Reaching Utah Monolith through Lockhart Basin

[M0untainM4n]

Thought I would report a fun trip report from Nov 28, 2020. News of the Utah Monolith came out and my brother said "Hey... you should go here". He sent me the coordinates. I called one of my neighbors here in Moab who owns a Jeep Rubicon with a lift + 35s and asked him if he would like to road trip it. The mapping software said it was about 2.5 hours from my house in Spanish Valley. My JTR 2020 Gator is stock with the exception of an ARB twin compressor that I installed in it, so I thought, this is easy. We head south on 191 to the 211... head to Lockhart road and offroad it up that road to a hiking point. The plan was we would do that, then turn around and come back. I figured a stock JTR would be fine for this. I was right. We left Moab about 9AM and were on the trail around 11:30AM. There was a lot of traffic, since the Utah Monolith was just reported and was dismayed at 4-banger vehicles attempting to make the jaunt. It was frustrating as they would stop and look at very simple features to get over and werent sure if they wanted to go or not. I had a bit of a chuckle as we got closer to the hiking pont for the Utah Monolith, one 4-banger decided to go through a bit of a sand feature that was downhill. I looked at it and had a strong feeling that they were going to have a difficult time getting back up that feature without someone winching them up. Darwinism at its best!

We got to the hike point and parked. It was a short 10-15 minute hike in and to our dismay, the Monolith had been stolen. All that remained was its top. That kind of sucked. But it was a nice hike and the drive in was great. We were back at the vehicle around 12:30 and my buddy said "Hey... why don't we go up Lockhart Basin through Hurrah pass? I looked at him and said "Are you sure? The last mile on Lockhart northbound is pretty difficult and I think I need a lift. He said "Nahhhh... you wont have any issues. Its easy." So I agreed. The adventure began.

This is when things got fun. The climb out from the monolith got interesting right away. Finally, only vehicles that belong on the road were there. We got into a bit of sketch and my Gladiator had its first skid plate rub. I cringed a bit, but my buddy said "Hey... that's why they are there. Use them." The ride was a lot of fun. But the day began easy and I knew the hard part was coming. My buddy said "The last part is fine... I have taken a camper through it." I looked at him and said "Are you sure? I saw Youtube videos on it and I'm not sure that many folks would want to take a full camper through there." After a bit of discussion, it turned out that he had his wires crossed and he was thinking of Whiterim to Potash. No worries... he has a winch, etc, so I am comfortable giving it a shot.

We ran into several vehicles on the road, with the usual suspects of Jeep Wranglers, Tacomas, and JGCs. A good part of the trip I ran in 4L with lockers and sway bar disconnected and 4H for the "fast" parts. It made the trip palatable as there were a lot of features to get over. The sun was going down and by 5PM MST, we got to the canyon. I'm not sure if there is a name for it but some people called it the stairs or staircase and we called it the chute. When we arrived there were about 10 vehicles lined up and nobody wanted to go down it. They were all fairly nervous. I knew there was about 2.5 hours AFTER we got through this to get to Moab and daylight was pretty much gone. I looked at my buddy and said... lets do it. He said "Are you sure? You good with this?" I told him I am not going back... lets do it. The rest of the vehicle owners said "Ok... you guys want to lead it, we will follow". So off we went. I had my kids get out and spot us down. ts of features and sketch as heck. My skid plates made lots of noise I was bummed until I heard every single other vehicle scrape their skid plates, even the high lifted ones. Nobody escaped the skid plates getting scraped.

We finally made it down. We took the rest of the road to Hurrah pass and to Moab in the dark. We were home around 8PM. What a day! It was a gas. I was totally jazzed that a stock JTR was able to do it. What a capable vehicle. I always wanted to do that section, and we did it in very adverse conditions. I was going to wait for a lift, but it made it through in flying colors.

Today, I decided to jump on some black friday deals for the first things that I need as this was a learning experience. I got an SPOD BantamX aux switch system and KC Hilite Gravity Lights for the JTR, as well as some Lux rock lights. Those would have made that stretch a whole lot easier in the dark. The JTRs LED lights helped a lot, but our iPhone lights had to pick up the difference to make it through. I'll be getting a lift after I make good use of the tires on the JTR. So maybe next year.

This was lots of fun and I highly recommend Lockhart Basin to those with stock JTRs.

