This is just a reminder to myself that
A - Rush trail is awesome
B - You rode in June 1st 2013 and liked it
Conditions were solid and there is a newly cut section of trail (just recently opened) that cuts out the only unpelasant part of that ride...not its full speed top to bottom. Thanks who's ever idea that was.
Well, I have a moment to breath finally (been going full out on vacation the last week) and I thought I would post the happenings on the Moab spring 2013 guys trip.
So this is a 2 year delayed version of the moab trip we did in 2010 and just like then, it was Wade's friend Steve's party. This year Wade Tom and I got down there Friday night, instead of Thursday night with the rest of the group, but its just as well since they had to hunt around quite a bit to get a campsite. They were kind enough to snag us a spot, it wasn't sand flats but it did have showers, a pool and cottonwoods....lots and LOTS of cottonwoods. Coby and His friend Wade joined us as well, which was great since, as much as we like steve and his crew, the crew pictured below are the more "veteran" riders and we all kind of know each others rhythm.
So for our first ride, we wanted to do something different than slickrock (as fun as it is, its getting played out). We were thinking Amasa back, since its such a familiar name in Moab mountain biking and none of us, amazingly, had ever ridden it. Plus there was a new trail off it that was supposed to be very fun, Captain Ahab.
Regarding Amasa back as a mountain bike trail: skip it. The trouble is that its also called "metal masher" and is a hardcore 4x4 trail. Not that we experienced any traffic on the trail, but bear in mind that you will be getting wide and technically challenging (practically unridable) uphills and rocky wide trails other places. We didn't take the trail all the way out where it becomes single track, but we got a sampling of the trail enough to call it as such. I will say that the views are stunning and once you get past the horrid uphill, its a very pleasant and easy ride. I would say that its suitable for novice riders assuming they will walk a few troublesome spots (an most of the uphill)
Captain ahab on the other hand was a lot of fun, and I would recommend it for good riders with confidence or great riders who are risk averse; the double black rating isn't merited, maybe a single black.
Lets clear things up right now though, this is NOT a downhill trail. For one, the trail climbs for the 1st third, so be prepared for a mild to strenuous climb from the cutoff at the top of the hill for a little while. If you were coming strait from the car, it would be a long uphill for a decent while, you may want to take a breather at the top. Once you get rolling on it, its very fun; just fast enough to keep a breeze, and technical enough to make you commit to a line. You should be aware though that drops that looks impossible almost always are graded or fixed to be completely ridable, and are all about the same level of skill. I would liken it to an amusment park ride, or bungey jump, its a little intimidating, but someone has taken the time to make sure its consistent and reliable so not really scary. Once you figure out the flow, you can ride it with confidence.
This is about what you can expect from 95% of the drops that look harder than they actually are.
The views, by the way, are great! As a last note, take it easy on the last part, it gets tight, sandy and off camber and there is a lot of exposure to the right down into the canyon. I recommend you don't fall there.
That night we decided to christen Wade's truck, his 2013 Tacoma TRD and do some off-roading.
is now totally graded and passable by any old car. You keep heading up this road until you get to the signs for bull canyon, its a nice little drive thats totally suitable for any vehicle with off road pretension, or even some that aren't if you don't mind getting them bagged up a little underneath.
The payoff of the drive (other than just a nice drive) is that you gain access to a small trail of the bottom of gemini bridges. I had seen the bridges 100 times (5 maybe) from the top, but never from the bottom. It was beautiful, ask Wade.
Totally worth it, even without the off roading fun.
The next day we packed up and headed out to Klondike Bluffs area for one more ride...what a great area! Anna and I had ridden the 4x4 trail and it was easy peasy, but we wanted to do something different, so we took dino flow to something yellow and terrible (can't recall the name) and then went down UFO. it was the best moab ride I had done it a while, Dino flow wasn't technically challenging in the least but it was smooth and fast and flowey...I liked it a lot. UFO was a blast too, although short. I took some GoPro footage and Coby is editing it together, but none of it was very good. The ride though was excellent.
As soon as Coby gets a video put together I will post it here, in the meantime, here are the maps for the rides:
Amasa back and Captain Ahab
Klondike bluffs area
Coby's Ride video
Bonus pictures
Coby walking stalwartly
Even Tubeless tires can pinch flat if you curb them hard enough.
