The Moab road trip: Ten tips to get you there and back

April 11, 2:32 PMDenver Mountain Biking ExaminerScott Ledbetter

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Slickrock Trail - Scott Ledbetter

If you mountain bike on Colorado's Front Range, it is guaranteed that traveling to Moab in the spring is at least a fond wish, if not an obsession.  The fickle spring weather in Colorado is enough to give any mountain biker a case of the 'gotta get outaheres'.  There is nowhere better than Moab for an early season jaunt, since the spring weather there is much better than Denver's,  and all but the highest trails will be snow-free.  However, before you can unload at the Slickrock Trailhead, you have to GET to Moab, and sometimes that is an adventure in itself.  Here is some hard-earned 411 on how to make it there and back without wishing you had stayed home watching a cold rain, or skiing frozen granular at A-Basin.

For those of you who have never made the jaunt, Moab is in southeastern Utah, about 360 driving miles from Denver and 110 driving miles from Grand Junction.  When conditions are perfect, stopping only for gas, that is six hours of driving.  In less-than-perfect conditions, which in the spring can be about half the time, it can be a 12 hour nightmare, and occasionally, the proverbial impossible dream.   Plan ahead.   To help you get to the Mecca and back, here are ten tips to help you retain your sanity.

• Tip Number One for a spring trip to Moab is to pre-arrange somewhere to stay when you arrive.  Moab can be very crowded in springtime, especially on weekends, or during any of the several big festivals.  Hotel rooms are hard to find and expensive, and most every campsite will be full.  The closest hotel options to Moab are Green River, 45 miles northwest, or Monticello, 50 miles south, so unless you like driving,  make reservations early.  The same caveat applies to commercial campgrounds, which fill up early.   Ten years ago, you could always fall back on dispersed camping in the desert, but the Bureau of Land Management has placed restrictions on every area within 20 miles or so of town, and camping is allowed only in designated campsites in most areas.  Dispersed campsites are first come, first served.   Good information on places to stay are at http://www.moab-utah.com and http://www.discovermoab.com .

• Tip Number Two:  Gas up before you hit the road.  There are plenty of stations on the route, but gasoline prices climb as soon as the road climbs into the high country, and it is common for gas to be 50 cents a gallon more expensive most of the way to Grand Junction, where prices come back down to earth.  While you are gassing up, give your vehicle a quick check.   Be sure you have plenty of windshield washer for the splashback in the mountains, and the bugs along the Colorado River on the latter part of the journey.

• Tip Number Three: Time your trip.  From Denver, there is really only one reasonable choice of route for the first 300 miles of the trip, and therein lies the rub:  that route is I-70 West, all the way to Utah.  The same I-70 that carries almost all the ski traffic, semi-trucks, and tourists into the high country.  Avoid leaving Denver during high traffic periods.  This means do not try to head west out of Denver on Friday afternoon, or Saturday or Sunday mornings before 10 o'clock.   This is doubly true for Holiday weekends like President's Day and Easter. 

• Tip Number Four: Check the weather along the route carefully.  This is especially important during spring, when you can have bluebird days in Denver and Moab, and an icy hell in between.  If it is pounding down snow in Summit County on Friday, but the forecast is for the storm to end, it might make sense to postpone your departure.  Or, if a storm is moving in, you have my permission to call in sick on Thursday and save yourself the brain damage of a sloppy mountain storm.   You can check weather cameras for conditions in the mountains at 9News, or on the Colorado Department Of Transportation(CDOT) website.   Along the route, you can call the CDOT hotline at 303-639-1111 for traffic and weather conditions in the I-70 corridor. 

