Where did you stay? Anyone tried the primitive state/BLM sites? How busy was it in August?

Yep, did a couple of nights in a trailer park….
After that this was much better http://www.moabupthecreek.com/
right in town and a nice little place. Book well in advance though.

The BLM stuff were simple but very popular

There were some decent big sites around and close to town too. Nice town to eat and drink in

edit this was in October, it was very hot in the middle of the day, take lights if your going to do Slick Rock, it’s also over rated, but as the bike shop said you will do it anyway.

Whole Enchilada most recommended, this bike shop were great
http://moabclassicbike.com/
and there is free wifi in the tourist info place over the road

Motels are pretty cheap in Moab…

Yes, stayed at one of the BLM sites near Lions Back area – it was nice, and right on side trails. Rainbow I think?

It was August when we were there too – had to prebook – had a fire warning so no outside fires.

It was cold at night – like, frost level cold – then scorching during the day.

Trails are stunning 🙂

Many years ago, but i just wild camped where ever, Porcupine Rim trail, car parks along Colorado River, its a big space to get lost in! I spent a while at the Lazy Lizard backpackers.

Motels are pretty cheap in Moab…

Would I rather stay here:

Or here:

Hmm…

Anyway – BLM says no pre-booking.. would not want to turn up and struggle to find somewhere.

Used to camp at the Goose Island BLM site beside the river on Highway 128.
Basic but fine. Yes, busy so get there before evening to stake your claim.
I’d seriously recommend riding early / late and avoiding the heat of midday in August!

There are much nicer motels than that. I was there on a busy weekend there was very limited stuff available hence the trailer park. BLM’s were mostly full too and I wasn’t up for driving around all afternoon in 45c checking them all.

We camped on Goose Island Campground, a few miles out of town.

here

Only just off the main road but it was dead quiet, right in the canyon. From Slickrock Trail, you could look down and see the tents and Porcupine Rim Trail comes out on the road a mile or so away from it.

There are quite a few riverside campsites along that Highway.

Don’t forget the mosquitoes! I’ve camped a few times at the different BLM sites but much prefer a motel or depending on your group number, renting a ‘condo’ for a few nights is usually quite reasonable. Perhaps I’m too soft but the issue with camping in Moab for me is the temperature. It’s so hot during the day, especially August that you go for a ride early morning and grab a shower in town…you then need to get back to the campsite which might be a 6 mile pedal along the highway in 45° heat with no shelter from the sun. Get back to your tent, hot sweaty and dusty – ‘experience’ the long drop toilets, swarming in flies and then get bitten to death by the mozzies. It’s too hot to get to sleep until about 2 or 3 am at which point, you start to freeze and then you’re getting up at 5 am to ride in the cool morning air anyway!

I’d save camping for other places and make the most of Moab town and trails by being as comfortable as you can! Don’t underestimate how hot it can be!

It could be worth booking a motel/campsite that takes reservations (e.g. KOA) for your first night and then moving your gear early to grab a BLM site. They are usually basic (long-drop toilet) but great for the price. If you get stuck, I believe the La Sal Forest will allow dispersed camping near roadways, which means wild camping.

If there’s no limit on the number of nights you can stay at the BLM ones it might be worth as Konagirl says booking somewhere for the first night then moving on late morning to bagsy a pitch at a better one.

Anyway I’m not going on a biking holiday, we are going on a family camping trip with the cousins, and there may be some riding involved for me. Normally we stay in State parks where we get a tap and pit toilets, so the only difference here would be having to bring water in. And it being hot, ofc. Also we normally do this in Wisconsin so we’re used to dealing with mozzies 🙂

Don’t underestimate how hot it can be!

