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Porcupine Rim Trail The Porcupine Rim Trail is the "other" famous ride at Moab. At 15.6 miles, requiring expert technical skills, this ride is for advanced bikers who are in good shape. It's one-way with a shuttle car, or a 34-mile loop for the truly insane (10 uphill miles from Moab to the trailhead, 8 flat miles from Jackass Canyon back to the middle of Moab). Across the valley, the single-track descends towards the
Colorado River. |
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UtahMountainBiking.com is your source for bike trail info, repair instructions, feature articles, first aid, fitness, and goodies. |
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An excellent video introduction to this trail can be downloaded from our Video Page. The ride begins with a 3 mile climb up rocky ledges on a wide-track trail. This is a moderately strenuous climb, gaining 1000 feet to an altitude of 6,800 feet. Gary Argyle grinds up the many rock ledges on the way to the top of Porcupine Rim. Photo Bruce Argyle, October 21, 2000. |
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| Where else will you find helicopter
flights to the grand canyon and any other other sightseeing tours of the grand canyon. |
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Reaching Porcupine Rim, you'll find a mob of young buff bikers admiring the view of Castle Valley to the north. The spires of Castle Valley are spikes of Wingate sandstone sitting on red mudstone beds of the Moenkope and Chinle formations. These strata originated in Triassic times (around 220 million years ago). While Dominic is at the hospital getting his broken wrist x-rayed, the Mad Scientist bikers pose on top of Porcupine Rim, in front of the grand vistas of Castle Valley. October 21, 2000. L to R: Chad Hunter, Matt Flygare, Mike Engberson, Gary Argyle, and Bruce Argyle. |
| The real ride begins at the Rim. This is primo downhill advanced technical
stuff, dropping off a gazillion small rocky ledges, with the last 3 miles a hairy
single-track on the edge of deadly cliffs. From the Rim, you'll drop 2,700 vertical feet
to the Colorado River over 11 unforgettable miles. Rob K takes a ledge on the downhill flight. May 18, 2002. |
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The downhill varies from smooth cruising to rocky technical
stair-stepping. Especially on the singletrack section at the end, all but the very best
stunt-riders will have to portage the bike over a few obstacles. Chad takes a hop off a "the Diving Board." October 21, 2000. This photo makes a great Windows background wallpaper! It's available free, but there are 280 other great photos on our Screensaver and Wallpaper CD. |
| The trail can be ridden with a hardbody or hardtail bike, but your body
will pay the price. There's a lot of slamming and banging on the way down. We recommend
dual-suspension for this ride. Many bikers will soften the suspension at the summit, to
let the bike absorb the thousands of impacts on the way down. Matt and Mike drop down the rocky ledges. October 21, 2000.
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We rarely finish this ride with all of our bike parts. This ride temps you
to bang down the ledges with abandon -- which can be pretty rough on your steed. Be
prepared to replace a snakebit tube, to straighten a bent rim, and to fix a broken chain.
If your bike is fairly new, schedule a couple of stops to tighten all the bolts. Gary and Mike watch Chad fix his bike. October 21, 2000.
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| Getting there: The Porcupine Rim Trail begins on the Sand Flats Road, reached by turning left off Moab's main drag onto 300 South, then right when the road ends, then second left. From the entry gate, drive 7 miles. The trailhead is on the left, near the small cattle-watering tanks. (Leave your shuttle car in Moab, or at the Negro Bill Canyon parking area on highway 128 north of Moab.) View down Jackass Canyon on the way down towards the Colorado River. Behind the river, Moenkopi and Chinle formation slopes lead up to cliffs of Wingate sandstone. The cliff-top is Kayenta sandstone. Mounts of Navajo sandstone can be seen on the skyline. April 17, 1999 Bruce Argyle |
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To view a
condensed, one-page printable guide
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| Riding Resources for Porcupine Rim: Topo map: Download Lres Download Hres Single-page riding guide for printing. |
GPS track files (right-click and "Save as..."): Garmin National Geographic Google Earth GPX |
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For additional information, including
nearby lodging, rentals, camping, and current conditions, may we suggest: |
[Go to
UtahMountainBiking.com's Trails Options Page]
Copyright 2002 Mad Scientist Software Inc
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