Golden Spike Trail
Another Face of Moab
When the winter just won’t quit where you live, and spring seems like it’s never going to show up and melt the snow on the local trails, one excellent way to dry out, warm up, and get the wheels spinning again is to pack up the scooters and head to Moab, Utah. These days, Moab is best known as a mountain biking mecca, but off-road recreation in the area was first popularized by 4-wheelers and motorcyclists, and there are still exceptional riding opportunities in the area. Trails range from easy, scenic jaunts to sick and abusive trials rides, and when your body is hammered from day after day of hard-core rockpounding and exploring, there are plenty of other entertainment opportunities as well. River rafting and kayaking, incredible national parks, jeep rentals and tours, and Native American archeological sites are all easily within reach. In addition, there is the surreal, almost cartoon quality of the Canyonlands geology to provide a mindbending scenic backdrop to whatever activity suits your fancy. Camping opportunities in and around town abound, with everything from fancy RV parks to primitive campsites. Weekends in the spring and fall (the nicest time to visit) can be crowded, and the campsites fill up fast. Sites downriver from Moab on Kane Creek road, and sites in the Sand Flats Recreation Area just north of town offer some rides directly from camp, but there are terrific rides on all sides of town, so wherever you stay, you’ll be very close to some trails, and 20 minutes or so from others.
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Golden Spike Trail |
Another Face of Moab |
There is a plethora of guidebooks and maps available at bicycle shops, convenience stores, and campgrounds, but much of the information is geared for bicyclists or jeepers, and it requires a slight mental translation to get an idea of what a trail will be like for a motorcyclist. Generally, the most difficult jeep trails (rated 4 or 4+ by local guidebooks) are challenging but very doable for an experienced rider who is not intimidated by rocks. You can usually pick out a reasonable line for 2-wheeler through even the most difficult jeep sections, though depending on your skill and health insurance coverage, there may be an occasional section that will require a team effort to get bikes over. In any mountain bike guide look carefully for any references to “hike-a-bikes” or “portages” and avoid those trails. Good cyclists are pretty amazing, and I have found that such sections are usually completely impassable to a normal human on motorcycle.
If you're short on time, or not into reading maps and sometimes getting slightly lost, or if you've just done all the popular rides and want to get into the really obscure stuff, consider a guide service such as Dale Parriott's Elite tours (review). Then you won't have to worry about trailheads, or mapreading, or any of that, and you're guaranteed to ride some sweet trails that few visitors to Moab ever see. Dale also has late-model KTM's for rent, in case you find yourself in the area without your scooter.
If you fancy yourself a skilled rider, then a good first ride might be Fins ‘n’ Things (Sand Flats area, you get a map when you camp or drive in). This trail winds throughout the Sand Flats area, over a mix of slickrock, ledgy rock, and sand, crosses the road a few times, and rarely gets too far from help. The jeep guides rate it as a 3-4. If you find it child’s play, then you probably won’t have much trouble on the more extreme jeep trails in the area. If it makes you nervous, then stay away from the truly abusive trails. Another good ride for calibrating your skill and adventurousness is Poison Spider Mesa, which offers spectacular views of the entire area, and is fun, but not terribly difficult for a strong rock rider. Both rides are close to town, get a fair amount of jeep and/or bicycle traffic and are short enough that you could walk to civilization if something goes wrong.
For less skilled or less experienced riders, the Gemini Bridges or Klondike Bluffs trails both offer a saner test of your skills. Both rides start a few miles north of town on Highway 191, and both are covered extensively in every local map and guidebook.
Once you have an idea of where your adventure threshold is, here are some recommended all-day adventures:
This trail starts downstream 5 miles from downtown, where Kane Creek Road turns to dirt. It crosses private land at the trailhead, so be prepared to cough up $2 to the landowner. The ride is 50-60 miles of abusively technical terrain for most riders, and contains several “hold your breath” sections. It was one of my favorite rides.
You will want to take the Pritchett Canyon trail all the way up to Highway 191, then double back and take the Behind The Rocks trail to return. This route allows you to come down the 5 foot dropoff near the bottom of White Knuckle Hill (which is only scary) instead of trying to ride up it (which is downright laughable). At the bottom of the hill, the route to the left is marked with white dashes and intersects the Pritchett Canyon trail earlier. The unmarked route to the right is the more entertaining continuation of Behind The Rocks, and intersects Pritchett Canyon later. The last few miles retrace the first few miles of the ride, only most of the obstacles are easier on the return trip.
This is one of the most surreal and fantastic rides I have ever been on. The view from the Top of the World overlook will take your breath away, and the descent through Onion Creek feels like a journey to Mars. There are a few challenging sections, but it’s mostly fun and scenic for a skilled rider. The ride ends at Onion Creek and Highway 128, about 15 miles northeast of Moab. If you have a street-legal bike, you can ride the 10-ish miles further to Dewey Bridge to start the dirt portion, or bring a friend with a truck and shuttle.
At Dewey Bridge, check out the historic bridge just upstream from the new one, and marvel at the fact that the narrow old bridge was still in use until 1986. I’m not sure I could get my truck across it. The Kokopelli trail, which runs from Loma to Moab, crosses here. You want the section on the south side of the river, so look for the fairly obvious signs before you cross. After 5 miles, there is a signed turnoff from the boring gravel road for the Kokopelli trail and Top of the World Trail. 5 more miles of somewhat rocky and ledgy uphill, following the most obvious and well-used route will gain you 3000’ and one of the more amazing views you will ever see. In particular, you will be looking down on the weird, fluid, red and brown undulations of the Onion Creek area, through which you will be riding in a few hours.
