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those videos make it look more mellow than it is. and as noted above, conditions are different year to year. If we had taken a Subaru in the last time I was there (which again, is against the rules, you are required to have a 4wd with low gear), the Subie would have been left down there. Unless it was a James Bond amphibian model.Quote:
Originally Posted by detrusor
But ... but this one goes to 11...Quote:
Originally Posted by Danno
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOO5S4vxi0o
Quote:
Originally Posted by Whiteroom_Guardian
I did it a few years ago (Just looked, May of 2012) when in fairly good MTBing shape and did it clockwise (Park at top of Mineral Bottom, ride Mineral Road to Shafer entrance, drop down, ride loop, climb out mineral bottom). Took 8hours moving time, funny story: The guy I did it with had gotten food poisoning the night before but said he was fine the next morning, dropped into Shafer and he immediately turned white as a ghost. My Garmin had 11+hours of Elapsed time from me waiting for this guy to catch up, his girlfriend met him at the bottom of Mineral Climb and he quickly hopped in for the ride out, took some discipline on my part to not get in that truck.Quote:
Originally Posted by Whiteroom_Guardian
As for water, his GF hiked down Gooseberry (I think thats what it is called) and met us with a water re-supply. That was fairly early in the loop so didn't really need water but started light and topped off there for the rest. I think if you had support someone could also hike down and stash water at Murphy's. Even if you didn't have support hiking down one of these points and stashing water would be way faster than driving the whole loop.
I'm sure it's a beautiful ride, but doing it in a day took away any chance of really soaking in the environment. It's pretty much a head down slog on two track all day. I've been meaning to get back and do it again on a multi day trip with a fun group to really enjoy it.
As for bike, I did it on a Steel HT 29er with 110mm up front. Don't ask why.
Looks like they changed the permit system for this upcoming year. Anyone got the lowdown on the new system?
So I did some researching. Looks like they will be releasing in 3 month blocks, all at the same time/date, 8am MT. The previous system was annoying AF because you had to stay up till midnight on 3 consecutive nights (if you needed 3 nights of camping) but if you did that, it was pretty easy to get reservations. This seems like it will be easy to get locked out of anything.
This is a good PSA. Thanks. When does the next 3 month block come out?Quote:
Originally Posted by Danno
I don't know for sure, all I know is that the Fall dates (what I am interested in) come out May 10.Quote:
Originally Posted by EWG
Thanks for doing the research. We were thinking about a fall trip with the kids.Quote:
Originally Posted by Danno
have you done one with your kids before? We've been planning on (or talking about would be more accurate) the next one being a kiddo trip, but that is new territory for us. Kiddo will be 10, decent biker but not hardcore and kind of a wimp when it comes to endurance, so surely would need a lot of car time. Thinking one family per car, maybe, but that makes it hard to get adult biking time.Quote:
Originally Posted by grskier
I’ve ridden Moab a lot with kids. For me, camping with outings to Klondike or big Mesa, etc., are more fun than white pine. My kids would be pissed at me if I made them go ride a Jeep/ gravel road with occasional sand..
Quote:
Originally Posted by Danno
So, all the Fall dates were just released this morning. Was trying to get a permit for middle of October, 3 nights. Within seconds everything was gone, I am not even sure how one could have clicked three separate spots in the amount of time they all disappeared. The new system sucks and may mean I won't do another White Rim multi-day trip. It sucked having to stay up till midnight 3 nights running, but at least it meant you could actually, you know, get a trip.Quote:
Originally Posted by Danno
Edit: So one glitch in the system that would have been great to know, is when you click on an available date, the system assumes that is your first night, and everything before that night disappears. So I made the mistake of clicking on the last night of my (hoped for) trip; I was trying to work backwards because of itinerary issues. Then it seemed like everything was taken. When I unclicked that choice (too late, unfortunately) some other dates showed up. So my doom and gloom post may not be entirely correct. I tried to get as much info as possible about the new system, but nobody told me this piece.
We practiced with the system a bit in preparation for this morning. Fortunately, we were successful in booking a trip. But it was over quickly. All the spots were gone in a few short seconds.
It was better than staying up till midnight three nights in a row with the old system.
One thing we did observe last year, is campsites opened back up a couple of weeks later. That may happen again this year. I don't know if it is commercial operators giving back unfilled trips or people who overbooked to get the campsite they wanted.
We have seen in past years campsites sitting empty even though everything is booked. Either way we are grateful to get to go again this year. Our cycling season feels incomplete without several annual rides, particularly the White Rim.
jummo
I practiced too, as best I could, but I guess in my practice I didn't see that picking a night makes all the nights before it disappear.Quote:
Originally Posted by jummo
Personally, I was able to get what I wanted more or less in the old system, so IMO the new system sucks balls. But I guess it's all perspective.
I will check back in to see if things open up.
I just tried for around Nov 1. There is pretty much nothing between Potato Bottom and Schafer. I am new to this reservation crap. Missed out on the San Juan earlier. I guess the way to go is get in shape ride it in a day. Never would of thought that there would be that many people wanting to float the san juan in March or ride the White Rim in November.
I'm curious if the easy answer is hiring a tour guide who has dates reserved but no customers yet for dates you want. Bonus is no one has to drive and maybe they cook for you?Quote:
Originally Posted by Danno
Anyone look into prices doing this?
$975/pp with Western Spirit. Rim Tours is similar.Quote:
Originally Posted by muted reborn
Oooofff, that's not an option at all.
I'm wondering if all the Overlanders are now taking up a ton of spots bikers normally would use up.
