The White Rim ride is a 100 miles (160 km) long loop of gravel and some paved roads in Canyonlands National Park in Utah. The loop is nestled in the space between the Green River and the Colorado River, just north of where the two rivers meet up. The gravel roads can be traveled by car, but certain spots are only passable in a 4-WD vehicle with significant clearance. We rode it on our bicycles. In a day.
Six of us drove out Friday afternoon, stayed in Moab Friday night, consumed a huge greasy breakfast Saturday morning, and then headed out to the trail where were on the bikes just shortly after 8 am. It was a beautiful morning, even a little chilly, which was perfect.
We had chosen to start our ride at the top of the climb out of Mineral Bottom and ride the loop clockwise. That did a couple of things. We would get the less interesting road ride out of the way right away, and we would ride next to the Green River at the end of our ride. The latter being a good thing should we run out of water as there aren’t any other water sources on the entire ride. That said, I think we all started out with a minimum of 200 oz (6 liter) of water.
We were pretty psyched when we finally got inside the park and on the actual trail. At first we were stopping after every curve and bend of the trail to take pictures of the views. Later, everybody but me finally realized that the views were never ending and that stopping for each and every one of them was a little excessive.
The first part of the ride after entering the park is a blast. It is this one huge steep downhill on the Shafer Trail. Being on a rigid bike, though, I was all over the place and managed to loose two bottles of Gatorade out of the bottle cages on the way down. I still had 200 oz of water on the back, though.
The views to the west from the Shafer Trail were fantastic with the snow covered La Sals in the back ground.
About 3 hours into our ride we had our first and only mechanical: A broken spoke on Randy’s bike. Amazingly enough the wheel stayed true after removing the spoke and did so for the entire ride.
The Shafer Trail eventually leads to the actual White Rim Road.
We rode for a little bit on the White Rim Road and then stopped shortly after noon to grab a bite to eat.
After our short break it was back to the bikes again. We still had a long way to go.
About 60 miles into our ride we came to our first significant climb; Murphy’s Hogback. It is not a long climb, but steep, especially with 60 miles already in the legs. We stopped at the top to refuel again.
The descent off Murphy’s Hogback is as steep as the climb up which makes for a fun full speed downhill blast.
The thing about the White Rim ride is that it seems that every time you crest a hill, and every time you turn around a corner, a completely new view and space opens up in front of you. I can totally see how it would be very rewarding to do this ride over several days, exploring all the many areas, going off on side roads and climb some of the many buttes.
Going to the desert in the spring makes for an extra treat; it is not too hot, and there are lots of flowers to be found.
I don’t know the names of these flowers but they were everywhere and they definitely added to the scenery.
Not too long after we went around the south end of the White Rim loop and started going North West we got very close the Green River. That again completely changed the scenery. Lots of trees and vegetation on the banks of the river.
It is not easy to see on these pictures, but while the river appears to be very close, it is not that easily accessible. At this point the White Rim Road is in fact still on a rim, and one would have to scramble down some steep cliffs to get to the river here.
The next big climb on the ride is between Potato Bottom and Hardscrabble Bottom. I am not sure what the climb is called, but it sneaks up on you. Suddenly you are in the midst of it and you can’t really tell when it is going to end as it keeps turning around and hugging the side of the cliffs.
Once up this climb, its a steep descent down close to the river again. The road gets very sandy here as it follows the river for a while before it heads east and starts climbing up and out of Mineral Bottom. At this point The White Rim ride has been just that, a long ride. It is the last few miles up this climb that turn it into an Epic ride.
What a ride. What a day. Great company. Great weather. Definitely high on the fun meter!
More pictures here.