Flat Iron Mesa 4x4 Trail

Dogs Unknown

E-Bikes Allowed

Features Views

This area is very sandy, so it's best to ride here after recent rains. The summer monsoons of 2021 stripped away a fair bit of sand down to bedrock, ledges or rubble. This makes riding more fun if not actually easier. There are also many spurs and other roads in the area, so keep your map handy and check it often.

You'll pass a number of signed "Bypasses" along the trail. Take them: unless you are seriously strong, you probably don't need the side trips to tough 4x4 features.

If you are thinking you'll muscle this trail into submission with an e-bike, you may be in for an unpleasant day. Some of the trail features are probably too steep for even a motor-assist, and you'll not be able to push an 80-lb. "bicycle" up them if you kill your battery on the rather grueling approach. If you want to e-bike it, be sure you are actually technically proficient in hard terrain, and riding a manageable, real mountain bike.

This is an old-school Moab ride that follows a 4x4 road, taking in a variety of riding surfaces in a very remote area. If you are seriously fit, you may have found your new favorite fitness loop. If you are merely mortal, you may hate it.

It's hard to say which direction rides best. But if you choose CCW, you'll leave the parking lot, cross the wash, and climb up to Pipeline (Flat Iron Safari Route) and turn right. Continue for a short distance before turning left to begin winding your way up a gradual canyon to the top of the Flat Iron Mesa. The fantastic views north glance across Kane Creek Canyon to take in the cliffs of BridgerJack Mesa, Prostitute Butte, and Behind the Rocks WSA.

Like some other trails in the region--notably Golden Spike Jeep Road--this section sends you up steep gaspers, just to heartlessly drop you right back down again, often to hit a fun crawling feature for the motos. It's a little like the Slickrock Trail that way, but the climbs are a bit longer and more sustained so it doesn't work like intervals unless you are an aerobic animal.

You top out of the little canyon and its challenging up-downs at about 4-miles where you T into county road 164. Go right and enjoy a couple miles of high-speed cruising on mostly smooth gravel. As the road straightens to bee-line to the edge of the world, take a left to rejoin technical terrain that leads to and along the spectacular rim of Hatch Wash, a dramatically deep, cliff walled canyon. Eventually, the trail turns away from the rim briefly, where you can opt to cut out early via the Flat Iron Mesa 4x4 Jeep Road Spur or continue along the Hatch Wash rim with views over into the Canyon Rims Recreation Area.

Either way, you'll eventually T back into 164 at nearly the same point. You can go left to eventually cross Pipeline (Flat Iron Safari Route) and return to the car the same way you started. Or go right if you want a longer ride. In that case, you'll reach Hwy-191 at the Williams LNG pumping station where you can turn left to ride either the Pipeline or the highway shoulder back to the car.