Cliff Hanger Trail in Moab, Utah (Our Favorite Trail)

If you have ever been to Moab, you are no stranger to how great the wheeling is. Arguably some of the best wheeling in the western states. We at Sherpa find ourselves out their all too often, whether its for a weekend trip or a whole week of camping and wheeling.

Out of all the trails in Moab, one of our new found loves is Cliff Hanger. This trail is rated a 4.5/5 as far as difficulty so it is definitely not a walk in the park. Being one of the harder trails, the trail traffic is a lot lower which makes for a great day, but there are a ton of mountain bikers.

Cliff Hanger provides you with a happy dose of ledges, rock slabs, amazing views, and some pucker factor.

The trail starts off right off Kane Creek Road west of town and drops into some good obstacles right away. We aired down to 10-12 psi and took off up the trail.

The first stint has a few good obstacles and a lot of options as far as line choice. This makes for a great time climbing to the top of the canyon rim with many opportunities for some adrenaline, good photos and tire screeches.

Once at the top you are greeted with a beautiful view of the Colorado River and it makes a great lunch spot.

 

After a good break you get to start dropping down the rim on the back side and this is where the main obstacle is and its a doozy.

After this obstacle is where most people decide to turn around, but don't be fooled. There is still a lot of fun trail left that leads you up to an overlook of Potash Mine and some great views of the La Salle Mountains.

 

This trail is an out and back, so at this point you now get to run everything backwards.

Getting up the main obstacle is the trickiest spot, but it really isn't bad, just comes down to good tire placement and throttle control.

Coming down at sunset makes for killer views with the bright orange canyon walls.

The gear we brought with us for this trip was relatively simple.

On the 3rd gen 4runner we were rocking our Matterhorn rack with a 83l Roam Adventure Co. Case, Maxtrax Mounts w/ pins and Maxtrax and Baja Designs S2's on the back as dust lights.

This Toyota 4runner is sitting on 35x10.5r17 Kenda Klever's on KMC Impact OL wheels. It is locked front and rear, rear being factory Elocker w/ an ARB air locker up front w/ Yukon gear and Axle 5.29's. This package makes for an incredibly capable drivetrain up to a 35" tire.

The 2nd Gen Toyota Tacoma is rocking our Grand Teton Rack w/ a Large Adapt Plate, Awning Mounts, and a Roam Adventure Co. 5ft Awning. It also as a prototype of our bed rack.

This Tacoma is on 35x12.5r17 Falken Wildpeaks with Black Rhino Rumble Wheels. It is locked front and rear, rear being factory Elocker w/ an ARB air locker up front w/ Yukon gear and Axle 4.88's. Total Chaos +2 Long Travel and 14" King shocks w/ archive shackle hanger's and shock relocation in the rear.