Golden Spike is perhaps the quintessential Moab 4WD trail. It's a long trip that starts with Poison Spider Mesa trail, continues on the actual Golden Spike trail, and finishes with a slice of the Gold Bar Rim trail. It's non-stop challenges from beginning to end.
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1 - The trail starts aggressively and never lets up.
2 - Does this climb have a name?
3 - Mary Jane Francis died here from a poison spider bite in 1896, which is how the trail got its name...or so the story goes.
4 - Greg Luer, our trip leader, prepares us for the "Launching Pad." That's his 1985 4Runner in the front.
5 - Ready for action.
6 - Moving out.
7 - Damn, that's steep! Down I go...
...and up I go on the steep rock. Greg Luer looks on.
9 - Madison Wilhelm demonstrates his masterly skill behind the wheel.
10 - Madison spent the first two days of CM2001 in the campground repairing a shredded timing gear.
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13 - "This side up."
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15 - Dave DeLong from Pittsburgh was my copilot.
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20 - We stopped for lunch at the top of the world.
A panoramic view of Moab from the Golden Spike trail.
Another amazing panorama from our lunch picnic spot on the trail.
33 - Lunch parking
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36 - Here is "crypto-biotic mass," which takes decades to grow. Don't step on it!
37 - There's always at least one hood open at any lunch stop.
38 - The lineup at the Golden Crack.
39 - Ready for g-crack action.
40 - Air!
41 - Madison in the Crack.
42 - Madison II
43 - Madison III
44 - Back across the Crack!