KLR650 Rally - Moab - Page 4

The White Rim Trail - Mother of all trails - This is the big one! We have all heard about this ride and anxious to get going. We bought some lunch food, plenty of water and have checked the maps and are ready to go! We were told that the best way to ride the trail is counter clockwise. Something to do with a few of the steep downhill sections of trail being easier. I could not really tell which way it would have been best as there were a few difficult places going in both directions! Heading north again out of Moab we turned down the same highway 313 toward The Island In The Sky Visitor Center but this time we turned off the road onto a dirt road named Mineral Bottom Road. This will take you towards the Green River where you will descend down to the river level and ride along for awhile as you hook into the White Rim Trail. The road along this stretch is very easy and wanders along for five or six miles following the Green river. It will soon become apparent why it is called the Green River - it looks green! It was a beautiful day! Clear blue sky and cool temperatures, at least early in the morning. We departed Moab around 7:00am and it was now about 8:00am as we followed the Green River.

The elevation begins to climb after awhile and the trail becomes less a 4wd trail and more of a bike trail. Some places require a little effort to negotiate as the soil is rocky and gets steep very fast as one climbs up and over the mesas. The scenery is fantastic and around every turn one is met with greater views and more spectacular scenery. We stop often for pictures. The trail is actually very busy as the mountain bike crowd seems to be around every turn. We talked with a few of them and found out they allow three to four days for them to make the entire trail. The trail is about 105 miles from the Visitor Center and back. They have chase vehicles behind them and camp in one of the many National Park camp spots set up by the Park Service. They look like they are in great pain when climbing the steep hills but once on top they are all smiles and seem to find this a great challenge. We continue riding through places with names like "Potato Bottom Basin, Holeman Spring Basin, Turks Pass, and Vertigo Void." I'm sure there are interesting stories about all the names given to areas along the trail. The temperature begins to climb rapidly as the morning goes on and it is easy to understand why the Rangers and others in the local area recommend carrying so much water! Two or three liters would be the minimum I would carry. I drank all I had before we got back to Moab!

We stopped for lunch around 11:00am and enjoyed the view from a sheer drop-off. The picture on the left was our lunch spot and it becomes apparent why this trail is called the "White Rim trail!" Most of it follows a series of canyons and the rock is white in color - very bright and very rough to ride on. You can see the other side of this particular canyon rim and notice how sharp they drop off! Riding near the edge is a temptation but not for me-I don't like high places! After lunch we checked the map and found we were only about one third of the way around. We had plenty of day light left and we decided to take our time but just not stop as often. We still had some rough areas to negotiate so we began a little longer ride between breaks. The group began to spread out some as it was easier to ride the bad parts if we were not so grouped up.

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