Travel: From Moab, drive south on U.S. Route 191. Lemon Lane is four long blocks south of Angel Rock Road (Hidden Valley Trailhead). Turn right/west on Lemon Lane and drive one block to Roberts Road and park. Or, from that intersection, drive south on a sandy track located directly west of a juniper tree and park in 0.1 mile on the right. The northern traverse is a stem and loop so a shuttle is not required. The southern segment does require a vehicle drop. From Moab, drive south on Route 191 past the turnoff for Ken's Lake and the gravel pits (both are on the east of the road). At the top of a hill turn right onto Behind The Rocks Road in a 4WD, high clearance vehicle. The track splits at about 0.5 mile. Turn right/north. The main road bends west to Picture Frame Arch 1.7 miles from the highway. Bear right/north for another 0.1 mile and park in a dirt lot. The road keeps on going but gets progressively rougher as you travel on. There is a photo of Behind The Rocks Road at the end of the southern traverse description.
Distance and Elevation Gain: Southern traverse is 10.0 miles with 3,000 feet of climbing. The northern traverse is 7.8 miles with 2,100 feet of vertical.
Total Time: South: 7:00 - 8:30; North: 5:00 - 6:30. These times assume no major navigation corrections. Allow one mile per hour or even longer.
Difficulty: Off-trail; navigation most challenging--be prepared to spend the night and don't make a move you can't reverse; Class 5 wall (rope in place) on Lemon Lane Route. Both hikes have Class 3 scrambling and steep friction pitches with moderate exposure. Northern traverse has breathtaking exposure on The Ledge. No water out there so carry more than you think you will need (and food).
Maps: Rill Creek; Moab; Kane Springs, UT 7.5' USGS Quads
Dates Hiked: April 4-5, 2018
Quote: “There’s a way,” I said, mustering a convincing tone. “There’s a route down here. It’s always like this. You know. The best routes, you can’t even see them.” Craig Childs, The Soul of Nowhere
The Moab Rim is a labyrinthine jumble of globular sandstone that makes navigation and progress extraordinarily difficult. This image looks north from the southern traverse.
Route: John Bregar of Durango, Colorado is a navigational wizard. After years of probing thru-passages in Behind the Rocks from Hidden Valley, he set his mind on walking the entire Rim from Hidden Valley south. After glassing the cliffs and finding a promising break he discovered that Lemon Lane was the closest public road off Route 191 and it led directly onto BLM property. His route had prior evidence of use. It took four trips to figure out and fine tune the Moab Rim Traverse described here. What follows are photos and maps that will help you find your way. However, the landscape is way too complicated for me to guide you through it--you must figure it out on your own.
Lemon Lane Route
Both the southern and northern traverses use the 1.6 mile-long Lemon Lane Route for Rim access.
From the car park at Lemon Lane and Roberts Road, elevation 4,660 feet, walk south on a sandy 4WD track. The route accesses the Rim to the right of the rounded dome, image-left.
At the No Vehicle sign, 0.3 mile, leave the road and walk south to the saddle west of Point 5,006'. The saddle is just right of image-center. We saw only a few very old footprints.
Gain Saddle 4,960' at 0.5 mile where you will find a reassurance cairn on a boulder. A wildcat trail is not apparent at first but soon materializes heading west toward the cliffs. The slope with large floaters and periodic cairns is absolutely stunning. Steep inclines lead to benches. Repeat.
At 5,460 feet, light scrambling begins.
The route crosses the north ridge of Point 5,695' at 1.0 mile. Look down into Upper Hidden Valley. This is where the loop is closed for those doing the northern traverse. Notice the sheer wall topped with three pinnacles. This is a prominent landscape marker.
The Lemon Lane Route curves south under Point 5,695' and descends to the valley floor. We are standing on a fault, the rock structures to the east having sheered and slid off from the main cliff leaving this pleasant passage through the rift.
At 5,600 feet, 1.3 miles, turn west into a gully.
Reach the base of the Class 5 wall, approximately twelve feet high, at 1.4 miles. In March, 2018, a rope was in place and it had good integrity but test it for yourself. Stone holds are dependable. One member of our group was able to climb the wall unassisted. Remember, if you get lost, or otherwise find yourself in over your head, you will need to downclimb this pitch.
Once on top keep climbing west up a boulder laden slope and then turn north under a sheer wall on a dirt ledge with mild exposure. Looking south, we are just north of the dome noted earlier.
