Moab Part 4 - Amasa Back

The fourth day of the trip was the only day that the whole crew would riding together; Roland and Davey had just arrived and Emily (aka Coonabomber) had to get back to Salt Lake for work. Luckily she didn't have to leave Moab until 2pm, which was just enough time to hit one of the true classics, "Amasa Back". Although a majority of the ride is on a jeep trail, do not let that deter you, for it is a technical playground that is equally as good on a mountain bike as it would be in a jeep.

Another morning, another ride...

Before hitting the trail we all had some errands to take care of, so we planned to meet at the parking lot about 1/4 mile from the start of the trail. Since I wanted to do some hiking/sightseeing in Arches National Park, I had actually planned to only ride the jeep trail portion which consists of a 10 mile out & back to a spectacular overlook of Jackson Hole (no, not the ski resort). This option was also the one that Coonabomber was planning to ride since she needed to take off early. The rest of the crew was planning to do the ride as a lollipop by adding the top loop which included the Pothole Arch Trail and the freeride section called "Rockstacker".

Our trails for the day. This map,
along with others can be found here.

The entrance to the Amasa Back starts at "The Stairs", and just as the name implies, it is a series of sandstone slabs that form natural steps. I love these kinds of drops and headed out of the parking lot first so I could scout out the line options. As I was scoping it out, the rest of the crew came up to it and rode down using the far right line before cutting back to the far left at the bottom. Since I really wanted to bag the middle line, I spent some time studying my route so I wouldn't get lost halfway through. Once I felt good with my choice, I hiked back up to my bike so I could drop in. Just as I had pictured in my head, I made my way down the stairs sticking the crux move about halfway down that I had been the most worried about.

The author drops over the crux section of The Stairs
(photo by Emily Pfeifer)

The author, happy with the line
(photo by Emily Pfeifer)

Just below The Stairs the trail drops down to and over a 4' to 5' ledge that all of us mere mortals walked. After this, the trails goes up and over a small ridge before crossing a creek and starting the true ascent. The high temperature for the day was forecasted to be in the high 60's, which was just about perfect since this ride would be a nightmare in the summer heat -- there is basically no shade and heat radiates off the rocks. Since I didn't have either the legs or the lungs of the rest of the crew, I settled into my own pace and made the slow and steady climb up the hill. From time to time I would meet up with the group, take some pictures, fall behind, and settle in again. I'm usually not a huge fan of out & backs, but for a highly technical ride like this it allows you to scout your lines on the way up, assuming you can remember the order of them on the way down.

Em starts the climb up the Amasa Back

Sandra, near the start of the climb

Sandra, cresting one of the many fun technical pitches

A view of the La Sal range along the climb -- spectacular!

Emily continues the climb

About halfway up Amasa Back the trail flattens out a bit and rides along the east rim of Jackson Hole, a large butte in the middle of what appears to be a giant crater, shaped by wind and water. This was a great place to regroup as well as take some pictures before continuing on. At one point in this traverse the jeep trail drops over an extremely technical pile of rocks that is certainly a hike-a-bike for all but the elite. Furthermore, the price of failure here might just be your life, as the exposure on the left drops all the way to the bottom of Jackson Hole. Three years ago when we rode this trail, I got to witness a jeep make his way down this drop, which was incredible to watch -- the guy was either insane or a complete badass, and more likely a little bit of both.

Part of the crew finishing the portage down the exposed steep pitch

Sandra rides the east rim of Jackson Hole

The crew takes a break and enjoys the view of Jackson Hole

Once past the east rim, the trail continues up the hill with more fun technical climbing until it reaches a large area of slickrock that sets up the final pitch to the lookout that would be my planned turn around. This section is steep, but the sandstone provides some amazing traction which allows you to climb up stuff you can only dream of back home. The one thing the rock did not provide was relief to my lungs and legs, which were burning like crazy by the time I crested and made it over to the canyon rim lookout.

