I am all for that trip! When should we go?Quote:
Originally Posted by accadacca
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I am all for that trip! When should we go?Quote:
Originally Posted by accadacca
As soon as the weather is feasible. You plan a date and let me and rest of the fellas know. I have never been there or even studied maps or info. I am a Utah bitch. :lol8:
OK now where's Fruita. I'm itchin to try something new.
Fruita, now I am guessing since I dont have the EXACT MAP info in front of me, is just west of Grand Junction, CO on I70, OR if coming from Green River, UT. a little over an hour past the turn off to Moab. I have driven the route from Vernal to Rangley,CO and turning south & heading over Douglas Pass where the trails actually start that the local bike shop in Fruita has mapped (Flight of Icarus starts near the top of Douglas Pass)and I have been to Fruita a number of times on the way to Moab or Grand Junction, NOW I gotta bike there :lol8:Quote:
Originally Posted by vamedtech
I lived there from 2001-2004. It's on I-70 exit 19, 19 miles east of the Utah border.Quote:
OK now where's Fruita.
Yea, I am definaltey up for something new. If you need some help with gas money I am in..Quote:
Originally Posted by accadacca
Fruita is like the unknown Moab. It is growing in popularity due to its grassroots mountain bike vibe, but there is no "slickrock trail" that everyone and their brother knows about.
There are TONS more miles of actual singletrack built by actual bikers - NOT jeep roads and sandy doubletrack.
They like to keep the singletrack skinny and take great pride in that fact.
There are a lot of buff, skinny desert cruisers on the north side of the highway (18 Rd area) and the Kokapelli Trailhead area on the south side of the highway is home to more technically demanding trails like Moore Fun (insane) and Horsethief Bench, Troy Built, etc.. You could bring your SS and A/M bike and have a blast.
Not to mention Grand Junction a few miles away has some awesome riding too!
Greyhair - how about going down for the Fruita Fat-tire fest? We are thinking of going this year, April 26-29.
I'm looking at the dates and I have the fri & sat off but that's all I can manage. I would really like to go too. Let me see what I can do.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mtnbiker
Are most of the trails in fruita snow free in April. This area sounds intriguing for my trip.
I bought the Northeastern Utah Mountain Bike Rides from Altitude Cycle but I havent had the chance to ride any of the trails yet, just a "secret" track laid out near Roosevelt. The landscape around there looks a lot like St. George, I wonder if some of the trails are similar.Quote:
Originally Posted by greyhair biker
Fruita, Fruita, Fruita.
Singletrack to die for. Purpose built mountain bike trails with no ATV's or motorcycles. Blows the door off Moab in this respect, though the scenery is not quite to Moab standards.
I'd hesitate to call it unknown though. Lots and lots of weekend visitors from the Front Range. It is very unlikely there will be snow in April--it's at fairly low elevation, about the same as Grand Junction, just a bit higher than Moab.
There are only a few exceptions -trails - that are not rideable most of the year as Ive been told. 'Flight of Icarus' is one that needs to dry out until summer since it starts at the top of Douglas Pass. Most of the rest of the trails are similar to St.George...or Vernal for that matter...just different color rock(cactus is cactus...sagebrush is sagebrush)and the only time the trails north of 18rd are not rideable are when its wet/rainy...desert mud/clay is impossible to ride in and they tell you not to so as to avoid rutting /destroying the trail. Ive never seen the south trails but Ive been told they are Moab-esque and/or better :2thumbs:Quote:
Originally Posted by vamedtech
sounds like we're going to be busy this year! :ride: :ride:
Whats the road like between I-70 and Kimball Draw. Could we camp in the Kimball Draw area? How far is it to Horizon Arch? Would the ride be technically difficult on a bike? I'm seriously considering going to this area.
someones' gonna have to help us out here 'cause I never have stopped between there..Ive always been driving through :2thumbs:Quote:
Originally Posted by vamedtech
If I recall, the road between I-70 and Kimball Draw was pretty nice, I think you could get a passenger car through there. I was driving a truck, however, and wasn't paying terribly close attention. I do recall seeing some small 2WD trucks down in Kimball Draw, so for sure you could get something like that down there. It seems to me that there might have been a few places to camp off the road, but I also don't recall for sure.Quote:
Originally Posted by vamedtech
The ride wouldn't be very technically difficult on a bike. The whole time, you'll be on a road that a 2WD truck could probably handle, as long as it's dry. Although, there was one hill that I shifted into 4-low for, but I don't think I actually turned in the hubs. I just wanted to take it nice and slow. There are quite a few ups-and-downs along the road after you leave Kimball Draw.
From I-70 to the end of the road near Horizon Arch is 13.9 miles. From where you first turn onto the road in Kimball Draw it's only 8.7 miles to the arch.
The attached GPX file shows the tracklog from my GPS when I was there in April 2006. There are waypoints (numbered 1-18) that actually count backwards from I-70 to near the arch. So 18 is where you exit I-70, and 1 is the end of the road near the arch. I believe from the end of that road, it's a pretty short hike to the arch, probably under 1/2-mile.
Thank you so much UDink. These way points are very helpful. My plan is to camp somewhere near Kimball Draw and bike to the arch. We may drive a little closer if we can. We'll be going sometime in the middle of May.
I thought I'd post some pictures of our bike trip to Horizon Arch. We had a wonderful time and some really nice weather except for a brief thunder bumper as we rode back from the arch. The great part is we saw not a single soul the whole time we were there. It was peaceful unlike Moab. Thank you Udink for the suggestion.
All the pics I have are to big to post. Can anyone tell me how to reduce the file size so I could post them.
I've got the perfect solution. Do a quick read on this thread:Quote:
Originally Posted by vamedtech
http://uutah.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1718
and then download that picture resizer, also here:
http://download.microsoft.com/downlo...ertoySetup.exe
I love it, use it all of the time. :2thumbs: