The White Rim is a 103 mile, over 9,000 feet of climbing, four wheel drive road in Canyonlands National Park outtside of Moab, UT. I did the trail 20 years ago as a 16 year old teenager, but remembered little of the experience. Lately I had read about many who were riding it in a day, so of course my brother Guthrie and I decided to do the same. It was a rough beginning and I suppose it was an indicator of the ride itself.
We arrived 9:30 P.M. and drove to the Canyonland entrance station where we stashed two gallons of water, some gatorade and other misc. items. We then drove to the parking above the well known Horsethief climb. The wind was strongly blowing, creating a sandstorm. Oh yeah, this was going to be fun. For the next thirty minutes we set up the tent, put rocks inside and out, then laid down for a fitful night. We discovered two things; screen tents are not good in sandstorms and it is difficult to sleep with sand in your nose, mouth, hair, clothes and sleeping bag. After no sleep we finally decided to arise at three thirty, got ready and were on our way.
The first ten miles were with the wind. We rode with headlamps and were quite bored. Later as we climbed against the wind, we couldn't wait for the down hill after the park entrance. But the wind got stronger and stronger. We had to peddle down hill to even keep going, for the next 90 miles we fought 30 mph headwinds, 60 mph gusts and sandstorms. The views were pretty but were soon eclipsed by the relentless, annoying wind.
Because of the wind, we were riding slower and began to run out of water, so at around one we began to only sip to conserve. Dehydration began and we became weaker and began to feel nauseas. It was awesome. With 10 miles left the sand began. This is my favorite picture of the trip. The wind and sand was blowing, we were almost out of water, and the sand was too deep to ride, so we sat/laid down to rest before the last push to the end.
Finally at mile 100 we came upon the final climb; Horsethief, 900 feet in two miles, No energy or water. We were excited. Guthrie rode most and walked some, I rode some and walked most.
Arriving at the top we threw everything in the car, retrieved the stash bag, and drove into town to get water.
103.5 miles, approx. 12 hours riding, 14 hours total, 64 oz gatorade, 100 oz water, 11 Gu Packs, 6 Endurolyte tablets. 1 Fruit Snaxx, 2 Fruit leater, one PBH (peanut butter and honey) sandwich. We arrived home that at 2 A.M. feeling exhausted and dehydrated.
We both agreed we would never do it again. It wasn't too hard, just too much four wheel drive road. We love single track, not car track. Overall a cool ride to say we did once.
