Pritchett Canyon Trail

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Summary: The 4+ rated Pritchett Canyon trail is one of the toughest in the Moab area. Most of its very 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. The campground operator has been charging $2 per vehicle to access the trail head through his 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.

Flatlander's Trail Report, Friday, April 5, 1996:

Click the small pictures to view 640X480X16 million color versions.

Another day of perfect weather in 4-wheeling paradise. And today we were on my favorite trail, Pritchett Canyon. Here we are lined up to start the trail. The scenery and obstacles are both fabulous. Four Wheeler Magazine is again along to record the fun. This time they burned lots of film. You'll see shots from this run in an upcoming issue.

Here is our trail leader "Dirty" Dan Brown and his dog, Utah. If you'd like to know more about Dan's Jeep, check the May 1996 issue of 4WD & Sport Utility Magazine. His Jeep is featured as the Mustang JC on page 78.

CRACKER, David Pool of Pueblo, Colorado, comes down a ledge on the way into the Canyon. This ledge has gotten so bad that even our Trail Leader had some problems with it. It looks like it would be very easy to lay a 4X over on the driver's side if a good line is not chosen and followed. A number of unnamed obstacles are getting worse with age so that this Canyon just gets even more challenging every year.

Here's a gal you've probably seen in the 4WD magazines. Jeanine from Colorado in her "24 Karrot Gold" Suzuki. Jeanine walked right up this obstacle as she did almost everything Pritchett through at her.

Here's a very challenging obstacle that's been added to the trail. This little gal did a great job on the trail too. She wrestled that old gear shift and manual steering like a pro. What is this anyway - Lady's day?

Must be. Here's another woman driver on the Rocker Knocker obstacle. This one did every obstacle in the canyon and hardly slipped a tire in this very well prepped and detailed CJ.

This is a view of the worst obstacle on this trail - the Rock Pile. We were especially apprehensive as we knew a skilled trail leader from Moab had rolled off the rock pile the week before the Safari. 90% of the Safari group that went through last Sunday strapped up this obstacle. Our group did better, about half a dozen of the 25 vehicles on the trail made it up on there own. I wasn't one of them. Neither is the Suzuki in this picture although he was very close to making it.

This is Gene Ferris showing us how to do it the right way. He walked right up without slipping a tire on his first try. No one did it better than Gene. Say, he is looking a lot better today than when he was leading the Fins &Things trail yesterday. Guess this kind of stress doesn't affect him like the stress of officiating. (See his picture in the Fins and Things trail report)

Here we are on our way to the top of the Canyon. It's a beautiful place with very worthy obstacles. I'm already thinking about my trip up it next year.

Because of the difficulty this run is limited to 25 vehicles. Our group was one of the very rare groups that came out of the canyon with no major broken parts. Even then we didn't get back to Moab before dark.

1999 Pritchett Canyon Report
1997 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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