Strike Ravine Trail

by Meach for

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Summary: The 4 rated Strike Ravine trail covers the terrain on the east side of Highway 191 opposite Behind the Rocks and Kane Creek which are on the west side. It features rocky creek bottoms with occasional boulders and ledges along with one particularly loose difficult hill climb.

Location: Strike Ravine leaves Highway 191 going east about 12 miles south of Moab. It runs in and around Pole Canyon and other headwaters of Kane Creek.

Scenery: Rugged colorful canyon walls provide the unique scenery for this trail with views of the snow covered La Sals in the distance when on higher ground.

Shortly after leaving Highway 191 10 miles south of Moab, we encountered the first challenge. "The Big Ugly". This obstacle combines a relatively steep climb, some gully spanning, and pointed rocks the size of a St. Bernard to keep your attention.

With our group, the attrition on this first obstacle included a broken ring and pinion, a split gas tank, and a grenaded front hub. All of the broken vehicles were almost bone stock. Apparently the drivers didn't believe in the trail ratings!

Gene Ferris (a.k.a. "Lizard") was our trail leader, and did a great job of balancing the need to keep the group moving but not leaving anyone on the trail in distress. After we got most of the crowd up the Big Ugly, we continued on down into a tight ravine. There were some pretty challenging boulders and ledges along the dried up creek bed in the bottom of the ravine, and we crawled along until our lunch break spot.

During our lunch break, a few of us hiked up the ravine further and found tracks from what must have been a 4++ run up the previously untraveled section of the bottom. There was paint, tire tracks and scrape marks on various rocks and the canyon walls. Some of the rocks looked like the vehicles that made the tracks must have had several feet of articulation.

After lunch, we climbed up out of the ravine on a very loose hill with several ledges towards the top that tested the vehicles that were not locked. Once we were over the hill, we traveled down into Strike Ravine.

In the bottom of the ravine, there was a large ledge that allowed Gene to try out the spring over suspension he built this last winter. The articulation was awesome. All the tires are still on the ground where the rest of us were pawing the air!

Apparently the ledge has caused a roll over in the past, but all our group made it over with one broken axle as the only problem.

After a long delay to winch the Jeep with the broken axle off the trail so the rest of the group could pass by, we drove along several abandoned mine shafts and reached elevations of over 6,500 feet before making our way down to the county road where the trail ends.

The trail is a good 4-rated trail. It has a lot of rock crawling and ledges through some beautiful ravines. We especially enjoyed the consistency of the challenging terrain, with very little flat road between the difficult sections. We had almost 10 percent of the vehicles break, but those vehicles were not properly set up for a trail of this difficulty. Vehicles that met the recommendations for a 4 rated trail had no problem negotiating Strike Ravine. We even had a Toyota show truck along, and it made it through without even ruffling a gull wing door or having to raise the dump bed one time!

Pictures and story by Gil Meacham

1998 Strike Ravine Trail Report

34th Annual Easter Jeep Safari (2000)
33rd Annual Easter Jeep Safari (1999)
32nd Annual Easter Jeep Safari (1998)
31st Annual Easter Jeep Safari (1997)
30th Annual Easter Jeep Safari (1996)
Moab, Utah, 4WD Trails Map with Links to all 30 Trails
Trail Difficulty Ratings

Utah Trail Guidebooks, Trail Maps, and Trail Videos

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