Looking down on the rim from Green River Overlook

The Ride:

Joanna and I were lucky enough to score a campsite at Willow Flat campground. This is a really nice little spot. It has some small juniper stands that provide a good amount of shade and wind relief. Green River Overlook is just a short walk down the road and offers a great view down onto the White Rim and out to the Needles and the Maze Districts beyond.

I decided for no particular reason that I would ride the Rim clockwise. Starting at Shafer Trail and ending up back and our campground. This would necessitate a 13 mile or so road burn from the end of Mineral Bottom Road back to Willow Flat but it would also make Joanna’s life easier as she would not have to wait around for me.
After a fairly restless night due to excitement, nerves and an ill placed rock I was ready to go. Joanna dropped me at the trailhead and fueled by some fruit and a can of espresso I dropped into Schafer just as the sun was beginning to rise above a fin of rock to the east. Instantly the nerves were gone and I knew this was going to be an amazing ride.

Rollin' out

Before I knew it I had bounced my way down the schwitchbacks of Schafer Trail Road past it’s intersection with Potash Road on its’ serpentine course into Moab. Just as I crested a small rise the sun slid above the distant rock shelves instantly reminding me that I was in the desert. I stripped off layers as I admired the sandy White Rim Road unraveling in front of me to the horizon. This is what its about. Time to get rollin’.

As the sun rose higher and temps climbed I began to get in a rhythm. Never had I been this alone and remote on my bike. I was loving it.

Schafer Trail Road w/ Potash Rd branching left

Hourly Gu shots and supplemental intake of equal parts beef jerky and Redvines were proving sufficient at keeping me fueled. Cruising along the rim on my rigid rig I saw no one. Every now an then I would blow through one of the campgrounds along the route. In the distance I would get a wave from the campground residents doing the route in multi day fashion. A novel idea to be sure.

The White Rim corridor is a stair step of sorts. The road runs along the middle of three steps sitting bellow the red cliffs of the Island In The Sky and above the deep canyon carved out by the Colorado and Green rivers. As a result the White Rim Road is largely flat excluding the climb back up to the Island in the Sky as well as the occasional ridge shooting perpendicularly across the road’s corridor. The most formidable of these ridges is Murphy’s Hogback. The climb is not particularly long but it is fairly steep and loose. My gearing choice along with other engine related factors had me walking the last bit of this climb. Climbing and descending the hogback had me over my major mental hurdle for the route. After the decent I realized the river I was skirting was now the Green. I had left the Colorado behind a ways before Murphy’s Hogback.

Murphy's Hogback seen from Green River Overlook at dusk

There is only a small portion of the ride in which the road is not directly above or next to one of the two rivers. The confluence point of these two massive waterways sits a ways south and slightly west of the White Rim Road between the Maze and Needles districts of Canyonlands. Exploration for another time.

This realization that I was now following the Green River gave me new energy as I continued to cruise along the rim trying not to crash as I took in the views. I knew my next challenge would be the sandy bottoms encountered in the second half of the ride as the rod dips off the shelf and down to the banks of the Green.

The Green River just before the sand started

I hit my first pad patch of sand at Potato Bottom. It got pretty deep at times but didn’t slow me down too badly. Four or five flops into the sand box later I was through the bottoms and at the base of the final climb out of the canyon. Horesethief Trail, while steep, is a well graded and smooth dirt road. As a result, sitting at the bottom of the climb I found my self surrounded by more humanity than I had seen in the last seven hours. The remote section of the ride was done now it was only a matter of getting up the final climb and completing the road burn back to camp where Joanna and food would be waiting.

Horsethief switchbacks

By this time the day had heated up to around 85 degrees. Not hot by Canyonlands standards but plenty hot for me. Looking up at the climb I could see the corner of each switchback held a precious piece of shade. Hoping from cool patch to cool patch provided a much needed mental distraction and had me at the top in no time. On the way up I was passed by two groups of people in cars both of whom offered me a ride. I must have looked pretty beat!

I was now back up on the Island in the Sky and faced with peddling the straight but rolling remainder of Horsthief Trail to its invisible terminus at Mineral Bottom Road and eventual intersection with paved highway 313. This stretch of dirt road proved to be the hardest section of the ride for me. The relentless false flats had my already tired legs screaming. This final 13 or so mile push to the highway seemed to take forever and had me thinking I was seeing mirages on the heat distorted horizon.

Done and done!

Cruising onto smooth asphalt after 8 hours on rough rock and dirt has a way of changing one’s mood. It was now into single speed aero mode for the final push back into the park. As I passed a group of grazing cows on the side of the highway all I could think of was the burgers I would cook over the fire back at camp. After a brief delirious chat with the nice ranger at the entrance station I could smell the stables. I took the final turn towards the campground and sat up to see our truck with Joanna behind the wheel cruising towards me. She had just begun her search! Perfect timing. She turned old blue lightning around and escorted me into camp where the consumption of protein and frosty, malty, adult beverages began and lasted into the wee hours. The White Rim in a day was in the bag and the season of big rides had begun.