White Rim Rd is a remote road in Canyonlands National Park in Utah. Its roughly 100 miles long, and requires a permit just to drive the road. It also requires a 4WD vehicle, which we happen to have.
Although technically the road can be driven in one day (I have no idea how you could accomplish that) its much more fun to spend a night or two in the campgrounds along the road. The campgrounds are not for RVs- its tent camping only.
Our specific trip along White Rim Rd was several months in the making. Actually longer than that if you consider the fact that we had it fully booked for 2021 but our friends are from Canada, and the border wasn't open so we had to cancel. The campgrounds need to be booked 4 months in advance, and they sell out quickly. Our comrades on this trip were friends Brad and Marilyn, and Dolores. They both have 4WD trucks, although they only used Dolores's for this trip.
Marilyn secured our campground reservations (two nights) and then we waited until a few weeks before the trip to finish the planning.
We all had to have tents, and all that goes with that, plus food and water for the group. When it got really close to our trip, we realized that we would be dealing with temperatures below freezing, which added to our necessary gear.
Since Paul and I were coming from the house, it was easiest for all if we brought the food and the tools to cook it etc.
The night before our trip (wish I had a picture of us with our checklists) we had a meeting to go over last minute details, but also to decide whether we should actually attempt the adventure. Sadly, we had received almost an inch of rain in the last 24 hrs, which could affect the passability of the road. Ultimately we decided we could for sure make it as far as our first campground, 26 miles in on WWR. The first half of the road is easier and less mud prone, so that would give the rest time to dry out.
Up at at 'em not so early the next morning, the 5 of us packed the vehicles. It was quite cold and we (mistakenly) thought we had gobs of time to reach our destination. I guess we didn't allow enough time for all the ooing and aahhing we would be doing, because we had to rush at the end of the day to get to our campsite. Here's how Day One went:
After packing, we started down Potash Rd, which would take us to White Rim Rd. There is a lot to see on Potash Rd., so we made several stops (Marilyn is in this picture).
It wasn’t long before we came to our first bit of excitement- Paul followed the tire tracks through the middle of the “puddle”, which turned out to be a mistake, so we waited for the others to let them know that they should hug the fence.
One of the stops was "Thelma and Louise" point, which is where we had lunch.
And then We finally made it to White Rim Road.
The scenery we were passing by was incredible…
I called this Laundry Woman, Paul called it Preacher Woman, but it was still a really cool rock formation.
Sometimes the two vehicles were one behind the other…
And other times, Paul and I scouted ahead and waited for the others at a convenient location. (We usually stopped when Paul said “uh oh, that wasn’t good- we should warn them”)
Our goal was to arrive at our campsite by 4 pm so we could set up, and eat before it started getting cold, and dark. I think we got there around 5:30, but dinner was easy (burgers and potato salad) and we all pitched in so we could get set up quickly. It went surprisingly smoothly for people who aren't used to tent camping.
After dinner we sat by the fire for a bit, but turned in early.
When we got up the next day, it was 28* outside, and everything was coated in ice. We were all awake long before we got up....waiting for daybreak so the sun would heat things up.
While Paul cooked a hearty breakfast of sausage, eggs and hash browns, the rest of us started breaking up camp.
On the road once more, we had a 24 ish mile drive to our next campsite. With it being so cold, we started a bit later in the day than we would have liked, but hey, we only had 24 miles to go!
Along those 24 miles was some of the most spectacular scenery we have ever seen. What also put us in awe is that so few people actually get to see it.
We stopped dozens of times to take pictures of the scenery, but also of each other as we navigated the "not so easy" to drive road.
If you zoom in, you can see the Jeep in this picture…
It was fun, and a bit of a challenge....until we reached Murphy Hogback.... the steep climb up the road was "interesting" and when we got to the top, we had to wait for a bunch of bicyclists before we could head down the hill.
It gave us an opportunity to enjoy the view.
Its funny to note two things...one is that when the going gets tough, I do NOT take pictures. My eyes are glued to the road even though I am not driving. When Paul points something of interest out to me on these roads, I am apt to yell "watch the road!!! Also, pictures do not depict adequately the steepness and narrowness of some of these areas.
Coming down from Murphy Hogback was probably the most exhilarating part of the day. Happy to say we all made it safely.
The guys were fascinated with throwing rocks over ledges, counting the seconds until impact.
Sometimes it was a very long wait. You can see people and vehicles in this picture.
Day 2 was probably the bumpiest of the 3 days, with plenty of bone jarring sections, guaranteed to give you a headache.
This was one of those places where we went through the puddle, and the water came up to the rims on the tires, and the boulders were so big, we told the others that the rocky area to the side of it was the lesser of two evils.
We arrived at our second campsite (Candlestick) a little earlier than the day before, and set up camp pretty efficiently.
Again, the scenery was spectacular, as was the sunset. But it was still cold. Not as cold as the night before, but cold.
We called it a night early, anticipating a long day ahead. We had about another 26 miles to get off of White Rim Rd, but the most difficult section was ahead.
We were all dismayed to hear the pitter patter of rain on the tents at about 2 am. At least one section of the road -Hardscrabble- could be treacherous if we got significant rain. I know we all laid awake, hoping it would stop....which it did, thankfully. At 4 am I asked Paul....should we just get up and go? Brad and Marilyn were having the same conversation. And then it started raining again, so we all went back to sleep.
When we did get up, we were pleased to note that rain on a tent can sound hellacious, but could just be a drizzle. Anyway, the ground was not wet, so after another filling breakfast we broke camp and headed out.
We started out the day driving at an impressive 11 miles per hour. I tracked our trip, and our average moving speed was 7 mph- which gives an idea of the challenges the road presented.
Soon enough, we reached the section called Hardscrabble. The arrows in the picture point to vehicles climbing the side of the hill.
Although the view from the passengers seat in the Jeep looks innocuous enough, it was the steepest road Paul has ever had the Jeep on.
The view from the truck gives a better sense of it- our Jeep is in this picture.
Once at the top, Paul and I chatted with some bikers while waiting for the others.
Of course, what goes up, must come down. Its nice when you can see far ahead on the road, since there are very few places to pass a vehicle coming from the other direction. One of the brochures says you must be able to drive your vehicle in reverse. Luckily we didn’t need to do that.
Soon thereafter it was time for lunch before making our way back to Moab.
This is the dirtiest the Jeep has ever been!
At the time, there were plenty of places I was nervous, or had my eyes closed, but overall, I had an absolute blast. It gave us peace of mind to have a second vehicle with us, in case there was any problem, plus, having friends with us made it much more fun.
I also want to thank Marilyn and Dolores for sharing their pictures with me!
