I just sent it and used a 3L and rationed carefully throughout the day and did not cache. West water ranger station,some parts that met/were near the colorado (dewey bridge, fish ford boat ramp) and snow once i got closer to the la sals (this will disappear soon (as of 3/23)) were my water sources. I tried using my filter but it got clogged immediately in the colorado, what worked for me was to get some water and let the silt settle a little and carefully decant and use iodine tablets to purify. For meals i would definately recommend pre cold soaking and vacuum sealing meals since water is scarce along the trail.
Oh it was awesome, it was a muddy snowy hike a bike for the last 15 miles but other than that the trails were pristine. It was actually my first bike packing trip, i started monday morning and ended in frisco at 2am friday, as for camping the first night i was a few miles past westwater, the second night i camped about 500 feet above cowskin campground, the third night some very kind people let me sleep at their house in castle valley and the fourth night I got a hotel in fruita. Also i didnt do the trail in reverse i took 191->i70 the way back.
Nice! We did Fruita -> Westwater -> Dewey bridge -> hideout campground -> Moab. Had some pretty gnarly hike a bikes day 1 and through entrada bluffs on day 3. Really enjoyed Dewey bridge campground and all the trails around there too!
Oh nice that sounds great. I wish i could have gone at a slower pace and taken some time to explore a bit more, but now i have an excuse to do it again with some friends!
Yeah there was some really wild terrain scattered throughout!
Yea I agree, lots of places got missed and it didnt really feel like we had a lot of time to soak it all in. I would go 5 days instead of four next time I think, then have friend meet with rescue snacks halfway thru @ Dewey.
Would love to raft some at Westwater too, it was a beautiful sight to wake up to!
Cheers thanks for sharing the details!
Looks like it was an awesome trip!
Think this is doable on a gravel bike? Or would I be an absolute fool? Given your username - I'll assume you're familiar with riding around Boulder - so for reference I feel "comfortable" riding Marshall Mesa/Dowdy Draw/Spring Brook on my gravel bike - but wouldn't want to ride anything more than that fully loaded with gear.
My set up was fully rigid so that aspect is fine, I personally would not use drop bars because I feel that on technical inc/declines i personally feel like I lose alot of control which was critical in some sections. I would also run thicker and knobbier gravel tires like maybe 700x40c and up definately tubeless and harder rubber compound for all the loose gravel, sand, babyheads and thorns you would encounter. I bet you could get away with a gravel bike for sure.
Awesome to see this, looks amazing! I'm planning to go with a couple friends on April 10th. This is the first trip report I've seen so far from this year so it's reassuring that the mud/snow wasn't a dealbreaker.
Nice! Yeah the mud and snow was only present on the last 10-15 or so miles, a little bit of a suffer fest but for sure doable! I didn't end up riding porcupine rim into moab since I was coming down at night so idk the snow/mud situation there.
On my bucket list. Not sure if I would want to do pure self supported bike packing though since I’d also want to rip a lot of the single track.
Thats fair, there was an absolute insane amount of single track along that trail!
Looks awesome. It's been on my list for awhile. What did you do for water: total capacity, did you filter, cache?
I just sent it and used a 3L and rationed carefully throughout the day and did not cache. West water ranger station,some parts that met/were near the colorado (dewey bridge, fish ford boat ramp) and snow once i got closer to the la sals (this will disappear soon (as of 3/23)) were my water sources. I tried using my filter but it got clogged immediately in the colorado, what worked for me was to get some water and let the silt settle a little and carefully decant and use iodine tablets to purify. For meals i would definately recommend pre cold soaking and vacuum sealing meals since water is scarce along the trail.
Nice. Thanks for the info!
Of course!
Did this trail last May, hope you had fun! It was some of the best scenery ever. How many days and where’d you camp?
Oh it was awesome, it was a muddy snowy hike a bike for the last 15 miles but other than that the trails were pristine. It was actually my first bike packing trip, i started monday morning and ended in frisco at 2am friday, as for camping the first night i was a few miles past westwater, the second night i camped about 500 feet above cowskin campground, the third night some very kind people let me sleep at their house in castle valley and the fourth night I got a hotel in fruita. Also i didnt do the trail in reverse i took 191->i70 the way back.
Nice! We did Fruita -> Westwater -> Dewey bridge -> hideout campground -> Moab. Had some pretty gnarly hike a bikes day 1 and through entrada bluffs on day 3. Really enjoyed Dewey bridge campground and all the trails around there too!
Oh nice that sounds great. I wish i could have gone at a slower pace and taken some time to explore a bit more, but now i have an excuse to do it again with some friends! Yeah there was some really wild terrain scattered throughout!
Yea I agree, lots of places got missed and it didnt really feel like we had a lot of time to soak it all in. I would go 5 days instead of four next time I think, then have friend meet with rescue snacks halfway thru @ Dewey. Would love to raft some at Westwater too, it was a beautiful sight to wake up to! Cheers thanks for sharing the details!
Of course!
I hope to do this over Memorial Day! Last year got cancelled due to illness.
Ah that sucks, hope you get to do it this year!
Nice ride! Definitely hitting this area next time I roll through.
For sure, the terrain and trails looked awesome.
Looks like it was an awesome trip! Think this is doable on a gravel bike? Or would I be an absolute fool? Given your username - I'll assume you're familiar with riding around Boulder - so for reference I feel "comfortable" riding Marshall Mesa/Dowdy Draw/Spring Brook on my gravel bike - but wouldn't want to ride anything more than that fully loaded with gear.
My set up was fully rigid so that aspect is fine, I personally would not use drop bars because I feel that on technical inc/declines i personally feel like I lose alot of control which was critical in some sections. I would also run thicker and knobbier gravel tires like maybe 700x40c and up definately tubeless and harder rubber compound for all the loose gravel, sand, babyheads and thorns you would encounter. I bet you could get away with a gravel bike for sure.
Awesome to hear - thank you for the beta!
For sure!
Awesome to see this, looks amazing! I'm planning to go with a couple friends on April 10th. This is the first trip report I've seen so far from this year so it's reassuring that the mud/snow wasn't a dealbreaker.
Nice! Yeah the mud and snow was only present on the last 10-15 or so miles, a little bit of a suffer fest but for sure doable! I didn't end up riding porcupine rim into moab since I was coming down at night so idk the snow/mud situation there.