Strike Ravine Trail

by The Flatlander for

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Summary: The 4 rated Strike Ravine trail covers the terrain on the east side of Highway 191 opposite Behind the Rocks and Kane Creek which are on the west side. It features rocky creek bottoms with occasional boulders and ledges along with one particularly loose difficult hill climb.

Location: Strike Ravine leaves Highway 191 going east about 12 miles south of Moab. It runs in and around Pole Canyon and other headwaters of Kane Creek.

Scenery: Rugged colorful canyon walls provide the unique scenery for this trail with views of the snow covered La Sals in the distance when on higher ground.

4X4NOW Same Day
Jeep Safari Trail Report
Saturday, April 11, 1998

Gene Ferris lined us up in Moab just south of Arby's for the Big Saturday parade.  At 9 a.m. the Moab Police stopped traffic on Main Street (HWY 191) at both ends of town.  The Police started flagging out the 4X4s for each trail one after the other.  Soon it was time for our group of forty odd 4X4s to join over 1,000 4X4s leaving Moab for 27 different trails.

Gene had us air down at the base of the Big Ugly.  There was hardly a cloud in the sky and the weather was beautiful.  Garfield, perhaps appropriately, was adorning one of the first Jeeps to lead us up the Big Ugly.

The  large rock at the lower right forces drivers to pick between two routes.  This driver took the wash side to avoid the rock and lifted a tire.  Other drivers, hopefully with adequate clearance, drive right over the rock.

The upper portion of the Big Ugly is a constant rock dodging chore.  And it seems there is never a good route, just a choice between some potentially sheet metal/undercarriage damaging routes.   Lockers and crawl gears are very desirable to minimize any damage.

Once up the Big Ugly there are some small ledges buried on some fairly steep loose dirt hills where lockers again come in handy.  Then its into Strike Ravine itself.  The bouldery wash bottom is beautiful but to avoid unwelcome body modifications attention must be focused on finding a safe path through the boulders.

Loose dirt and rock ledges add variety to Strike Ravine.  There are often alternate routes in the bottom and unless the more difficult ones are chosen the 4 rating of this trail will not be experienced.

CRACKER finishes up the Ravine bottom and starts to climb some relatively smooth rock toward a steep loose dirt hill.

The hill is steepest at the top where there used to be a deep enough hole that most drivers had to use some momentum to get over the crest.  This year all the locker 4Xs seemed to be able to crawl it all the way up, although the open axled 4Xs still needed some momentum near the top.

The last significant obstacles on the trail are some ledges.  They are tall and irregular.  More than one 4X found one of their back tires in the air as they dropped off the ledges.   Titer tottering in a 4X4 is a very disconcerting experience.

Once down the ledges you get an excellent view of the rest of the group working through them as you climb the side of the opposite side of the wash on the way out.

The trip back to civilization includes more scenic driving.  Gene had us through the trail by about 3 p.m. even though he had a relatively large group of over 40 4Xs.

I was very pleased with the performance of the 4X4NOW TJ on Strike Ravine.  With the Atlas II 3.77 low range I was able to inch my way over the difficult spots in full control.  BFG MTs clung to the rocks and when it looked like a line that would lift a tire was best the ARB air Lockers insured the power went to the BFGs that were still touching the ground.  This arrangement allowed enough control that I still haven't been able to test my Off Your Rocker panels.

1997 Strike Ravine Trail Report

34th Annual Easter Jeep Safari (2000)
33rd Annual Easter Jeep Safari (1999)
32nd Annual Easter Jeep Safari (1998)
31st Annual Easter Jeep Safari (1997)
30th Annual Easter Jeep Safari (1996)
Moab, Utah, 4WD Trails Map with Links to all 30 Trails
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