EXPLORING ELEMENTS

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SNAPSHOT: Lockhart Basin Rd

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Camping at the Valley of the Gods is always a special experience. (Photo: Matt Scott)

The Lockhart Basin Rd is the longest “difficult” Jeep trail in the Moab area, at 57+ miles long. It can be done in one long day, but our group tackled it over two days. We did this trip just after Overland Expo 2014, and made our way through the spectacular Valley of the Gods on the way. Our group consisted of 4 vehicles (XPCamper Tacoma V2 Prototype, EEXP, Jeep Rubicon on 35s & a well sorted Nissan Xterra). It was the first off-road trip in the freshly built EEXP and highlighted many of the vehicle’s capabilities, as well as weaknesses.  Differential lockers are not required on this trail, but for sure make a number of the more challenging stair step like obstacles much easier on both the vehicle and trail. Lockhart Basin is a classic off-road route that is worthy of your time and effort. Enjoy with friends and savor the memories. I know I plan to go back and do it again soon.

(Photos by: Bryon Dorr, Sarah Blessington)

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Cold beverages and good food around the campfire with friends.
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Open fire cooking is such a treat.
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The Moki Dugway is a stretch of road that should be on everyone’s must visit list.
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The off-road adventure begins, from S to N for us.
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Airing down the tires is essential for rider comfort, vehicle longevity and added traction on difficult terrain.
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Lots of easy dirt track to start with.
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Silver looks good against the red rock background.
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The desert flowers where in full bloom.
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The vistas did not disappoint.
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The first tough obstacle. The picture doesn’t do the toughness of this cross axel manuever justice.
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The first off-road scratch for the EEXP. Good entry and departure angles are needed for this trail.
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There are some steep climbs on the trail, but none that last all that long.
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There are a few fun challenging connector trail sections, which the Jeep enjoyed with no difficulties.
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The little Xterra is a very capable off-road rig.
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Quite a few tight and side slope style obstacles on Lockhart.
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Quality marshaling and good ground clearance are required.
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Our first view of the mighty Colorado River.
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This set of steep stair steps beat me on this trip. I could have gunned it up the hill, but I probably would have broken something. A rear locker would have seen me walk up it with no issues. Overlanding is all about vehicle preservation.
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A little tug from the Jeep and I cleared the obstacle no problem.
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The Tacoma V2 employed a heavy right foot and a rear locker to make the obstacle look pretty easy.
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The Xterra danced up the trail with lifted tires quite often, but never needed any assistance.
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The last steep loose climb before we made camp.
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The heavy EEXP, without a locker, didn’t particularly like the loose steep stuff.
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The Xterra took the faster more difficult route up the soft stuff and styled it.
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The few stair step style obstacles are really the only thing the EEXP had issues with. (Photo: XPCamper)
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Another little tug from the Jeep and it was onward down the trail. (Photo: XPCamper)
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Some sections of the trail do offer quite a bit of exposure.
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This little slot canyon was one of the most committing and tough sections of the trail for the big EEXP.
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Dropping in.
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Picking a quality line was essential, based on the capabilities of the particular vehicle.
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The new Icon/Hellwig suspension, as well as the custom camper pivot, were fully utilize on Lockhart.
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With only 33″ tires, quality General Grabber AT2, on the heavy EEXP you really need to watch for clearance issues of the differential housings. Got caught up twice on the rear housing on Lockhart.
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Technical beautiful terrain.
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Seriously beautiful landscapes in this area.
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The climb up to Hurrah Pass from the South is full of cliff edge switchbacks, but they are not very technical and are accomplished in short order.
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The hard part is over once you get to the top of Hurrah Pass, pretty much just a good dirt road all the way back to the highway into Moab.
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High speed cruising on the way back felt good after a few days of slow crawling. (Photo: Matt Scott)
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The new ARB front diff cover hadn’t seated properly on the diff housing, probably because it was my first time installing one, and started to leak near the end of the trail. I removed it, cleaned off the gasket, put a new one on, torqued the bolts to spec and refilled it in the Moab NAPA parking lot. The joys of off-roading and living on the road full time.
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No visit to Moab would be complete without a milkshake at the Moab diner. I think it might have been the highlight of Sarah’s experience on this trip 🙂
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