During the last week of October, a group of us packed up the truck and headed to Moab for five days of mountain biking, Mexican food, and Oregon beer (pro tip: take good beer to Utah). Not many destinations get as much media coverage as Moab so we figured we better head down there and see what all the hype was about (plus our BendTrails Instagram account has been blowing up with Utah photos for the last month).
If you’ve been to Moab, feel free to drop a comment below and let us know what you thought about the town, the trails, and the experience.
First Stop: A Bogus Basin Shuttle in Boise
Since the drive from Bend to Moab is around 14 hours, we decided to stop overnight in Boise and ride with our friends from BoiseTrails — these are cool guys and they’ve got some really sweet trails.
As soon as we could dump our stuff at the hotel we jumped in Jason’s truck and drove to the summit of Bogus Basin where we started our shuttle back to town — a mostly downhill ride of about 20 miles. Here, Kirk is showing us one of the side features that most riders miss.
As you descend from the tree line at Bogus Basin you abruptly hit the open grasslands of the Boise Foothills where the trails become flowy, fast, and wide open.
Day One: The Pipedream Trail in Moab
Our first ride in Moab was right in town on the Pipedream trail. It’s like a lot of trails in Utah — with sheer drop-offs on one side (or the other).
There are some great armored features on the Pipedream trail. If you trust the trail builders to not send you off a cliff — and you keep pedaling — they are all makable.
These armored sections are a great warm-up for Capt. Ahab which we would ride a few days later.
Day Two: Moab’s Slickrock Trail
Everyone will tell you that the Slickrock trail is a must when visiting Moab — so I’m not gonna say that. It was cool, and the scenery was great, but as trails go, it was kind of boring for my taste. Maybe if I had my 1985 Schwinn High-Sierra it would have been more challenging.
Forget what I said about the trail being boring in the caption above. The downhill parts of Slickrock are pretty rad — I just wish there was a lot more of them.
One of the oddest things we saw was this seasonal desert pool which was teaming with Tadpole Shrimp that look like miniature horseshoe crabs — there were lots of other weird pre-historic critters swimming in that pond that I couldn’t identify.
Day Three: The Whole Enchilada
The Whole Enchilada starts in the La Sal Mountains and descends back to Moab in about 20+ miles (depending where you get dropped off). Stopping and taking a photo at this rock ledge is required. Also, your bike is about to take a major beating, so this is a good place to tighten all your bolts.
If you like steep slick-rock sections (and who doesn’t?) the Whole Enchilada has some of those too.
The Porcupine Ridge Trail makes up the lower part of the Whole Enchilada and it’s famous for its cliff-side exposure. If you don’t like heights, you’ll want to keep your eyes focused on the trail and ignore the gorge below (also, good luck with that).
Day Four: The Magnificent Seven
The Mag 7 (or Magnificent Seven) is a ride that links together seven great trails. One of the interesting side features are the Gemini Bridges which are worth parking your bike and hiking down to check out. Super cool.
The Mag 7 was a fun place to ride for the whole crew with lots of optional ledges to drop off of and really minor climbs (we’re shuttlers, not climbers).
One of the cool features on the Bull Run Trail. If we had a sixth day to ride we probably would have ridden this one twice!
Day Five: Pothole Arch and Capt. Ahab
Here’s a rad drop-off on the side of the Amasa Back trail. When doing a rad drop-off, you should always make sure your knee pads are down around your shins — haha.
Capt. Ahab is an incredible trail. There are steep roll-downs on slick rock (and armored rock-gardens) around every turn. Think of C.O.D.’s rocky sections on steroids — it’s a short trail, but gnarly from top to bottom. In this pic Eric Meade charges ahead like it’s NBD.
On the climb up Amasa Back we met up with Chris, a ski-patrol and paramedic from Vail. I’m not gonna lie, having a paramedic join you on Captain Ahab is probably a good idea.
Epilogue: 10 Barrel Trail Beer
Our BendTrails sponsor 10 Barrel Brewing Co. hooked us up with some great Trail Beer for the trip because Utah is seriously lacking in the good beer department. Thanks 10 Barrel! #drinktrailbeer
Our first ride in Moab was right in town on the Pipedream trail. It’s like a lot of trails in Utah — with sheer drop-offs on one side (or the other).
There are some great armored features on the Pipedream trail. If you trust the trail builders to not send you off a cliff — and you keep pedaling — they are all makable.
These armored sections are a great warm-up for Capt. Ahab which we would ride a few days later.
Everyone will tell you that the Slickrock trail is a must when visiting Moab — so I’m not gonna say that. It was cool, and the scenery was great, but as trails go, it was kind of boring for my taste. Maybe if I had my 1985 Schwinn High-Sierra it would have been more challenging.
Forget what I said about the trail being boring in the caption above. The downhill parts of Slickrock are pretty rad — I just wish there was a lot more of them.
One of the oddest things we saw was this seasonal desert pool which was teaming with Tadpole Shrimp that look like miniature horseshoe crabs — there were lots of other weird pre-historic critters swimming in that pond that I couldn’t identify.
