Yesterday morning I was a bundle of energy. A full year of exploratories fills my hard drive, all that needed to be done was to decide on a few key pieces of the puzzle.
There’s a section of the Grandview on the Paunsaugant that’s a lovely, steep singletrack climb – steep enough to barely be rideable but a good surface – but it is littered with downed trees every 100 feet or so. Include it or route around it? Another section plunges off the Paunsaugunt and is a bit disorienting and completely unrideable in the reverse direction. Lots of options after the route’s high point on Powell Pt – what to do there?
It’s been such a wonderful, long term obsession that perhaps I’ve just been loathe to put the full route together, fearing the end. Ha! There’s always the next section, Escalante to Moab…and I’ll say this about that one – it’s gonna start with a bang. That’s a teaser more for myself that for you ;)
So. What are you in for? Bring climbing legs yo.
320 miles, 44,700′ of climbing. Elevations between 2,500 and 10,200. Remote, few restock options, but should be plenty of water. I’ve done my best to keep the best trails and exclude hike a bike. There are some tough areas, but overall it’s very rideable – much more so than GLR.
It looks really cool in google earth. Doing flythroughs had me grinning ear to ear, recalling each of the scouting missions and the things that happened along the way.
GPX coming soon. The 3 major elevation areas are the Markagunt, Paunaugunt, and Table Cliff Plateau. We’ll do an out and back to Powell point, the southern escarpment of the Table Cliff Plateau…it’s a view you simply must see.
A word on lodging: that weekend is the St George marathon, the biggest annual event in the region. Lodging is long gone. If you would like to stay at my place let me know your plans – my place is beginning to look crowded. I do have my limits.