RR: Moab, Day 3: Hazzard County to Porc Rim (the mini-enchilada)

[sdyeti]

Scroll down for the action photos

After much debate, looking at maps, and more debate, our crew decided that one more hit on Porcupine Rim was the winner for our Day 3 ride. This time, however, we decided to extend the ride by hitting up Hazzard County trail, and it was well worth it!

We set our alarms early for Sunday morning and made our way to Poison Spider bike shop for the 9 am shuttle ride to the Hazzard County trail. This shuttle was more mellow than Saturday’s…only 11 people total. It was a long but smooth ride up the Old Airport Road to the top of the trailhead. We ended up at about 9000’, with scrubland and meadows around us. The La Sal mountains were much closer. We expected the weather to be cool, yet it was surprisingly warm and we all took off our jackets after the first climb. (By the way, we had excellent weather…warm and in the 70s during the day with not a hint of rain and very little in the way of clouds. By October standards, we got very, very lucky). The Hazzard County trail is one step below the “whole enchilada” as it is usually called if you start from Burro Pass.

Hazzard County was a winding, mostly buff singletrack that curved and snaked across meadows, scrub oak, and the occasional stand of aspens. Unfortunately, we missed the leaf colors by probably a couple weeks and the trees were mostly leaf-less. There were some jumps to hit (mostly small doubles) built into the trail to keep it interesting. Far off in the distance we could see LPS, which we had ridden the day before. It looked so far away!

After finishing the Hazzard County singletrack, we linked onto Kokopelli trail…a double-wide jeep trail that was extremely fast and flowy. At one point, I came around the corner and saw the guys—Dan, Steve, Jim, and Jason—standing at the bottom of a hill and I soon realized why…there was a pretty good drop with a funky ditch right below it. I saw it too late and hit it pretty hard, but my suspension sucked it up…whew!

From Kokopelli trail, we got to play on a section of fun singletrack (to remain nameless). There were lots of twists and turns and huge sections of slickrock. We had a blast ripping around and making our own lines on the slickrock! We were all trying to be “flowy” and conserve energy since we knew that we still had a lot of riding left to go. My arms were starting to feel the effects of the previous day’s rip down Porc Rim doubletrack with all the bumps! We definitely took fewer breaks, though, and Dan and I alternated between camera duty, trying to take more action shots.

Sooner than we knew it, we were at LPS again, and the memory of yesterday’s ride was sometimes clear, sometimes blurry. There were so many twists, turns, drops, and rocks to remember! I actually took the time to scout and do several of the smaller drops that I had passed up the day before. It was fun to hit them and do them well. Pretty soon, we had our first mechanical of the day…Jim’s chainring was bent and kept dropping the chain…he got fixed up in no time and we were back on our way. Not long after, Jason’s rear derailleur cable snapped, but thanks to another rider who had a leatherman tool, he fixed that up pretty quickly, too.

[SIZE=3][FONT=Tahoma][FONT=Verdana][SIZE=2]The rest of Porc Rim was, well, a blast yet again…railing the turns and trying not to stare too long at the drop-offs on the right hand side. I managed to clean one particularly hard section and was pretty proud of myself for that. The rest of the guys rode incredibly well, and they had my admiration for how fast they managed to go. We got down to the parking lot after only 2 and ½ hours of ride time (though the whole journey took longer due to stopping and mechanicals). From there, we rode back to Poison Spider for a point-to-point total of 27 miles of the sweetest trail this side of the Rockies. We know that this trip was just our Moab “appetizer” which will be followed up, hopefully next year, with a full on feast![/SIZE][/FONT] [/FONT][/SIZE]

Poison Spider shuttle...pretty mellow on a Sunday


getting to the Hazzard County trail...we are on top of the mesa


the beautiful La Sal mountains


the boys...Steve, Jim, Jason, and Dan (Man blong Gaua)


Jim ripping it up on Hazzard


Man blong Gaua


Jason from Seattle


Steve on Hazzard looking through the aspens


Man blong Gaua on Hazzard


Jim about to dust me


Man blong Gaua riding through the scrub oak...Hazzard


sdyeti...slickrock section between the singletrack


sdyeti cruising the slickrock


fun little drop...LPS


Jim on the same drop


looking up Hangnail...nope, nobody made it today either


Man blong Gaua...smooth on LPS


Man blong Gaua, Porc Rim


sdyeti sequence, Porc Rim




Steve on a techy rock section by the creek


Man blong Gaua lining up


and dropping in


up the other side


Jim on the techy climb out


beautiful Utah sunset

[sdyeti]

it extended the ride quite a bit (7-8 miles?) and the terrain was very diverse...it was really, really fun

you guys would both dig it!

Originally Posted by mechmann

nice!

we never did hazard county, looks like that trail might make moab worth while.

so many destinations, so little time

[Dirty D]

Great shots and writeup. By far one of my favoritest top ten descents around. Was Burro from the La Sals unridable at this point or what?