[video]http://vimeo.com/150755816[/video]
[video]http://vimeo.com/150641227[/video]
[video]http://vimeo.com/150631581[/video]
bit of a teaser – no clouds in October 😯

[url=https://flic.kr/p/zb3YHf]IMG_2701[/url] by Mike Smith, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/zQtbV1]IMG_2703[/url] by Mike Smith, on Flickr
Campground I linked to – red hot then freezing
[url=https://flic.kr/p/A6VWHS]IMG_2655[/url] by Mike Smith, on Flickr
Corona Arch – the free one
[url=https://flic.kr/p/zbdCUX]IMG_2613[/url] by Mike Smith, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/zQthhd]IMG_2700[/url] by Mike Smith, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/zQv2uS]IMG_2680[/url] by Mike Smith, on Flickr

As mentioned above the temperatures at Moab in August will make riding hard and camping grim. And don’t forget you can get some serious thunderstorms in the afternoon, as the temperature and humidity builds.

The locals ride Moab and Fruita in spring and autumn, and the rockies in summer. So the rockies could be a better bet.

However, if you really want a cool campsite admittedly not in Moab, but just over the state border in Colorado (ideal for Fruita and less than 2hrs drive from Moab) then the one on top of the Colorado National Monument is pretty special. Saddlehorn Campground

And if the old ranger is there then you can have good chat about Cardiff, so you’ll feel right at home.

Ah, Ok, sorry, I just assumed a biking holiday. The is a spring on the road side not far from Goose Island (may be just over a mile away where the 128 meets the highway) that as far as I know is safe to use. Filled up there plenty of times and never had any ill effects and I know plenty of others who fill up there. It’s not exactly running water in the campsite but it’s an option rather than the 4 miles on into town for water.

The locals ride Moab and Fruita in spring and autumn, and the rockies in summer.

Yep, I’ve been to Moab twice in Late September / Early November and it was still flipping hot at midday!

[url=https://flic.kr/p/5qkF9N]Steep climbs![/url] by Ben Freeman, on Flickr

Anyway I’m not going on a biking holiday, we are going on a family camping trip with the cousins, and there may be some riding involved for me. ….
And it being hot, ofc.

Right then, Hot.
Living in somewhere hotter than Wales can imagine I found it really really hard work in October, there was snow on the summits and it was pushing 40c in the valley. Tents were not somewhere to be sitting until late at night really. Not trying to put you off but know what it will be like, the half day I went sight seeing and up to the arch in the pics was sweltering, I got through about 4l of water on the round trip of a couple of hours. It will be hotter in Summer!!

I would say there are some amazing parks that are not in the desert too!

We camped at the Devils Garden campground in Arches NP, but that was in May prior to memorial day.

First two weeks in August will be a lot busier than the latter, as schools started to go back mid August

I’m familiar with high 30s C, and yes, I’m well used to bailing out of a tent at 6am as soon as you wake up because you can’t stand the heat.. wasn’t expecting t be sitting IN a tent! Been to the SW USA before too and have experienced many big 64oz sodas going in and nothing coming out the other end.

I say Moab, but the only reason for picking it was that it’s the closest sort of deserty spot with amenities to where we’re starting (Wisconsin), and it’s cool in itself. Would decamp to those mountains to the east if possible or towards Colorado if we had trouble.

Fair enough it was high 30’s in October 😉

Not my idea of fun if it was much warmer

West towards Bryce and Capitol Reef always an option too if searching for cooler weather.

And it being hot, ofc

It won’t be hot, it’ll be oven like and chuck in Moab being at a fair old altitude and you have all the ingredients for massive dehydration. Worse still if you have to bring in your own water. Camping in those conditions isn’t going to fun for anyone IMO.

Molgrips, why Moab in August? Edit – I just see you answered that.

We were there in mid-September and it was actually quite pleasant. Warm yes but not overbearing by any means. However we didn’t have endless blue sky either…

We have to go away in August cos of school holidays and a family wedding.

We don’t want to go all that way to hang out in a mid-western town.

Camping in Wisconsin is ok but we’ve done it before and, well, America.

We road tripped to Colorado (Estes Park) a few years back.

Kids want to see something different, dramatic, and preferably deserty, cos we don’t have them.

Need an outdoor holiday friendly area and town with amenities, walks, stuff to see etc

Needs to be as close to Wisconsin as is possible whilst meeting those criteria.

So – Moab tops the list, with a possible stop off in Fruita on the way back. Boulder would be a good option but we went there already.

