Background - The White Rim Trail is a 103-mile loop on jeep roads through Canyonlands National Park above the confluence of the Colorado River and Green River in Southeastern Utah. After you turn off I-70 and go south on Highway 191 towards Moab, you turn right towards Dead Horse Point, drive all the way up onto the plateau, and park your car. You can ride the loop in either direction: turning right and dropping down Horsethief Trail, or turning left and dropping down Shafer Trail. Either way, you drop about 1,000 feet onto the rim.
Technically, this trail is fairly easy. But the length (and a few stiff climbs) means you need to be in good condition to do the whole thing in one day like we normally do once a year. We tend to ride it clockwise starting at the parking area off U-313 at the right turn to Mineral Bottom and cut out a 13 mile section of the dirt road from U-313 to Mineral Bottom and park a vehicle at the top of the Horsethief climb. The major climbs add up to 4000 vertical feet, but an altimeter on my Polar Monitor unit that records every little up-and-down came out with about 4,500feet total. Our ride time was, again this year, 7 hours and 30 minutes with total time around 9 hours with stops and a lunch break. The low temperature of the day was 71 and the high was 90 degrees.
Most (smart) riders spend 3 or 4 days to ride this trail, spending the night at campgrounds drinking cold beer! They use a support vehicle for food, WATER, camping gear, and bike parts. (Even though there's little dangerous stuff, the length of this trail -- combined with some sand -- means there's a good chance you'll need some on-trail repair.) Campgrounds are spaced every few miles. (Waiting time for some camp sites is around ONE YEAR. You must obtain a permit from the National Park Service to ride this trail, and reserve your campsites well in advance of your ride.) Bring cooking gear. Open fires are prohibited.
We awoke at 5:15 am from our comfortable Super 8 hotel in downtown Moab to a hot breakfast at Denny’s. We loaded up the two vehicles and were off to set up our shuttle. We started riding around 8:00 am. Those present were the following: Julie Morrow, Wendi Lyall-Fields, Lisa Isom, Steven Kirchner, Chris and Sheryl Cook, and I (Bill MacFarlane). A good group of seven strong riders that rode well together all day long!
Knowing how hot the temperature was going to be most of us started the ride with 2 - 100 oz bladders in our camel backs and 2 - 32 oz bottles on our bikes. Along with all the spare tubes, quick fills, chain tools, lube, cliff blocks, enervatine, gu, sports drink powder, fig newtons, beef jerky, uncrustables, ham sandwich, cliff bars, and of course IBUPROFIN!
The day was HOT to say the least, but fortunately we rode into a head wind 80% of the way and that seemed to keep us cool. We did see one cloud during our ride which gave us a little shade for about 30 seconds. Some of us did run out of water on the trail, but fortunately there were many other supported rides on the trail that helped us out a few times. Thanks to all the nice friendly folks!
When we reached the section of the trail that runs along the Green River some got off their bikes and scrambled down the cliffs and jumped in the river, fully clothed, iPods still playing, to splash and swirl around in a river to lower the core temperature. All felt revived and ready to Get R Done but the confidence didn’t last long.
Running short on water and energy we all had to climb out of this hole one final time 1,000 feet up to the top of Horsethief Trail!
We all made it and when we were off the bikes we did manage to say we would all do it again, but bail if we knew the weather was predicted to be hotter than 80 degrees!
Thanks for a great ride all and I would do it again with anyone of YOU!
