 | Gold Bar Rim Trail The Gold Bar Rim Trail takes you up ledges of Kayenta sandstone to a viewpoint on the cliffs high above the entrance to the Moab Valley. After leaving the Gemini Bridges road, the trail becomes advanced technical, with a strenuous aerobic climb. The Gold Bar Rim Trail itself is an out-and-back to the overlook, 8.5 miles each way. The Gold Bar Rim Trail can also be one part of a long and brutal point-to-point with shuttle, using the Golden Spike Trail. You descend to the Colorado on either Poison Spider (21.2 miles total) or the infamous Portal Trail (17.5 miles). |
| Consider carefully before you commit to either of the point-to-point options. This ride is NOT easy. After the first 5 miles, there's no cruising. Again and again, you face tough technical climbing followed by brakes-on, butt over the wheel technical descents. The Golden Spike Trail will take everything you've got. The Portal Trail presents two problems: (1) the deadly upper half is located exactly one endo away from high cliffs, and (2) the extremely technical lower half is more than ready to maim or kill you. Even very skilled technical riders walk much of the Portal Trail, and only the most idiotic (or suicidal) try to ride it all. |
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| 0.0 Head across the tracks and turn
left (south) 4.3 Turn left (off the Gemini Bridges road) just before it climbs a hill 5.3 Fork, keep L 5.8 Fork, keep L Reaching open rock, follow "gold bars" painted on rock 8.3 Golden Spike joins, go L Follow "spikes" painted on rock 8.5 At turn-around, overlook. End of trail for out-and-back | For epic ride, backtrack 0.2,
south (left) on Golden Spike 14.1 Trail to Portal forks L before fence (easy to miss) 15.0 Portal singletrack goes R at cliffs GPS N 38° 35.033' W 109° 35.688' Back at road at mile 17.5 For Poison Spider, keep R at above fork Follow little "jeeps" painted on the rock Back at road at mile 21.2 |
 | Getting there: Drive south on US-191 for 16 miles south of I-70 (about 15 miles north of Moab). Spot the parking area on the west (right as you head toward Moab) side of the road. GPS N 38° 39.381' W 109° 40.672'. Park in front of the railroad tracks, and head out west on the road. To leave a shuttle at the Poison Spider trailhead, go 6 miles down U-278 then right up a short dirt road with a sign that says "Dinosaur Tracks." GPS is N 38° 31.917' W 109° 36.473'. Trail conditions change, and the layout of a trail may change without notice. Use this trail guide at your own risk. Copyright 2002 Mad Scientist Software Inc |