Moab is heating up! The outdoor season has begun! And boy is it busy!

We decided to go up on a thursday and friday rather than the weekend and it was still quite busy. I overheard a couple of the locals commenting how frustrating the traffic was getting on the weekends due to Moab’s constant advertising. It was tolerable for us, however as the season progresses and the pressure builds, I’m not sure I’d advise weekends here unless you like that sort of thing.

We stayed at an “out of the way” campground ($20/night) giving us just enough amenities to spend a night, and avoid the $200/night everywhere else. Once we set up camp, we decided to hit up the Klondike Trail. We weren’t prepared for all the variations and loops in the area, so we decided to go up Mega Steps Trail and down Baby Steps Trail. This was quite an enjoyable ride and wanted to keep going, but we knew we had to save our energy for the big ride the next day.

Klondike Trail Map

There must’ve been something in the blue powerade because neither of us did much sleeping that night, that and it was really windy. Fortunately it didn’t ruin our day. We started off at the Moab Cyclery (Escape Adventures) and took a bus ($25/person) up to begin The Whole Enchilada:

It was quite intimidating as intermediate riders, however I feel like we did pretty well. There were a couple bikers that kept hinting at less intense trails, but we kept on. The real tough stuff started at Porcupine Rim.

 

There was so much variety and views, I’m glad we did it. One thing we had to rely on a few times at the beginning was the MTB Project app. I had T-Mobile and usually had no service on the trail but my father had AT&T to save the day, so keep that in mind. Also your bike will take quite a beating so repair kits, etc. are a must.

It turned out to be a perfectly timed trail, because when we were done, we were done. Unfortunately we had to ride the last stretch of paved bike road back 6 miles to town against the strong wind. It would have been a lot better if we would’ve stashed a car at Negro Bill Canyon / Grandstaff Campground.