Behind the Rocks
The goal for this trip was to take at least one day and ride trails with the locals. It worked out that the Moab Friends for Wheelin’ group planned a club run to Behind the Rocks for July 4th. With the temps starting to climb in the summer months, the club wanted to get an early start. We met at the trailhead at 7:45a for meet and greet and we were on our way by 8:00. Today was not going to be the traditional Easter Jeep run of Behind the Rocks, but instead, a modified backward run that would allow a climb up White Knuckle and High Dive. But first things first, Gatekeeper! The first part of BTR is a mild climb that allows a nice overlook of Hwy 191 and the staging area, then the big obstacle ensuring you are ready for what is ahead on this ride. Gatekeeper is a fun climb with some deception on the left. The initial line choice looks left, but the steps throw your machine off-camber passenger with a tippy spot about midway up. Our leader, Dee, suggested we stay far right and walk the steps left until traction and climb from there. Everyone got Gatekeeper out of the way and we continued on the county road to loop around Prostitute Butte and head for White Knuckle.
ee was a magnificent trail leader and gave us trail etiquette, scenery hints, and other fun facts over the radio as we drove the sandy county road. We reached the backside of the Butte and stopped for a 10-100. After a brief chat, we belted back in and headed for White Knuckle. The trail Dee chose to get to White Knuckle was amazing. It seemed as though the trail was very lightly traveled with lots of terrain changes and turns. Finally, we were at the bottom of White Knuckle Hill. The typical EJS direction is dropping down this obstacle, which is known to cause quite a few front rollovers because of the size of the drop. We were looking up the obstacle it was massive! Jeff lined the Suzuki up for several attempts. Today was not proving to be fruitful for the lightweight buggy. Persistence paid off and he maneuvered up the obstacle. Chris was next in her two door JK. She chose a straight approach and threw out a winch line. I can’t say that I blame her! Dee went next with her LS powered LJ on Trep stickies. Her line choice was spot on and the 6.0 liter growled that LJ right to the top of the obstacle. Now it was my turn. I lined the beast up fairly straight given I was the longest rig in the group. Once the front bumper cleared, I eased the tires up onto the first part of the wall obstacle. With the 2 fronts up on top, I began to seek a grip line that would keep my belly skid off the rock ledge. With every different line attempt, my long wheelbase would hang high center on the gas tank skid and steal my rear wheel traction. I finally decided it would be wise to winch over the ledge before I broke something. The Warn Zeon 10s had to work its butt off to get my 6000 pound JKU over the shelf. We paused at the top for lunch and some laughs before heading on toward Hummer Hill and High Dive.
Dee led us out and down Hummer Hill. That’s a steep hill! We didn’t turn to climb back up because there was a convoy of SxS machines waiting to go up. We proceeded on to get a great look at Balcony Arch. There seemed to be water in the base of the arch formation which was shimmering on the wall behind the arch as we drove by. I don’t think anybody captured the moving lights in the photos we took. After rounding the Butte we headed for Upchuck and High Dive.
The standard EJS route is down High Dive which is a very dangerous route and often sees Jeeps on their roofs from a bad line choice. We were running backward so we came down UpChuck, and stared up at the menacing High Dive obstacle. Dee and Jeff chose to climb High Dive, and I chose to climb the rocky bypass. I don’t think I had enough tire to get up High Dive, and I didn’t want to mess up everybody’s trip while they had to recover me in the heat. With everybody at the top of High Dive we headed back toward the county road to call it a day.
We said our thanks and goodbyes at the CR split to gatekeeper and 191. Jeff and Dee went down Gatekeeper and we headed out toward the county road. While airing up at the highway our base camp group who chose to run Pritchett Canyon that morning came around the corner one vehicle short. Derek had vehicle issues on Chewy in Pritchett Canyon and the group was headed to get recovery gear and tools to get the Blazer back home. It was a great day with new friends and uncharted territories!
