Gold Bar Rim

Rating: 7. There is one obstacle that requires lockers, lift, and larger tires.

Location: Just north of Moab, UT.

Trailhead: The road is located on US Highway 191 5.2 miles north of the Arches entrance. The road is on the west side. It is the Gemini Bridges road. GPS coordinates are 38°39'22.0"N 109°40'37.3"W (38.656113, -109.677037).

The Gold Bar Rim trail is to the left off of the Gemini Bridiges road 4.8 miles after you leave the pavement. The coordinates are 38°36'00.2"N 109°40'25.1"W (38.600049, -109.673630).

This is a fun trail full of many ledges. It slowly gets harder the closer you get to the rim. This is an out-and-back type trail, so don't go down any obstacle if you aren't sure you can go back up it.

The last time I did the trail was probably around 1999 and back then I would have rated it a 4 or 5. Since that time it is more torn up, especially one obstacle that TrailDamage.com calls "slide rock." This used to be a simple slickrock slope/ledge, but now it has been torn up about 2 feet deeper is much more difficult. We attempted the trail and decided that it was too difficult for the vehicles in our group. I am unsure if the rest of the trail is more difficult since I haven't done it for over 15 years, but others told me that this is the hardest spot of the trail.

My family did the trail in 2005 and they took a rental Jeep with 32" tires and no lockers all the way to the top. Now I don't think you could make it up slide rock without lockers.

The view from the end is spectacular and worth the trip. It overlooks the arches entrance.

Here are the GPX and KML files.

This sign made me laugh.

My wife just having fun!

This is Slide Rock. Notice below how much deeper the ledge is compared to 2005. The horizontal crack on the right just above the rock on the right was quite a bit closer to the bottom of the edge. Also notice that the steepest part of the ledge on the left of the image was almost completely buried back.

This is Slide Rock back in 2005. Wow, way easier back then. I didn't even recognize this ledge!

This is the top of Gold Bar Rim. It is directly across the highway from the entrance to Arches.