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[mstrav73]

So the monolith is gone and somebody stacked rocks over the hole?

prob locals that didn’t like the traffic

 

[RidinDirty]

Thought I would report a fun trip report from Nov 28, 2020. News of the Utah Monolith came out and my brother said "Hey... you should go here". He sent me the coordinates. I called one of my neighbors here in Moab who owns a Jeep Rubicon with a lift + 35s and asked him if he would like to road trip it. The mapping software said it was about 2.5 hours from my house in Spanish Valley. My JTR 2020 Gator is stock with the exception of an ARB twin compressor that I installed in it, so I thought, this is easy. We head south on 191 to the 211... head to Lockhart road and offroad it up that road to a hiking point. The plan was we would do that, then turn around and come back. I figured a stock JTR would be fine for this. I was right. We left Moab about 9AM and were on the trail around 11:30AM. There was a lot of traffic, since the Utah Monolith was just reported and was dismayed at 4-banger vehicles attempting to make the jaunt. It was frustrating as they would stop and look at very simple features to get over and werent sure if they wanted to go or not. I had a bit of a chuckle as we got closer to the hiking pont for the Utah Monolith, one 4-banger decided to go through a bit of a sand feature that was downhill. I looked at it and had a strong feeling that they were going to have a difficult time getting back up that feature without someone winching them up. Darwinism at its best!

We got to the hike point and parked. It was a short 10-15 minute hike in and to our dismay, the Monolith had been stolen. All that remained was its top. That kind of sucked. But it was a nice hike and the drive in was great. We were back at the vehicle around 12:30 and my buddy said "Hey... why don't we go up Lockhart Basin through Hurrah pass? I looked at him and said "Are you sure? The last mile on Lockhart northbound is pretty difficult and I think I need a lift. He said "Nahhhh... you wont have any issues. Its easy." So I agreed. The adventure began.

This is when things got fun. The climb out from the monolith got interesting right away. Finally, only vehicles that belong on the road were there. We got into a bit of sketch and my Gladiator had its first skid plate rub. I cringed a bit, but my buddy said "Hey... that's why they are there. Use them." The ride was a lot of fun. But the day began easy and I knew the hard part was coming. My buddy said "The last part is fine... I have taken a camper through it." I looked at him and said "Are you sure? I saw Youtube videos on it and I'm not sure that many folks would want to take a full camper through there." After a bit of discussion, it turned out that he had his wires crossed and he was thinking of Whiterim to Potash. No worries... he has a winch, etc, so I am comfortable giving it a shot.

We ran into several vehicles on the road, with the usual suspects of Jeep Wranglers, Tacomas, and JGCs. A good part of the trip I ran in 4L with lockers and sway bar disconnected and 4H for the "fast" parts. It made the trip palatable as there were a lot of features to get over. The sun was going down and by 5PM MST, we got to the canyon. I'm not sure if there is a name for it but some people called it the stairs or staircase and we called it the chute. When we arrived there were about 10 vehicles lined up and nobody wanted to go down it. They were all fairly nervous. I knew there was about 2.5 hours AFTER we got through this to get to Moab and daylight was pretty much gone. I looked at my buddy and said... lets do it. He said "Are you sure? You good with this?" I told him I am not going back... lets do it. The rest of the vehicle owners said "Ok... you guys want to lead it, we will follow". So off we went. I had my kids get out and spot us down. ts of features and sketch as heck. My skid plates made lots of noise I was bummed until I heard every single other vehicle scrape their skid plates, even the high lifted ones. Nobody escaped the skid plates getting scraped.

We finally made it down. We took the rest of the road to Hurrah pass and to Moab in the dark. We were home around 8PM. What a day! It was a gas. I was totally jazzed that a stock JTR was able to do it. What a capable vehicle. I always wanted to do that section, and we did it in very adverse conditions. I was going to wait for a lift, but it made it through in flying colors.

Today, I decided to jump on some black friday deals for the first things that I need as this was a learning experience. I got an SPOD BantamX aux switch system and KC Hilite Gravity Lights for the JTR, as well as some Lux rock lights. Those would have made that stretch a whole lot easier in the dark. The JTRs LED lights helped a lot, but our iPhone lights had to pick up the difference to make it through. I'll be getting a lift after I make good use of the tires on the JTR. So maybe next year.

This was lots of fun and I highly recommend Lockhart Basin to those with stock JTRs.

That's awesome! Sounds like a great trip. Looks like a great way to pop the Gladiator cherry.

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