Wilsons Sandbox

_____ Glad you enjoyed Moab. Yes, the mountain (pedal) bikers have pretty much taken over as far as numbers on the Slick Rock Trail. Would you believe that it was originally designated as a trail to attract MOTORCYCLISTS to visit Moab! I think I still have a brochure somewhere that features a photo of a rider on a late '60's two-stroke enduro, and an invitation to off-road riders to come to Moab to ride the then new Slick Rock Motorcycle Trail. I don't think there was even such a thing as a mountain bike back then, and certainly no bicycle shops in Moab. This was about the same time the Easter Weekend Jeep Rally was beginning to be promoted. Seems Moab was really hurting economically due to the collapse of the uranium mining industry in the early 60's. Unemployment was widespread in the community, and real estate was dirt cheap. Then someone had the bright idea to take advantage of the many, many prospector trails and mining development roads in the area, by marketing Moab as a recreation destination to those who would later be called "adventure riders". I know, I was there on my Yamaha DT-250, and many more times over the years on a variety of motorcycles and Jeeps. The terrain is as fascinating as ever, the only differences are lots more people now, and lots more regulation by Bureau of Land Management. Some of the best trails, etc, are now closed, and more closure is coming I'm afraid. Similar to Moab, and twenty years earlier on the path of discovery, popularity, and regulation is an area about 60 miles west of Moab, called the San Rafael Swell. Here's a Photo http://rallred.smugmug.com/photos/521642386_Dqtbb-M.jpg More at http://rallred.smugmug.com/gallery/7907018_29tVu/1/521642386_Dqtbb Allred Riverton, Utah _____ From: DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com [mailto:DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Robert Waters Sent: Thursday, May 07, 2009 7:48 AM To: DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com Subject: [DSN_KLR650] Moab Trip Hello KLR riders, This is a quick report of a great trip from Arkansas to Moab to wheel in the beautiful desert. My son and I took our bikes and road them for 3 days. We road Slickrock bike trail 4 times, twice each direction. It is a wonderful trail, especially for lighter bikes. I took my XT225, which by the way performed marvelously. No problem starting it in that altitude, which is a problem here. Must be too lean from the factory. And the stock gears were just fine. We road Fins and Things, Hell's Revenge and on another day three other trails. I believe they were Gold Bar, Spike and another I can't remember the name of...Golden Rim Maybe, the one that has the crack that is hard to cross. They all join. We started on one and wound up doing them all three, which was about a 45 mile ride. The most difficult part of the ride was where there was sand below a rocky difficult climb. The sand made it difficult to get any kind of run at the climb. I highly recommend Moab for bikes, especially the Slickrock trail. Almost 80% were mountain bikes (the motorless kind) so evidently the word is not out or dirt bikes are not so popular any more. It would be possible to do the trails on a KLR, if you are a big strong guy, but one would certainly need to lower the gears. I would not think of doing them on my KLR. Robert Waters [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]