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:

Moab Part 2 - The Klondike Bluffs (Baby Steps)

On our second day in Moab we awoke to partly cloudy skies and cold temps, somewhere in the high 20's to low 30's. Although we were all eager to ride, it was hard to get motivated because of the frigid air. We basically hung-out bundled up in our big puffy jackets waiting for the first rays of light to shine down from the cliff walls above our camp. Being one of the impatient ones, I hiked across the road to where some sun shone down to ground level, so I could warm up like a lizard on the rocks. Once I had absorbed enough energy I returned to camp to cook breakfast and pack up my gear for our day of riding.

Cool morning temps

Sitting in the sun, waiting for the sun to land on our campsite

Tait gets in some pre-ride maintenance

The adventure for the day would be on a trail called "Baby Steps", a newly laid piece of singletrack in the Klondike Bluffs riding area. From camp it took us about 1/2 an hour to reach the trailhead at the base of the bluffs. As we geared up we all looked up at the sky hoping that the clouds in the distance wouldn't give us a wallop like it had the previous day while riding the Moab Brand Trails. Since it was sunny and relatively pleasant, I dressed fairly light but made sure to pack extra clothes just in case things got nasty. Before long we were off on the trail, which was actually a pretty sandy jeep road for the first 3/4 of a mile. When we reached the actual start of Baby Steps I realized that I had forgotten my Camelback back at the car -- I couldn't tell it wasn't on because of all the camera gear I was carrying! After admitting my flub and apologizing for holding the group up, I hightailed it back to the car to gather my much needed accessory.

Figuring out where the hell we're going

The trail map for our ride, which can be found here
(along with other Moab trail maps)

A 1/4 mile out the gate, let the derobing begin.

Randy likes sand...

The first half of the ride would have us climbing up the bluffs with an occasional short descent. The trail was super fun, with a good mix of slickrock and technical rock jumbles. The scenery was equally spectacular, with contrasting colors of gray rocks, red dirt, and blue skies littered with puffy white clouds. The group was riding strong, with me pretty much near the back of the pack; both my lungs and legs were feeling the high altitude climbing. Since I was really trying to photo document our trip, I spent most of my time jumping out ahead while the crew regrouped. After setting up for photos at a technical feature and/or good view, I would snap off photos as everyone passed by, and then load up my gear, followed by playing catch up. As terrible as this sounds, I actually enjoy it since it allows me to combine two of my hobbies.

The crew starts off on Baby Steps

Mountain peloton

Sandra splits some rocks on the way up Baby Steps

The red dirt contrasted nicely against the blue skies

The crew rides under another cool rock formation

My view approaching the same rock

A typical view of the Klondike Bluffs landscape

EGP enjoys the weather, while it lasts

Kim & Randy continue up Baby Steps

Arthur, all smiles as we approach the intersection
with the Klondike Bluffs jeep road

Soon we reached an intersection where the Klondike Bluffs Trail dove off to the right; although we wouldn't be headed that way we took a minute to eat and relax before continuing up Baby Steps. Looking at the clouds building up in the western sky indicated that it was only a matter of time before we got hit with some weather. Fortunately it didn't appear to be of the same magnitude of the prior day.

Checking out one of the many well-placed trail maps along the
route. It would actually be pretty hard to get lost around here.

The gals get in a snack before marching on

The next part of the trail continued its way up the hill with one pretty steep pitch that got the best of me when I couldn't quite get my front tire over a rock or my foot out of the pedals...resulting in a nice little spill. After brushing off the dust, I continued up to where the others were awaiting my arrival. Just on the other side of the pass was a steep descent with some tricky rock maneuvers to spice things up a bit.

Tait enjoys one of the more

sustained climbs on the ride.

The rest of the crew making the climb

Arthur leads the descent down the other side...

...with Coonabomber closely behind

At the base of the descent, the trail tee'd into a dirt road that traversed northwest for a little over a mile before starting to climb back up the bluff from the backside. During this traverse the weather decided to turn to snow flurries, but nothing a light jacket couldn't fend off. The climb ended up being pretty steep but also pretty short and soon it ran straight into a trail known as "Little Salty", which we passed up for more ups and downs along the top of the bluffs.

Sweet, another squall!

And another short climb

After another mile or so of jeep trail we reached our first big descent of the ride, down Baby Steps North. This section ended ranking pretty high on the fun-o-meter with singletrack that made its way over and around rock features as it descended down the bluff. As I balanced on the pedals using mainly my quad muscles, the burn really started kickin' in, forcing me to switch between a seated and locked knee position, certainly not optimal form for a trail like this. By the time we regrouped at the intersection with "EKG" I was pretty spent from the day's ride. The rest of the crew were discussing whether or not to extend the ride climbing up "Mega Steps" (for another ride down Baby Steps) or simply head back to the car. My vote was the latter, and I ended up being the sole vote for that option. With that I bid a good ride to the crew and headed back toward the parking lot via the "Dino-Flow" Trail.

The real fun begins, down Baby Steps

Randy and Tait, somewhere along the Baby Steps descent

Tait gives chase on Baby Steps

Sandra, forgetting all about the 10
minute snowstorm that just passed

Sandra finds more sweet terrain on Baby Steps

Kim, enjoying the ride!

Sayin' goodbye to the the crew, before
starting my solo journey back to the car

Dino-Flow ended up being the nail in the coffin, as I pretty much bonked, even with the assistance of an energy gel shot. The trail was a mix of light technical moves, short up & downs, and soft dirt/sand (which is what really took its toll). During the ~4 miles of this southeast traverse back to the car I found myself stopping about every half mile just to catch my breath, which validated my decision to cut the ride short.

Since I had planned to get in a hike at Arches National Park, I loaded my gear and headed back to camp before the others had finished their ride. While driving back I passed the entrance to Arches which was now under a huge cloud that was dumping sleet. I was actually a bit relieved as it would give me an excuse to stay in camp and rest my worn body parts. By the time the others returned from their ride I had already melted into my reclining camp chair with a beer and some reading material. Apparently almost everyone else had gotten sufficiently wrecked by the additional riding, so I wasn't alone in my suffering. That night we sat around the fire to gossip and stay warm, luckily we didn't get snowed on like we had the previous night...

Huddling up to discuss the day's ride

The end to another great day in Moab!