Emily (x2) Starting off the second half climb

Roland approaches a fun techie stretch

Sandra also enjoying the terrain

Team Eugene (and Salt Lake City) pose for a group shot

The final pitch to the overlook

At the viewpoint we laid around and ate lunch, with some folks even pulling cell phones to call friends and family back home to brag about the view and amazing spring weather -- apparently there was really good cell service. This was also the point in the ride where the group would part ways. I asked around to see if anyone else would be heading down with Coonabomber and me. Davey bit when I told him I was planning on heading to Arches National Park for some hiking to check out Delicate Arch, one of the most iconic rock formations in the world. After Emily did the round of goodbye hugs, we headed off down the Amasa Back.

Jackson Hole - Ain't she purty

Randy gets in some yoga stretches

Sandra and Tait relaxing at the overlook

Coonabomber loves snack time!

I had asked Emily and Davey if they'd mind if I jumped out ahead from time to time to take pictures at key parts of the ride; both graciously agreed, so I saddled up my steed and tore down the trail to setup. Along the way I was reminded why this was one of my favorite trails from our last Moab/Fruita trip just three years prior. The rock features are some of the best I’ve had the pleasure to ride, with each drop having multiple line options to choose from -- you could make it about as hard or easy as you want, at least relatively speaking. As we continued our descent, leapfrogging our way down, I was grinning ear to ear. About 3/4 of the way down I came off a 2' drop and burped my front tire and flew over the bars, slamming onto the sandstone floor. Although I wasn't injured it did knock a bit of wind out of my lungs and took a layer of skin off a portion of my shoulder, elbow, and back. As I stood up to walk it off and brush the dirt away, Davey and Emily came rolling up and asked if I was okay: "A little winded, but good to go!"

Davey drops a fun rock step

Followed shortly by Emily

Now the real fun begins!

Davey finds some rocks to ride down

Emily at the same ledge

More rock sidewalk

Davey leading the charge

Coonabomber picks her line

After a short rest we continued down with one or two more photo stops before I decided it was time to put the camera away and bomb the trail with the other two, finishing the last stretch of trail in good fashion. Back at the car we could see what appeared to be a parachute dropping into the gully at the edge of the parking lot. I was a little confused by this until I noticed the base-jumping that was going on off some nearby cliffs. I quickly broke out my camera and was able to flip off a couple shots of the next jumper in mid-air – way cool!

Too much fun!

Emily rounds one of the final corners of the ride

Finishing up the ride, which came all too soon...

Look carefully and you'll see the base-jumper in mid-flight

Here too

The base-jumper under canopy over our parking lot

After we were done watching the show, Davey and I said our goodbyes to Emily (sadly), and then headed off to Arches for some sightseeing. Basically I had two locations in mind, Landscape Arch and Delicate Arch. As we drove through the park, I was distracted by all the cool rock formations along the way (e.g. Balanced Rock, Tower of Babel, etc.), which killed quite a bit of time. In the end, I had to decide between the hike in to one of the two arches, and of course I chose Delicate. It ended up being well worth the trip to Arches, and here are some photos to prove it!

Tower of Babel

A pano of the rock formations and the La Sal range

One of The Windows

More crazy rocks and arches

Balanced Rock

A small (relatively speaking) arch on the hike into Delicate Arch

The iconic Delicate Arch

Another view of Delicate Arch

After our hike we headed back to camp where we met up with the rest of the crew for dinner, drinks, and another relaxing social circle around the fire.

A nice sunset lights up the cliff walls near our camp

Another round of chillaxin'

And, just in case you missed 'em:
Moab Part 1 - The Moab Brand Trails
Moab Part 2 - The Klondike Bluffs (Baby Steps)
Moab Part 3 - The Magnificent Seven

Moab Part 3 - The Magnificent Seven

The third day of our Moab trip started off with frigid morning temps, hanging in the mid 20s. Sandra was actually de-icing one of our tables with an ice scraper when I climbed out of the tent. Once again I hiked up to the mouth of Negro Bill Canyon and sat on some sunny rocks to warm up. The group was moving pretty slow, which was fine by me since I really didn't feel the need to jump on the trails before letting it warm up a bit. During breakfast we pulled out the maps and guidebook to plan our ride for the day. Since Davey and Roland would be joining us that evening (coming late from Oregon), we wanted to save the "classic" rides for when they showed up. Arthur suggested that we ride some of the "Magnificent Seven" (a.k.a. the "Mag 7"), which serves up some of Moab's newest singletrack -- in fact, the most recent portions were completed just last year.

