Annual Fall Moab MTB Pilgrimage

Went down to Moab last week of September for our annual Fall MTB pilgrimage. In addition to the standard crew of Matt Terry, Brian, and Cole.... .we were joined by Cornelius and Nick.........As well as Brian's homie, Scott, who drove up from Cortez, CO.

Fall in Moab and the surrounding La Sal mtns is a special time and place for riding, and always brings me back to the exciting period surrounding my "tranplantation" (if you will) from VA to UT. 3 years ago, after only a few weeks in UT, I was invited to ride the "Whole Enchilada" for the first time. Needless to say after growing up and biking in VA for most of my life, this trail is and will forever be the single greatest mountain bike experience

Pic courtesy of Cornelius. Taking in the view after "Burro Pass" 

For a description of the trail:
http://www.utahmountainbiking.com/trails/enchilada.htm

Starting high in the La Sal mtns (11k) the trail drops quickly through the pine covered high alpine terrain, before eventually mellowing out and winding through the golden aspen groves. Then its on to the high desert and riding the rim overlooking Castle Valley, before dropping into the Colorado river basin for the infamous Porcupine Rim. Its a total of 26.5 mi, mostly downhill, and a total elevation loss of  7000 ft.

Castle Valley

Trail follows the edge all the way to the CO river, with incredible views of Castle Valley on your right.

3 total days were spent on the bikes, and Day 2 was spent riding on the slickrock trail. A classic in its own right, but one that will test your fitness.

Day 3 was spent on the Amasa Back trail, yet another classic, but a new trail for all members of the group.The Amasa Back is an all up all down type of trail, and if you are in good shape its a relatively easy ride up for arguably the best stretch of down in Moab. All in all about 10 miles in total, it makes for 5 miles of pleasant climbing followed by 5 miles of screaming downhill.

Top of the Amasa Back overlooking the CO river.

MT dropping, nothing compared to Bo's point in Price, UT

Me doing the same.

Camp

This photo has nothing to do with our Moab trip. However, it was synced to my cp along with all the Moab pictures. Its from the Tabegauche area in GJ, Colorado that Cole, Brian, and I visited in the spring. Riding the spine pictured was the highlight of the trip in my eyes. If you've been to Fruita and been dissapointed by the abundance of uninspiring trails.... give the region another chance and make sure to hit up "Horse Thief Bench" in the kokopelli area and "Tabegauche" in GJ.

Deseret Peak Recon

Finding solitude in the Wasatch backcountry during the winter can be a difficult task due to the area's popularity and ease of access.  After doing some research on summitpost Me and Matt decided get away from the hustle and bustle and head west into the Deseret Peak Wilderness to ski the Twin Couloirs.  The Twins are to two north facing couloirs, the eastern at 36 degrees, and the western at 38 degrees.  According to summitpost, an ascent of 1300 feet will get you to the top, and is an alternative route for the summit of Deseret Peak.  The morning of December 3 we drove out to Grantsville to start our Deseret adventure.  Unfortunately, after driving down South Willow Canyon road we came upon a locked National Forest gate 4 miles below the trailhead.  With about an inch of snow on the road, it could have been easily driven, but the winter closure force us to start skinning.  After destroying our skins for 4 miles we finally made it to the Loop Campground and hit the trail up to the Twins.  Our goal was to skin straight up couloirs, as seen in the topo below, rather than come up from the Mill Fork drainage.

  

However, we ended up in the Mill Fork drainage after following the sign for Deseret Peak.  After hours of laborious skinning and ominous weather, we decided to accept defeat.  Despite gaining a few thousand feet of vert, we were able to ski/board a fraction of it due to thin snowpack.  Skinning down eventually transitioned to hiking, and we finally made it back to the car as it was getting dark.  Below is a link to our Garmin trip report for the misadventure.  http://connect.garmin.com/activity/132780548

I won't mention Brian and Matt's attempt at the Twins, except that is was another defeat.

Which brings us to last weekend.  Me, Matt, and Dani decided to head up to the Wilderness once again to scramble up the Twins and bag Deseret Peak (11,031 ft).  Driving down South Willow Canyon provides a spectacular view of the Stansbury Mtns and the prominence of Deseret Peak...completely different than the Wasatch.  With no winter closure, we were able to drive all the way to the Loop campground.  As a side note, there are bolted climbs along the way if anyone is interested in the Tooele/Grantsville climbing scene.  Bushwacking along game trails, we finally made it to the base of the Twins.

     

 We decided to scramble up the western couloir (right side in pic), which I have to commend Dani's effort because she did 1300 ft of class 3 with only one arm.  After reaching the top, we jumped on the established trail up to Deseret Peak.  From the top, there seems to be great ski/board terrain to be had in the Stansbury Mtns...provided an above average snowfall.  I'm excited for what this year's winter will have to offer, and especially stoked for skiing down the Twins.  

Matt and Dani at the top of Deseret Peak supporting RSL

          

Glacier NP - Sperry Glacier

Howdy,

Cole said we should start a blog, so I've invited Cole and Brian to help maintain a team blog. I took the liberty to write up the first entry. Dani and I just returned from vacation in MT, so material is easy to come by.

Last week Dani and I travelled to Glacier NP in northern Montana for a week of camping, hiking/backpacking, and whatever else we found to do. We entered the park on Friday night from the west side and camped by Lake McDonald. Then we snagged a campground at the avalanche basin campground. Saturday morning we did a hike/run to Sperry Glacier via the Sprague Creek trail (see map below). The day is about 20 miles and 5,032 ft of elevation gain. 

Sprague Creek.

Trail leading right into the clouds.

Dani running across the lake on a snow bridge. Hopefully it doesn't collapse!

Comeau Pass overlook.

 Looking North at the glacier peaks surrounding Logan pass and further into Many Glacier.

Small pond on Comeau pass. Pooling up before pouring over the headwall in the back on photo.