Gain the Rim, elevation 6,020 feet, at 1.6 miles. This interval will consume 1:15 to 1:30. The Henry Mountains are off in the west. White-throated swifts zoomed around our heads. A golden eagle, rock steady in his glide, soared above. It's been a dry year and even with everyone looking, we only identified 18 blooming flowers. The two routes depart at this location.
Southern Traverse
This hike spans from the top of the Lemon Lane Route to a short spur off Behind The Rocks Road. Looking at the overview map below, climb Peak 6,530' and the highest point on the Rim, Peak 6,560'. Visit "Big Air Arch" and Tukuhnikivatz Arch. Click on any image to enlarge it.
Here is a closeup of the trickiest portion of the southern traverse.
The navigation challenge begins right out of the gate. Obviously, the objective is to locate pathways through the maze. At 2.2 miles, we went through a gap and could see the flat-topped butte just north of (and obscuring) our first objective, Peak 6,530'.
We passed a rap station on the very edge of the Rim at 2.4 miles. Notice the relationship between the image above and below. We made for the rib of sandstone flowing west from the flat-top.
After gaining the rib we contoured across an exposed slickrock friction pitch. This made some of us uncomfortable and I welcomed a spot.
We squeezed through two cracks and then began climbing the west slope of Peak 6,530', shown. We breached the lower wall, image-right.
Here's a photo of where we began scaling the cliff band. This was followed by a Class 3 scramble through a small break in the caprock that you will have to nail.
We summited Peak 6,530' at 3.5 miles where we found a benchmark. The USGS topo indicates there is a "Vertical Tie" between the standing rock off the right side of this image, and the gentle crest out of view to the south. John Bregar climbed onto the standing rock but the rest of us were satisfied with its mate. This image looks north to the flat-topped butte mentioned earlier, Moab, and the Windows Section of Arches National Park.
Peak 6,530', shown, is the grand prize of Behind The Rocks from a navigation standpoint. It was darn hard to get here from the north and the segment between this summit and Peak 6,560' was equally challenging.
Mike Garrett of Colorado (whom has earned considerable respect over the years amongst our group) placed the peak register in 2014. Eight parties had signed in since then.
Looking south, a predominate buttress (image-left) blocks Peak 6,560'. The anticline is composed of vertical fracturing Wingate Sandstone at the base and dome-creating Navajo Sandstone on the Rim. A northern harrier hawk winged to the west. The Blues are in the south.
Our traverse continued south alongside the escarpment's vertical flutes. This stretch is effortless, gorgeous, and sweet. The Rim is crazy, the mountains tall, the valley wide. In the west weathered fins and domes astonish. It's a wacky world. And just when we couldn't process much more, we happened upon "Big Air Arch," not noted on the map. A rim remnant creates the top of the arch which drops hundreds of feet into a furrow, lanky pillars shooting up from below.
We could sense a big drop coming. At 3.9 miles we initiated the descent, working the rim, scrambling down a crack.
The next two images show a crucial piece of navigation you will need to access the north ridge of the buttress, shown. Move east toward the Rim and down a steep ramp. This gully is the furthest east of all the options offered--the only one that goes.
At the base of the ramp we began our climb up the buttress. This image looks back on the proper ramp, image-center.
We climbed the north face of the massive buttress cresting at 5.4 miles, elevation 6,540 feet.
At the next drop, 5.6 miles, we went west and shot back up the other side on sandstone. A red-tailed hawk went into a stall and watched.
The way from the next rise was less troubled and, finally, there was the highpoint of the Moab Rim and Behind The Rocks, Peak 6,560' at 6.3 miles. It a small jutting outcrop composed of lifted bedding planes sitting right on the Rim. If your goal is simply to reach this summit, access it from the south, a far simpler proposition.
Our next objective was Tukuhnikivatz Arch. The land drops gently to the south. Don't be lured to the right; stay near the Rim. The terrain through an old juniper forest with well developed cryptobiotic soil was somewhat featureless.
At 7.2 miles we were back in a labyrinth. We went down a slickrock slope, crossed a gully, scrambled down a wall, and dropped 200 feet onto an eastside bench below the rim rocks. At 8.5 miles we located Tukuhnikivatz Arch. Sitting on a flat rock platform there is something incredibly precious about this little arch.
There is a cairned trail from the arch to the road which we hit at 8.8 miles. The road is actually quite beautiful wending through still more weathered formations. We arrived at our shuttle vehicles right at ten miles. I walked down the road a ways so I could snap this image of the access road. There are several stretches of bedrock ledges.
