Gateway – Castleton Route

Open for the season! Please stay on the trail and pack out more than you packed in!

A very fun and scenic way to get from Utah to Colorado (or vice versa)!

Departed from the Moab side and headed up the mountain. After leaving pavement, the road is mud and snow/ice packed. Made it as far as WP17 (Beaver Basin Trailhead) before having to turn around. The road at this point, headed towards Gateway, is completely covered in deep snow and impassable.

Currently snow packed about 10 miles in with mud once you break through the snow. Ended up having to back down 2 miles to the last junction. Got stuck too had to dig her out.

FYI, this series of roads can become impassable when soaked with snow.

Traveled this trail from Moab to Gateway as a return trip to Colorado from running Rimrocker. Overall the route was in great shape but the camp spot in waypoint 5 was not in the best shape. The unique looking tree in the trailguide photos has been knocked over and chopped up. Not sure why but I hope it wasn't vandalism. We stayed the night there anyways and enjoyed the sunset as it lit up the red rocks around Gateway.

Beautiful views! This trail winds through some really cool areas with awesome scenery. Not a lot of *great* camping spots in my opinion (too close to the road), but there are some if you're looking for more structured camping options. The road was very easy to traverse and didn't take too long at all. I'd definitely recommend it as a back way into Moab if you're willing to head a bit out of the way. No traffic at all.

Decided to run this on the way to Moab. Did not see the note that said avoid when wet. Highly recommend avoiding when wet. Terrible mud and no one around. Even in a highly capable vehicle it was sketchy. Lots of cattle. Cant comment on any views as we were in the clouds the entire time. Drops you into a nice location though.

Becoming out tradition to run this route every time we go to Utah. Scenery is awesome off road, and once you get into gateway. It beats the heck out of that section of I-70 from Moab to Grand Junction. Be careful on the gravel road between WP3 and WP5 - there was a ford bronco teetering over the edge as we descended the road this year. He was out of the vehicle and happy to be alive as his truck was inches from going off a 500 or 600 foot drop. The road is loose gravel, bad washboard, and no guard rails, so be careful.

Ran this from Moab to Gateway. You can do this trail without much clearance or even 4WD if dry. The trail has phenomenal views and some beautiful dispersed campsites.

We ran this trail From Utah to Colorado on our way back from Moab. We accessed the trail through the Sand Flats Recreation Area using Sand Flats Rd, FS 4636 (part of the Kokopelli Trail), and La Sal Loop RD *(turnoff at WP26). Good trail with lots of side routes to explore if you're interested. Keep an eye out for private property signs. There are some areas out here that are private, but not well marked. The trail is mostly doable in 2-wheel drive, with some of the trail being on pavement. We needed 4x4 a few times coming up Kokopelli Trail towards La Sal Lookout, but that part is not outlined here. Overall, this as a much more scenic way into/out of Moab than I-70.

The solid day of rain prior to my arrival made this trail impassable. The road had just been graded within the first few miles of 4.4rd and they had gone too low leaving very loose soft clay. Then as soon as I crossed into Utah it was nothing but greasy wed sludge mud. Realized I was not going to be able to continue on and tried turning around. Wound up digging myself a hole and having my whole Jeep slide to the side of the road and into a fence. Wound up spending quite a bit just to have a recovery vehicle come out and pull me out. The mud was so bad when we tried winching, even with a second anchor, was still just dragging the recovery Jeep through the muck too. So if you are planning to hit this trail, realize that it is a 2 out of 10 only on dry days. When it rains even the toughest rigs have a lot of difficulty completing. Also, the Sheriff of Gateway who first came to assist me said that the road is usually closed until April but the lack of snow in the area let them keep it open. So heed my warning, not an easy trail at all when it's wet.

I was excited to take a new route to Moab from Colorado. The scenery was epic driving through Unaweep Canyon on my way into Gateway. The closer I got to Gateway the more dramatic the scenery became. As I traveled along the actual trail the elevation kept increasing and got much more cold, windy, and the landscape looked seasonally dead. The closer I got to Utah the more excited I was to drive through Castle Valley. I can say I was utterly disappointed that so much of the route out of the La Sal National Forest was paved. Towards the end, I took a side road looking for the access to Castle Rock for a future write-up. I found it, and it was the highlight of this trip. Overall this was fun route to Moab, I would do it again.