Day Three: The Whole Enchilada
The Whole Enchilada starts in the La Sal Mountains and descends back to Moab in about 20+ miles (depending where you get dropped off). Stopping and taking a photo at this rock ledge is required. Also, your bike is about to take a major beating, so this is a good place to tighten all your bolts.
If you like steep slick-rock sections (and who doesn’t?) the Whole Enchilada has some of those too.
The Porcupine Ridge Trail makes up the lower part of the Whole Enchilada and it’s famous for its cliff-side exposure. If you don’t like heights, you’ll want to keep your eyes focused on the trail and ignore the gorge below (also, good luck with that).
Day Four: The Magnificent Seven
The Mag 7 (or Magnificent Seven) is a ride that links together seven great trails. One of the interesting side features are the Gemini Bridges which are worth parking your bike and hiking down to check out. Super cool.
The Mag 7 was a fun place to ride for the whole crew with lots of optional ledges to drop off of and really minor climbs (we’re shuttlers, not climbers).
One of the cool features on the Bull Run Trail. If we had a sixth day to ride we probably would have ridden this one twice!
Day Five: Pothole Arch and Capt. Ahab
Here’s a rad drop-off on the side of the Amasa Back trail. When doing a rad drop-off, you should always make sure your knee pads are down around your shins — haha.
Capt. Ahab is an incredible trail. There are steep roll-downs on slick rock (and armored rock-gardens) around every turn. Think of C.O.D.’s rocky sections on steroids — it’s a short trail, but gnarly from top to bottom. In this pic Eric Meade charges ahead like it’s NBD.
On the climb up Amasa Back we met up with Chris, a ski-patrol and paramedic from Vail. I’m not gonna lie, having a paramedic join you on Captain Ahab is probably a good idea.
Epilogue: 10 Barrel Trail Beer
Our BendTrails sponsor 10 Barrel Brewing Co. hooked us up with some great Trail Beer for the trip because Utah is seriously lacking in the good beer department. Thanks 10 Barrel! #drinktrailbeer
The Whole Enchilada starts in the La Sal Mountains and descends back to Moab in about 20+ miles (depending where you get dropped off). Stopping and taking a photo at this rock ledge is required. Also, your bike is about to take a major beating, so this is a good place to tighten all your bolts.
If you like steep slick-rock sections (and who doesn’t?) the Whole Enchilada has some of those too.
The Porcupine Ridge Trail makes up the lower part of the Whole Enchilada and it’s famous for its cliff-side exposure. If you don’t like heights, you’ll want to keep your eyes focused on the trail and ignore the gorge below (also, good luck with that).
The Mag 7 (or Magnificent Seven) is a ride that links together seven great trails. One of the interesting side features are the Gemini Bridges which are worth parking your bike and hiking down to check out. Super cool.
The Mag 7 was a fun place to ride for the whole crew with lots of optional ledges to drop off of and really minor climbs (we’re shuttlers, not climbers).
One of the cool features on the Bull Run Trail. If we had a sixth day to ride we probably would have ridden this one twice!
Day Five: Pothole Arch and Capt. Ahab
Here’s a rad drop-off on the side of the Amasa Back trail. When doing a rad drop-off, you should always make sure your knee pads are down around your shins — haha.
Capt. Ahab is an incredible trail. There are steep roll-downs on slick rock (and armored rock-gardens) around every turn. Think of C.O.D.’s rocky sections on steroids — it’s a short trail, but gnarly from top to bottom. In this pic Eric Meade charges ahead like it’s NBD.
On the climb up Amasa Back we met up with Chris, a ski-patrol and paramedic from Vail. I’m not gonna lie, having a paramedic join you on Captain Ahab is probably a good idea.
Epilogue: 10 Barrel Trail Beer
Our BendTrails sponsor 10 Barrel Brewing Co. hooked us up with some great Trail Beer for the trip because Utah is seriously lacking in the good beer department. Thanks 10 Barrel! #drinktrailbeer
Here’s a rad drop-off on the side of the Amasa Back trail. When doing a rad drop-off, you should always make sure your knee pads are down around your shins — haha.
Capt. Ahab is an incredible trail. There are steep roll-downs on slick rock (and armored rock-gardens) around every turn. Think of C.O.D.’s rocky sections on steroids — it’s a short trail, but gnarly from top to bottom. In this pic Eric Meade charges ahead like it’s NBD.
On the climb up Amasa Back we met up with Chris, a ski-patrol and paramedic from Vail. I’m not gonna lie, having a paramedic join you on Captain Ahab is probably a good idea.
Our BendTrails sponsor 10 Barrel Brewing Co. hooked us up with some great Trail Beer for the trip because Utah is seriously lacking in the good beer department. Thanks 10 Barrel! #drinktrailbeer
This article was contributed by Robert Rekward. Robert is part of the team that created the BendTrails website. During business hours you can find him at Delicious, a marketing company here in Bend which he owns with his wife, Valerie. If it’s not business hours, Robert’s probably on his bike. Or in the garage, working on his bike.
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