3-D Trail
The 3-D Trail tours the vicinity of colorful Hidden Canyon and Brink Spring, northwest of Moab. It visits the canyon bottom and canyon rim, and, finally, a higher overlook of the area (hence the name 3-D). A few of the hills have been known to challenge stock vehicles, but most of the tour is pleasant, scenic, family four-wheeling. Approximate mileage: 59 total, 28 off highway.
3 (old-3)
This canyon country is different from the Wingate-topped cliffs of the Moab Valley. The canyons are a few hundred feet deep in the smooth, red-and-white layers of Entrada Sandstone, and the slickrock areas are made up of the white layer that caps the Entrada. Vistas are to the north toward the Book Cliffs.
There are some two-track dirt sections, a little slickrock, some sandy and maybe wet washbottom, and some rock/dirt mixtures with a few ledges.
Not far beyond Courthouse Rock is Airport View Hill where a few stock vehicles that still carry highway tire-pressure may try more than once. The sand of Hidden Canyon bottom may or may not be soft depending on moisture. The slickrock fields of Lunar Canyon and upper Brink Canyon are interesting but not steep. The climb out of the upper canyon first encounters The Wall, which looks like a rock wall to the uninitiated but is usually climbed easily by stock vehicles. Just past The Wall is Mean Hill, which climbs about 200 feet in two steep sections with a gentler slope in between. The first steep section has an eroded, low-traction bypass that appeals to some. The final climb on Mean Hill looks worse than it is because it is on a "hogback" with a drop-off either right or left, but the sight of it encourages everyone to make a good running start, and it has never given much trouble.
The Pickle Trailhead
(38.70997, -109.7926)
Get to the 3D Trail via The Pickle