Lower Porcupine Singletrack (LPS) and Porcupine Rim

Porcupine Rim, according to all the things I’ve read, is the second most popular ride in Moab. It definitely has some the most breathtaking panoramas I have ever seen. This trail is only part of what is known in the area as The Whole Enchilada; which encompasses several trails including Burro Pass, Hazard County, Upper Porcupine Singletrack (UPS), LPS, and Porcupine Rim.

We were in Moab in April, and everything above LPS was still deep in snow. We were shuttled up to the highest possible starting point, LPS, and even then there was a dusting of snow on the trails. The majority of the ride is downhill, but that certainly doesn’t mean it’s easy. Quite the contrary.

This kind of riding was more familiar to me, complete with lots of tight singletrack through small shrubs and trees, mud, rocks and roots. It took me a while to get my riding legs back after a day on smooth wide open rock. The trail was technical but not discouragingly so…yet. After some twists and turns and some awesome views of the Castle Valley from up top the mesa the trail emerges into a double jeep track. This section is like a rough rocky road. We began the flight down, and I call it a flight because the speed creeps up on you if you aren’t careful, and you can hit air during certain points of the ride.

This is where I scared myself multiple times. The lines that most riders pick are easy to spot by the tire tracks. On the rockiest and roughest drops the easiest lines are usually to the immediate left or right of the road. There were a couple times when I came flying around a corner and was unable to veer to the outside lines. My bike dropped once, twice, three times…and these weren’t small drops…Again the only way to explain it is to throw in a video. 27 seconds in demonstrates this style of riding. (note that I did NOT ride the “diving board” drop that is shown 4 times in this video)



Even though I didn’t have to pedal much my quads were burning from hovering over the seat and manoevering the downhill. There was a section of rock that appeared to be an easy slope. Near the bottom a bunch of riders had stopped for a bite to eat before tackling the next section of trail. It was here that I took a tumble. I had approached a bench-type drop that seemed straight forward. What I didn’t know as I went over the edge was that the next step curved inward instead of being a flat rock. I guess I didn’t have enough speed to keep rolling over it as my front tire stopped dead and I flew off the bike and onto my left shoulder and side right into the rock base. Ow!! My first fall on rocks. (It’s much harder than the sand and soil I’m used to falling on ;0))There were cheers as I rose, gave the thumbs up and got back on my bike to continue.

At about the 10 mile point the trail began to narrow back to more singletrack and started to wind around the canyon rim. I was told that there is no shame in walking your bike through some of these sections. And I did just that. Riders ahead would yell out “Death on the right!” when a particularly steep drop was coming up. This was my cue to dismount and live.



Although I didn’t ride many parts of the Porcupine Rim section I watched with envy as other riders manoevered the tricky trail seemingly without effort. I kept telling myself that they ride this stuff all the time.
Once we were past the scariest parts I was able to ride the rest of the trail back to the highway. I would love to ride this trail again. My favourite part was actually the middle section where we were flying down drops and steps. There was little time to think so instinct took over. It's amazing what instince can do! What a ride!