Rimrocker Trail West 2.0

Rimrocker Trail connects a bunch of individual roads to make one continuous 160 mile trail from Montrose to Moab.  This page covers the western  portion between Highway 141 and Moab.
Spanning a distance of 160 miles, the Rimrocker Trail provides 4WD, OHV and bicycle access through some of the West’s most stunning scenery. Visitors are immersed in natural beauty as the trail guides them through a landscape of redrock canyons, winding rivers, desert vistas and alpine forests.  Rimrockertrail.org

Begin this section of the trail on Colorado Highway 141 a couple miles north of Hanging Flume GP.  The beginning is about 2 hours from Moab if you do not spend any time looking at the flume.  Use the track from Hanging Flume to save time.

There is a GPS - gpx track file at the bottom of the page.
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La Sal Mountains
Climb up from the Dolores River and head west toward Moab.  The first 6-7 miles is a mundane road through pinion-juniper forest.  This trail appears to follow better graded roads when it must, and detours onto lesser roads when it can.  None are difficult.
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Leaving Highway 141
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Road through the trees
Continue across Carpenter Flats and you will eventually begin to have views of the La Sal Mountains.  The trails parallels Paradox valley and comes close to the rim for a couple good views of it.
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First view of La Sal Mountains
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Paradox Valley
About 17 miles from Highway 141 is Buckeye Reservoir and Recreation Area.  Campsites, boat launches and ATV trails.

The next 19 miles follows wide, well graded roads until turning toward La Sal Pass.
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Buckeye Reservoir
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Good road beyond Buckeye Reservoir
The trail is horrible after it leaves the La Sal Pass Road.  It wanders through boring oak brush in the foothills of the La Sal Mountains and is relentlessly rocky and bumpy.
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Oak brush
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Rocky and bumpy
After 6 miles of this we said "No more of this trail for us".  We turned left on Lackey Basin Road and headed for the highway.  We do not plan to finish it in the near future.
  • The track associated with this webpage (Rimrocker Trail West 2.0) is the portion from Highway 141 to the intersection with Deep Creek GP trail.  This includes Buckeye Reservoir and is at least somewhat interesting.
  • We do not show a unique track from this intersection to where Rimrocker Trail leaves La Sal Mountains 2.5.  Just follow the main roads.
  • The section from La Sal Mountains 2.5 to the end of Rimrocker Trail at La Sal Loop Road is included in the 1a_all_minor_trails_moab.gpx file on the main Moab page.
  • If the above verbiage confuses the heck out of you, go to the official Rimrocker Trail page and use their information.

Page updated 2017
rimrocker_trail_west_2.0.gpx
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