Canyonlands - White Rim Trail Bicycle Ride

Shafer Switchbacks at the start of the White Rim Trail.

So, I went this week with Delos, Misty and family and Delos' friend Ken and his family (wife, Sarinda (sp?) and their three children ages 5, 3, and 18 months (I know, I know - they are either VERY brave or totally crazy. They say they take the whole family camping on a regular basis. Sarinda is training for the St. George marathon.) I drove support for Delos and family and Sarinda drove (with her three children) for Ken with their family supplies.

The trail is a 100 mile loop and the plan was to ride 30 miles in and camp, ride 30 miles more the next day and camp - you have to reserve each campsite, and ride the last 40 miles on the 3rd day. The trail makes a big loop near the Colorado River and then the Green River in the remote canyon wilderness. The "road" (?)/trail is very primitive, unimproved and rugged. It can only be made by bicycle or a 4-wheel drive, high clearance vehicle. Apparently, the roads were originally put there by uranium prospectors. It is difficult to describe how rugged, rocky, steep, dangerous, and in some locations almost impassible the so-called road is.

We drove to Green River Sunday evening and camped at the Green River State Park. It was pleasant - I didn't take any pictures there but I know Misty did. Maybe they will post them on their blog. Then Monday morning we drove to the Canyonlands Visitor Center, about 20 miles south of the road to Moab, got the permit and were finally on our way about 11:30 am.

For a permit you have to apply many months in advance (the demand is very high and the number of people they can accomodate is quite small) and it requires a support person(s)/vehicle(s) because there is no water or other resources anywhere along the trail. However, a severe thunderstorm on Aug. 19 (the same date a storm caused the flooding and debris/mud slide in Draper) washed out part of the road and switchbacks you take to get out of the canyon so you could not ride the entire loop. Instead you could only go in part way, then return over the same route.

The first part of the road down the Shafer switchbacks is about 3.5 miles of a cliff-edge dirt road that drops you 1500 feet in elevation. They were more than a little scary. My picture (here) is not as good as the one I pulled off the internet (first picture above) but neither of them show the true perspective - you have to see and experience it to know how truly intimidating it is - a one-lane dirt road on steep cliffs with sharp switchbacks with no barriers or other safety features of any kind.

I wish I would have stopped and taken more pictures of the road along the way - it would be the only way for you to believe I really took my pickup through it - but I was too intent on driving very carefully. The bikers could go faster than the vehicles because of the rocks, ridges, gullies, boulders, etc. that you had to maneuver through or drive over. Our campsite was 30 miles from the visitor center and it took us seven hours to get there. So we averaged about 4 mph. Delos and Ken rode their bikes the whole way. Misty and Austin rode almost the entire distance, and Alexis and David alternated between their bikes and the truck, depending on the road conditions, the incline, the sand, and how tired they were. But, everyone rode impressive distances in those tough and sometimes quite dangerous conditions.

A little break for some gatorade or water on our way in. In a few places you could get a glimpse of the Colorado River as you looked down some of the canyons but it was miles away and thousands of feet below us. And, I didn't stop to take any pictures of those views of the Colorado - wish I had. (There is one "trail/road" - Lathrop Canyon - that branches off the White Rim Trail and goes down close to the river, but it was 4 miles each way and after reading the experience (on the internet) of a couple who attempted the road - and thought they were going to die before they finally stopped and backed out, I had decided we were not going to try that "road".

After a leisurely seven hours we reached our campsite (Gooseberry B) and got it set it up just before sunset.

A small side canyon that was about 200 yards north of our campsite.

View from the edge of the canyon looking towards our campsite. If you expand the picture you will see our vehicles, along with a ranger vehicle (Jeep Cherokee) that had three young women rangers. They camped about 100 yards from us, since there are two campsites at "Gooseberry"

View from our camp-site looking south. As evening set in it was incredibly dark (no moon) and quiet - not a sound from any wind, crickets or any other critters. The stars were absolutely brilliant and you could pick out the big dipper, the north star, Jupiter, the brightly lit milky way, and any other stars/planets if you knew their location.

This is Musselman Arch (really a "rock bridge"). I was happy to take the picture but I was not willing to walk out on it. Given, it's probably been there a million years, but some day it is going to collapse and that's a lottery I would just as soon not win. The picture does not give the best perspective, but it goes across a canyon, is about 8 to ten feet wide and is hundreds of feet above the floor of the canyon - and you see a few different views of the bridge below.

Delos and Ken on Musselman Arch. This was a little off the main road on our way to the campsite. The other riders had ridden on ahead and did not stop. So, on the way out, we stopped again so everyone could see (and go out on if they wished) the arch.

Delos, Misty, and family on the rock bridge. I zoomed in on them so you could see who it was.

Delos, Misty and family on the bridge w/o zooming in.

Lunch on the way out, and Delos getting ready to ride the last 12-14 miles, including the 1500 feet elevation change up the Shafer switchbacks. Only Ken and Delos rode out. The rest of us stayed in the pickups. It was, indeed, an adventure!