The Whole Enchilada

Today, I completed The Whole Enchilada trails and thus the trifecta!  Three of the top 10 trails ridden within a week.  Life just doesn't get any better than this.

Every year we come out to Moab to do Porcupine Rim, and are unable to do all 5 of the trails that make up The Whole Enchilada due to snow/ice conditions.  The highest point of the trail is about 11,200ft, and not as high as than some of the trails in Crested Butte.  These trails then deliver 7,000ft of elevation loss over 26miles.  This all boils down to hours of downhill fun.

There is a bit of trickery to obtain all this wonderfulness.  As most know, you have to shuttle up to the top of the La Sal peaks.  With most shuttles, you hope out of the van, dawn your gear, and start riding downhill.  For The Whole Enchilada, the van drops you off at a set of road and trail junctions.  You then to trek along the road for a mile before engaging low gear to climb from 10,400ft to 11,200ft.

After what I have been riding before this, I felt like Dave Weins starting up the hill.  Leading the locals up the hill was pretty cool.  Then the evil trail gods/maintenance crew decided to turn up the pain in a few places, and decided that a 20% incline would equalize everyone...and it did.  Everyone had to do the HAB (Hike-A-Bike) for these climbs, and even walking was strenuous.

Reaching the crest, we were rewarded with other side of the mountain, and great forest single track.  For those who know Porcupine Rim, this is an entirely different environment.  The trail here winds through the trees, steep loose down hills, sharp switchbacks and stream crossings.  It was worth the climb as this was premium riding.

The trail comes out into a campground area, and then heads over to the Hazzard Country trail.  This connects the La Sal Mountains to the rim.  The trail flows through the brush, and has spectacular views of Castle Valley.  This trail was not challenging, but some folks had the idea to spice it up with a few gap jumps next to the trail.  These jumps seriously crossed gaps from 3 to 6 feet in width.  Mess up, and it would game over.

Once through with Hazzard Country, you are then rewarded with the Porcupine Rim type of trails that we all know (and love).  Kokopelli trail is a great stretch that has an incredibly insane rock drop near the middle.  (The video doesn't do it justice...).  This leads into UPS, and is common ground from our previous trips up to Moab.

New to the trail is a bypass from The Notch called LPS.  The Notch is basically a 12 foot drop with a few randomly placed rocks that make for some crazy HAB.  I decided to take the new LPS trail, and might have to say that this route is more technical than The Notch.  In front of me as I was entering the trail witnessed a guy OTB on the first switchback, and roll about 10 feet into a tree barricade strategically placed to prevent folks from dropping off a 30ft cliff.

The rest of the ride was eventful, as I sliced the sidewall of my rear tire.  Two more flats occured as the sidewall kept tearing, and puncturing the tubes before realizing that was the cause of my dismay.

Regardless, The Whole Enchilada is an epic ride, and will be disappointed next year on Mancation when the passages will be closed as usual.

Enjoy the over exposed video!