Fins and Things Hike.

John’s brother Jim arrived back in Moab last night and offered to take us out on another hike today, we’ve been getting some rain over the past few days so Jim took us up to the Slick Rock area for our walk. The trail we followed is a 4x4 path but we enjoyed the hike and were entertained by some of the vehicles that were out there.

 

Slick Rock is a neat area with a great view.

 

Slick Rock is a good name for the area as most of it is bare red rock, it was not hard to see the trail, we just followed the black tire marks.

 

The hills were steep in places.

 

We could see one of the Slick Rock bicycle trails in the distance.

 

Looking down at Negro Bill Canyon, it is visible cutting across the center of this image.

 

The scenery was great in every direction, this is looking toward the Colorado River Valley.

 

The La Sal Mountains were in the clouds again today, more snow no doubt.

 

We had walked quite a way before we saw the first Jeep come through, two guys were enjoying the hills in a rented Rubicon. The sky was getting darker so we started back toward the trailhead. On our way back we saw a group of 16 4x4s snaking along the trail so we stopped to watch them traverse a few difficult spots.

 

The guys in this Jeep were having fun, by their reaction they seemed surprised that they made it up this spot, we could here one of the tires squealing a little.

 

There were a lot of hills on the trail including some very difficult spots, but there was usually an easier route around the hard part.

 

All of the big group chose to try this spot down the rock and thru the water, a few made some sparks with their back ends.

 

We were about a half mile away from this spot but we could hear the tires squealing as the large group tried their machines.

 

This one didn’t have enough clearance, we could hear the metal crashing into the rock as he tried to drive up and then had to back down the slope; his rear bumper is caught on the rock in this image, he had to take the easier route visible in the background.

 

 

The rain closed in on us as we were having fun watching the big group climbing the steep hill. When we finally started out we walked past some people who were watching the storm move in and one offered us a ride just as the sky opened up, the ride back to the CRV was much appreciated. Jim is getting ready to join some friends for a semiannual raft trip on the Colorado River, we will help him get the raft ready tomorrow and say our goodbyes; we have really enjoyed his hospitality during our stay here.