Hi All,
I just got back from 7 days of riding in Moab Utah, with
some mountain bike friends. Keeping up with 7 ultra-
motivated riders and riding every day for 7 days straight
was totally exhausting and really intense (we rode 4 to 10
hours/day every day) but ultimately awesome as we got a
chance to explore a lot of terrain.
Anyone interested in the trails we did, feel free to send me
an email (kris at krisholm.com).
In brief, here's some info:
Bartlett Wash: Really fun, like a lower-committment
slickrock trail. We did this the same afternoon we arrived.
Moab Rim: Highly recommended. Starts with a hike-a-uni
ascent to the top of a Mesa, and then a beautiful
singletrack across and down the other side. There's a little
slickrock and even a North Shore ladderbridge at one
location. This is the opposite direction described in the
guidebook; if you did it the other direction the hike-a-uni
would be a super technical but doable descent.
Amasa Back: Where whe went on the Moab MUni weekend was only
the start of the true Amasa Back. Most of it extends out a
long spine thats bounded on both sides by the Colorado
river. This was a long ride (7 hours) but is remote and
rarely visited. Probably the my favorite ride here.
Fisher Mesa: Located at the top of Castle Valley across from
Porcupine Rim, this is a 10 km out-and back (20km round
trip). It's a beautiful singletrack, but a bit of a grunt as
you drop 1500' on the way out, and have to climb back up to
get out the way you came.
Upper Porcupine Rim. This descends the Kokapelli Trail
from the top of the La Salle mountain loop road at over
8000' elevation. The singletrack is awesome and descends
to the top of the Porcupine Rim trail, making this a good
all-day ride. We did it once as a combination with Fisher
Mesa for a really long day, and once on it's own for a
solid but not epic day)
Fins & Things: This is a 4wd road that makes for a fun
intermediate level MUni ride, starting downhill of the main
Porcupine Rim parking lot, ending at the Moab slickrock
Trail parking lot. We combined this with a ride around the
slickrock practice loop for a medium day.
Gemini Bridges: The entire route is easy doubletrack on a
4wd road and would make a great Coker ride if you drove to
the top and rode down to the end at lower elevation, or a
good workout and longer day if you started at the bottom. We
combined the top half with Gold Bar Rim and the Portal Trail
for a good day (about 40 km of technical singletrack)
Gold Bar Rim: Awesome super-technical 4wd road (amazing
what 4wd vehicles can drive over in Moab) and technical
singletrack towards and along the edge of a high mesa.
Lots of big views over a very large cliff. If you know
where you are going you can avoid most of the 4wd road
with a more aesthetic but quite difficult singletrack
along the edge of the mesa.
Portal Trail: Short but technically difficult descent, lots
of rocks and steep sections. Part of the trail is death-
consequence and several people have died trying to ride it
(if you screw up you can easily fall over a 200' cliff).
However this section is walkable, quite safely as long as
you pay attention.
Cheers,
Kris
--
danger_uni - Kris Holm
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