My Two Schillingsworth

This past April we were up in Moab, UT hitting all the popular routes. While on the Whole Enchilada, Karin and Max told us they would be getting re-married right on the trail!! They showed us the spot and I knew I'd have to save some vacation time so I could attend. Wouldn't want to miss it.

There's a whole bunch to the backstory, but in short, Karin and Max realized they were meant for each other and plans were made for a memorable trail wedding in early October. This is where things got a bit hectic. Karin had ambitious biking plans for 2026. She was set to attempt the Triple Crown Challenge. Riding the Tour Divide, Colorado Trail Race and Arizona Trail Race in the same calendar year with each group start. The AZTR received good news in the spring: The N. Kaibab trail would be re-opened!! This would allow the AZTR to once again finish at Stateline CG on the Utah line. Then the Grand Canyon made an announcement: The N. Kaibab trail would be closing on October 15th for water pipeline construction. Ugh. That was the start of the race!! In an effort to get all the 800 mile riders through the Grand Canyon before the closure, I switched the Grand Depart forward two weeks to October 1st. This was critical for Karin, as the wedding was scheduled for Oct. 7th!! Gah!! In a bit of a fury, Karin and Max moved their wedding plans forward a couple of weeks to Sept. 23. Talk about commitment. Unfortunately, she ran into difficulties on the Tour Divide and had to withdrawal. Not to be deterred, she told me she was still planning on the AZT. Then in late August, torrential flooding damaged the N. Kaibab trail, lives were lost as well. A truly horrible experience for those involved. Once again, the AZTR would have to finish in Flagstaff. In the end, nothing needed to be changed, but hindsight is always 20/20.

Anyway, that's a long winded backstory on why I was heading back to Moab late on a Tuesday, for a Wednesday morning, semi-dressed up, shuttle to the Hazard Country trailead in late September!! They hired Eszter for the photography and I was able to stay at her place while in town. It's so great having friends who live in town.

Heading north from Kayenta.

The prominent Agathla stands guard over Monument Valley.

Monument Valley coming into view. The drive to Moab is quite spectacular.

Has to be one of the best state line crossings out there.

The golden hour light, incredible geology create a painting in front of your eyes.

Mexican Hat Rock doing a balancing act.

Rain had passed through the area a couple days earlier and the wedding day forecast was looking good. The plan for the day was to take the shuttle up, leave bikes and ride clothing at the trailhead, hike up about a half mile to the ceremony location, then afterwards, hike back down. We'd then change into ride gear and those who wanted to join the bride and groom were welcome as we would ride the famed Whole Enchilada route back to town for the 4p reception.

This must be the place!!

It was fun to see everyone not in bike clothes here.

Hike up.

A shortcut??

Max looking relaxed.

Here she comes, not shown: hiking boots!!

A perfect location for these two.

Congratulations!! Let's ride!! :)

Big group!! Photo by Eszter.

Had to snap a pic of the photographer herself. Go Eszter!!

Castle Valley from Hazard County.

Today was one of the few times I actually stopped along Hazard County to take some pics.

It's a few miles on constant downhill, enough chunk to demand attention and get arm pump.

We opted to stay on the proper route using this dirt road section instead of the Jimmy Keen singletrack.

Regroup on the slickrock.

Classic views most of the way down. Never gets old.

Making our way down the Snotch.

It still blows me away that this was ridden UP in the film 8600. Check it out.

We had a few people peel off the main route and head back to town via the Raptor Route.

In the blink of an eye, the La Sal Mtns. seem far away.

The bride and shirtless groom lead the charge.

Somewhere along the 10 miles of dirt road, my rear brakes started making a god awful sound. So much noise, grinding. I thought the spring had busted, but no. They were marginally working, but applying force to the rotor as I pedaled. I could feel the resistance on the downhill. Everything looked fine, but what the hell?? I resigned to my slower pace and would deal with it afterwards. Thankfully, a couple miles later it magically stopped. It appears a tiny pebble found its way between the brake pad and rotor, I now have a slight divot in the rotor!!

