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Hell's Revenge
Moab,
Utah
(Grand County)
Last Updated:
04/29/2022
Trail Information
Highlights
Welcome to Hell's Revenge, the world's most famous slick rock trail. Slick rock is petrified sand. The slick rock moniker dates back to when horse-drawn wagons would try to cross the seemingly easily traversed undulating sandstone. Metal horseshoes and steel-rimmed wagon wheels found no grip on the sandstone. Thus, it was called slick rock. Modern tires love the course sandstone.
Moab's Hell's Revenge is considered a must-do for many wheelers. It's also in most folks' top 5 Jeep Badge of Honor Trails. When picturing Moab, the slick rock rollercoaster, fins, steep climbs, insane traction, and the two rubber tracks cresting over the hills off into the distance of Hell's Revenge is what comes to mind. If eavesdropping on conversations at any Moab watering hole, you'll hear names like Hell's Gate, The Hot Tubs, Car Wash, Micky's Hot Tub, The Escalator, and Tip Over Challenge mentioned reverently and constantly at the heart of any good Moab story. They are all on Hell's Revenge. If you only have time for one trail in Moab, make it epic. Make it Hell's Revenge.
Trail Difficulty and Assessment
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Trail Navigation
Hell’s Revenge gives you a taste of everything Moab has to offer. Hell’s Revenge is clearly marked. Follow the yellow flame symbols painted on the ground. It's a wild rollercoaster ride over natural, petrified sand dunes, or fins, as most people call them. If you take all the bypasses, it's not a very technical trail. However, it's not for the faint of heart. There are a lot of steep climbs and descents over the fins and areas that you must drive very close to the edge of high cliffs, which can be truly terrifying. Now, if you are looking for awe-inspiring moments on this trail, check out The Overlook, which provides a stunning view of the Colorado River. Because most of the obstacles are optional, you can make this a long day or as short as a few hours.
For those looking for added fun and thrills, Hells Revenge offers a few optional obstacles; Hells Gate, The Hot Tubs, The Escalator, and Tip Over Challenge. These obstacles are for experienced drivers or people with great spotters.
The steep ups and downs often result in dragging bumpers on vehicles with lower approach and departure angles. A stock Rubicon JLU can do the trail without bumping but might require a spotter in a few spots to ensure the right line.
There is a $5.00 access fee per vehicle to enter Sand Flats Recreation Area.
Trail Reviews
4.9/5 (54 reviews)
Open
Rated
4/5
Visited: 11/03/2022
Difficulty Accuracy: Harder
Trail rating was spot on up to the last 1.7 miles which increases this rating to a 5/6 at least. There’s a bail out option at about 2 miles out from the end, but goes against traffic and uphill, thought the main trail should be easier. Completed it all in a 2/3” lifted Tacoma with 33s.
Open
Rated
5/5
Visited: 10/06/2022
Difficulty Accuracy: Harder
Five stars because I mean, it’s Hells Revenge. But it’s TOUGH. The 4/10 might be if you don’t loop around past WP 8/9 and just head back the way you came. After that at least 6/10 even bypassing the obstacles. Be prepared. Luckily met up with others and went together, one of whom had a lot of experience. Otherwise I probably would have turned back quickly. Glad I did it, will try it again in the future just so I feel better about it.
Open
Rated
5/5
Visited: 09/23/2022
Difficulty Accuracy: Harder
Even with the bypasses, I still found it to be hard and not as enjoyable as Fins n' things. I guess it all comes down to vehicle, I could see how easy those with wranglers on 35s" could get up all the ledges but I did it in a stock WK2 Trailhawk taking the most mellow lines....usually. I skipped the main obstacles but did drive out to them to see them on foot. The Hell's gate/overlook had a rental side by side getting winched after tipping. The hot tubs are a lot bigger than you have seen on youtube, and WP14 (Dragon's tail) is spooky and I went right to check out the escalator after. What is glossed over in some guides is the difficulty of the exit (WP19). There are larger rocks and drop offs which are totally different from the rest of the trail (perhaps this is the revenge part). I didn't want to risk it so I turned around backtracked, and took the other route at (WP14) to head out the way I came in. In my opinion, the climbs are harder in reverse (WP5-1) and there is oncoming traffic to deal with. Am I happy that I did it? Yes. Am I going to do it again in this Jeep? Probably not!
To my grand cherokee's credit, it did everything that I asked of it, required no winching and made it back home with just a little skid plate scraping.
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