Originally Posted by
LV2TNDM
At first, I thought this was a White Rim pic. Don't think so though. PURE BEAUTY! Oh I wish I were heading to Moab this fall. It's been too long already. Can't WAIT to get back out there. A friend is there now and I'm beyond jealous. But he's a returning local and is totally ho-hum about it. Like it's no big deal or something!
Can't wait to get back to ride the stuff I haven't been able to: Captain Ahab, Whole Enchilada, and a lot of other new stuff. We hit Moab almost every year from 1992 onward until we had kids. So we rode it rigid, and then on hard tails. Can't wait to get back out there to ride it on our current bikes. So much fun to be had!
But until then, can you PLEASE stop posting pictures of the incredible American desert southwest? It's not fair
PS If you're new to Moab and much of the desert southwest, bring the mountain bike. But also bring fitness and preparedness. It's no joke out there. Many fatalities have occurred on Moab's famous trails, so do your homework, be prepared, and don't over-do it. Even Moab's most famous trail, Slickrock, has injured scores and killed a few. It's the hardest riding many will have ever done, and it's deceptive. "Oh it's only a 10 mile loop, we'll do that in a few hours!" Joe Newbie says as he drags the wife and kids to Slickrock. I'm not trying be arrogant or elitist here. A 13 year old died within sight of the Slickrock parking lot way back when. Dad and his son ventured forth, ran out of water, became severely dehydrated despite receiving water from other riders. When they saw the parking lot, Dad stayed on the trail, his son bee-lined it. Dad made it back, but his son didn't. Succumbed to deyhdration and the heat. So please be prepared!
Yeah, I had a close call there myself. I did a solo ride on a snowy day. I stayed a few days after the fat tire festival and there was a rare dusting of snow in town the first day or so of November. I decided to ride a loop I had ridden previously, but backwards this time. I figured I could go up Jackass Pass and come back down the way I came if the snow got deep. I continued too far and was on the top where I need the rock cairns to navigate. Snow got too deep to see the cairns and covered my back track. My water bottle froze and I was cold. I was really afraid I wouldn't find my way to either end. I decided to try for Sand Flats Rod. Fortunately I eventually made it to the stock tank that marked the spot where the road was. I rode down to town at break neck speed. It was at least 70F in town I apparently stayed right with or very close to Porcupine Rim Trail just by dead reconing. The scenery was beautiful, but not worth dying for.
I highly recommend that loop, but not alone in the snow. The normal direction is up Sand Flat Rd and down Jackass Pass. Jackass pass was a fairly demanding ride in good conditions. Just riding up to Porcupine Rim and back down would be less demanding and is beautiful. It has some of the best views of the area IMO.
Things are a bit better these days. We at least would have gps navigation so the nagigation part wouldn't have been a worry. Also with cell phones possibly a way to contact help even without a satelite based device. I was told that If you can see the La Salle mountains you have a good chance of having a cell signal so at the top on Porcupine Rim you might have one (I wasn't to the point where I would have called any way).
I blame the stupidity of youth for that "adventure", but I still do dumb stuff, just less of it.