The Mag 7, along with the famous Porcupine Rim Trail, is a great shuttle ride, which is what we decided to do. Starting at the top end of the Gemini Bridges jeep road (where it intersects with Hwy 313), we would pick up the "Bull Run" singletrack, followed by "Arth's Corner", and finally "Little Canyon", before heading back to the car (parked at the Moab Brand Trails lot) on the bottom section the Gemini Bridges jeep road. Basically we would only be riding the upper Mag 3, missing the last four, "Gold Bar", "Golden Spike", "Poison Spider", and the infamous "Portal Trail".

The trail map for the top sections of The Mag 7,
which can be found here along with other maps

Now that the plan was hatched and we were all geared up, we headed out to start our day's adventure. Since there is free parking at the Brand Trails, we stashed our bottom car there before continuing up to the top part of the trails. After about 20 minutes of driving up the paved highway, we made a left turn onto a dirt road and parked near a small oil drilling operation. We quickly unloaded the bikes and started our trek down the soft dirt road, where before long, we dead ended at a construction zone, supposedly related to the oil operation. Realizing our navigational error we headed back to the dirt road, turned left onto the highway and rode another 3 miles or so until we saw the signed Gemini Bridges road, and the true start of our ride at an elevation of ~6000'.

Starting off the ride under sunny skies

"Ummm, not sure this is our trail..."

After riding down about a mile of the jeep road, we hit the trailhead for Bull Run, where we regrouped and took some cutesy couples photos before hitting the trail. Bull Run started off with some nice mellow techie stuff before riding along the edge of Bull Canyon across sandstone slickrock guided by a yellow dashed line. Breaking up the slickrock were short rock garden sections soiled with red dirt -- this combo created a great technical arrangement suitable for intermediate riders. The Bull Run continued on for a generous amount of time/miles as it followed the edge of the canyon, meandering around populations of juniper and pinion. I did have a couple of exciting moments somewhere in the section, the first being a handplant into a cactus, and the second being a near catastrophic fall backwards off a steep rock pitch. Luckily Randy, who was taking pictures, was able to stop my fall as I slid backwards straight into him -- thanks buddy! Just when I thought the fun would never end, the first trail segment tee’d into the Gemini Bridges road, about 1/4 mile up from the hiking trail to the bridges themselves.

The crew gets some direction for the start of the singletrack section

Sandra is all smiles early on

Kim makes her way down the trail near the start of Bull Run

Emily crests a small slickrock pitch

Arthur clears a nice section of trail

Sandra gets way back for some fun steps along the way

Lots of great rock formations...

...and mountain views too!

Arthur hams it up for the camera, somewhere on Bull Run.

Emily loves riding her bike through the desert

Kim takes in some more great scenery

Arthur hits the steep rock slab with speed

EGP carries some good momentum as well

The author takes his turn, finally cleaning it on his second try...
(photo by Kim McGovern)

Since most of us had not seen the natural rock bridges, we decided we'd head there to have a lunch break and relax a bit before finishing the second half of our ride. To get to the bridges you actually have to park your bike at the extremely convenient bike rack and walk down the “hiker only” trail. Before starting our hike, we made some time for manual drop practice, at little ledge near the entrance to the hiking trail. Since it varied in height, depending on where you hit it, it was great place to session for everyone in the crew.

Arthur demonstrates the proper technique

Emily gets in some drop practice

Sandra keeps it lifted...

...and so does Coonabomber

A scramble down the trail brought us to the top of the bridges, which was a long way above the floor of the canyon. The two formations ran parallel to one another and had about a 5' to 10' gap between them depending on the location along the bridge. This place has also claimed a few lives, including a Boy Scout who tried to jump from one bridge to the other with a failed attempt. There is actually a plaque on the opposite side (from where the trail comes in) that serves as a memorial to a man and his jeep, which also ended badly while trying to cross them -- man, I thought mountain biking and kayaking were somewhat dangerous. Once we were done with our lunch we headed back up the trail so we could continue our ride.

