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Gold Bar Rim (9/98)

(Pic's are all about 200k each)

I ran Gold Bar Rim with my wife and brother, who flew out from San Francisco. The trail is rated 3.5 on the Moab scale, but offers plenty of places to really test your vehicle. I've done it several times now (last time destroying a practically new tire while climbing some ledges near the top) and it's one of my favorite trails due to the plentitude of optional but challenging obstacles. The first (but not optional) major obstacle is a big slickrock bump abot four feet high. Dropping down the face, I wondered if I had enough clearance to not mangle my front bumper. I also wondered If I could make it back up without a locker. After dropping over with no problems, we watched a pretty much stock Wrangler come down. They were contemplating whether or not their buddy should follow in a stock Wrangler with a busted front axel--basically only 2wd. They turned around eventually as we headed up the series of ledges to the rim. Everywhere to the side of the main trail are big ledges soaked with petroleum products: diff and tranny fluid, motor oil, grease, and all kinds of traces of big vehicular carnage. I took most of the easier lines up, since we were travelling solo. We made it to the top with no problems. Awesome view from the rim of Arches, Moab, and the La Sal mountains to the southeast!

Bump One

Checking out the line back up:
loose and sandy

Bump Two

The second approach--
the first didn't work

Bump Three

Once I got the front tires up,
I gave it some gas

Bump Four

All I got was a mashed bumper!

After a short break, we decided to head down the back side of GBR towards Golden Spike. It was about 2:00 in the afternoon, and I had a strange delusion that we could somehow bypass the toughest sections of the Spike, and finish up on Poison Spider Mesa befor heading back into town. Our map seemed to indicate this was a possibility, but the weather was threatening some major thunder showers, and there were omens everywhere to turn around. We descended som pretty ugly ledges, and finally came to a halt at the top of what I believe is called the "Double Whammy" obstacle. While turning around, Amy was out of the Jeep spotting, and the cooler full of ice-water and sodas that she was bracing in the back seat did an endo, flooding the area around my feet. This was the last straw--we decided going back down GBR would be the prudent thing to do. Going back up the bump was a small challenge. The first line I took, I slammed part of my front bumper and HI-Lift into the rock, cracking the bumper but baarely scratching the jack! Second time was a charm. With a little momentum after my front wheels got on top of the bump, the back end followed and we headed back to Moab with only minor damage. Overall, a really cool trail. I think a stock Cherokee would have some trouble, probably a ot of scraping, but could be done. A locker would have made a huge difference in two or three tough spots. Lots of "optional" obstacles to thrash on if the trail seems too easy.

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