We had a relatively uneventful day at the Moab Art & Wine Festival then picked up groceries and went to set up camp again at Sand Flats in Moab, Utah. Our campsite gave us a front row seat at the 4×4’s passing through the Fins & Things trail. After dinner, we decided to take a walk along the trail to see just how technical it was and watch how the other vehicles handled the terrain. Darryl and I were walking through a section that, to me, looked impossible for any truck to climb but with all of the rubber on the rocks, it was obvious that I was wrong.

Pretty soon a Tacoma and a Jeep came through the section to show me how it’s done. I took some video of them clearing this section. I watched them do it once and then I asked if they would go back and do it again so that I could record it. They were more than happy to oblige. They made it look easy! There were a couple of kids in the back of the pickup that were giggling the whole way through. You can hear them in this clip.Tacoma

The next day we set out for a drive through the La Sal mountains. It was threatening to rain all day but made our day in the mountains even more beautiful. We took 191 south out of town to 46 east. We took the forest roads through the mountains (FR028 to FR0073) toward the La Sal summit. One of the draws to the Moab area is the variety of topography within a short distance. You have the desert, rivers, canyons, arches and mountains all within an hour’s drive. And this day would be all about mountains, forests, aspen and snow. It was a welcome change to the past couple of months.

After a long day in the mountains we decided to take the night off from camp food and ate out at the Moab Brewery then returned to our campsite at Sand Flats.

The next day we decided to rent a UTV (Utility Task Vehicle) and take it on Hell’s Revenge trail. It would be a fun way to experience these 4×4 trails without putting our vehicle at risk. It’s the only home we have for now and I preferred to keep it safe from a potential roll-over. 🙂 We opted for the T-Rex 4×4 Tour with the Moab Tourism Center. The tour was on a Kawasaki Teryx 4 and we were able to drive it ourselves. The tour wasn’t until early evening so we set out to get a little cardio workout at the Amasa Trails along Kane Creek that we saw earlier in the week.

The run was challenging given that we haven’t been working out regularly but the views were beautiful. There were quite a few people out with their 4×4 vehicles. They were of all makes and sizes.

There was a very ledgy section of trail at the finish of our run that we had to walk up. During the last couple of miles of the run, we would cross paths with a group of 4×4 trucks that were on the 4×4 section of the trail. They were taking awhile to get through the trails but we were hoping that we would see them drive this ledgy section which, to my inexperienced eye, looked impossible to clear in any vehicle. Sure enough, about 10 minutes after we finished our run we saw the vehicles approaching!

The first vehicle made it look pretty easy to climb. Some of the others had a little more difficulty.

After we watched all of the vehicles clear the section we had to get going to make it to our TRex 4×4 tour along the Hell’s Revenge Trail. We thought that we would each get our own UTV but found out that it was one UTV for two drivers. Darryl did most of the driving and then I got in on the fun about halfway through. These little machines can go up practically anything! It was such a fun trip riding along the slick rock trails and getting out to sections of trail that I wasn’t able to see on our mountain bikes when we did Slick Rock trail. We had a blast and would recommend a tour like this if you make the trip to Moab.

After our UTV tour we had dinner at the Moab Diner then went back to Sand Flats and called it a night. This was our last night in Moab. It’s a wonderful little town which never disappoints us. It’s one of the towns on our list of places to move to after our trip. We spent some of our time here looking at the neighborhoods and talking with the locals about the culture. The housing prices were reasonable but then again, I think that after living in the Bay Area, most anyplace would seem reasonable! We love the outdoor activities and the weather is ok most of the year. The summers can get pretty hot! It will be a tough choice for us when it comes down to selecting our new home but it’s nice to know that there are some great options to choose from like Moab.