Geological time travel on only two wheels
Rock climbers gravitate to Yosemite. Surfers collect in Jeffery’s Bay; Mountaineers look at Everest with reverential awe. Every sport has its Mecca. Mountain bikers consider Moab in Utah, to be the seat and joy of their creed.
Above the Colorado River, and below the plateau known as Island in the Sky, the White Rim Trail ranks high among the world’s classic mountain bike experiences. Here, some 280 million years ago, natural forces created a layer of hard white sandstone amidst the cliffs of the Moab region in Utah. Today, this unique stone gives its name to a sweeping loop through Canyonlands National Park. It is slickrock riding rated moderately difficult as it winds through a bewildering maze of nature’s bizarre architecture for 120 kilometers. This land also presents a true marvel for explorers, as rock layers are exposed and represent over 500 million years of geologic changes.
Our memorable bicycle trip to Utah’s high desert region included four days on the White Rim Trail, camping out along the way. We tremendously enjoyed our ride through geological time, as the playful route follows contours of immense canyons, with frequent overlooks above Colorado River, providing us with new and more magnificent views around every corner. Though long before any mountain bikers or white horse thieves galloped in, Anasazi Indians had lived on this land, and one can still find granaries and pottery shards from old Indian settlements more than 1,000 years ago.
Despite late-season snow in the forecast for higher elevations, Pieter and I packed up, threw the bikes on the car, and headed out from the coast of California to Utah. It had been nearly a year since we last camped (on Tour d’Afrique’06). We were looking forward to sleeping in our tent again, to mountain biking and generally escaping the busy city of San Diego. We anticipated having a lot of fun while also being a bit skeptical to join a group of strangers of different riding abilities. Though as the rising sun shone from the snow-caped La Sal peaks (2,400m) to the east and reflected on the red walls of the canyon country to the west, such thoughts were soon forgotten. At first the emptiness and the silence of the morning seemed almost overwhelming but the best part was that nothing, no sign of human involvement spoiled the views of the next 4 days. We got to meet our guide and 9 fellow riders from all over the continental U.S. Our tour was accompanied by a 4×4 to carry our luggage, water, and tasty, nutritious food. Biking on slickrock is great fun. It is very fine-grained, yet has grip. Biking in deep sand, however, is great effort and very difficult to boot. We managed gentle slopes as well short, steep climbs. But when it came to descents on gravel and sand, I had to walk parts of it. The majority of the group managed to ride everything, even when washboard road surface was about to rattle the fillings out of our teeth. Everywhere, red sandstone walls soared up on all sides carved into fantastic chimneys, hollows, and towers. We were happy and satisfied, and continued to thread the canyon.
On day two we came upon an uphill slope of smooth rock, complete with dinosaur tracks and deep cracks to jump over – or at least try to. The area offered fantastic views of both the Green and Colorado River canyons. Giant freestanding pillars of rock dominate the landscape and exemplify the powerful forces of erosion at work all around.
On our third day, we biked mostly over rough trail and suddenly, came upon a precipice. Dismounting, we discovered that an awe-inspiring span of rock, about 2 meters wide, over 50 meters long, and dropping off 100 meters on each side connected to the other side of the drop. It had been named Musselman Arch, and even just the thought of riding my bike across, stops my heart. We had learnt in the town of Moab that prior to the lawsuit frenzy of modern America, a local guide used to take Jeep-loads of thrill seeking tourists over this stone viaduct by driving them across in his vehicle!
On the last day, standing at the bottom of Schafer trail, it was hard to believe we were about to ride our bicycles up the sheer 350-meter cliff. It was one long hard climb in the midday’s heat, and at times I did not know where the trail went until we reached another switch back. This was one of the toughest climbs I’ve ever done off-road (Cape Epic’07 rider Pieter, is in a different league). Though the bigger the struggle, the sweeter the reward and sure enough we emerged at the summit at an elevation of 1,900 meters where we enjoyed magnificent views of the White Rim and cooled off in the wind blissfully blowing on top.
While no travel report could possibly convey the full impact of a dramatic landscape like the one of Moab, it is never too early to start dreaming about the next place to see that will take your breath away.
