Hell Roaring Rim Trail

by The Flatlander for

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Summary: The 3 rated Hell Roaring Rim trail provides views into Labyrinth and Hellroaring Canyons with obstacles that are becoming more challenging.

Reduced trail map from Guide to Moab Backroads & 4-Wheel Drive Trails by Charles A. Wells.
These waypoints follow the graded grad about two-thirds of the way to Mineral Point.  The Jeep Safari Trail makes 3 loops north of the graded road on the way out and uses the graded road for the return.

DeLorme TOPO USA 2.0 3-D Map

Location: Take Highway 191 north to Highway 313 and then go west past the Dubinky Well Road. The trail is on Mineral Point between Highway 313 and the Green River.

Scenery: Views into the Green River Labyrinth Canyon and Hellroaring Canyon are the reason to take this trail. One ridge top is high enough to provide vistas of 50 miles or more in all directions.

The Trail: The increasing less easy trail provides access to a spectacular viewpoint overlooking the Green River Labyrinth gorge. The trail surface consists of packed sediments drift sand, and some slickrock.

It's always a moving experience to be part of the over one thousand 4x4s that leave Moab all at the same time on Big Saturday.  Moab closes Hwy 191 through town which is also Main Street for about half an hour our while the 4X4s are lead out onto over two dozen separate trails.  Trail leader, Jim Dordaller, lead us out as soon as the Moab Police signaled it was our turn.  Crowds of people were lined up along the side streets to watch and wave at the line of 4x4s that went as far ahead and behind us on the highway as we could see.

Passenger view as Sharon (Mrs. Flatlander) powers the 4X4NOW TJ up the sand hill.

Another TJ makes it up the lose sand hill.

The trail makes 3 loops north of Mineral Point Road.  The first actually starts well to the north off another graded road.  The fun starts here shortly after airing down at on a lose sand hill.  Even most stock vehicles make it.  A few stock 4x4s that had smaller tires with higher pressures were forced to take an easy bypass after two tries.

The second loop includes lots of terrain looking much like the above.

A more difficult rock ledge obstacle obstacle near the end of the second loop gave many drivers problems, but not this one.

A rock ledge near the end of the end is the highlight of the second loop.  Erosion is increasing the difficulty of this obstacle and several drivers had problems with it.

I enjoyed the third loop the most.  There were several interesting but not too difficult obstacles and I thought the views from this loop were much more interesting and scenic.  The view at left is from the third loop just before dropping down over some rocky ledges that gave fits to one member of our group.

If I were to do the trail again, I would start at the third loop and skip the first two.  For someone wishing even a quicker trip to the splendid views from mineral point, follow the instructions in Guide to Moab Backroads & 4-Wheel Drive Trails by Charles A. Wells which skips all of the more difficult obstacles.

There are obstacles on all loops that drivers need to take care on.  You can get in trouble on even easy rated trails unless a safe line is chosen over the obstacles.

In an effort to find a smoother line, this Grand Cherokee got to far to the right and almost slipped off the edge of the trail.

The only safe way to recover the Grand Cherokee was to get a winch on the rear and pull it away from the edge.  Tail Gunner, Norm Neeley, did the winching.

The culmination of the long trail are the fantastic views of the Green River in Labyrinth Canyon.

There are plenty of photo opportunities.

Or just stare at the awesome beauty.

This was our last trail of the 2000 Jeep Safari.  Were a little sad heading back into town.  We're already starting to think about the 2001 Jeep Safari.

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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