Canyonlands "Training" : The White Rim Trail

Why I said, "training" is because while it was training it was much more so an adventure. However, it did involve some strenuous activity, so I can call it training!

My partner Michelle and I have wanted to mountain bike the 100 mile White Rim Trail for years. This rugged four wheel drive road makes a loop aroung the Island in the Sky district of Canyonlands National Park (CNP), which is situated outside of Moab, Utah. Many people bike the trail with the help of a support vehicle to carry food , water, and other supplies. This is especially helpful because there is no water available on the route.

A basic map of the White Rim Trail and the
Island in the Sky District of Canyonlands.

Michelle and I decided to give the trail a try unsupported, in just over two days. Niether of us had ever been bike-packing (that is backpacking on bikes),  or mountain biked over 25 miles in a day, but were excited to check off this bucket list experience.

We both situated our bikes with panniers to carry our gear, food, and water. When we started they were heavy, mainly due to the five gallons of water, but that lightened up through out our trip.

Me at the top of the canyon, before our first descent.

When we drove over snowy passes in the Rockies towards Utah, it was hard to believe we'd be mountain biking that same night. We luckily arrived at the visitors center right before it's 5 o'clock close, just in time to check in and print our backcountry permits. 

Vail Pass on the way to Utah.

Then we set off down the switch backs of Schafer Road, hoping to make it to our first campsite before dark. The views from the top of Schafer Road were truly incredible, and those stunning panoramas didn't stop until after we climbed back out of the canyon, some 80 miles later. We made it to our campsite with just enough daylight to set up camp, eat dinner, and watch the sun give way to the stars.  Then within ten minutes of darkness, a full moon emerged, shining so bright that our headlamps were obsolete. The next day our adventure was to be kicked up to a higher gear, although I didn't know it yet.

The faint white line at the bottom of the canyon is where
Shafer Road meets the White Rim Trail; our destination.

Only part of the huge Shafer Road downhill.

We didn't set alarms, why would we when we had all day to bike 50 miles? "Because a 50 mile mountain bike ride is hard Dan, that's why!", was advice I wish I heard.

We stopped at every overlook and short hiking trails for the first 20 miles of the day, and each were spectacular. Well worth getting a little behind schedule, which we realized we were and would unlikely make it to our designated campsite. The second half of the day had barely any stops, and we still couldn't make it to camp before dark. Fortunately we reached an unoccupied campsite called Murphy's Hogback as the sun was setting. We had biked about 43 miles, leaving over 50 miles for our final day. We decided to set an alarm.

Luckily the trail passed over easier terrain for much of our last day, aside from our gigantic climb out of the canyon, of course. We rode very close to the Green River for most of the day. The turbid, silty water is why people say, "there is no water on the trail." Any water collected would need to sit overnight to allow for the silt to settle, then would need to be removed without disturbing the sediment. We brought a water filter just in case it came to that.

The climb out of the canyon was intimidating and beautiful. I grew used to facing mountains on my road bike during my cross country trip in 2009; it's about learning to take some slow abuse for sometimes hours. That climb marked the start of Mineral Road, which travels about 13 miles, connecting to a paved road (route 312) which our car was parked on. Most of these roads are not in the national park, although the beauty of the area continued until we were out of the canyon. Then things got bad.

The top of our climb out of the canyon.

not one to complain, but 22 miles of non-scenic road riding, with 50 mile per hour gusts , just isn't much fun. The blowing sand wiped out all distant views, and the dust made it difficult to open our eyes. There were many points when I almost got blown off my bike, which was made about 100x scarier once we were on Route 312 with traffic.

This is when things got bad.

Exhausted, seven hours into the longest mountain bike ride of our lives, we just hoped we wouldn't get blown into a car. I gritted my teeth, cursed at the wind, and rode like hell to the car.

Despite those terrible few hours, the trip was still overwhelmingly worth it! We treated ourselves to a motel in Moab that night, and hoped for the wind to die down enough for us to enjoy our next two days of backpacking the Needles District of the park.

The wind settled, and our backpacking days rivaled those on the White Rim in terms of beauty. These are places that everyone should experience in their life. At times they seem like they could be another planet.

Go. Explore. Live!