Moab & Crested Butte

binner

binner

Hath shat hymself
Has anyone ridden here in the last year or around this area or done a road trip from LA. The more I read up and the more I watch Seth, Brian and single track sampler the more I want to do a trip next year.
Any info would be great, more so on the drive and where you camped/ stayed. Access to trails etc...

Cheers,
Binner

[video=youtube;n0sAX3Dfouk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0sAX3Dfouk[/video]
 
Beej1

Beej1

Senior Member
I did both, but back in 2011. Flew to Denver, drove to the Butte for a few days, then from there to Moab for a few days. Long drives between, but beautiful scenery.

Drove on to LA via Flagstaff, Sedona, Vegas, Tahoe, Downieville, SF. Before Denver was Vancouver and Whizzla.

Best riding trip of my life, obviously.

(pic: wife on 401 trail, Crested Butte)
 
Tubbsy

Tubbsy

Packin' a small bird
Staff member
Quite clearly says butt.

Reminds me of a ski trip to NZ many years ago; a group of us 18 year olds headed to Whakapapa on the North Island.

Apparently the correct Maori pronunciation of 'Wh' is F.

We thought every single Kiwi was having us on when they told us to say 'Fuckapapa', and it was only when we were leaving that we heard someone say it on the radio...
 
eastie

eastie

Likes Bikes and Dirt
A few of others to look at are Montana, Wyoming and Washington State. Miles of big sky singletrack and solitude.
 
Beej1

Beej1

Senior Member
Nothing beats Colorado (in the US anyway) for that lung-busting lack of air that elevation brings. Its lowest point is higher than 99% of Australia. From the front range westward it's ridiculously high and noticeably harder to ride compared to anywhere here. That photo before is at just under 3500m. The climb to it was pretty intense.
 
binner

binner

Hath shat hymself
sweet

cool..... thanks for the info in the thread :clap2: .Im in for next year. Following very close on POSM's route, Costs add up quick though...sheesh.

Until then more Seth, BKXC and Alex viewing........ohh and saving money :first:
 
P

peanut

Likes Dirt
My missus & I did a trip many years ago ('05),we drove from boulder to s.f over 3 weeks, in a rental hatchback & tenting each night.
We basicly rode around 3 hrs each morning, then travelled to the next destination with sightseeing thrown in.sometimes stayed a couple of nights to ride several trails.
we Started at boulder then headed south to crested butte, i had a list of trails to ride but we usually stopped at bike shops to get some info on local rides.
boulder- white ranch, hall ranch.
winter park -lift assist trails.
salida-random trails around the free camping area & monach pass
crested butte-401 trail then some lower trails i can't remember the name of.
Then north to grand junction-lunch loop trails
fruita-kokopelli trails & 18 road(bookcliffs)
moab-slickrock, porcupine rim.
Brian head-some random trails with too many camo wearing hunters looking for something to obliterate.
hurricane& zion N.p-goosberry mesa
vegas-boulder city, bootleg canyon.
It was worthwhile making a few detours to see some of the sights, arches N.P(moab),Zion N.P,grand canyon, death valley, sequoia n.p ,redwoods & yosemite.
There were lots of other spots as well, some were state parks or monuments.
We bought a parks pass at the first one,worked out alot cheaper than paying entry at each of them, some had cheap camping fee's too.
There were plenty of spots we missed, but i don't think trail wise we missed out on too much, they were all unique in their own way & completely different to anything we had ridden before, plus the scenery was generally fantastic and made the rides a whole lot better.
 
poiterpan

poiterpan

Likes Bikes
I have just finished doing a road trip through California, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas, hitting up most of the trails listed above. Epic. It's great to have a bucket list but you will not visit them all due to time restraints and possible injury. The stand out rides for me was Gooseberry Mesa UT, and Moab. After riding the whole enchilada in Moab I think every mtber should make the pilgrimage at least once in their life. Mexico and Texas haven't had the best riding. Airbnb has been a great way for me to meet real locals. The 420 law in Colorado has been great too.

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk
 
USJ

USJ

Likes Dirt
I lived in Denver for 10 years before I moved to Australia. Have done Moab a dozen times and CB about half that. PM me if you have specific questions. But my general comment is GO, NOW! In CB, you need to do the Monarch Crest trail and in Moab, The Whole Enchilada. Both trails are 5+ hour epics, climb to around 12-14k ft high and drop down to like 6k ft. Best high mountain epic trails anywhere.
 
Matty_P

Matty_P

Likes Dirt
Moab slickrock is fun. Challenging fun. Sep 2016. Climbed nearly 1000m in just under 16km with no flat bits whatsoever. Either up or down. Superb grip.

mw on moab slickrock.PNG


 
aboutfivebucks

aboutfivebucks

Likes Bikes
Binner,
Ive done Moab and Colorado a few times previously on both XC and DH trips. A bunch of us did Moab, CB and others again in Aug '17 as a DH trip. Something to beware of with your trip planning to Utah are the temps. USA mates ride Moab and Fruita in May. We were lucky doing the Whole Enchilada on an unusually cool 35 degree August day. Colorado riding has cool enough temps in the summer. As for logistics, we flew to Denver took a tail gate pad, rented a dual cab F150 and mostly stayed in AIRBNB/VRBO accommodation.
Just go.
 
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