Small Home – Big Yard

After spending yesterday in Arches National Park, we decide to see more of the area, this time on mountain bikes.  There are a lifetime of biking trails throughout the Moab area. If you’ve arrived without your mountain bike, there are a number of rental shops in Moab. We rented from Rim Cyclery, located just a one block off Main Street (highway 191).  The staff was great, they spent plenty of time showing us all of the features and controls of our brand-new full suspension Specialized bikes. 

The Moab trail system includes something for everyone, from expert-only, multi-day rides to less advanced, flat rides.  We opted for one of the road rides with no elevation change along the Colorado River.  Known as the Potash Road ride, most bikers start from one of the BLM campgrounds a few miles off the main highway. The road follows the river through the beautiful canyon south-west of Moab. 

Along the way we passed Wall Street, a popular climbing area where we took a short break to watch climbers scaling vertical sandstone walls.  Within a mile of Wall Street are some of the finest petroglyphs in the Moab area.  There is also a number of roadside pullouts for rest stops and to enjoy the flowing river.  We rode all the way to  Jug Handle Arch, an aptly named arch at about the 12 mile mark.  In total, we rode about 24 miles – plenty for those of us that hadn’t been on a bicycle saddle in 10+ years!