Buttes and Towers

Rating: 3
This is an easy trail. 4-wheel drive is necessary as there are a few loose areas and a few ledges. This is a great trail for the beginner, but nothing technical. There were a few ledges that some of the stock vehicles had to change their line a few times to make it up. A stock Jeep Wrangler, 4Runner, etc. would have no issues with this trail. There would be a few areas that may give a stock trail rated Jeep Renegade some issues due to clearance but I assume it would still be doable with some work.

Location
Moab, UT

Trailhead
This trail begins and ends at the exact same location as Seven Mile Rim. For a more challenging trail, consider Seven Mile Rim. If you are a beginner and don't have much experience, the Buttes and Towers trail is for you.

The trail begins north of Moab. It is on US Highway 191. If you are traveling north, it is 0.6 miles after the intersection with Utah Highway 313 and is to the left. GPS coordinates are 38°40'47.0"N 109°41'30.7"W (38.679731, -109.691869).
Description
This is an easy trail without any real technical climbs. There are a few loose areas and a few ledges, but nothing difficult. 4-wheel drive is a must (unless you're in a rock crawling buggy of course). I rate this as a "Sunday afternoon drive" type of trail.

This trail starts and ends at the same location as Seven Mile Rim. A few of the roads are shared between the two trails, but most of the roads are not shared. The biggest difference is that Seven Mile Rim goes on top of the rim and Buttes and Towers goes around the actual rim. The scenery is more impressive on the Seven Mile Rim trail, in my opionion, mainly because you have the views from on top of the rim. The rest of the trail shares the same scenery.

One of the highlights of the trail is a stop at Determination Towers. This is an interesting set of towers (see images below) that has a great parking lot and may serve as a great lunch spot. The name is from a letter describing the experience of a family in the 1950's. They had heard of these towers, and they set off in their old Jeep to find the towers. They spent all day in the heat searching for these towers. Their letter states they also had no roads to follow, so they were just blazing their own trail (as a note, back then there weren't regulations and it was legal to do this. Today, it is illegal to blaze your own trail so make sure you stay on existing roads). They said it was a long and difficult trip, so they named this Determination Towers. The name has since stuck. I am going to try to find the letter so I can include it here, but sadly I can't find it on an internet search. I will see if I can find the email of our leader who read us the letter and get a copy.

The trail also winds around near the Monitor and Merrimack Buttes. The Seven Mile Rim trail goes between these buttes, but this trail does not.

All-in-all this was an enjoyable trail. It was a relatively short trail compared to many others in the area. We left Moab at about 9:00 am and we were finished by 3:00 pm with a group of about 20 vehicles.

There is a maze of roads in the area--some of which have obstacles that are more difficult. I recommend using a GPS tracker to follow the posted route.

Download the GPS file here!

 

Here is a picture of Determination Towers in the distance.

Monitor and Merrimac Buttes in the distance.

Determination Towers are just above my hood.

Nice lunch spot. This is next to the Monitor and Merrimack Buttes.

This and the next pictures are pictures of Determination Towers at the parking area at their base.