Trip Review - Moab, UT

[.RJ]

Trip Review - Moab, UT

After the AMA/World Superbike round at Miller Motorsports Park I wanted to stay behind and check out Moab for 3 days to do some hiking, mountain biking and sightseeing.

Day 1

Left Salt Lake around noon and arrived into Moab late afternoon and with no real plans decided to check out Arches NP first. The park is huge, driving fron one end to the other took about 40 minutes, and the scenery everywhere is very unique and simply awesome - beautiful skies, lots of red rock & sand and very dry.









Day 2

Got up early and went to pick up a mountain bike rental and hit the trails. The bike was a Trek Fuel EX7 - disc brakes, full suspension and built like a brick shithouse - it was very heavy compared to my 5 year old Trek hardtail mtb but it performed well on the downhill bits.



I didnt really have a plan, other than to pick a few trails and go have a good time. First trail to hit was the Amassa Back trail. The trail was very techical, steep drop offs and a bit over my head - I did a lot of walking and falling off and I'm pretty sure I picked the wrong route since the trail was also supposed to be a Jeep/4x4 trail.





After a few miles I headed back and picked up a fire road that climbed along the canon for a few miles and checked out the scenery some more







From there I picked up another trail (no idea which one) that turned into a series of sand pits. I've never ridden in sand before, but its everywhere near Moab and I never figured it out. There was more walking, and eventually made it to some rock and more views.







Packed it in for the morning, grabbed lunch and then headed off to ride the Bar M Loop. This was a pretty easy 10-11 mile route but had great views and it was definitely worth doing.





For the late afternoon I headed back to Arches NP to check out some more scenery but the weather wasnt too cooperative with some cloud cover moving in.













Day 3

There was a 20-30% chance of rain forecasted for the day, so I headed out early to hit up the 'world' famous Slickrock Trail. It was definitely unique, as I've never been on anything quite like it. The trail is all sandstone and has tremendous grip - as long as you can get up on the handlebar and keep the pedals moving you can go up or ride along the side of some ridiculous inclines. I started off heading down the main trail and it was pretty intense, and scary (for my lacking technical skills). I got a couple miles in and the rain started coming in so I turned back. I waited around for a bit and the rain seemed to hold off so I left the camera behind and went back to ride do a few turns on the 'practice loop'. It wasnt quite as technical as the main trail and it was a lot of fun for me. I also binned it pretty hard, over the handlebars with the bike coming back down on top of me - that was fun and a group sitting on a nearby ledge cheered when I binned it









Rain still held off so I went out to ride the Klondike Bluffs Trail. The trail itself was rather uninteresting, very rough/rocky, and the weather had turned cold and very windy - not a lot of fun, and I wouldnt recommend the trail. All of the vertical climbing is in the middle 1/3 of the trail so it wasnt a walk in the park but it wasnt too difficult. Didnt take any pictures of this one and I binned it again as a fast downhill section ended in a sand pit. Not too long after that the rain really started to move in so I took the bike back and went for dinner.

Overall quite a fun trip - The town itself was pretty nice, and there was a huge number of RV's/Campers passing through, and lots of guided tours, ATV, Jeep and dirt bike rentals. Also, Arches and Canyonlands NP, so something for everyone. I'd like to go back and ride the White Rim Trail or the Kokopelli Trail- it would take a few days and require a support vehicle of some sort for camping supplies, food and water but it looks like a blast.

[ScottyB]

that looks phenomenal, i can't wait to get out there!

see any wildlife? also how was the food?

[.RJ]

No wildlife other than the local hippies :lol:

Food was ok as well, nothing special. There was a place called the Slickrock Cafe that I ate at twice that was pretty good.

[Evan]

great pictures! id like to head out there to ride someday. maybe after i actually start riding here again :p

There is a national park photo contest every year with some seriously good loot as prizes. You should submit a couple of those.

[JackoliciousLegs]

Your pictures are really great man. You've gotten good! Looks like a blast.

[John]

How'd you get the sky to remain so blue? My photos are always so washed out with sunlight...

Looks great - Utah is probably one of, if not the most, beautiful places in the country. Too bad it's full of zealots and 3.2% beer.

[.RJ]

Circular polarizer on the lens - and the sky color is fantastic out there.

I dunno about the 3.2% beer, slickrock cafe had Pacifico so I was set

[John]

Circular polarizer on the lens - and the sky color is fantastic out there.

Guess I need a polarized lens...

I dunno about the 3.2% beer, slickrock cafe had Pacifico so I was set

Look closer at the label - all beer that is sold in Utah cannot exceed 3.2%. So brewers have to brew special concoctions just for Utah...

[KPWSerpiente]

No you should look closer at the label....3.2% of what? Alcohol by volume or by weight?

-T

[damnit458]

Your pictures are really great man. You've gotten good! Looks like a blast.

+1

You've really picked it up with the pictures, id be interested in seeing any more you had of the place if there were some you didn't post up on here. Looks like fun!

[Apoc]

id be interested in seeing any more you had of the place if there were some you didn't post up on here.

I told you to start a portfolio RJ!

[John]

No you should look closer at the label....3.2% of what? Alcohol by volume or by weight?

-T

3.2% by weight - still about 25-40% less than their normal counterparts.

[.RJ]

The Pacifico didnt taste any different :dunno:

[John]

Then you might as well be drinking O'Douls...