Slickrock Trail
Coordinates: 38 ° 34 '54.9 " N , 109 ° 31' 9.3" W.
The Slickrock Trail is beyond the borders of the United States also known circular route for mountain bikes and dirt bikes near Moab , Utah .
history
The route was laid out in 1969 in the Sand Flats recreation area east of Moab, initially for use by off-road motorcycles. With the advent of mountain bikes in the 1980s, the route also became interesting and popular for cyclists. Today the trail is one of Moab's main attractions and is visited by over 200,000 mountain bikers annually.
Location and surroundings
The route, which is at least 17 km long, leads through the desert landscape of the Colorado Plateau over petrified dunes and the eroded remains of an earlier seabed. Their peculiarity is the constant ups and downs with sometimes extreme gradients, which can only be driven through the special underground of mostly rough sandstone rocks .
The trail lies within the recreation area Sand Flats Recreation Area , which is bounded in the north by the Canyon of the Colorado or Utah State Route 128 and in the east by the Negro Bill Canyon and the Abyss Canyon . The Porcupine Rim Trail in the north is another well-known mountain bike route within this recreation area, but it has a completely different character.
route
course
The route is about 6 km and 150 vertical meters from the center of Moab and can be easily reached via Sandflats Road. Before the actual main course (main loop) a 3.7 km long practice loop (practice loop) can be driven, which contains all the essential technical difficulties of the main course. This allows mountain bikers who are not yet familiar with the route to check their own driving skills and the suitability of the mountain bike in advance. The main course is mostly driven in a technically easier clockwise direction . There are several route variants along the way, which connect the various parts of the route with each other or lead to viewpoints. The route runs at an altitude between 1350 and 1460 m and overcomes at least 350 meters in altitude.
Marking and route conditions
The route is marked by white color markings on the sandstone. Dangerous places, e.g. B. not visible steep steps or canyon walls are particularly highlighted with additional triangles. The Slickrock Bike Trail crosses the Hell's Revenge 4x4 Trail, which is designated for off-road vehicles, three times . The track surface consists of almost 100% sandstone with good grip, there are only sandy spots in some depressions. Occasionally there are biological soil crusts that are not allowed to be driven on.
Level of difficulty
The Slickrock Trail is one of the most technically demanding routes in the Moab area and despite the small difference in altitude it is also physically challenging. Depending on your ability, you have to calculate between 1.5 and 5 hours for the route.
hazards
In addition to the obvious risk of injury from falls, the high temperatures that prevail in the summer months have resulted in several deaths from heat stroke .
Infrastructure and surroundings
There are several simple campsites near the car park. There is no water on the route itself.
See also
Web links
- 50 Years of Slickrock ~ Slickrock Bike Trail documentary in 4K Documentation with historical recordings (English)
- Sand Flats Recreation Area . Slickrock Trail and Sandflats Recreation Area (English)
- Slickrock Trail on UtahMountainBiking.com . Description, map and GPS data (English)
literature
- David Crowell: Mountain Biking Moab , Falcon Publishing, Helena 1997, ISBN 1-56044-530-0
- Christoph Bitzer, Glen Parker: Mountain Biking USA 1 , Pietsch Verlag, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-613-50208-9
Individual evidence
- ↑ Trend and nature sports as a system. The career of a sports landscape using the example of Moab, Utah Dissertation by Heike Egner, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz. Retrieved October 18, 2014
- ^ David Crowell: Mountain Biking Moab , Falcon Publishing, Helena 1997, ISBN 1-56044-530-0 , p. 23
- ↑ Sand Flats Recreation Area Visitor Guide. (PDF) Retrieved August 23, 2019 .