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Moab


Albert

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Stopped in Moab on my way back from Portland last week.  Ended up staying a full day there and riding the Magnificent 7 trails, which I've never ridden before.  The first several trails were great!  Then I got to the Gold Bar and Portal trails at the end.  The first section of Gold Bar was fine, but then you get to a section of trail also used by Jeeps, and that wasn't as much fun (and a ton of brutal climbs!)  After that, you do the long Gold Bar Rim trail, which runs along a canyon edge along Highway 191 north of Moab.  Finally, the Portal trail, which has pretty extreme exposure and I walked a good portion of that due to the very high penalty of failure (death).  I never need to ride that particular trail again!

Photos here:

I was going to hit as much of The Whole Enchilada as I could, and they were dropping people off at UPS (although there was a possibility of going as high as Kokopelli).  Will have to come back earlier in the year before Burro Pass is closed. 

 ..Al

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2 hours ago, Scorpionwoman said:

Nice! Looks like they've had some rain, too.

Yes, it rained a few days before my arrival, which is why Kokopelli wasn't rideable the day when I was there.  Had I stayed another day, might have been able to start there and worked my way down to Porcupine Rim. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

When we did Mag7 last time, we decided to do what I called 'Mag 5' - basically turning off onto a jeep road before Gold Bar and riding that out.  It dropped us right outside the brand trails.  Also allowed us to skip Portal because I realllyyy don't like exposure.  There was a pretty decent climb out (500ish feet), but it was at a decent grade and on easy jeep road so it wasn't that bad.  

mag5.jpg

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Here's what we hit on our trip 2 years or so ago:

1.  Dead Horse Point - Easy-ish trail, but fun, and a good warm-up for the area.

2.  Klondike - Fun, but climby - this would probably be last on the list of all the trails in the area for me next time I go.  I'd probably want to try it again though to give it a shot.  We rode Mega Steps - > Baby Steps - > Salty - > UFO - > Sidestep - > Dino and back to lot.

3.  Brand Trails - Fun, especially the easier loops.  We rode these a few times because they were an easy ride from the RV park and a good afternoon ride after a harder morning ride.

4.  Porcupine (shuttle) - Started at Hazzard cause that's where they were dropping off at.  To be honest, I think I'd prefer to start at Koko if given the choice of the 2.  Hazzard was rutted and lots of babyheads and honestly wasn't that fun for me - not to mention the climb @ elevation to start it out.  UPS and below were all super fun and had some good technical sections.  This was probably my favorite ride of the trip.

5. Mag 5 (posted above - shuttle) - Started on 7Up.  We rode the top portion and bailed to Gemini Bridges Road right before the start of Gold Bar. 

 

Edited by fontarin
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  • 2 months later...

Shredding MOAB in April. Is one week too long out there? Any suggestions would be great, such as must hit trails.  I am going to be riding with Moab Cyclery and their multi day tours, they said if I am going to be out there that long I can pick whatever trails I want to hit. Thanks

 

 

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Shredding MOAB in April. Is one week too long out there? Any suggestions would be great, such as must hit trails.  I am going to be riding with Moab Cyclery and their multi day tours, they said if I am going to be out there that long I can pick whatever trails I want to hit. Thanks
 
 

Whole Enchilada is a must.
Capt. Ahab is amazing
Mag 7 is cool
I didn’t ride portal but I’ve heard it’s an experience.

You will love it!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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One week certainly isn't too long. But you may also consider taking the day to make the fairly short drive (< 1.5 hour, I think) to Fruita for the Kokopelli Area's Horsethief Bench and other trails. 

And while in Moab, don't forget Bartlet's Wash. It'll be a short, but fun ride. Do it on a recovery day. 

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It goes without saying that you need to hit Slickrock just to say you did and see what it's all about.  I wouldn't spend the whole day there but maybe make it a morning and then go to Bartlet's Wash.  I haven't ridden that trail but if it's Moab and Barry likes it, that would be enough for me to give it a shot.

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21 hours ago, Barry said:

One week certainly isn't too long. But you may also consider taking the day to make the fairly short drive (< 1.5 hour, I think) to Fruita for the Kokopelli Area's Horsethief Bench and other trails.  

^^^this. 

My trips out that way usually include camping in Fruita and day trips to Moab as weather dictates or just to hit the Moab stuff. 

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On a family trip I rode Slickrock in the morn, then hiked around Arches NP after lunch. Another day was Phil's World in Cortez followed by Mesa Verde NP.  In April you can't count on the Whole Enchilada being open so have some contingencies. Agree with Anita on Fruita or a little longer drive to Cortez/Durango. Tons of riding in both if there's still a lot of snow up high.

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Ditto the comment about Fruita. Lots of trails and networks there, see the Bookcliffs.

And should it be interesting, the Raven's nest zipline in Moab was fun. My daughter and I did that last year. The lines go from fin-to-fin at the northwestern edge of the slickrock trail. 

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  • 2 years later...

My trip report. There are so many choices in Moab that I had extreme FOMO planning the trip. Hopefully this will help someone else from experiencing that. 

We rode Brands, Klonzo, and Dead Horse Point. We would ride the easier trails in each system first then she would stop and I would go back out. Klonzo was picked because of a recommendation from a couple I met at Phil's World. They knew I was there with my wife but saw how I could ride. They said that Klonzo was one of their favorite trail systems and that it would fit our bill too. Dead Horse Point was picked because everyone said it was beautiful. It was. Brands was just a name I was familiar with.

All these areas, and the others, have maps available to buy for $3 each, in the local bike stores. We bought Brands and Klonzo. BUT, you don't need the maps. We took pictures of the maps at each trail head, but we never even looked at them either. All three places had maps posted everywhere on the trails. Almost at every intersection there was a map of the entire system with a "you are here" button. And the trails have the ratings posted too. The green/blue/blacks were mostly accurate. So it was easy to pick out routes for us, and then me later. There were also a lot of small trail name signs. I'm assuming the other systems are marked as well. It was really, really well done. 

We enjoyed all three days of riding and wouldn't hesitate to ride those same systems again. But of course when I go back I'll try other ones. Dead Horse Point was really spectacular in regards to views. Just imagine riding around the rim of the Grand Canyon. The trails were fun too. So I would say that's a must do day. It is informative driving to it on 313  because you pass some of the other mtbing system trailheads on the way to it. Horsethief, Gemini Bridges, and Navajo Rocks.

Our routine was to ride in the mornings then go to the national parks in the afternoon. We could have spent more than three days in Moab. Mostly because of all the other non-mountain biking things to do there. We would have liked to raft on the Colorado and maybe done a UTV tour. 

Oh yeah, it was plus 100 degrees every day. But we Austin folk shouldn't be put off by that. Just drink lots of water. It's great fun to ride for a few hours in the heat and NOT have any wet clothes. Amazing really. 

I would have liked to have ridden Slick Rock or at least the practice loop, just to be able to say "done that," but I don't think I missed out on the slick rock experience. All of the trails I rode had lots of it. The Slick Rock trail was one of the first trails so that's one reason it's famous. Some of the other more well known trails are famous because they are hard. For example, several people I spoke with said that some of the Whole Enchilada trails were very grindy from being overused and washed out. That didn't sound like fun to me.  

So research the different areas and pick one for each day. I'm thinking you really can't go wrong on any of them.

 

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10 minutes ago, The Tip said:

It's great fun to ride for a few hours in the heat and NOT have any wet clothes. Amazing really. 

Completely the opposite of what I'm experiencing in Arkansas right now.  We'll be in Moab in October so really looking forward to that.

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