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[pics & vid] Thanksgiving Trip to the Top Of The World! [pics & vid] Thanksgiving Trip to the Top Of The World!
While a large portion of the country was dealing with freezing temps and snow-packed roads, this Modern Jeeper decided to head to Moab, Utah... [pics & vid] Thanksgiving Trip to the Top Of The World!

While a large portion of the country was dealing with freezing temps and snow-packed roads, this Modern Jeeper decided to head to Moab, Utah for a little Thanksgiving wheeling!

Poison Spyder Mesa is always a great warm-up to Moab trails and the scenery is simply spectacular. Just around the corner from “Little Arch”, a typical good spot to stop for lunch on the Poison Spyder Trail, there is an amazing cave that provides an unobstructed view of the Moab Rim Trail and the infamous “Z Turn”.

After dealing with strong winds (but sunny skies!) on up Poison Spyder on Thanksgiving Day, we were ready for some Thanksgiving food! Reservations were made for 11 at the Moab Brewery (of course!), and in typical Moab Brewery fashion, it was just as busy as it is for the annual Easter Jeep Safari event! Good food and good friends were the menu for the evening. Perfect!

After wheeling all day on Thursday, we were warmed up and ready to hit the trails on Friday, but Mother Nature had a different plan. We spent Friday inside a hotel room as the rain and cold temps caught up with us. While some may think that spending 4 or 5 hours with 8 friends in a hotel room would be horrible, it’s amazing the bonding that can take place, the stories that get shared and the camaraderie that gets created! It’s what the Jeep life is all about!

Saturday we woke up to clear skies but chilly temperatures, but we were ready to get outside and do some wheeling! We decided that with the clear skies and a dusting of snow overnight that the Top of the World Trail would give us some amazing scenery! While there is a couple of different ways to get to the Top of the World trailhead, we decided to take the shorter route and enter from the Dewey Bridge site. The Dewey Bridge is about 30 miles northeast of Moab, along the Colorado River on 128. There are restrooms and a parking area for trailers if you have UTV’s with you as we did.

We unloaded the UTV’s and headed the 5 miles up the road to where the trailhead begins. The access road was in good shape and mostly dry so we were able to make good time reaching the trailhead. We arrived to the trailhead about 11:00 am and started to work our way up to the Top of the World overlook. The trail quickly changed from frozen dirt to some ice and snow…making the trip up much more challenging but not un-doable. Momentum was definitely necessary and Jessy’s 2-door JK “RockStar” along with her driving skills made the climb without a strap or winching…although there were a few interesting moments of “ping-ponging” up the rocks a few time 🙂

As many times as I have been to the overlook on Top of the World, this was definitely a first for me to see it covered in snow. The pictures of the valley do not do it justice. Absolutely breathtaking…and the chilly air made it even more so!

After spending about an hour up top it was time to start making the slippery slide back down the trail. Going down started a little nerve-racking but once we all realized that it was a lot like sliding down a hill literally, it was much easier than clawing our way up!

Once back down on the main road we headed back to Dewey Bridge…but we did have one more stop to make! About halfway back to Moab, there are a group of well known iconic pillars of sandstone called the Fisher Towers, named after a miner who lived near them in the late 1800s. Ranging from a few feet to hundreds of feet tall, they are simply amazing! The Titan is the largest of the Fisher Towers and rises about 900 feet above the floor. This area is definitely worth the hike to explore these amazing Towers!

There is just something about rocks balanced on top of one another. A tower right next to the parking area at the Fisher Towers Trailhead is called “Lizard Rock”, a 60-foot pillar that provided us a prefect background for a group shadow shot!

Those that have followed ModernJeeper for a while know that I have used the “Relive” app before when running trails around Moab…and it continues to provide some stunning visual orientation of the area we love to wheel in! https://www.relive.cc

A huge shout out to our friends from New Mexico, Brian and Jody, John, Becky and their two kids, and Jeremy and Heidi of Outlaw Jeep Adventures for making this Thanksgiving one to remember. If you get the chance to get to Moab…sometimes spending a few days off the beaten path are the best days! We hope to see you all out on the trail!

 

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Corey Osborne Co-creator

After 23 years of corporate life, I decided to pursue my passions in the off road industry. Specializing in marketing, visibility, relationship and brand building, and acting as MetalCloak's field marketing representative, I have travelled across the country (quite a few times!) using Metalcloak’s CTI (Corner Travel Index) to educate the off road enthusiast. I have also worked with Jeep Jamboree USA as event staff, to provide additional value and education to its participants. I've been fortunate enough to work with both international as well as domestic media; have attended most of the off-road events across our country; and have driven a wide variety of vehicles. I'm a certified PADI scuba instructor and have a BS in Computer Science.

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