At the end of the Amasa back tail, heading back to Ahab. snacking.
okay, more like PM 2.23.13 but its a pertinent title for Utah winters no? Anyway, the PM here doesn't stand for particulate matter but for Patsy Marly, a URC favorite.
This last storm cycle we got about 20-24 inches of medium density snow and nice cold temps to keep is airy. Wade and I got out a little after the storms main blast but not too late before the spring warmth wreckity wrecked the place. Unfortunatly, we had to do our tour later in the day than we'de hoped so it had already seen a little warming and moderate traffic by the time we got to it. Granted "Moderate traffic" in the backcountry, even the Wasatch backcountry, is freshies at Snowbird or Alta so we were still pretty stoked.
So uncharacteristically of me, I don't have many good pictures or any video to show because I was in the mood to just ride. And I will tell you, the riding was nice. With a good 2 feet of 8-10% all the way down.
I took this picture to try and show the snow conditions, but I failed...it was WAY better than this picture.
Either way, it was good to be out again. I know there are at least a few more days for me still, lets hope for a snowy snowy spring!
Map here
Perhaps "adventure" isn't the right word, since its just pink pine after all. Maybe we call it a powder hunt!
Pink pine can hide such great snow days after a storm, for two very good reason; protection and scarcity of crowds.
Sure there are crowds, but most people go after the bigger lines of scotties bowl or the red/white pines lakes and forget all about this little area. Since Coby and I only had 2 hours to kill before work and because the DP forecast included many Little superior/emma ridge slide paths we decided that this would be the place to be today and it was!
It took us a little over an hour and a half total and included a little less than 1100 Vertical feet, not bad before breakfast! Check the map HERE
And the snow? It was GOOD! I would guess about 18-24 inches of light and dry.
how did this make us feel? Pretty good.
Check out the video in YouTube HD here or check the player above for some reason.
Here is the Red Right Returning/Pink Pine video. Its not my best, I stayed up until midnight last night (too much superbowl soda) editing it and then my computer crashed and I lost it so I had to come up with something else. and HERE IT IS!
Note: Part of the reason its not a great video is that im not 100% sold on the song (the other cut was a little better), it also wasn't amazing cinematography as I am getting way lazier out there in terms of video and lastly, it just was a fun "nice to be out" kind of day and not epic snow. excuses aside...if nothing else, at least it helps me remember how nice it was to be out groundhogs day 2013.
Wade, Tom and I had a nice Saturday morning tour to pink pine ridge yesterday. We left ~8 to get their before the white pine parking lot became packed as it usually does on a Saturday It was a cold start but the weather was otherwise beautiful.
This recent storm was kind of a mixed bag and combine that with the sunshine from Friday and the riding was interesting. more on that later.
For safety and snow quality we decided that low angle North/Northeast was going to be our best bet, so we decided that we would go up pink pine ridge to the north facing slope that is labeled "Red Right Returning" on the Wasatch Backcountry Map available in the link to the side. Wade and I had been up this way onto the peak there before but we had never skied this line.
The ridge conditions confirmed that the wind was blowing to the east and south and we saw lots of wind loaded cornices on our way up
it also made it tricky because the ridge had lots of step ups and downs that made traversing the ridge slow.
We got to the spot but noticed that to drop into the north 30 degree shot that we would have to cross a wind loaded east face in the 30-35 range. it was short with islands of safety and low consequences so we decided to take the chance. The east snow was actually quite stable is turned out, but still not confidence inspiring.
After that it was just a couple hundred feet of smooth low angle north/northeast facing. Conditions were such that even in the shady north their was a defined 1 finger faceted layer beneath 3-4 inches of graupel. It wasn't unskiable, in fact it was quite nice as long as you kept your feet light.
as soon as you took a big cut, you would sink into the graupel/facet layers underneath and have to work your way back out. Like I said though, not bad skiing at all, just different.
After this slope it was skiers right to another clearing and then tree skiing (or tree navigating) until you get to the lower portion of the canyon and you can ski back to the skin track.
All-in-all it was a very enjoyable tour!
Check the MAP here and stay tuned for the video coming soon.
Full Gallery available to the right