That's about 10 times the cost of a self-supported trip.Quote:
Originally Posted by bagtagley
And call me weird, but I like the driving. I mean, I like the biking too but I have driven Murphy and Hardscrabble every time I have done the trip (because not many people like the 4 wheeling parts and I would prefer to drive my truck through those sections anyway). Sure, it would be great to have someone do all the cooking and cleaning, but not hundreds and hundreds of dollars great.
Sounds like the reservation system has gone the way of most places now. We've been going to Yosemite every year almost my whole life and it is now almost impossible to get a campsite. Same goes for wilderness permits for popular trailheads in the sierra. Pretty sure there are bots that swoop them up for companies to turn around and sell them later. It's a hot mess.
bummer too, cause as I was reading through this thread I was thinking it would be cool to get a group together and found myself hoping the reservation system wasn't like most others these days. Oh well, I'll just try to get back to ride in Moab in general.
I'm amazed the White Crack campsite is booked every single day now through December. That must be a sweet campsite.
It isQuote:
Originally Posted by muted reborn
Anyone get a permit for the Fall?
I got one, but not what I was looking for, tried to get 3 nights but could only get 2. The system is annoying AF because it will show the available sites, you click on them and get a whole 3 night itinerary, but when you click "book now" you get an error message that some of your sites aren't available, then you have to backtrack, refresh the page and start over from scratch, see some different sites, click on them and get a 3 night itinerary, click book now, and have the same thing happen. Lather, rinse, repeat. On my fourth attempt all that was available was a 2 night itinerary, and that one went through.
Yup. We wanted and got 2 nights. I don't think I've ever done it in three nights.
I prefer the booze cruise method. And the distance between our 2 campsites is 50 miles, which is way more than I would enjoy biking. But will just do a different kind of trip, probably a much smaller group, and probably more of a "bike as much as you feel like, but biking not required trip" (ie have enough space in the cars for everyone if nobody wants to bike). So instead of 3 cars and 15 people, more like 3 cars and 6 people.
The last two years, we have been on our way back to Colorado from Mammoth on White Rim Lottery morning.
We stayed in the same hotel as last year and used the same strategy. Two devices, same itinerary, staggered a day apart.
We were really fortunate to get the trip we were after. It is ridiculous how quickly it is all gone. Each year we go into this fully prepared that we may have to spend our wedding anniversary somewhere else.
In the mid 80's you could just show up at the Ranger Station and pick your camp sites from the available spots on the grease board and head out.
Hopefully, some dates will open back up in the next few weeks for people who missed out today.
which two campsites did you score? Some stretches of the WR are riding pretty easy right now so 50 might not be too bad .. car/people ratio sounds perfect.Quote:
Originally Posted by Danno
Hardscrabble and Airport. So the day would include the Hardscrabble and Murphy climbs (though I will be driving my truck for those).
ouch, no that's not much of a pedestrian booze cruise day.
that long steady pitch murphy-hardscrabble has more sand than usual, but conditions will change before fall.
Just found out that this is happening during my trip: https://stateparks.utah.gov/activiti...tober-14-2023/
That should be cool AF.
That'll be about as good of a spot as any to see it. Got room lol.Quote:
Originally Posted by Danno
Heading out to do it again next week. Question - has anyone done it with a hitch mount bike rack? I’ve always put the bikes up top, but we have a smaller vehicle and 8 people, so I’d like to use the top for other overflow.
Not sure how a hitch mount rack would fair. We’ve got a Kuat so it’s solid, but worried a bit about bikes shaking around and clearance. Thoughts?
I brought my North Shore Rack on the White Rim. No issues, but I never had more than one bike hanging on it during the trail though.Quote:
Originally Posted by EWG
We’ve taken our Rocky Mounts Split Rail on two trips. I think both times it was on a Tacoma. It was fine and only took one or two hits
Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums
I've done it 3 times with my 1up, and will be doing it a 4th time in 3 weeks. No issues.
Just returned from the White Rim. Road is in best shape in years, maybe ever.
Saw more bighorns than ever and pedaled into the wind most of the time.
Always a highlight of our mtb season.
Sweet all, thanks. We've got like 8 people supported by a Jeep GC so space is at a premium.
And if anyone has a decent campsite to gather at the night before, let me know where if you don't mind. PM is fine if you don't want to give away your secret spot. Usually we all just crash randomly on the side of the road somewhere and then meet up in the morning at the visitor center but this year we have a bunch of newbies and they all want to camp together the night before night.
Some in my group once camped down this side road, right near the start of the mineral bottom descent: https://maps.app.goo.gl/uwihQV2GZdkRVSbw9
Pretty decent, and a few options, no idea how likely there will be space
Edit: we usually just get hotels in fruita the night before
There will be space somewhere on Mineral. I had a dispersed designated campground to myself in April, 8 miles down Mineral with a bit of a view, on the edge of North fork Of Mineral (right side of the road heading to the river). There's other options too on that road too.
Attachment 470611
I may regret sharing this, but if you all have pickups or are comfortable driving something like an outback on a dirt road looks hard but isn't if you go slow, for a short stretch, this site can't be beat.
Attachment 470613
Great stuff all. Really appreciate it. One last question. I've done this a bunch of times but I've never used my own vehicle. Do you guys air down your tires or not? If yes, what pressure are you running? I'm on stock Goodyear Wrangler AT wheels, no bead seals.
Depends on the tire size and how heavy your vehicle is, but IME you can drop your pressure by at least 50% before you need to start worrying about rolling a bead. I would do it for a stretch that long.