Mtnbiker
03-17-2007, 12:27 PM
Here's another new-to-me trail we rode last weekend. This isn't a trail I would go back time and time again to ride like Porcupine, but you really should do it once if you like technical climbs, fast technical down hills, stream crossings, and other closeup views of the LaSals that you rarely see from Most trails.
This ride starts several miles south of town near Ken's Lake campground and loops back CCW toward Moab. Option 1: Park near the golf course (can't remember the road name) and ride south about 7 miles on flat paved road to Ken's lake. Start the jeep trail at ken's and continue the ride back to your car. The entire loop is about 18 1/2 miles.
Option2: Park a car near the golf course and shuttle another to Ken's lake and leave out the boring stretch of road.
The ride: Head east into the reef after Ken's Lake on the dirt road and cross the cattleguard and the trail starts here. I would rate this trail a bit harder than Amassa Back in technical difficulty but otherwise similar in the flavor of the trail. Consider this a 10 mile long up and down Amassa Back and you'll be pretty close.
The trail meanders for a short bit on some sandy doubletrack (don't miss the petroglyphs) under towering cliffs, with the snowy LaSals in the background. Cross Mill Creek and then wind up and over undulating slick rock for about 4 miles until you reach the summit, at around 6100 ft.
From the summit the trail trends downward back to moab-level but there are still countless smaller grunts on the way so it never really feels like you are going downhill as much as the elevation profile shows :ne_nau: By the end, however there are 3 or 4 stream crossings (all ridable this time of year) which gives you time to cool off in the water or relax under the cottonwoods.
On to the pics!
This ride starts several miles south of town near Ken's Lake campground and loops back CCW toward Moab. Option 1: Park near the golf course (can't remember the road name) and ride south about 7 miles on flat paved road to Ken's lake. Start the jeep trail at ken's and continue the ride back to your car. The entire loop is about 18 1/2 miles.
Option2: Park a car near the golf course and shuttle another to Ken's lake and leave out the boring stretch of road.
The ride: Head east into the reef after Ken's Lake on the dirt road and cross the cattleguard and the trail starts here. I would rate this trail a bit harder than Amassa Back in technical difficulty but otherwise similar in the flavor of the trail. Consider this a 10 mile long up and down Amassa Back and you'll be pretty close.
The trail meanders for a short bit on some sandy doubletrack (don't miss the petroglyphs) under towering cliffs, with the snowy LaSals in the background. Cross Mill Creek and then wind up and over undulating slick rock for about 4 miles until you reach the summit, at around 6100 ft.
From the summit the trail trends downward back to moab-level but there are still countless smaller grunts on the way so it never really feels like you are going downhill as much as the elevation profile shows :ne_nau: By the end, however there are 3 or 4 stream crossings (all ridable this time of year) which gives you time to cool off in the water or relax under the cottonwoods.
On to the pics!