White Rim Advice

[imic]

I'm looking to ride the White Rim next spring over 3-4 days -- anyone have any advice to prep for it?

[mntlion]

3-4 days is a nice casual pace. might be hard to carry that much water? or you have truck suppport?

[alpinevibes]

Just did a 3 day trip in late Oct, our second time. Are you curious on bike or camping/trip logistics?

Biggest suggestion is reserve good campsites that make sense for your abilities and desires. We did 50/25/25mi, starting down Shafer and fininishing up Mineral bottom.


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[brutah]

I've always done it over 3-4 days with a truck or two. Makes the ride a blast, sorta like a raft trip on bikes. I've always gotten to ride the whole thing as others typically wanted a break. Doing it with a support truck or two is sweet because you can carry tons of food, beer and water.

I think the biggest thing is getting your saddle time up. Most people have sore asses from not being used to sitting on a seat that long. Plan for travel speeds to be closer to your mountain bike speed than your road bike speed. I don't think doing the white rim over 3-4 days is that physically demanding, just be ready to sit on your bike saddle for 4-8 hrs a day.

[muted]

Don't bring bananas, they get mushy by Day 2.

[grskier]

How 'off road' does your support vehicle need to be?

[Danno]

How 'off road' does your support vehicle need to be?

Needs to be a legit 4wd vehicle, with a low, but stock is fine.

I've done it 3 times, with 12-15 people and 3 cars over 4 days. As was said, it's like a raft trip on wheels. Happy to answer questions.

[Danno]

By the way, if you've never done a multi day raft trip, that means that serious advanced planning is needed.

[kathleenturneroverdrive]

How 'off road' does your support vehicle need to be?

In '08 I did it with a stock 4wd 2002 Nissan Frontier with zero issues. If it hasn't gotten worse since then I'd imagine just about any modern truck could handle it.

[Danno]

It's mostly just dirt road, but there are a few short sections that are legit four wheeling, as in a large majority of the people in our groups did not feel comfortable driving those sections. But someone who knows what they're doing could get a Subaru through most of it. But Murphy's really calls for a low gear.

[alpinevibes]

It's mostly just dirt road, but there are a few short sections that are legit four wheeling, as in a large majority of the people in our groups did not feel comfortable driving those sections. But someone who knows what they're doing could get a Subaru through most of it. But Murphy's really calls for a low gear.

I’d venture there a couple dozens of spots that would be an issue in an Outback (I’ve owned three).

Most stock pickups are fine as are any body-on-frame suv. We’ve done it with an 09 Tacoma and 2020 Tacoma with hitch racks (only a few scrapes) and a 2016 Silverado. Plenty of F150 and Tundras out there. Wrangler would make it easy but limited cargo space.

Saddle time is key for asses. It’s not tech riding but it’s tiring if you’re not ready to pedal. This year’s group was predominantly weak, wanted the booze cruise experience and ultimately wanted car time over saddle time: pick your group wisely! My wife and I brought our 15mo twins and that kept us at 50mi each.


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[Danno]

It all depends on how much you like your Subaru.

In case it isn't clear, I'm not suggesting anyone try that (and you're not allowed to, 4wd with low range is required). Just meant to point out how it's not 70 miles of 4 wheeling.

[imic]

Just did a 3 day trip in late Oct, our second time. Are you curious on bike or camping/trip logistics?]

Looking for a little of both -- on the bike, would 44s be enough or are 2.5" tires needed for it?

Any camping/trip logistics beta would be much appreciated!

[Bunion 2020]

Don't bring a BIG truck if you can avoid it. Done about 10 trips, usually supported out of Tacoma sized trucks. Last trip a buddy brought his F-350 crew cab and some of the narrow spots out of Potato Bottom were a bit harrowing. I was driving and concerned about dinging his ride.

Dishes are a pain, bring disposable paper plates. Prepared foods and vacuum sealed/frozen would be nice, last 4-5 trips it was a bit of a hassle cause the T/L insisted that we cook from scratch (his permit so....) and the cleanup was the suck.

White Crack is a cool camp site but often very windy.

The Murphys to Potato bottom section is great for boomers (usually day 3). Couple of cool side hikes in that section as well.

X10 on having your butt broken in.

[El Chupacabra]

We brought our Sierra 2500, extended cab, 8' bed, as one of two sag trucks last year on the White Rim. No clearance issues side to side or ground clearance. The other truck was a Dodge Ram 1500 shortbed, which suffered some dents - it had lower ground clearance.

I'd recommend a big truck, and a 3/4-1 ton one at that. We brought a ridiculous amount of water and coolers, and all that gets heavy. I think we had 12 people total.