Telluride to Moab Bike
by Rich Henke

In September 2006, a group of us rode our mountain bikes 190 miles from Telluride, Colorado to Moab, Utah. We met my VW camper van each night at selected campsites. The van carried our food, ice chests, sleeping bags, tents, chairs, adult beverages, books, and anything else that we wanted for the 7-day, 6-night trip. Each of us drove the van 1 day and 6 of us prepared an evening meal. A 4-wheel drive vehicle was not necessary. We were all responsible for bringing our own breakfasts and lunches. Participants were Ron Bartell, Christine Mitchell, Armando Menocal, Alfredo Lopez, Greg Scarich, Janet Niichel, and Rich Henke. Pat Neely also joined us for some of the camps.

This trip can also be done commercially. The San Juan Hut System's Mountain Bike Tour from Telluride to Moab has become very popular over the years. This tour provides food and sleeping bags at 6 separate huts along the biking route for a cost of $620 per person. I am told that it is almost fully booked during the summer. http://www.sanjuanhuts.com

We started the ride from Alfredo's house in Telluride on September 8. Day 1 was the hardest part of the ride. We were caught in a storm going up Last Dollar Pass making the road so muddy that most people could barely push their bikes. We had planned on camping at the pass, but the van was not able to drive that far on the slippery roads. Everyone was wet and cold by the time we met the van north of the pass. Many thanks to Pat Neely who helped drive the van that day in very difficult conditions.

The rest of the ride was fairly routine. Much of the riding was on gravel roads suitable for passenger cars. We were caught by a short thunderstorm on day 3 that covered the ground with sleet and hail. Some of us rode the 10-mile Ute Creek single-track on day 5. The ride up John Brown Canyon on day 6 was long and steep. And some of us finished the tour with a descent of the 14-mile Porcupine Rim route, one of the best single-tracks at Moab on day 7. Our evening meals were excellent! We had fresh food every night thanks to good cooks and the ice chests. We were all happy with our choices of campsites and fresh water was available along the way. Equipment failures were minor and were easily handled by Greg, our equipment guru.

Our "approximate" daily schedule was as follows:
Day 1 - 18 miles, 2800 ft gain, start in Telluride, camp 5 miles north of Last Dollar Pass.
Day 2 - 20 miles, 1600 ft gain, camp near Johnson Spring.
Day 3 - 32 miles, 1800 ft gain, camp at Columbine Campground.
Day 4 - 33 miles, 1600 gain, camp at Divide Forks Campground.
Day 5 - 26 miles, 2000 gain, camp 2 miles past Gateway on John Brown road.
Day 6 - 30 miles, 4100 gain, camp at Rock Castle Campground, at the top of Castle Valley road.
Day 7 - 30 miles, 2000 gain, including Porcupine Rim ride, finishing near Moab.
Totals were approximately 189 miles, and 15,900 feet of gain.

More information about the ride can be found in the Falcon Book titled "Mountain Biking, Hut to Hut, Telluride to Moab". Although the book is basically an advertisement for the commercial trip, the route descriptions are useful for independent riders. Two maps, the Uncompragre National Forest map, and the Latitude 40 map, "Moab East", cover the route.

The consensus was that doing this route with a support van had several advantages over the commercial hut-to-hut version of the trip.
(1) Dinners were more elaborate since we could keep fresh vegetables and meat in our ice chests.
(2) Our group of 7 felt that camping was more comfortable than having to all sleep in a small hut.
(3) We saved over $4,000. Camping was free and the only costs were gas and food.
(4) A big advantage is that we didn't carry much on our bikes. We carried only our lunch and clothes needed for the day, plus the normal bike repair equipment that one takes on a day ride. This allowed us to ride the single-track trails more easily. The hut-to-hut riders need panniers to carry all their clothes, repair items, and everything else that they need for the 7-day trip other than breakfasts, dinners, and a sleeping bag. Most of them do not ride the single-track options.

In October of 2002, some of the same group of people did a different mountain bike route, "The Kokopelli Trail", from Moab to Fruita, near Grand Junction. It was similar in that we used my van for support and took turns driving and preparing dinner. A 2-wheel drive support vehicle was sufficient for that trip also. The ride took 6 days, 5 nights, covered 151 miles, and had a total gain of about 19,000 feet. It was a more interesting ride, in that it had more single track, probably better scenery, and less riding on roads frequented by cars. It was also more strenuous and difficult. An advantage of the Telluride to Moab ride is that it is suitable for riders who do not have experience on technical trails.