strolling steelbender

 We got caught in traffic last Friday night as we came into Moab: traffic backed up starting at the bridge and extending past Potash Road, costing us an extra 45 minutes.  Because of this, when it came time Saturday morning to decide on a hike, we knew we wanted to stay south of town to avoid the hoi polloi.  I thought it might be a good time to revisit Steelbender.

Love the aesthetic

The last time we did this trail (which was also the first time we did it) was this past April.  Then, we'd explored all the short hiking trails at Ken's Lake first before checking out the 4X4 road about Faux Falls.  It had been sunny and warm and we didn't get too far before Milton started overheating.  This time we drove up the dirt access road and parked before the cattle guard, just up the hill from where Steelbender officially starts.  It was sunny but not hot, even cool in the shade.

Desert boys

Since this is a 4x4 trail, the hiking is easy, if loose, sandy and rocky in places.  It crosses Millcreek first thing, then continues up over rolling ridges before dropping back down into a sandy valley.  We had it to ourselves for the first bit.

Blue skies and dirt roads

After a while, we did hear engines coming up behind us: six side-by-sides.  We stepped to the side to watch them come up over an obstacle, then passed them shortly thereafter when they pulled over to regroup.  They weren't driving like idiots or blasting their music, and a couple of them made a point of petting Milton, so we liked them.

Road to nowhere

We kept going for a while until the trail looked like it was coming out of the rocky section into that sandy valley that would - eventually - lead to the exit in a Spanish Valley neighborhood.  We decided to turn around there, so we still don't know exactly where the trail comes out.  On our way back out, we again passed that group of side-by-sides, plus four MTBers (brave on such a sandy trail!), one jeep and a herd of about eight old-school 4-wheelers.  We saw two more MTBers and a small group of side-by-sides back at the creek, so people were definitely out and about, even south of town.

Hike stats:  6.04 miles; moving 2:15/2.7 m.p.h.; overall: 2:57/2.0 m.p.h.