Someone asked us during this year’s Powerhouse Motorsports/KYMCO Moab Rally if we ever get tired of riding the trails around Moab and then writing about it.
Just mark that down as one of the silliest questions asked during our three-day ride in southern Utah.
We never tire of riding around Moab and we jump at every opportunity we get to ride there. Our most recent invitation was the annual Powerhouse event, which is sponsored by the Pleasant Grove, UT-based powersports dealership as well as KYMCO USA.
One of the coolest things about this event is it is free to attend and Powerhouse Motorsports owner Dustin Sweeten and his crew provide guided rides for each of the three days along with a catered dinner Friday evening for all those who attend.
We started the three-day Moab Rally with a hybrid ride, meaning we rode parts of the Fins & Things trail and then moved on to the Hells Revenge trail. Those two trails are a great introduction to the types of riding Moab has to offer from slickrock to dirt to sand to obstacles big and small to absolutely stunning scenery.
Although the Powerhouse Moab Rally has a large number of returning riders who attend every year, there is always a handful who have never experienced Moab’s trails. So Sweeten likes to break them in with something fairly (heavy on the ish) tame on the first day. Fins & Things and Hells Revenge are ideal for that.
Not So Tame
Day two was not so tame. Moab Rim was the trail of choice and the first three obstacles are buggers. Of course, Sweeten and his crew are there to help coach and guide through those obstacles, appropriately named, “Devils Crack” and “Z Turn.” The first part of this off-camber trail is on the edge of a cliff that drops down to the Kane Creek Road and the Colorado River. It can definitely be intimidating.
Once on top, things mellow out a bit and you can walk over to the edge of the cliff and see Moab below and the snow-capped La Sal Mountains in the distance. This is an out-and-back trail so you have to maneuver the same obstacles you climbed up when you go back down. And they aren’t any less intimidating going down than up.
On the third day we headed out of town, across and then up the west side of the Colorado River to the Poison Spider Trail.
While maybe not having the difficulty rating the Moab Rim Trail does, Poison Spider offers its own set of obstacles that test man and machine. “The Waterfall,” “Wedgy” and “Tie Rod Flats” are plenty fun and difficult. We managed to get through all those, stopped to play in the small sand area on the trail and then had lunch at the Little Arch.
Poison Spider was fairly busy on the Saturday we rode it. Jeep Week, a huge jeeping event held annually in Moab, was the following week and several people/vehicles showed up early because there were plenty on the trail.
It was a great three days of riding and another great Powerhouse Motorsports/KYMCO event.
We are never disappointed when we go to Moab.