Northern Traverse
This hike description begins at the top of the Lemon Lane Route. Hike north on the Rim to the top of the wildcat trail linking Hidden Valley with the Moab Rim. Use that trail to drop into Upper Hidden Valley and hike south to close the loop north of Point 5,695'. While this hike is shorter than the southern traverse, it is by no means trivial. There are no mountains to climb, no arches to visit, simply the opportunity to see more Rim world. Warning, The Ledge is seriously exposed and I cannot recommend it. Expert navigation skills are required.
Intersect the Rim at 1.6 miles and turn north.
We went west of the stone structures on image-right and entered a maze of tightly packed and nonsensical formations that extend for the next half mile. Feel your way through with trial and error.
If you nail it and there are no lengthy turn-backs you will emerge into the clear at 2.3 miles. Walk on flat slabs, staying as close to the edge as reasonable. Finally (for a short distance), the Rim is structured as I had anticipated. There are deep cracks in the formation's crust. A startled piñon jay put up a fuss. Upper Hidden Valley may be seen below the escarpment hanging above the Spanish Valley. We passed east of the next butte, image-center.
Upon encountering the next drop we descended to the west and returned to the Rim. The next major buttress is Point 6,059'.
Actually, there is an arch on this route. It is highly unusual, formed at the contact line between differing bedding planes, image-center.
We went east of Point 6,059' where there is some slope exposure. The ground slants steeply away for about 20 feet and then vanishes into thin air. The footing improves as seen in the image below.
Cross an elevated stone causeway on a comfortable platform. This delight precedes The Ledge which begins directly below the tower, image-center.
I will explain our route and then offer an alternative. The Ledge approach began at 3.2 miles. To access the proper level, we descended about 30 feet and walked to the tree seen here below the tower. This section was pretty darn loose and skinny and felt very exposed to me. Squeeze between the tree and the wall.
The entrance onto The Ledge is down a vertical stemming chimney. I downclimbed for 10 to 12 feet using narrow ledges for footholds. I needed a person to spot from below because if I slipped the drop was effectively bottomless.
From the base of the chimney I got onto The Ledge and started crawling immediately. Once the overhang lifts (in about 50 feet) I could stand up and walk the last 50 yards or so. The exposure remains extreme and there was a short friction walk across grit-covered stone.This image was taken from the top of the chimney. The Ledge is directly under the cliff, image-left.
The entire Ledge spanned 0.15 mile. This image looks back on the chimney, the crawl, and the standing walk.
At 3.7 miles, we climbed the Class 3 slope, shown.
At the top of the pitch, elevation 5,900 feet, we paused and discussed alternatives to The Ledge. Several of the people in our group on a prior exploration did a route they described as "clear to hell and gone." They ascended a Class 4 route on the south side of the buttress, setting webbing for protection. It took a long time to locate a place to penetrate the cliffs on the north side, seen in this image. The third option is to go clear around the buttress to the west. They referred to The Ledge as the "sanitized route." Death defying shortcut would be my description.
We could look north and down on Hidden Valley at 4.1 miles. Upper Hidden Valley was directly below us with the thin trail.
In this image there is a triangular tower and a butte sloping down to the left. We cut around the structure on the west at about 5,840 feet.
We descended to the top of the Hidden Valley wildcat trail, hitting it at 4.6 miles, 5,800 feet. I am assuming that if you have read this far you are very familiar with this make-shift route. It is located on the right side of this image where a couple of hikers are obscured by juniper trees.
We dropped down the scrabbly, steep trail toward Hidden Valley. When we first started using this route as Rim access, it was hard to detect. Ten years or more have passed and now the unmaintained trail is easy to follow. (You will not find it on maps.) Looking at the image below, we left the trail at 4.8 miles and did a descending traverse into Upper Hidden Valley entering beside the two very large companion boulders, shown.
The upper valley is serene and pretty. Impossibly tall Wingate Sandstone walls are magnificent, their blocky faces blackened with desert varnish. Huge chunks of cliff reside on the valley floor. The trail feels like a racetrack.
The valley transitions to a terrace for at time and at 6.5 miles we debated dropping into the eastward ravine south of Point 5,530'. But we decided to forego the unknown. The off-trail contour over to the base of Point 5,695' was pretty rugged. Once under the sheer face with the three pinnacles, we walked about 160 feet up the north ridge of Point 5,695' (shown) and closed the loop upon hitting the Lemon Lane Route at 6.9 miles. As a reminder, this is below the Class 5 wall and it was a simple matter to retrace our steps to civilization.
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