Gold Bar Rim and Portal Trail

Today I rode Gold Bar Rim and the Portal Trail. I rode Gold Bar Rim once before and really wasn't struck with it. When I asked for readers favorite Moab rides, 3 readers mentioned it so I decided to give it another try.

The other time I did Gold Bar Rim, several of us had started from our camp at Sand Flats. We took the road over to Poison Spider. We then did Poison Spider, Golden Spike, Gold Bar Rim, back to town, and up to Sand Flats.

I was fit and ready for race season so the distance wasn't bad. The issue was that we had a couple slower riders that we spent a lot of time waiting for. We all ran out of food and water. It wasn't pretty. I was also headed home that day and was very late picking my wife up in Grand Junction. She brought it up again Sunday when we discussed when I'd be picking her up tomorrow.

Today was nothing like that day. I had felt really tired yesterday after just doing Saltwash and Sovereign singletracks. I decided I'd go part way up Gold Bar Rim and then turn around.

I hadn't realized that there was singletrack that followed the rim instead of going up and down like the jeep trail. I copied the directions from my route book on finding the singletrack. Of course I forgot and left them in the vehicle when I started riding. They may not have done much good since I don't have a bike computer or GPS on my mountain bike. The key thing I remembered was always go left and up if you end up back on the jeep trail.

The singletrack was easier to find and follow than I expected based on what the book said. There were a fair number of cairns and blue paint lines. Still I lost the trail several times but always found it again pretty soon. Still there are several places you have to carry your bike so if you don't like getting off a lot, it's probably not a good trail for you.

I got to where I could see Poison Spider Mesa and the rock dome where the Portal Trail drops down. I was having way too much fun to turn around so I just kept going. Of course that was about when it seemed like the rock dome wasn't getting any closer.

The Portal Trail has a lot of exposure. It's not for people that are scared of heights. I have a rule that even if the trail is easily rideable I get off and walk if falling most likely would mean death. I did some walking on the narrow sections of the Portal Trail. It's not something to take lightly because people really have fallen off there and died.

Once I got past the narrow sections, the descent down was fun and I was at the road. I hadn't been looking forward to the ride back to the Gemini Bridges parking lot. It ended up seeming shorter than I had expected. Another fun day of ridng in Moab and I get to ride a part day tomorrow before heading back.

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