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Poison Spider Mesa Rating Trail Photos  Return to Trail List 
Grand, UT: Trail Head: N 38?32.014, W 109?36.440  Trail End: N 38?35.120, W 109?35.675
Delorme UT Atlas & Gazeteer pg: 30, 3-A
Nearby Trails: Coming Soon.


Access: From the center of Moab, travel north on Highway 191 for 5.9 miles and turn left on Highway 279. Continue 5.9 miles from this junction until you reach the "DinosaurTracks" sign, where the trail leaves the pavement to the right through a cattle-control gate [0.0]. Although there are spur trails, the strongest trail climbs switchbacks, and each higher level reveals more of the fins and mountains. After the last leg of the switchbacks, mounds of spectacularly cross-bedded Navajo Sandstone appear on the right, and the trail skirts these mounds until it enters a sandy canyon [2.4]. Watch carefully for the route as you climb out of the canyon--it turns on the first ledge, entering a slot to climb hither. These rocky climbs are the most difficult of the entire trail except, possibly, some sandy areas when they are very dry.




Trail: The trail visits the mesa top just north of the Colorado River and west of Moab Valley, and it reaches overlooks of the river and valley. The expanses of unbroken slickrock and views of the Behind the Rocks area and the La Sal Mountains make it one of the most attractive trails in the area.

The trail crosses areas of rock and approaches another slot. A slickrock bypass is marked to the left to avoid the side hill in the slot. After an area of sand, a final short, steep climb puts you on a flat area of Navajo Sandstone distinguished by a scattering of rounded, black rocks [3.3]. The rest of the trail is mostly on top of the Navajo Sandstone, but it continues to climb with the rock strata as they tip up toward the east. The trail parallels the river on this flat mesa area for about a rnile and is usually the obvious choice over the few spurs that branch right and left. After a smooth dirt section, the trail drops onto another slickrock area where a short spur toward the river gives beautiful overlooks [5-3]. Two established routes cross the next section of slickrock. The bike trail will rejoin the the 4WD route in about a quarter mile. The trail splits again [5.6] to begin a loop. The recommended counterclockwise direction around the loop requires a turn to the right to reach a large mass of slickrock. Past a large pothole, a startlingly steep descent leads to a short dirt trail section and a side hill climb onto a slick rock parking area [6.0]. A shortwalk to the right takes you to a good-sized pothole-type archcalled "Little Arch," presumably for its apparent size from the river below. The marked route traverses another large section of slickrock and eventually drops into a sandy wash bottom. The trail soon leaves the left side of the wash on a slickrock slope [6-8] and follows a sandy trail to another slickrock mass [7.1]. The trail continues on uninterrupted slickrock to a trail junction near the base of a sandy hill [7.6]. Turn right for a spectacular rim overlook [8.3]. Although a trail continues a couple of miles to the north beyond the overlook, it leaves the rim and becomes hard to follow. After returning to the junction at the base of the sandy hill [9.9], continue the loop up the hill where it alternates between loose sand and sandstone. When you reach one large sand hill that has three established paths down, you will see why the recommended loop direction was chosen to go down the sand. The trail continues on sand and sandstone to close the large loop [10.6] begun at mile "5.6" and retraces the earlier trail back to the highway.

Trail review from www.moab.net/4-wheel.html

Hobo Jeepers Review 2001


G.P.S. Coordinate List:
No Extended G.P.S. data for this trail is available.