MTB - Moab

Did you miss the beginning of the Trip?

Today was a big day. The biggest. Literally. Today was the longest day of the year, and I saw ever minute of it. My phone woke me up at 5:30 with a glow coming from the windows. I threw on the same clothes I had on yesterday and headed out of town to 'Klondike' trail. When I got there, I found out not only that I wasn't the only one taking the trail today, but I wasn't even close to the first person there. At the trail head there were already two vehicles emptied of their bikes, and I followed another car in as well.

I have to say I greatly underestimated this trail at first. After checking out my gear I set off down the trail, which I would call more of a 4x4 track, I found myself switching gears. First it was about 1-4, then 1-7, then 2-4, then 2-6. The trail wasn't exactly going uphill, but it defiantly wasn't going downhill either. The dust was flying behind me and I was getting upset because I wanted a medium difficulty trail, not some path I could just as easily drive my vehicle down. But then it happened... sand... lots of sand... I hate sand. This wasn't even the nice kind of sand that almost supports your weight, it's the kind of sand that anticipates your coming and gets out of the way of your tire just to flow around it and bury it six inches deep rendering any amount of peddling futile. After walking my bike through it for about two hundred feet, there was another patch of the same sand later on down the trail. I hate sand. This one was only about one hundred feet long. In case you were wondering, still hating sand over here.

Now the trail splits into the full blown 'Klondike' and 'Baby Steps' trails. At the fork, the both appear to be quite easy, but I continue down 'Baby Steps' as was recommended to me. Pretty soon it narrows to single track. This is a welcome change from the tire track trail. Then it starts getting little ups and downs that forced me back down to my more normal gearing of about 1-5. Then the trail disappears into a slick rock, and begins to climb. And climb. And climb. And I begin to walk my bike. And climb. And climb... and this trail isn't quite so simple anymore. If I were in halfway decent shape, and if I wasn't at nearly 5000 feet the next part would have been awesome. Tight technical switchbacks with quick downhills and short climbs twisting around, through, and over large boulders. However, I've had enough, and when 'Baby Steps' meets back up with 'Klondike', I take it down. Even though I'm exhausted now, 'Klondike' is quite boring in comparison to 'Baby Steps'. It's just a gradual climb over granite slabs. Supposedly there are dinosaur prints in some of these rocks, but I was going much to fast down to see anything of much detail.

There are so many different trails to explore in Moab, so I would defiantly recommend it to anyone wanting to do some hiking or biking.

MTB Distance: 6.08, Elevation: 4583 -> 4987.

Continue with Day 6.