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Golden Spike Trail
2 reviews
4 of 5
This trail is very popular with 4X4, ATVs, and motorcycles. I love to ride a mountain bike, but only do this trail on a motorcycle because of its length, technical difficulty, and sand patches. However, on my last outing I came across a half dozen mountain bikers on the trail and wanted publicize it for those who have the required technical skill and aerobic capacity. The hills are steeper than on the Slickrock Trail and the obstacles are far more difficult.
You start by riding the Poison Spider trail. This is an uphill grind with a number of technical slickrock sections, interspersed with sand pits. At mile 5.0 the Golden Spike trail begins. Most of the trail is on slickrock, but with some short sandy sections. The next five miles includes a couple of very steep slickrock climbs and a number of slickrock obstacles. The climbs and obstacles will be unridable for most bikers. At mile 10.7 is the famous Golden Crack, a crack about 4 wide that presents great difficulty for a jeep. Of course you can easily carry your bike over it, or jump it. There are several more tough obstacles up to about mile 13. After that the ride is pretty dull to the end at mile 20.
You might consider doing this trail as an out-and-back from the Poison Spider trailhead to mile 13, then back. The trail is marked, but Id strongly advise bringing a GPS with waypoints recorded. Get them at http://www.4x4now.com/33jsgs.htm.
Summary: not a bad trail, desc. is correct sandy... steep... ride in the same area is the HIGHLY recommended Gold Bar Rim / Portal loop (real riders DON'T shuttle) . Less sand, same great view, you ride portions of the Golden Spike, but really get to ride the good onees and avoid the sandtraps
Recommended Route: seee Goldbar Rim
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Review Date September 4, 2003
Overall Rating 5 of 5
Aerobic Difficulty 4 of 5
Technical Difficulty 4 of 5
Ridden Trail: Once a year
Reviewed by: bikeCOLORADO
,
Weekend Warrior
, from Colorado Springs, CO
Summary: Combine this trail with a few others for a truly fantastic Epic Moab experience. Start at Gemini Bridges to Goldbar Rim to Goldspike to Portal. Shuttle to the Gemini drop in...ride into town from the bottom of the Portal. Total is around 28 miles.
Goldspike itself is just another great slickrock playground...with more obstacles thrown in for good measure. Drops, lifts, ledges galore.
Recommended Route: Call the Coyote Shuttle in Moab...have them drop you off at the Gemini Bridges access road.
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4 of 5
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