Pritchett Canyon Trail

by The Flatlander for

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Summary: The 4+ rated Pritchett Canyon trail is one of the toughest in the Moab area. Most of its most difficult obstacles have no bypasses and the trail is getting even more difficult every year. Pritchett Canyon is deep, steep walled and beautiful.

Location: Pritchett Canyon is just a short drive southwest of Moab along the east bank of the Colorado River. It lies south of the Moab Rim trail with the Behind the Rocks Wilderness Study Area between it and the Moab Rim face that dominates the Moab landscape to the southwest of town. The trail head is about a 4.5 mile drive down Kane Creek Road from it's intersection with Highway 191 near McDonald's. The trail head is inside a campground.

Scenery: Colorful, deep, sculptured canyon walls provide picturesque views throughout the Canyon.

The Trail: The trail is only about 3 miles long but another 17 miles of driving on the rough County road will be required to get back to Highway 191 at a point about 13 miles southeast of Moab. The trail stays near the usually dry creek bottom and crosses it several times. Years of erosion of the original roadway have exposed bedrock steps that compose the major obstacles. This erosion continues and the trail gets even more challenging each year. A drop off a rock ledge on the way in requires a careful line to avoid laying your 4x4 on its side. Next is a double rock step which is the only major obstacle with a bypass. Farther up an optional obstacle in the rock floor has been eroded out by millennia of water flows. Just after that is the broken rock steps of Rocker Knocker where some vehicles will need a strap or winch as there is no bypass. Just before the Rock Pile is another unnamed obstacle which is getting more and more challenging each year. The Rock Pile is a ledge that is so steep and tall that a pile of rocks is required just to be able to get your tires on it. Many 4X4s including those with large tires and lockers will be looking for something to strap or winch to to get up this obstacle. The trick is to get someone up so the rest can winch or strap to them. Yellow Hill at the top of the Canyon completes the Pritchett Canyon trail. Yellow Hill is rugged and uneven with lots of yellow but many other colors too. Just above Yellow Hill you start down again on progressively easier road until Highway 191 is reached about 17 miles later.

4X4NOW Same Day
Jeep Safari Trail Report
Sunday, March 28, 1999

I was pleased to see that the trail leader was Jim Dordaller.  Jim has been leading jeep Safari groups up Pritchett Canyon for more years than I know.   I was looking forward to Jim's expertise and pleasant attitude.  We turned onto Kane Creek Road heading NW from Hwy 191 at the stop light next to McDonalds.   About 4.5 miles later were at the trail head which is in a Campsite at the end of the paved portion of Kane Creek Road.

GPS coordinates were taken with my new Lowrance GlobalMap 1600 and imported in to Topo USA for display.  The major way points and distances from the start of the trail to each waypoint are listed below.  Each pin in the map represents a waypoint.  The red pin at the beginning (west end) of the trail is WP1 while the red pin at the end (east end) is WP8.

Download the waypoints and track in the Lowrance GPS Data Manager file version or the DeLorme Topo USA / Street Atlas format for just the waypoints. 

The four mile trail took 2 dozen 4x4s about 7 hours to complete.  At least 2 broke.  Nearly all ended up on the end of a winch or tow rope at least once during the trip.  I was a kinda bad day at slickrock.

The drop off is only about 0.2 mile into the trail.  There doesn't seem to be any way to drop off this without getting too tippy for comfort.  It doesn't look as if it would take much carelessness here to induce a roll into the stream bed below.

The first of the major obstacles is about 1.4 miles in.  It is the only major obstacle with an easy bypass.   The obstacle seems to pull some vehicles into the projection rocks on the right side.  See a Quick Time video clip (466 KB) of Dar Colton bring up his daughters new TJ.  He left behind some molding that he didn't seem to feel was really necessary.

About 0.8 miles farther down we examined Damen's Hot Tub.  Not officially part of the trail only a few tried it.  There are at least a few ways to climb out of it.  See a Quick Time video clip (460 KB) of a built Bronco II coming up.

Looming immediate beyond the Hot Tub was the Rocker Knocker obstacle.   I have never seen it so bare and cleaned out at the base.  Usually there is a considerable pile of rocks at the bottom, but not today.  No one seemed  to be able to get up.  The 3rd Jeep to try it broke a rear U-joint.  A pickup with a longer wheel base eventually made it but it proved nearly impossible for everyone else.

Just before the Rock Pile obstacle a previously unnamed obstacle seems to have taken on the name of Suicide Hill.  There is a bypass on the right side.   But it won't last much longer.  The right wheel path is already sinking into the drop off below and threatening to take to right wheel down the embankment.  The obstacle may not be as bad as it looks though.  That picked the proper line went up easily.  Not so for the Rocker Knocker.

I saw only Dar Colton come up the Rock Pile cleanly with his daughters TJ.   Everyone else either took the strap or came up a new route on the right side.   That side has the advantage of not requiring near as much rock piling too.

The "Rock Pile" Traditional Approach See a Quick Time video clip (346 KB) of this BII giving it a try

Alternate approach to the "Rock Pile" ledge. See a Quick Time video clip (421 KB) of this new route.

Yellow Hill is the last obstacle and a welcome sight after a long day with too much time behind a tow strap.   The obstacle was formidable enough to require some spotting but no vehicle that is still whole failed to conquer it..  Pritchett is said to extract, on average, a casualty rate of about 10% of the vehicles that try to pass through.  I saw nothing today that would lead me to question that.

1997 Pritchett Canyon Report
1996 Pritchett Canyon 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
Trail Difficulty Ratings

Utah Trail Guidebooks, Trail Maps, and Trail Videos

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