhead on its own.
The trail was just as fun going down, but with added momentum. I didn't take any pics of that part of the trip. My thanks to Ed Wansing and his family. I'm not sure I was as much help to him as he was to me, but it's always a pleasure to meet new folks and learn to depend on each other, if only for a day. It's what Jeeping is all about.
I'll save the second day's narrative for tomorrow or the next day, it's getting late and I'm old. G'night all.
