February thaw in Moab- The greatest mall on earth.

[RESURECTIONJK]

I have been coming down to Moab for as long as I can remember. Being in Salt Lake City I’m only a few hours drive away, but admittedly I’ve never been down there in the winter, or at least not in my Jeep.
While I usually don’t start my Moab season, or really wheeling season for that matter, until after we go back on daylight savings, I got a call from a good friend who’d never been there before and I just couldn’t say no.

What made the trip even better, was that I randomly got talking to Don aka Clearskies here on the forum, and although it was incredibly short notice, within an hour he had booked his hotel and was ready to make the drive all the way out from California to come play in the promised land.

I didn’t get as many picture as I would have liked being that I was juggling our dogs and spotting, but here are some of what I did get. DISCLAIMER: I must also apologize for the quality of some of the pictures, I was unable to get them on my phone and had to take screen shots from our friend who was filming some of it.

Fueling up for the short, but dark drive down. Funny how even a short drive can seem so much longer in the dark.
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About halfway there. Our friend and fellow WAYALIFE member Cendee decided to come along as well.
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Saturday morning was a bit cloudy but soon cleared up. However it was still February so morning temps were in the teens which meant we’d hit snow at some point.

Making our way out along the Colorado River, on our way to run Top of the world
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Finally, time to air down
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Down low, it was mostly just wet and a little slushy, but as we started our climb up, we started running into more and more snow.
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After some slipping and a little extra work, we were finally up on top and enjoying the view.
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After getting some good poser shots up on the ledge, we made our way down. And thanks to the nice weather, much of the snow had melted which made things super muddy.

After heading back down, grabbing some lunch and assessing how much daylight we had left, we decided to make a quick run up hells revenge being that this was our friends first time.
Here is Don (Clearskies) making his way up an optimal ledge that is fun to play on.
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Being that we got a late start and daylight was running low, we decided to head out to the overlook and play a little bit on hells gate before taking the shortcut back out.
Here is Don making his way down the entrance to hells gate.
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And there goes our friend Caleb.
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Don getting set to make the climb out.
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And safely up and out
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And here comes Caleb
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Getting nice and twisty in there...
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After everyone had their time to play, we decided to head back to the short cut and make our way down. I knew it was going to turn into a night run and did my best to get everyone off the tough sections before dark.
Making our way down with nothing but darkness in front.
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[RESURECTIONJK]

After a much needed rest, it was time to head back out for some fun Sunday morning. It had rained all night and had me expecting some more mud and rain for most of the day but, we got lucky and just as we headed out, the skies cleared and everything dried up.

Making our way up the Poison spider trail
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Object in camera are smaller than they appear. But, not much effort was required to get everyone up this fun little ledge.
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Cendee making her way up the waterfall
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And Caleb working his way up as well
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And Don, making it look like a stroll through the mall
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Don working his way up another section of ledges that require some good lines, and of course a good Moab bump
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Couldn’t pass up a chance to play on the wedgie
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Up on top of the Mesa for a group shot
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After stopping at the archway overlook we decided to push on to skyline drive.
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Now that’s how you do a group shot with a handful of Jeeps...
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Making our way back down the wedgie
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And finally back to the trail head to regroup and say our farewell to a weekend of great weather, great trails and most of all great friends.
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Thanks all for letting me share this great experience with you.
A big thanks to Don aka Clearskies for making the long 12 hr trek from Pine Mountain California to come play and to our friends Cendee and a caleb for the great pictures and great memories!

[fiend]

Looks like a great trip! Looking forward to being there soon!


Sent from my iPhone using WAYALIFE mobile app

[TrailHunter]

That looks like a great time! Thanks for sharing... (what size tires are Cendee & Caleb running.... 33’s or 35’s?)

[jdofmemi]

Looks like a lot of fun.

[RESURECTIONJK]

That looks like a great time! Thanks for sharing... (what size tires are Cendee & Caleb running.... 33’s or 35’s?)

Yep they are both on 35’s and running similar suspensions at 3.5” in fact we’re all in 3.5” with Don and I on 37’s

[Clearskies]

I'm so grateful for the people I've met on this forum... So many new good friends.
Thank you Casey for including me on this amazing trip. I've been itching to get back since last Easter and to go with you Caleb and Cendee this winter was amazing. The weather turned out awesome too!!
You really impressed me with your knowledge of the trails and your spotting skill. Spot on.

I didn't get anywhere near as many pics as you did but I'll add a few.
Airing down for Top of the World
Attachment 320424
Top of the World
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[wjtstudios]

Amazing trip and photos! Looks like you guys had perfect weather!


Sent from my iPhone using WAYALIFE mobile app

[Brute]

Very cool...just got my EJS mag in the mail yesterday...looking forward to Moab in April

[RESURECTIONJK]

I'm so grateful for the people I've met on this forum... So many new good friends.
Thank you Casey for including me on this amazing trip. I've been itching to get back since last Easter and to go with you Caleb and Cendee this winter was amazing. The weather turned out awesome too!!
You really impressed me with your knowledge of the trails and your spotting skill. Spot on.

I didn't get anywhere near as many pics as you did but I'll add a few.
Airing down for Top of the World
Attachment 320424
Top of the World
20190202_115921.jpg20190202_115937.jpg
20190202_113559.jpg
20190202_155849.jpg20190202_181921.jpg20190203_092807.jpg20190203_094352.jpg20190203_100327.jpg20190203_100925.jpg20190202_113559.jpg20190202_115937.jpgAttachment 32042420190203_112922.jpg

It was an absolute privilege getting out there with you Don.