• Tip Number Five:  Drive like you mean it.  Once you are on the road in good conditions, the driving is interstate, Colorado style.  This means stay in the right lane unless you want an angry Audi jammed in your tailpipe.  Unless, of course,  you ARE that angry Audi.  Now for an insider tip:  speed limits on I-70 are as much guidelines as they are laws.  That means going 10 over the limit is pretty standard.  The speed limit is 65 mph from Denver to Avon, just west of Vail, and 75 mph from there to where you turn off of I-70 in Utah, with the exception of Glenwood and DeBeque canyons, and through the Glenwood Springs area.  You can cover a lot of ground in a short period of time  when the weather cooperates.  Please don't send me your speeding tickets. 

• Tip Number Six: If you plan to stop along the way to eat, or to pick up groceries or supplies, Grand Junction and Fruita are easy stops.  There are several restaurants and gas stations just off of the Horizon Drive (Exit 30), 24 Road(Exit 270), and Fruita(Exit 19) exits.   There is a Safeway (with Starbucks and gas) on Horizon Drive about one mile west of the exit.  There is a large mall and all the associated satellite stores a mle south of I-70 off of the 24 Road exit.  There is a City Market grocery and several gas stations, restaurants,  and fast food stops just off the Fruita exit both north and south.

• Tip Number Seven:  If you plan on partying in Utah, understand that Utah has the wackiest liquor laws in the nation.  Package 3.2 beer is available at almost every gas station and food store, but any other alcoholic beverages are available only at state run liquor stores and certain bars and restaurants.  The State Liquor Store in Moab is at 55 West 200 South, a couple hundred feet west of the intersection of Main Street and 200 South.  Follow the signs for the Gonzo Inn, and the store is across the street.  It is open only from 11 AM to 7 PM, Monday through Saturday.  The State Store is fairly well stocked, but expensive.  Beer is available only as individual containers, one bottle or can at a time.  Wine and hard liquor is sold, but at a higher price than you may be used to paying.  Bringing alcohol from out of state is technically illegal except for a few weird exceptions,  and believe it or not, each container of full strength alcohol sold in Utah has a unique serial number.  If you want to get serious about the laws, go to the Utah Department Of Alcoholic Beverage Control. 

• Tip Number Eight:  Once you are out of Colorado and into Utah on I-70, you do have a choice of routes for the homestretch into Moab: Utah 128 or US 191.  Utah 128 is known as the Upper Colorado River Scenic Byway, and is accessible from the two Cisco exits, Exit 214 and Exit 204.   Driving Utah 128 is shorter and much more scenic than the US 191 alternate, and is highly recommended.  If you get off of I-70 at exit 214, you actually travel the first 10 miles on the old US 6 highway, and pass through the remnants of the very small town of Cisco, which was featured in two semi-famous movies:  Thelma and Louise, and Vanishing Point.  Once on Utah 128, the ride is rollercoaster-like for the first few miles, then the road hugs the Colorado River.  Beautiful scenery abounds.  A few caveats about Utah 128 are in order.  In winter, the road can be unexpectedly slick due to frozen mist on the upper stretches.  The road is very narrow, and is not suitable for large RVs or trailers.  Also, the road HUGS the river in some places, and several vehicles end up in the drink every year.  If you don't like technical driving, US 191 is a better choice.   US 191 is accessed from I-70 Exit 182.  It is a 65 mph  two-lane, with passing lanes every few miles.  The last ten miles into Moab are now four lanes.  This is the high speed alternative, although because the distance is about ten miles longer than Utah 128, the travel time is about the same. 

• Tip Number Nine:  Plan your RETURN trip wisely, also.  It is easy to make a schedule to leave Moab at a certain time, and find that the return trip is drudgery.   Check the weather and plan accordingly.  Public computer access is available at the Grand County Library on Center Street two blocks east of Main if you want to get internet weather, or call CDOT at 303-639-1111 for weather and road conditions.  The same advice about timing your trip applies to the return.  On Sunday evenings during ski season or during the three summer months, I-70 between Silverthorne and Denver can easily take three hours instead of the normal one hour.  Try to be through Silverthorne eastbound before 2 PM or after 7 PM. 

• Tip Number Ten:  Be safe and enjoy the journey!