Much has been written about bikepacking the infamous White Rim trail, with great resources to be found on bikepacking.com as well as many other sites! Suffice it to say, I am not going to attempt to restate the wealth of information contained within those many great route descriptions. Rather, what follows are pictures from my overnight solo bikepacking trip along the White Rim at the end of March.
In the interest of brevity, I started my route just north of the Canyonlands park entrance and descended the stunning Shafer Canyon Rd en route to Murphy Hogback Campground, which was almost exactly halfway around the White Rim and where I had cached water and two beers hiking in a few days prior. Cool days and a mix of weather conditions made for stunning skies and memorable miles. The pictures and descriptions tell the rest of the story, but it is certainly one I will never forget!
After being delayed due to snow, rain, and a ton of mud on the White Rim the plan was to convert my 3 day, 2 night trip into a 2 day, 1 night trip. Luckily, Jacy and I had cached water at my original camp 2, which was now the only camp – 54 miles in.
The amazing, stunning, gorgeous, and precipitous descent into the White Rim 1500 ft down via Shafer Canyon Rd.
In I go!
The cliff side switchbacks of Shafer Canyon Rd.
The cliff side switchbacks of Shafer Canyon Rd.
View back up Shafer Canyon
Now on the White Rim Rd just after Shafer Canyon Road turns off.
The mighty Colorado River from the Walking Rocks overlook.
Yours truly with feet hanging off a long drop down to the mighty Colorado River at the Walking Rocks overlook.
Musselman Arch
Musselman Arch
My venerable Krampus with Washer Woman Arch and Monster Tower in the back.
Cresting out after a short steep climb near Airport Tower.
Buck Canyon and the aptly named White Rim as seen from the top of the plateau.
Buck Canyon with Washer Woman Arch and Monster Tower in the back.
Post snow and sleet storm. The sky was amazing.
Desert miles are long…. but stunning.
Desert miles are long…. but stunning.
Monument Basin
Monument basin seend from the top of the plateau. If you look close you can see White Rim road long its edge.
Monument Basin
The final climb of my day up Murphy Hogback. There is no scale that can do the gradient of this thing justice. Let’s just say I was cussing.
View back down the climb up Murphy Hogback to the valley floor where I had previously been. Got into camp with about an hour and a half until sunset. Good timing!
And, it was time to eat! Plenty of options!
Camp and the view to the southern bits of Canyonlands.
Sunset on Day 1 at Murphy Hogback Camp A
Day 2 after a fun and fast 22 mile grind down to the NW I got my first glimpse of the Green River – now some 1200 ft below where I started the day at Murphy.
Krampus, and the Green River.
Green River at Queen Anne Bottom
Green River at Queen Anne Bottom
The second of the three major climbs, Hardscrabble Hill is another ass-kicker with insane gradients that a photo would never do justice.
After the long climb up Hardscrabble, the descent is nothing short of amazing as you are some 500 feet above the Green River.
Just outside of the Canyonlands park boundary I had to stop to enjoy the last flattish ground before climbing nearly 2000 feet back out of the canyon, 1000 of which happens in less than a mile and a half up the Mineral Bottom switchbacks.
View down to the Green River from on the climb up the Mineral Bottom switchbacks. Just about 1/2 way up at this point and happy to still be pedaling!
View of the Mineral Bottom Switchbacks, and feeling good about having made that climb, and with it behind me!
Finally, the long slog back ~13 miles across the plateau and up another 1000 feet. Parts of this were soul-sucking due to a strong headwind but a rewarding end to a great two days on the White Rim by myself!
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Wow. Amazing place to ride.
Looks like an awesome set-up.
Do you mind breaking down what you’ve got going on there in the cockpit?
It looks awesome.
Thanks!
Thanks Will! I wrote a little bit more about my setup in a subsequent post that you can read here. In short though, I am running a Son28 Dynamo that is wired to a custom K-lite stem switch (their newer model that does the same thing is this bar switch) that allows you to choose between USB output or USB+Light. For the USB output I use a Sinewave Cycles Reactor unit and the light is a K-lite Bikepacker Pro. Finally, I use the USB to keep a constant charge on my GPS but run a small cache battery with pass through charging between the GPS and the USB reactor. That way the battery can still output a constant charge to your GPS and keep it from constantly yelling at you if your speed drops off for climbs, etc. The key is to get a battery with pass-through charging otherwise the battery cannot output a charge while simultaneously receiving input from the dynamo. I use an old LimeFuel L60X, but this Voltaic Systems battery is another viable option that has been tested by a number of folks running dynamos. Final edit: recently Sinewave Cycles introduced their Beacon light, which also includes an integrated USB charger so that is also a very attractive and sleek option.