Mountain biking in Moab - Burro Pass-Hazard County-Porcupine Rim Trails

Here's part 2 of roving rider Rob's report

Part 2 (read Part 1)

Moab is a hugely interesting place situated in the desert state of Utah. If you are one of those people who enjoy outdoor pursuits you would be well catered for here. Amongst the activities to take part in are mountain and road biking, hiking, rafting, 4x4 off roading, scuba diving (Lake Powell) and skydiving to name a few!

Its red rocks are also home to many a Hollywood film set including Thelma and Louise (driving off the edge), Austin Powers, Star Trek, most of John Waynes films and Back to the Future 3.

I had pre-booked a bike online with Poison Spider I thought it best to go there the afternoon before my ride to get the bike set up. However, the Intense 5.5 I had booked was out of service as some fat American had blown through the travel on the rear shock and caused it to fail! So, instead I was given a brand new Yeti 5.75 with Vanilla RLC and full XT groupset – nice one! However, I had to remember that the front and rear brakes are switched as the USA run them the opposite way round to us. I didn’t want to grab a load of “rear” brake and shoot over the bars!

As I was leaving the shop a familiar face was waving at me through his van window – it was Rob from Zion, one of the lads I had met a few days back. Quite a coincidence especially as Zion is 450 miles away and Moab is a big place. Craig said he wanted to do the Porcupine Rim so we agreed to meet at 8.30am at the shuttle. Early to bed for me then as I knew I had a hard ride ahead of me.

Right on time I picked up the bike and got given water, spare tubes, toolkit and a crash hat. Craig and I decided to hook up with a great bunch of Canadian guys and agreed to shuttle to the top of Burro Pass. This was $25 well spent as it took over an hour to get there, winding up and up, passing deer and alpine cattle grazing on the snow covered slopes.

Upon reaching the top we all realised how thin the air was up there at 11,200 feet! The first section was a killer climb to the top of the ridge which was made more difficult with the high elevation. I had to keep stopping to catch my breath and rest before continuing. Had this climb been at sea level I am sure I could have got it licked in less then half the time it took me.

Once at the top we had a sweet piece of alpine singletrack to ride, passing through healthy forest and meandering between the massive pine trees. Interrupted only by a short technical rocky climb with snow covered edges, we continued on to the sweetest singletrack I have ever ridden. This followed a small river which we crossed at 5 separate places, with one of the Canadian guys going for an unplanned swim!

A slight change of scenery saw us continuing on singletrack through silver birch trees, our tyres being cushioned by the first fall of Autumn leaves. The alpine meadow forced us to climb again until we reached the highest camp ground in Moab which is still 10,000ft above sea level! We got slightly lost here but there was no one around to ask so we went with our instincts and eventually found the correct trail which led us up to Hazard County where we got the most amazing view of Moab’s famous skyline.

At this point Craig and I decided to split from the group as we were keen to continue with out a stop for lunch. The section that came next was almost like riding the Peak District Moors but went on and on, down compacted mud singletrack, winding through the scrub and offering amazing views into the distant horizon. Half way down this section my chain broke – as I checked the links my suspicions were confirmed – Shimano! Luckily I had a power link on me so Craig and I were able to untangle the mess and get the Yeti moving again.

From the bottom of this section the trail dramatically changed to a rutty double track which was fast, dry and dusty, eventually leading us to the edge of Porcupine Rim. Here we began to see the large famous slabs of slickrock, but before reaching the upper most part of the Rim we had a technical climb to complete over rocky step ups and large rocks. It was very important to look well ahead and plan the line through otherwise constant stopping would have been inevitable.

The ride had started out being a bit cold with cloud cover, but at this stage I had realised how hot I was and that my calves were becoming sunburnt – no sunscreen applied! The climb finished at the top of the Rim where we saw lots of other riders enjoying a well earned rest and a spot of lunch. We took a few photos here and I chatted to an American guy who used to ride a similar route to Box Hill and back! (It’s a small world)

From here the trail went up further over similar terrain with agonizing repetitiveness, my shoulders and forearms aching and calves burning in the midday sun! Then came the part I had been looking forward to – the 6 mile decent over rocky drop offs, step downs and slickrock, inter-dispersed with sandy singletrack. It just went on and on and on, one section after another until I caught up with Craig who had pinch flatted. Having been a Norba competing downhiller in a previous life, he had hucked off a 5ft drop and caused his tube to give up on him!

Interestingly, these higher blind drops are marked by other riders by using rocks piled on top of each other to the side of the trail – the higher the pile of rocks, the higher the drop!

With just another 10 minutes of riding we reached the final leg of the ride where THE singletrack section started. This flowed in parts and was very technical in others which involved a dismount, even for Craig, who had ridden everything else so far! In parts there was a 1000ft drop to the right which cascaded down towards the muddy brown Colorado River – you can’t blame us for walking these bits!

Right at the end we let 3 crazy Canadian guys past us and negotiated what I saw as a big pile of boulders, impossible to ride in my opinion. The first 2 cleared them easily but the third guy took a different “line” and somersaulted 20ft down over the bars with his bike tumbling past him. A very lucky boy as he got away with just a grazed knee!

From here the trail dropped gently to the river road where we were able to fill up with fresh water from the rock before the 4 mile road ride back to Poison Spider in Moab town.

A totally awesome ride, the likes of which I have never ridden before. The contrast of riding was just amazing taking in alpine singletrack, meadows trails, moors like riding, slickrock, rock gardens and dusty singletrack. If variety is what you seek then this must be it - surely the best ride in Moab and possibly the best in the USA?
A total of 37 miles through 3 interlinked trails, 7 hours in total down from an amazing 11200 foot elevation.

I can’t wait to return, maybe with some of the DOMTB crew – anyone up for it? Pictures of the Burro Pass-Hazard County-Porcupine Rim Trails can be viewed here or check out a you toob vid below:

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