Time for some sightseeing

The Gemini Bridges

Lunch time!

A different view of the bridges

Tait playing around on the rocks. If you look
carefully, you can see the plaque for the jeeper.

The plaque

Looking down the canyon from The Bridges

The next section of singletrack we rode was a short one called Arth's Corner. This trail pulls you away from the canyon rim and on top of hills of sandstone slickrock. The riding was a bit different from Bull Run as it made numerous twisty turns along the sandstone tread. Once again, my lack of riding over the last few months was catching up to me, and my legs were starting to burn just as much as my lungs had been. Even with a bit of exhaustion I was still having a great time, and the hammer crew was being more than patient as they waited at any major junctions or convenient stopping points. Eventually Arth's ended at Metal Masher road, where we hung a right toward our next section, Little Canyon.

Emily starts off Arth's

Randy hits a fun little rock drop

Kim follows the yellow brick road

Little Canyon actually reminded me a lot of Bull Run and I felt that the first half of it was some of the best trail of the entire ride, which a few others agreed with. After crossing over Bull Canyon road, the trails' second half continued its technical nature along a canyon rim. At one point the trail makes a sweeping left turn while dropping through a narrow rock slot that requires some precise pedal placement to avoid getting hung up and taking a spill. After dropping through the slot you have to make a hard left turn to ride the main line -- fun stuff indeed! The last bit of Little Canyon had us up and onto a little ridge, trying to figure out how we were supposed to get back to the Gemini Bridge jeep road, since we weren't planning to continue the trail up Gold Bar and beyond. It didn't take long before we found a steep sandstone slab that brought us down to a spur road that would take us to our destination. On our second ride here, a few days later, we got to watch a jeep try over and over to climb this slab. He was finally able to make it up, after many failed attempts, where we greeted him with cheers.

Arthur and Tait, Blue Angels style

Sandra and Emily cruise down Little Canyon

The crew nears the end of the singletrack

Randy finds another rock step

The author navigates the narrow slot drop
(photo by Emily Pfeifer)

When we finally hit the Gemini jeep road, I was pretty well spent, and I had no idea what the road in front of me consisted of. Traveling over more than a few miles of loose dirt road, we passed by Gooney Bird rock and began what would be the climb up and out of the canyon. By the time I had reached the peak of the climb on the side of the cliff wall, I was pooped and ready for the final descent to our awaiting car, packed with a fresh supply of chips and beer.

Randy & Kim approach Gooney Bird Rock on the ride out

Looking back toward Moab on the final climb

Putting on some warm gear before the final descent

One last descent back to the car

Once we were all packed up, we called Roland and Davey and found out that they were already in camp waiting for us. No one really felt like cooking at this point so we told them to meet us at Zags in town for some pizza and burgers. After eating, we resupplied at the grocery store in Moab and headed back to camp for some cowboy T.V. consisting of a campfire and starry skies.

In conclusion I would have to say the Mag 7 is an instant classic that blew my expectations out of the water -- well at least the sections that we did. It’s a great mix of features that keep you dancing on the pedals, but at the same time, aren't overly difficult -- I also felt that it had great flow, even with its technical nature. Everyone else was also pleasantly surprised by the quality of the trail, so much so that we rode it again a couple days later to ensure that Davey and Roland could experience it. Since we were a little more familiar with the trail and I wasn't holding everyone up playing paparazzi, we were able to hammer it out in less than half the time. Although I wasn't taking photos, I didn't let that stop me from getting some media, this time in the form of POV footage, which can be seen in the following video:




And, just in case you missed 'em:
Moab Part 1 - The Moab Brand Trails
Moab Part 2 - The Klondike Bluffs (Baby Steps)

Update - Spring Break 2015:
We finally bagged the full Mag 7, which included Goldbar singletrack, Golden Spike jeep road, Goldbar Rim Trail, and finishing on on the infamous Portal Trail. For the record, the newly sanctioned Goldbar Rim trail might just be my new favorite trail section in Moab! Here's our tracks: