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Moab Rim Trail
The Moab Rim Trail is one of the "Must-Do" trails of the Moab area. But frankly, it isn't one of our favorites. It starts with a climb that's as brutal as anything you've ever done. If it's a weekend, you'll play "dodge-em" with a gazillion jeeps. This is a trail you ride mostly for chest-thumping purposes. But the views aren't bad. Looking down the Moab Rim's initial climb as high winds usher in a storm. The band at the bottom is the Potash road, with the Colorado just out of sight. Photos April 9, 2011 by Bruce unless otherwise specified. |
| This trail is definitely advanced technical and strenuous
aerobic. It's 10 miles as an out-and-back, and you'll climb around 1800 feet
total.
The trailhead is on the Kane Creek road along the Colorado, about two miles from the middle of town. Starting altitude is 4100, and the high point is 5300 at the viewpoint over the valley. From the parking area, the trail crawls around the big rocks then climbs the bare patches left to right. |
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From the trailhead, the route climbs almost 900 vertical feet in less than a mile. Near the top, the slope is an unrelenting 20% grade, pocked with fissures, ledges, and wheel-traps. You can usually find a side route around the big drops, but it's brutal. Most riders will spend considerable time walking. This is the first, and worst of two big climbs. (The second comes right at the end on the last 0.8 miles to the viewpoint. This is 450 vertical for a 12% slope, but it feels steeper because loose moto-churn rock chunks scattered over the slickrock messes up the traction.) Chad Hunter grinds up from the Colorado River with UtahMountainBiking office boss Mike Engberson in pursuit. The rock is so rough and steep that bikers outride the jeeps, both uphill and downhill. April 16, 2000. |
| The grunt climb up the Rim is on uptilted ledges of Kayenta Sandstone. The
Kayenta is a hard layer with lots of silt in the sandstone matrix -- a sandy
mud-plain deposit where dinosaur tracks are common. The Kayenta protects the
underlying Wingate Sandstone from breakdown, allowing the Wingate to form cliffs
up to 400 feet in height.
Looking down at the Colorado River, about 1/3 up. The cliffs at right are Navajo sandstone, with bands of Kayenta appearing underneath at the far right. |
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At the top, the familiar mounds of Navajo Sandstone
sit on top of the Kayenta layer. On this western side of Moab, the Navajo lies
hundreds of feet higher than to the east. See our Geology
of Moab page.
Approaching the first viewpoint. Almost there! |
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Now that you're tired and thirsty, may we suggest...
Mike Engberson takes a break after the hard climb up from the Colorado. The La Sal mountains are in the background. April 16, 2000. |
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At this first viewpoint, you're at 4900 feet with views of
the Moab Valley both north and south. The volcanic La Sal Mountains rise
to the east.
Looking to the southwest as storm clouds build over the La Sal Mountains. |
| As you leave the first summit, the trail rolls up and down some brutal rock
outcroppings. There are short pits of life-sucking sand between bits of
rough rock. Occasionally there's smooth Navajo to ride on, but mostly it's
rough, ridged Kayenta. The terrain is very
pretty, and the views are good.
After leaving the viewpoint, the doubletrack trail rocks up and down, with varying degrees of tech. |
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The trail goes up and down, never particularly technical or
brutal. There is one steep pitch up a Navajo sandstone dome, but nothing
sustained and tough like the initial climb.
Looking over the Navajo slickrock. If we do the full loop down Hidden Valley, we'll go through that first little notch at the left. |
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The first significant trail fork is at mile 1.9. Keep right. (Left takes you down into a sand-infested canyon where you'll have to hike your bike up the other side.) The trail is well-marked with carsonite posts. Gary Argyle crests a Navajo sandstone dome on the Moab Rim on April 16, 2000. |
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At mile 3.7, the Moab Rim trail forks hard left, drops
through a little wash, then begins the steep climb to the viewpoint. This
is a grunt granny-gear climb. I found the trail surface littered with
small angular chunks of sandstone torn up by motoheads. It was easy to
loose traction. Just before the viewpoint, you'll fork right (east).
Climbing to the viewpoint, we hit more rough Kayenta stone. |
| The Moab Valley is a sunken area where fault lines
disturbed an underlying dome of salt. (This salt was deposited by periodic
flooding, then evaporation, of ocean water into a deep inland depression
called the Paradox Basin during the Pennsylvanian Era, about 300 million
years ago. It's over 1000 feet thick and is mined for salt and potash west
of Moab.) As the salt was dissolved by seeping water, the valley floor
subsided.
View north. |
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The fault line also changed the height of the rocks on either side of Moab.
To the west, younger rocks are exposed, with cliffs of Wingate Sandstone and
Navajo Sandstone as a cap rock. To the east, Navajo Sandstone is nearer the
valley floor, with Entrada Sandstone at the top. The displacement along the
fault occurred before the present-day Colorado River began cutting into the
rock, then the falling of the valley floor occurred later, resulting in the
unusual topography where the valley lies at right angles to the river gorge.
Chad contemplates the meaning of life on a precariously perched slab of sandstone overlooking Moab. April 16, 2000. |
| Back at the trail fork, you have two options: Head back the
way you came, or fork left and uphill for the Hidden Valley Trail. The
Hidden Valley Trail forms a classic loop ride. It's very nice until you
hit a 1/3 mile section of boulder-strewn steep portage. Then you'll be
wishing you'd done the out-and-back. But if you absolutely MUST do a loop
ride, there you are.
View southwest. |
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My recommendation is that you do the loop ride clockwise:
CLIMB the ugly portage up Hidden Valley, then descend Moab Rim. You can
close the loop by road, or you can ride the new Pipe Dream singletrack.
See the map and track files.
Heading back down from the viewpoint. Then on to Hidden Valley for the loop. |
| Riding notes, to viewpoint from Moab Rim
TH: 0.0 Start grinding up the Rim 0.9 At the top, veer R on DT 1.1 Fork R (L = viewpoint) 1.8 Fork R 2.0 Climb slickrock |
3.5 DT joins on L, keep straight 3.7 Fork L for Rim (R = Hidden Valley) 4.5 Petroglyphs R fork to Rim 5.0 Viewpoint at Rim |
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Getting there: Head south on Moab's Main Street. When you reach the McDonald's on your right, turn right onto Kane Creek Blvd. After 1.5 miles, go straight at the "Yield" sign where the road seems to turn right. Go past the Moab Rim chairlift to 3.5 miles from McDonalds at GPS N 38° 33.541' W 109° 34.979'. The trailhead is on your left. Bathroom: Moab Rim trailhead |
| Riding resources: Single-page, printable riding guide GPS track file (right-click and select "Save Target as..."): Moab rim only Loop w street return Loop with Pipe Dream GPX area trails Topo maps for printing: Moab Rim only w Hidden Valley-Pipe Dream Lodging, camping, shops: Links to Moab area resources |
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