Last time we were in Moab we biked the whole enchilada trail. It’s over 30 miles and joins multiple trails from the Burro Pass at 11,126′ in the La Sal mountains and descends over 7000′ back down into town. The scenery and the trail itself were just incredible and Jason and I were super stoked to ride it again! After the canoe trip, Deb had to fly home to get back to work, but we moved some things around so that Victoria could come along and experience the trail also! It was another early morning of waking up to get to the shuttle and I drank my latte on the bus. Once at the top we put on all of our biking gear and started the grueling trek from the parking lot up to Burro Pass. The elevation and steep terrain make this part of the trail excruciating. I guess I forgot how terrible it was from last time? But the view from the top makes it worth it! To my credit, I did ride a lot more of the ascent than I did last time, so there’s hope for me yet!
From the summit we started our descent down the surprisingly loose and rocky trail. There were a few switchbacks and a few really nasty roots and rocks to navigate but we all made it unscathed! I didn’t get any pictures of this section because I was mostly just holding on and letting the bike do its thing. Eventually we made it out of the rocky alpine section down to a more open meadow.
My favorite part of the trail was the section that goes through a huge forest of aspen trees. I’ve never lived anywhere with aspen trees so I’m especially fascinated by them. The leaves are beautiful and the white bark is so striking! The trail also leveled out a bit and was just perfect dirt!
Eventually we popped out of the trees into an open meadow section with a fantastic trail of smooth, flowy hero dirt with fun little ledges to launch off of! We had a blast!
I realize I should have taken more pictures but I was having too much fun! We eventually made it through the meadows and dirt to where the trail slowly turned to more of the traditional Moab high desert. Grass gave way to scrub trees and dirt gave way to sandstone and slick rock. I’m always surprised at how well the bike tires grip on the slickrock because despite the name, it actually is really grippy! We eventually made it to the little rock outcropping where everyone takes their photos! If you miss this shot, you have to start back at the top and do it again! LOL
After this, we had a choice on how we wanted to continue on the trail. Last time we were here the only option was lower porcupine rim trail that I remember being pretty technical, challenging, and overall just not a great time. A guy at the local bike shop recommended the new trail called Falcon Flow. We both prefer flow trails to tech trails so we figured we would give it a shot. There were a few sections that were practically unrideable that we all walked down but it was overall a pretty good time! Eventually though, there was more deep sand on the trail and more exposure on cliff faces than I’m comfortable with. Given how much further we had to go, how tired we all were (exhausted…), and the brewing storm in the mountains we decided our best bet was to bail on falcon flow and just ride the road back into Moab. So technically we didn’t finish the whole enchilada but we were over 30 miles by the time we rolled back into town hungry, dirty, and utterly exhausted!
Overall this trail is the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but definitely worth the challenge. I’ve already forgotten how hard the initial climb to burro pass was and I’m really proud of how well I rode the technical descents. (honestly, I’m not sure how I rode this trail last time… I feel like I walked most of it but have just forgotten?) My little purple bike got a hell of a work out and Jason and I are going to sleep like rocks tonight for sure! Overall… an epic day!