D

[sdyeti]

I'm not sure I do know that the shuttle only went as far as Hazzard. But, some of the Brodie folks were talking about shuttling up to Burro. I heard a few things when we were up in Moab though (whether they are fact or fiction I'm not sure...): Burro is not recommended after September because of weather and a dh type bike is recommended because there is some pretty gnarly stuff).

Originally Posted by Dirty D

Was Burro from the La Sals unridable at this point or what?

[Dirty D]

Originally Posted by sdyeti

I'm not sure I do know that the shuttle only went as far as Hazzard. But, some of the Brodie folks were talking about shuttling up to Burro. I heard a few things when we were up in Moab though (whether they are fact or fiction I'm not sure...): Burro is not recommended after September because of weather and a dh type bike is recommended because there is some pretty gnarly stuff).

You'd be totally fine on your 575 with the 36 on Burro. The trails actually really flowy with a few thingies here and there. Some of the key features on UPS have more of a pucker factor if you fail IMO. It makes for a total descent of about 7K - it's a must IMO, but that's what next time is for right?

Not to take away from your post but to fuel the Porcupine stoke here's a linky to some shots that I took this September of my descent down it: http://fooriders.com/CS/forums/thread/3332.aspx


D

[sdyeti]

Thanks for the link to the other pics...can't seem to get enough Next time, we need to hit up Burro for sure. It's hard to know what the real skill level is for each trail because there are really people of all abilities riding in Moab, by the thousands.

Originally Posted by Dirty D

You'd be totally fine on your 575 with the 36 on Burro. The trails actually really flowy with a few thingies here and there. Some of the key features on UPS have more of a pucker factor if you fail IMO. It makes for a total descent of about 7K - it's a must IMO, but that's what next time is for right?

Not to take away from your post but to fuel the Porcupine stoke here's a linky to some shots that I took this September of my descent down it: http://fooriders.com/CS/forums/thread/3332.aspx


D

[Uncle Rico]

Thanks for the pics! I was just there 1.5 weeks ago. Hazard all the way down is sweet. We already reserved a house for next Oct, already cant wait. We are going beginning of month so we have a better chance at making the Whole Enchillada.
If you get a chance, hit Sovereign. Its a blast.
Good times.

[PacMan]

The "section of fun singletrack (to remain nameless)" you mentioned sounds just like that trail named after a certain shipping company. It's the only trail I know of at the top with the Slickrock-ish sections. I thought that was still closed?? If it is, be careful--heavy fines await if you get caught riding it.

Again, cool write-up and pics. Looks like you had a blast.

[RacinJason]

Crank Caller Crank Caller

Originally Posted by PacMan

The "section of fun singletrack (to remain nameless)" you mentioned sounds just like UPS. It's the only trail I know of at the top with the Slickrock-ish sections. I thought that was still closed?? If it is UPS, be careful--heavy fines await if you get caught riding it.

Again, cool write-up and pics. Looks like you had a blast.

[PacMan]

Originally Posted by ChumbaJason

Crank Caller Crank Caller

Hey, I'm not accusing. The pix speak for themselves.

[RacinJason]

Ha Ha Two words Keyword search . I have heard that they use a key word search to locate people hitting closed trails N such. Only people that have rode the trail normally recognize the trails that are listed as illegal. I know you haven't rode it but you know what I mean. I love RR it motivates me to go out on road trips. I was going to PM and ask what trail that was.

[PacMan]

Originally Posted by ChumbaJason

Ha Ha Two words Keyword search . I have heard that they use a key word search to locate people hitting closed trails N such. Only people that have rode the trail normally recognize the trails that are listed as illegal. I know you haven't rode it but you know what I mean. I love RR it motivates me to go out on road trips. I was going to PM and ask what trail that was.

Actually, I rode it 2 years ago before it was closed. That's why I recognized it. I edited my original post. I wasn't trying to be accusatory, just trying to throw out a helpful FYI.

It's cool they found a trail that looks just like it.

[RacinJason]

Thats why I was messing with ya. So many great trails get marked closed it sucks.

Originally Posted by PacMan

Actually, I rode it 2 years ago before it was closed. That's why I recognized it. I edited my original post. I wasn't trying to be accusatory, just trying to throw out a helpful FYI.

It's cool they found a trail that looks just like it.

[PacMan]

Originally Posted by ChumbaJason

Thats why I was messing with ya. So many great trails get marked closed it sucks.

Ya, I never did find out why they closed it. Everyone we talked to at the various shops had no idea. It was one of the best parts of the upper section. Way better than LPS IMHO.

[RacinJason]

It normally starts with a bad crash and a helicopter ride.
People eat it going off a curb and end up in the hospital all the time.
It sucks that they close trails because of a couple accidents.
They should make an adventure pass that allows you to ride everywhere at your own risk. Maybe a test you can take to qualify you for different levels of the pass. That might narrow down who goes where. Green = Beginner Yellow = intermediate Black = Expert Like Black Diamond. Trails could be clearly marked .

Just another silly idea I had.

[jfromlv]

Don't know Jason from Seattle, but the others, that's a fast and skilled group of riders there! Looks like fun!