Down on the Porcupine Rim singletrack, the Colorado River comes into view.

Another postcard view.

Before we knew it, we were done and on schedule as it was a bit before 3p.

Route:

Mining artifacts are all through town.

Andrew & Katie taking the tandem to the reception.

This must be the bikepacker's table.

Perfect afternoon & evening hanging out with friends.

Fun bluegrass band from Grand Junction.

For the next few days my main riding goal was to explore as many new-to-me trails as I could. While I've ridden quite a bit in Moab, there's always someplace new to check out and plenty of popular system trails I had never been to.

First up was a group ride with local friends while they were in town for the wedding. We tossed around a couple of options but when the Pipedream trail was suggested we all quickly agreed. It would be new-to-me and a couple others. Eszter has ridden it enough to know which direction we should go - the slightly downhill direction, duh. We headed out after breakfast, riding through town then following a powerline section up to the 'top' of the trail. Our group consisted of myself, Eszter, Andrew & Katie Strempke and Scott Petrie.

The route parallels US191 south out of town below the towering cliffs.

A few of the climbs were NOT singlespeed friendly. Oof. Overall, the powerline riding wasn't bad.

Made it to the trailhead, now for the singletrack portion of our ride. I was really curious to see what this trail was all about.

A bit more climbing as the trail twists and turns through the boulders with enough tech to keep it interesting.

What a crew!! Me, Scott, Andrew, Eszter & Katie.

A rare smooth section leading to a fun downhill.

Really cool routing, some exposure too.

Katie navigates through the boulders.

Bombs away!! Nearing the finish as we dump back into town.

What a fun trail. It had the right amount of tech, enough to keep you engaged, yet almost all rideable. It's one of those slower, rock crawling types of trails, but I tend to really enjoy those. I'll definitely be back.

Route:

Later that day I wanted to get out again. This time I'd go north of town to the Klondike Bluffs trail system. It was the last trail system in town I had never been to. I still had a few hours of daylight to get in a good ride. There was one car at the trailhead where a guy was hanging out after his ride. I asked if he knew the system and he was local to the area. I then asked for a good 10-12 mile sampler loop and he pointed me in the right direction. Getting local knowledge, when possible, really helps.

He had me ride back the road I drove in on to the other trailhead. That way I'd finish at my car with a fun downhill. Sounded good to me.

Looks kinda meh at the start.

The trail is fast though and soon you're in some topography.

A few fun quick miles get the legs warmed up. The place was empty too.

Riding across a Martian landscape.

Now things are getting interesting!!

The slickrock markers appear as I begin to climb the bluff.

There was plenty of walking too, the grade was just over my comfort level. There was some riding mixed in during the climb.

Neat routing as well.

Kind of ironic to me, as Mega Steps was more rideable than Baby Steps was. Hmmm.

I love when trails get routed through giant boulders.

Amazing views off the backside of the bluff.

Techy contouring here with a couple of short, punchy hikes up.

On the downhill to the trailhead as the sun dips below the horizon. Perfect.

At the trailhead, I saw there were dinosaur tracks nearby. The hiking trail was only 0.2 miles long and there was just enough daylight to check it out.

Hard to image these creatures walking through these same hills.

Yet, here they were.

This one was a bit more difinitive.

Amazing how well it's been preserved.

Nope, the hike back sure didn't suck.

Cool workstand at the trailhead.

Only take photos.

What a fun trail system and I can't thank the fella at the trailhead enough for the route recommendation. It was exactly what I was looking for. Still plenty more trails here to explore. I was a bit surprised how far north of town this system is, about 30 miles from downtown. So many great ride options in Moab, it's staggering.

Route:

The following day I was on my own and was eyeing the Mag 7 area. I've ridden the classic Mag 7 route with slight variations over the years, but noticed I had missed a few notable trails in the area. I staged near the top of my planned route, just a short bit away from the Gemini Bridges trailhead.

