Wipe Out Hill Trail

by The Flatlander for

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Summary: The 4 rated Wipe Out Hill Trail features a wide range of fabulous scenery and a selection of very challenging obstacles at Wipe Out Hill itself. It is a short trail and often leaves time for a trip to Gemini Bridges.

Location: The trail head is about 14 miles north of Moab on Highway 191 (about 4 miles north of the intersection with highway 313) near mile marker 141. It runs westerly for a ways off Highway 191 and then back south until joining Highway 313.

Scenery: The scenery is superb and includes the famous Determination Towers and the Monitor and Merrimac Buttes.

The Trail: The trail turns into Bartlett Wash soon after leaving Highway 191. It then turns up Tusher Canyon. The first part of the trail is on the dry sand wash bottoms with some sand hills that can be challenging when dry. The upper end of Tusher Wash reveals more and more scenic and rugged views. It's not long until Determination Towers show up in the distance. Once past Determination Towers views of the Monitor and Merrimac Buttes grace the vista while approaching Wipe Out Hill. The trip down Wipe Out Hill should be approached with care and gives the trail its 4 rating. Both optional routes back up are rated 4+. A few miles after Wipe Out Hill the trail exits onto Highway 313.

Flatlander's Trail Report, Wednesday, April 3, 1996:

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

Another beautiful, sunny day in Moab for the Wipe-Out Hill Trail. You may see more of this trail in Four Wheeler Magazine since they sent two photographers along. Additional spice was added to the day by the 6X6 Scrambler that was part of our group. Our trail leader lead a good pace through the early sandy portion of the trail and it was nice to kind of "let the ponies loose" in the dry sand. This is a shot later on in the trail. This scenery just seems to be never ending. How can one area have such a wide variety of breathtaking scenery?

We are heading toward Determination Towers which you can see in the background.

Here we are at Determination Towers. I couldn't get far enough back to get them both completely in the picture.

Here's the "main attraction" of this trail, Wipe-Out Hill itself. As you can see there are two ways down, the bad and the ugly - there is no good way down. I was especially apprehensive as I followed the trail leader down since I knew a CJ had rolled there the day before. Sam Merrill got it on video and had shown it to me that morning. As we looked down over the ledges it was all to easy to understand the danger. But everyone in our group got down fine.

This is the viewer's left side of Wipe-Out Hill. It's not as steep as the right but it is a whole lot bumpier. This is the side the CJ rolled on coming down yesterday.

This is the viewer's right side. It is a LOT steeper than it looks. The 4X4s coming off the upper ledge were strapping to the vehicle behind to insure they didn't fall over on their top. Count the axles under this Scrambler. Yep, it's a 6X6!

Here it is again. It walked up and down both the bad and ugly sides like it was out for a Sunday stroll. It belongs to Kevin Cooper of the Jolly Jeepers from Oregon. Twin Dana 44s with 4.56 gears and ARBs insure plenty of traction in the rear. Kevin runs 33s and also has an ARB in the front. His 1981 Scrambler has a new Fuel Injected Jeep 4.0L engine to keep it running smooth on the steep grades he can pull.

The real "fun" is going back up Wipe-Out Hill. So I had to try it too. Made it up clean on the first try but there was a funny sound underneath as I topped the obstacle. Broke a cap in the double cardan in my drive shaft. If you play you pay they say. Good thing I carry a spare drive shaft. Six States is set up at the Community Center and should have the other one fixed in time for the trail tomorrow.

1997 Wipe Out Hill Report

34th Annual Easter Jeep Safari (2000)
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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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