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Virtual Moab: Utah

Porcupine Rim

Length: 14.6 miles, (with additional 6.4 miles from Moab, plus 5 miles back)
Technical Difficulty: Advanced, (with some abusive singletrack and sheer drop-offs)
Physical Difficulty: Advanced

Finding the Trailhead: (from the intersection of Main and Center Streets in Moab)

Head east on Center Street for 4 blocks and turn right onto 400 East. Turn left on Mill Creek Drive (at Dave's Comer Market). Take a left (at the cemetery) onto Sand Flats Road and head up towards the Slickrock Trail. Pass the kiosk heading into the Sand Flats Recreation Area and tell the nice folks there that you are heading up to Porcupine Rim. The road turns to dirt just after the Slickrock parking lot. Continue on for 6.4 miles until you find a parking lot and a dual stock tank with signs indicating the trailhead. This is your starting point (if you drove or took the shuttle: if you rode, you probably are laughing at the use of "starting point"),

Trail Description:

Mile 0.0 is the gate. Head past the stock tanks, down an initial drop, before beginning a longish, sometimes technical climb. Ignore the two spurs on the left at mile 0.1 and 0.2. Stay to the right at mile 1.6, following the two large cairns. Go past a sharply angled spur on the right at mile 1.8. Top out of the climb at mile 2.2 before dropping into, and going up the other side of, the top of Negro Bill Canyon. During the following climb, the trail splits and rejoins itself a couple of times. The first overlook comes at mile 3.0 off the right side of the trail. After a series of short, rocky ups and downs, you drop down to a spectacular viewpoint overlooking Castle Valley at mile 3.8. After a rest and water stop, continue on the trail as it skirts Porcupine Rim for a while. The trail starts to swing away from the rim at mile 4.6. At mile 5.0, head straight through this (signed) intersection. At mile 5.2, halfway down a long, rough, straightaway (it looks as if you're heading towards Coffee Pot Rock), turn right, off the straight track. At mile 6.3, go straight through an 'X' shaped intersection (there should be a sign and a cairns). Turn right at a 3-way intersection at mile 6.5. Go straight, at mile 7.4, past a spur on the left. At mile 8.0, follow the sign pointing left down a rocky slope, avoiding the spur on the right. Keep to the left at mile 8.9 (following the sign) as a very low angle spur shoots off on the right. After a long, fast downhill stretch, at mile 10.5, you reach a small patch of slickrock follow the caims across. At mile 10.6, you enter into a Wilderness Study Area (yes, bikes are allowed to pass through on the trail, and will continue to be allowed if you are nice and don't screw up a good thing). After crossing the top of Jackass Canyon, at mile 11.3, you reach the beginning of the singletrack. There is a sign, so follow it, heading right, down the canyon. Right near the end, at mile 14.0, you cross a streambed on a very technical part of the trail. Hit the road (Hwy. 128) and the river at mile 14.6. If you're riding back to town, turn left and head downriver for about 3 miles. At the intersection of Hwy. 191, turn left again and head about 2 miles into town.

Trail Notes:

This map describes the mileage points of the trail only. To do it this way, you must work out some sort of shuttle to get you to the trailhead, and perhaps another vehicle waiting at the trailtail. There is a shuttle service to help with this if you want However, it is definitely possible (and definitely fun) to do this ride as a loop from town. Simply follow the directions (above in Getting to the Trailhead) for the vehicular approach on your bike, and ride along the river into town when you're done with the trail. As well, you can start from the trailtail, ride up the singletrack, and turn around wherever you want, to do the trail as an out-and-back. Obviously, either of these two options will add to the technical and physical difficulty.

A word about the signs and cairns. These handy trail markers do have a way of disappearing sometimes so take this under consideration. Don't absolutely count on them being there; count on yourself only, and work it out, if something is a bit confusing once your on the trail.

***Be prepared for any kind of weather or terrain!!! Our first time through we encountered, sunshine, rain, sleet, and some snow!

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