ATV Adventures: Slick rock and arches on the Hook and Ladder Trail
Lynn Blamires, Special to the Standard-Examiner
Of all the trails I rode on the 2024 San Juan Safari, the Hook and Ladder Trail was my favorite. When Maury Bergman, one of the Safari organizers, suggested the trail, he said, “You will be amazed at the grip your tires will have on the slick rock.”
My mind shot back to a ride I took with my grandson and his wife, Mark and Charlotta Blamires, on the Hell’s Revenge Trail near Moab. I was climbing a slick rock face so steep that my cell phone fell out of a pocket on the dashboard. I couldn’t take my focus off the climb to see if I still had my cell until I got to the top. After my heart settled, I was grateful it had fallen inside my Teryx 4 and not at the bottom of that climb. I decided not to give my brother-in-law, Mike Timothy, who was riding shotgun, any idea of what was ahead of us.
The Hook and Ladder trail system is part of the Cameo Cliffs OHV Area, a popular trail near Moab. The steep, ladder-like trail was established in the early 1900s by rancher John Jackson as a shortcut from Shafer Basin to Moab. It is made up of old mineral exploration routes that are now marked for public use. It is made of a sea of buckled, twisted and worn sandstone sculpted by millennia of sun, wind and rain.
We turned east off Highway 191 onto Steen’s Road and drove about a mile to the staging area south of Moab. Clouds threatened rain but only served to cool temperatures for a perfect day on the trail.
We were not long into our ride before we were climbing steep, slick rock. One long steep climb made my heart skip a couple of beats. I had to take a break at the top. Maury was right; my tires had an amazing ability to grip that slick rock surface, which brings me to an important point about the nature of the subject – slick rock is not smooth. It is possible to drive a UTV up very steep inclines.
Lynn Blamires, Special to the Standard-Examiner
We continued climbing and descending the slick rock landscape that makes this trail so fun and fascinating. Our ride continued out onto a point with a view of Four Fins. Four massive, smooth rock fins jut from the main Entrada Sandstone Formation. The view was spectacular as my eyes moved along the sandstone structure picking out each unique rock fin.
We took a break for lunch at a point where we could view the famous Wilson Arch from the backside. Pull-outs on Highway 191 allow people to stop and enjoy the arch from the highway side. It is named after Joe Wilson, a pioneer who built a cabin nearby in Dry Valley. Before it was renamed, locals called it Wilson’s Window.
After our break, the trail brought us to a huge rock about the size of a castle. The rock is called the Indian Bathtub. A ladder allowed access to a large nook high in the middle of the rock. I didn’t climb the ladder. At my age, I am not even supposed to own a ladder so I didn’t get a look at what was at the top.
Continuing our ride, the trail took us onto a narrow sandstone fin with a steep drop-off on either side, then opened up on a wide section of slick rock. We rode past large stone domes and then dropped into a rock canyon with a sandy floor.
Following close to the canyon wall, we passed nooks and recesses in the sandstone. We soon stopped at a place where another arch had formed high above us in the wall. The sloping slick rock made the climb easy to get closer to the arch.
Lynn Blamires, Special to the Standard-Examiner
Many of Utah’s iconic arches, towers and fins are located beyond the entrances of national parks. This one is more remote but accessible to the ATV community and is free to view.
We continued to follow the wall in an arc that brought us out of the canyon and back to the staging area, completing a trip of about 31 miles. This was an amazing ride with scenery unique to this area of Utah.
The San Juan Safari is an annual event that will acquaint you with these remarkable trails. When you go, take plenty of water, keep the rubber side down and plan to attend next year’s Safari.
Contact Lynn R. Blamires at quadmanone@gmail.com.