Screenshot of my personal heatmap in Trailforks for the Horsethief / Mag 7 area. All the trails highlighted in yellow, I had been on before. This told me I needed to ride Getaway below the top section, Arth's Corner and Little Canyon. I'd take the dirt roads back.

This staging area isn't nearly as popular as the Gemini Bridges TH, only one other car was here.

Almost immediately, the views are jaw dropping.

It's nice having some trees along the way too.

Of course, the slickrock is plenty too.

Why, there's even sections of buffed out dirt!!

This section of Getaway was familiar ground to me.

Signs of the recent rains.

The terrain shifts character quite often: dirt, slickrock, tech rock and some sand.

A rare flat, fast, wide open meadow crossing.

Then right back into the rocks. This section of Getaway was fun, very similar to the stuff I had ridden before. No real surprise there.

Arth's Corner would be more of the same - which is a good thing.

Some of the rock moves seemed a bit bigger on Arth's.

Cool ledgy section here.

Heading down Little Canyon, the final new-to-me trail today.

La Sal Mtns.in the distance.

It really is an otherworldly landscape.

Every time I ride here, I'm amazed there is a rideable route through all the obstacles.

As much as I may have wanted to continue on to Goldbar Rim, this was my turnaround point. Time to climb back to the car.

The uphill began on the opposite side of Little Canyon, completing the loop.

What a fun trail.

Onto the dirt road portion. Metal Masher has a nice ring to it, doesn't it??

The Sun Gods think so.

Nice find at the sign post.

The miles went by fairly quick, then I made a wrong turn and added another mile!!

Still climbing. I had to walk a couple of pitches, but mostly rideable on my way back to 6,000'.

I hopped back on the trail I started with this morning.

Fun way to finish the ride and glad I didn't skip it to ride the pavement back.

This entire area is so fun to ride no matter what route you choose. Do a day ride and stay up top or setup a shuttle and ride the full Mag 7 back to town. You'll be amazed either way.

Route:

That evening we wanted to see if Karin and Max were available for dinner. It was sometime around 6p when I sent Karin a text. She responded about 20 minutes later saying they were already in bed, gearing up for a 140 mile ride the following day!! Then, a short bit later, they said they'd get up and meet us for Mexican food downtown!! Yesss!! We were able to snag a table and it was great to hang out with both Karin, Max, Eszter and Scott P. before I made my way back home the following morning. Both Eszter and Scott were planning to join the big ride, but only for half of it. Scott was able to convince Karin to push the start back from 3a to 4a!! Haha. Good luck out there!!

I had planned to check out another newer trail system south of town on my way out, but I was informed there was a NICA race scheduled for Saturday morning there. Maybe next time. Instead, I opted for a tried and true route I know quite well: Capt. Ahab. Can't go wrong there.

The trailhead was still relatively quiet for a Saturday morning. Empty trails. Sounded good to me.

My legs were not really awake yet for the abundance of technical climbing.

HyMasa trail leveling out for a bit.

Another reprieve from the technical climbing.

I was really feeling the effort this morning and decided to call an audible. There's a shortcut on the way up to essentially chop the loop in half. I had no qualms about doing so since I have ridden this loop many times over the years including once earlier in the year.

I really enjoy the lower section of Capt. Ahab too.

Rocks, rocks and moar rocks.

A glimpse into the valley below.

Time for the chonk to commence!!

Some penalty for failure here.

For all the tech moves, it flows quite well.

Down on the valley floor, it gets tame.

I was really glad I opted for the short version this time. This is one of my go-to rides when in town because it's a relatively short loop - even the full version and it's just so darn good.

Route:

As I was leaving the trailhead, I realized it was almost lunch time. No better place to hit up after a ride than Milt's. It was about to open and I'd beat the line, so it was an easy decision. The peach milkshake was on point too.