Canyon Rims Traverse

Dogs Unknown

E-Bikes Allowed

Features Commonly Bikepacked · Views

While the riding is just dirt and gravel roads (with a jog on a paved stretch), this route offers great camping, expansive views, and allows you to skip the highway riding with little penalty if you are bikepacking through.

A gravel bike works fine for most of this route, but wider MTB tires are nice for other roads in the area, and for the sandier bits on the south end of the trail (137). Gravel bikes can avoid this section by continuing out the paved Needles Overlook road to/from UT-191 to ride a loop from the trailhead.

Unfortunately, there are no reliable natural water sources along this route, so a support vehicle is nice to have if you want to linger for a few days. There are two developed BLM campgrounds in this area—Wind Whistle and Hatch Point—but only WW trucks in seasonal water now (confirm before depending on it). You may also be able to find surface water in a cattle trough beside the road south of Looking Glass Rock, or in Hatch Wash; just don't bet the farm on

The Canyon Rims Recreation Area (CRRA) is a loosely-defined, massive expanse of multi-use public land. The BLM seems to generally consider it to encompass all the public lands adjacent to the Colorado River (east) side of Canyonlands National Park, which means CRRA extends from Anticline Overlook above Hurrah Pass in the north, all the way down through Beef Basin to Dark Canyon and Butler Wash in the south. Much of this southern section has been re-designated as part of the much-disputed Bear's Ears National Monument.

For this ride through the northern end of CRRA, start at the LNG pipeline that crosses the Looking Glass Rock Road (131) off of UT-191, and ride south out the wide, graded gravel road with expansive views, past the Looking Glass Rock formation, the Rockland Ranch polygamist colony, and down into Hatch Wash.

Climb gradually back out of the wash and continue southward on the main road, until it terminates at the paved Needles Overlook Road (133).

Turn left (SE) onto this paved road and follow it for about five miles, past the Wind Whistle BLM Campground and around Rone Bailey Mesa. When you see the dirt 137 road cross the paved road just before a wash at the bottom of a hill, turn right onto it and stay on this south-trending route through several crossroads until it dead-ends at the paved Needles/Newspaper Rock road (UT-211). This section of road can be more sandy than the previous sections.

The trail rides well in both directions, but it's somewhat easier from S to N, given the elevation trend downward in this direction.

If you are willing to take more time (days) for substantial detours, you can explore the dirt--and one paved--road network that visits remarkable clifftop viewpoints over Canyonlands, including Needles Overlook, Anticline Overlook, Hatch Point, and other less famous spots.