1400 miles close?
Up in the mountains at Park city? Down south in zion?
Walks – sweaty of shade
Stuff to see but not that much after arches and desert maybe.
Take a look at the albums on my flickr above for some of the shots & stuff.

Not trying to rain on the parade but it could be grim

Stuff to see but not that much after arches and desert maybe.

That is stuff to see, as far as I’m concerned. I’m not looking for cowboy theme parks.

Great, that was in zion 😉 just relaying some experience of being out there the massive lack of shade and overbearing temp made it very hard going from about 9am to mid/late afternoon. The air con in the car got a hammering along with the sunscreen.

October is a great time to visit

Stuff to see but not that much after arches and desert maybe.

and dinosaur footprints, petroglyphs, river rafting…

Probably more my point was after some riding a day a walk up to corona arch I wasn’t up for being baked dry and burned much more.
That’s coming from someone who lives and rides down here in Oz.

October is a great time to visit

Not with kids it’s not 🙂

I take your point mike, it’s still under discussion. Hence this thread.

Well, a similar roadtrip distance but arguably more manageable temperatures; what about heading due West across the badlands and spending some time in Montana / Wyoming? It’s not dessert landscape but it’s pretty spectacular mountains, scenery and wildlife. Red Lodge down – Beartooth highway, down through Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons is an amazing trip with plenty of chances to camp, explore and make all the “what was that???!!!” stops as you spot another wild animal on the side of the road. Not as easy to base yourself around one town though unless you head straight for Jackson Hole (expensive though) and the Grand Tetons. (Yellowstone is just so huge that if you stay in a town on the outskirts, you spend most of the day travelling in and out of the park to get to where you have planned – mainly due to all the impromptu animal spotting stops!)

Grand Tetons has been considered, yes. Yellowstone is out I think because it’s a) quite touristy and b) will be rammed in August. Mrs Grips and I have been before in September, and it was busy then. And it snowed 🙂

It’s just as far though. Plus I have a feeling that, heat notwithstanding, there’ll be more short walks and excursions at Moab and then on to either Fruita or perhaps Boulder if we get sick of wilderness. Moab/Fruita/Boulder makes a handy loop.

Yep, I agree, just throwing it out there. The other side of that loop has some cool stuff too: Mesa Verde, Durrango / Silverton (steam train / old mine history etc. ) and the San Juan mountains (different and more spectacular to the ‘usual’ Rockies imo), Black Canyon of Gunnison then either South Park and onto the Front Range the less touristy way or over Summit County depending on how much civilisation that you want to encounter.

We require one or two bases really, rather than a rolling tour. Was just about to say ‘somewhere like say, Cody, WY’ but then that could be another option. Passed through when we did Yellowstone but thought it would be nice to stay longer. Dunno how touristy it gets though.

No much to see or do in Fruita IMO. Grand Junction is a fair bit bigger and would make a better base.

If you are driving on the I-70 then Vail is worth a stop. Also a trip up Mt Evans is a good day out, just make sure you get there early.

No much to see or do in Fruita IMO

WTF!

You have to do the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs!

[url=https://flic.kr/p/7689rH]The Kessel Run[/url] by Ben Freeman, on Flickr

NB It’s not a very exciting trail to be honest and a lot shorter than 12 parsecs.

Ok, I just picked Fruita because I’d heard of trails, but yeah it’s that general corridor.

We visited Moab in July during a road trip round North America and it was off the scale hot.

Couldn’t visit at a cooler time due to only being able to take the holiday during that month.

Managed to ride the Slickrock trail though by making sure we were riding at dawn and then back to the air conditioning of our B and B before it got too hot.

I recall some epic afternoon thunder storms surfing our visit. Wouldn’t want to be calling in them.

I think you’ll be glad to be anywhere after the first leg of your journey, hot or not. I90 and I70 are the most boring roads I’ve ever driven on.

In the context of a family holiday Fruita wouldn’t be much fun IMO. It’s fine for pedalling, actually I didn’t enjoy it all that much, but then I only managed Horethief and Lunchloops. A broken wheel slowed down day 1 and then day 2 was ruled out by a huge thunderstorm so we never got any riding in.