Combination Hiking Trails Two of the trail offerings are combinations of four-wheeling and hiking. Many fourwheelers enjoy hiking to the special places that can’t be reached by 4WD. Many hikers drive as far as they can and save their strength for the really good stuff that lies ahead. We thought it appropriate to acknowledge this application of four-wheeling by including combination trips on early days of the week. We are using two trails again this year. The Monday hike goes to Pritchett Arch and beyond; the drive is rated 5 while the hike is about a 4 rating and takes about two hours. We often eat lunch at the trailhead. The Wednesday trail to Moab Rim has
a fairly strenuous hike (perhaps a 5) and difficult four-wheeling (rated 7). The latter hike takes about three hours, and we usually carry our lunches to a spot that merits more exploring. Bring plenty of water and wear hiking shoes suited to sand and rock. One
72 - 2013 Moab Easter Jeep Safari
year, we returned to our vehicles in record time as a light rainstorm began, but we were rewarded with the sight of wonderful waterfalls off the slickrock. The Monday trail is similar to the Tip-Toe Behind the Rocks trail. The 4WD route to be followed, however, is shorter than the 4WD trail described in the paper in order to leave time for the hike to Pritchett Arch and Halls Bridge. From the hiking trailhead near Pritchett Arch, we may have two hiking groups. The less ambitious members of your
party can follow a marked (with rock cairns) route to the base of Pritchett Arch. The other hiking group will pose atop the arch a little later. Also seen nearby are Cummings, Wigwam, and Window Arches. This easy version of the hike takes about 20 minutes
each way. It causes some heavy breathing on the uphill climbs, but is otherwise not difficult. The main group will leave the first group on the first cliff rim to walk on the other side of a Navajo Sandstone rock mass. This group will walk over a steep slickrock dome to reach the top of Pritchett Arch. Good shoes and a little nerve are needed. The route leaves that rock mass to follow the edge of a small, pretty canyon to another big crack where Halls Bridge can be seen from a good angle. This arch pierces a sandstone fin, but is seldom seen in spite of its large opening. The fin is clearly visible from the Pritchett Canyon trail, but the arch opening is not. The driving part of the Moab Rim trail is described in this paper, though some parts of the trail will not be used because of the time consumed by the hike. For the hike, we park along the upper trail route, which is the boundary of the Behind the Rocks Wilderness Study Area, and we immediately enter the
WSA to hike in the direction of Pritchett Canyon. The surface here is mostly exposed Navajo Sandstone that has eroded into huge fins along a system of parallel cracks. The f ins are too steep to walk across directly, and the mini-canyons between them are precipitous. The hiking route zigzags to find fin and canyon crossings. The seldom-used trail has no truly established or marked route. There is a bit of scrambling to get on and off the rocks, but no technical climbing is involved. The goal of the hike is Pool Arch (some call it “Tear Drop Arch”) at the bottom of one fin. It is a large, beautiful arch located deep in a trough amid a turbulent sea of sandstone. You can view the arch from overlooks on either side or scramble down a steep crack to reach the bottom of the opening. We expect to eat lunch near the arch. The total hike should take about 3½ hours including lunch. It is a tiring up-and-down trip.
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