Follow your tracks back down to the Kokopelli trail and continue. If anyone felt pushed to the limit on the Top of the World trail, this might be a good time to take the easy way out and head back to Dewey Bridge. The Kokopelli Trail immediately drops into a beautiful canyon with a fairly challenging climb back out, although this can be bypassed by continuing on the gravel road instead of taking the Kokopelli/Top of the World turnoff. Assuming you’re ready for more, the only major obstacle remaining is Cottonwood Canyon, including Rosegarden Hill, fortunately taken as a downhill in this direction. After riding lots of slabs and ledges, it was a little disconcerting to get on something loose and rocky instead of solid and rocky, but it’s yet another beautiful and seldom-visited spot and more lush and wooded than the earlier sections of the trail.
Top of the World Lookout
A few miles after Rosegarden Hill, make a right at the 3-way intersection on the unsigned but fairly obvious road down towards Onion Creek. This road is generally suitable for 2WD vehicles, so all the technical stuff is behind you. Pat yourself on the back for surviving and head down. On the way, pay particular attention to the canyon rim high above to your right, where you were parked a while ago at the Top of the World overlook. Also notice the unearthly effect of the dried mudflows on the overhangs where the creek cut away the hillside, but pay attention to the large number of creek crossings. The crossings have always had smooth and predictable bottoms, so you can pretty much blast through them. The cool splashes will probably be welcome as you reenter the lower and hotter altitudes after spending most of your day higher up. Once back at your vehicle, pop open a cool beverage, open your eyes wide, and say “Wow!”
Onion Creek
Doing the entire ride requires a street-legal bike, but getting over the trail dictates that it be as close to a real dirt bike as possible. It’s nowhere near as difficult as Behind The Rocks, but it’s fairly challenging riding once you get past Chicken Corners, and you can expect to see just about no one else for 30 miles or so. I went on a Saturday when Moab was completely packed, and there and back I saw a total of 3 groups of travelers in the 30 miles after Hurrah Pass. You’ll be a long, long way from anywhere if you crash and break something, so be self-sufficient.
The ride starts from the same trailhead as the Pritchett Canyon trail, but takes Kane Creek Road (after it turns to dirt) then turns away from Kane Creek Canyon to cross Hurrah Pass and continues all the way to the pavement on highway 211, just outside the Needles section of Canyonlands National Park (about 60 miles from where you started). Then you can snack and get incredibly expensive gas at the Needles outpost, and ride a few miles on pavement into the park and ride Elephant Hill. The park service handouts call this one of the most difficult and technical jeep roads in Utah, but they are lying. In fact, they fix it up with asphalt in the worst parts so that Joe and Jane six-pack can drive their SUV over it. It’s difficult, but not extremely so, especially compared to some of the other trails in the Moab area. Once you’ve enjoyed enough of the Needles, retrace your route to the trailhead.
This is another abusively technical ride. Gold Bar Rim (accessed from the Gemini Bridges trailhead) is not too bad, and Poison Spider is not too bad, but the Golden Spike trail is chock full of challenging and interesting obstacles. One of the most interesting is the Golden Crack.
The Golden Crack
You can do the ride as a loop with a street-legal bike, or as an out and back from either side. I had already pedaled Poison Spider, so I started from Gemini Bridges and turned around once I got to the Poison Spider intersection. This is a fun ride to take your time on, and if you're lucky, you can watch some jeepers crawling along at 2 miles per hour and driving slowly and carefully over stuff that's fairly easy on a bike (tho sometimes a bit intimidating). For an idea of the scale, note the tiny KTM in the upper left corner of the Golden Spike picture at the top of the article.
For the record, the hot ticket for crossing the Golden Crack on a scooter is to just launch off the high spot and gap the whole thing when coming from Gold Bar Rim, or when coming from the Poison Spider side, look for the tilted flat rock all the way to the left and just ride right up it. I wouldn't have thought of trying to jump it, but i saw a fellow on an xr400 do it a few years ago, and it turns out to be fairly sane on a modern bike.
Amasa Back is terrific trail with a wonderful overlook of the Colorado River at the top. The Slickrock trail (originally designed by and for motorcyclists) is a must-do, but it's an exceedingly popular bicycle trail, so plan your ride for a weekday, or late afternoon/sunset to avoid the crowds. Porcupine Rim is worthwhile adventure if you do it as an out-and-back skip the singletrack at the bottom (which dumps out on the highway miles from town, and requires you to lift your bike over a 5-foot ledge, if you get that far). These rides are all within a couple miles from town, and are covered extensively in local guidebooks and maps. Pretty much every ride in the area is spectacular in its own way, so get a map and a guidebook and go exploring.
For less experienced riders, or for bigger dual-sport machines, the Klondike Bluffs trail (starts about 15 miles north of Moab on highway 191) offers a variety of terrain, and has dinosaur tracks on one of the slickrock sections. If you bring comfortable hiking shoes, you can also explore the bluffs on foot (they are part of Arches National Park). Another nice option is to follow the Lockhart Basin ride, but stop at Chicken Corners instead of continuing on to the more technical bits. There are a variety of nice trails and old mining roads in the Gemini Bridges area (north of town) that aren’t too technical and access interesting geological features.
Not to beat a dead horse, but you as a motorcyclist are highly visible to the public when riding in the Moab area. I recommend going out of your way to be courteous to other trail users. Make sure your bike meets reasonable noise standards, and slow down when passing cyclists to avoid stirring up too much dust. Errant tracks are ugly and very obvious to others, so stay on the existing roads and trails. Also, keep in mind that this is the real desert, and people who do stupid things can die out here. Bring plenty of water (and drink it), bring a map (and know how to read it), travel with others, and ride within your limitations. If in doubt, make arrangements with a local guide, such as Dale Parriott's Elite Tours
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