White Rim Trail
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Rim Trail
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White Rim Trail runs for about 80 miles in the Island in the Sky district of Canyonlands National Park. It's a 4WD road on a wide sandstone bench at an elevation about halfway between the visitor center and the Colorado and Red Rivers. There's no water, so we contracted with Kaibab Cyclery for a truck and driver. The truck comes with 100 gallons of water, full kitchen, tables and chairs, and storage space for all our personal gear. So we got the best of all worlds -- access to this wonderful piece of backcountry, our own cooking with full kitchen, and no need to carry gear on the bikes!
We started the Shafer switchback descent with some trepidation, because it's hard to calibrate other reports to our own experience. By halfway down, though, we were all at the "absolutely spectactular" stage -- the setting and the views are worth every bit of the trouble.
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We gathered at theoutfitter and met Morris, our truck ... |
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... and figured out how to get our gear into the dry bags |
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After driving to the Island in the Sky visitor center and checking in, we embark. The trail soon drops over the edge and makes a grand sweep around a valley - we can see our other bikers across the chasm |
Soon, though, the trail gets down to the business is getting from the Island (on top) to the White Rim (halfway down). |
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It's as steep as it looks, |
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and rougher, |
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After a very long three miles, we emerge unscathed on the flats. Our reward is a walk with flowering cactus... |
.. ...to an overlook ... |
... where we can admire the Gooseneck of the
Colorado River
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The trail winds along the edge of the cliff |
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Paul walks Musselman's Arch |
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We watch ... |
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... as we navigate at the edge |
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Much of the trail is on the white sandstone formation that gives the trail its name, and we look up to the top |
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... and down through vast eroded canyons toward the Colorado River |
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Airport Tower overlooks our camp in the evening haze |
The cliffs greet us as the sun rises |
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In case your browser can't handle the Java applet for panoramas, here's the 2D version of the Goosenecks |
Photos by Mary Shaw, except as indicated. Copyright (c) 2001.
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Copyright © 2001 by Mary Shaw. Use of any portion of this site to generate spam or other mass communication is forbidden. Last revised: July 17, 2001.
