Another White Rim trail trip report

[Captain JB]

Permits go on sale twice per year and sell out 3 minutes after they open. Can be possible same day, 24 hours prior, if others cancelled. Look at the NPS website. It may be that some permits can only be purchased in person the day before the permits are good, but that could also just be for backpacking or other purposes . . . rules change over time.

Thanks so much!

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[moosehead]

Really beautiful pics @Andystroh. Thanks for a great post.

 

[Andystroh]

Really beautiful pics @Andystroh. Thanks for a great post.

Thanks!!

 

[Dman250]

Thanks for posting. My wife and I rode the White Rim on mountain bikes about three years ago, on a supported tour, but I wouldn’t mind going back on four wheels. Question: do you think it would have been harder or easier going the other direction? Our tour company’s diesel Ford SuperDuty support truck needed 1st gear 4 low for the climb up the Murphy Hogback which you descended. None of us including our guide could ride the whole thing either. By contrast going up Schafer was a piece of cake, though tiring at the end of the ride. As I recall you can’t pick the direction when getting the permit.

 

[Andystroh]

Thanks for posting. My wife and I rode the White Rim on mountain bikes about three years ago, on a supported tour, but I wouldn’t mind going back on four wheels. Question: do you think it would have been harder or easier going the other direction? Our tour company’s diesel Ford SuperDuty support truck needed 1st gear 4 low for the climb up the Murphy Hogback which you descended. None of us including our guide could ride the whole thing either. By contrast going up Schafer was a piece of cake, though tiring at the end of the ride. As I recall you can’t pick the direction when getting the permit.

Our direction was dictated by the order of our camping reservations. I don’t remember a descent that felt especially steep, and the inclines we did go up the tires didn’t even slip. The Tacoma we were with had to work a lot harder. I wouldn’t hesitate to go either direction on the trail.

So I drove the road like six years ago, and remember a steep rocky climb on the Murphy hog back as being one of the toughest trail sections, going the opposite way (same direction as you did). One thing I noticed this time is there were no rocks there. I don’t know if I misremember or if they smoothed the road, but it seemed changed. Not sure if you remember it being rocky when you went.

 

[twizzstyle]

Who's got two thumbs up and a permit for White Rim late March? This guy. This has been a bucket list trip for me for many years.

 

[twizzstyle]

I just returned from my white rim trip. I’m not going to bother with a full trip report, so I’ll just tack on to this thread.

It was epic. We drove down from the Seattle area, and had zero issues charging all the way there and back (mostly Electrify America, with a couple of magic dock superchargers). We charged to 100% in Moab before white rim, did the whole loop clockwise over four days (three nights), and returned to Moab with 23%. We camped at Airport, White Crack, and Hardscrabble.

Nothing on the trail was challenging, just loads of fun. It was all dry. Hardscrabble was the funnest part.

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