Suggested Routes
Arches Sojourn
Distance: 39.6 miles
This ride through Utahraptor State Park and Arches National Park offers a classic Moab mixed-surface gravel adventure, going from bike path, to double-track jeep road, to tarmac. Along the way, you'll pedal past where the Utahraptor dinosaur was first discovered and the original, rugged entrance to Arches National Monument. This is a highly scenic segment, but also a backcountry challenge. An added bonus is the out-and-back to visit Eye of the Whale Arch.
Sand Flats Ramble
Distance: 22 miles
Sand Flats Road originally connected Moab and Castle Valley over Wilson Mesa prior to the construction of Utah Highway 128. It's named "Sand Flats" because of the deep sand that once accumulated on the road — a trip back then could take two to three days. Now, regular road maintenance has made it an artery for outdoor recreation, and access to the La Sal Mountains.
History of gravel roads in Moab
Many of the routes you’ll explore on your Moab gravel adventures have been used for thousands of years. In a region made up of deep canyons and vast vistas, the Moab valley provides the only major crossing point of the Colorado River for miles. Indigenous groups have been here for over 10,000 years; early agriculturalists, known as the ancestral Puebloans, left the region about 700 years ago. They were followed by the nomadic Shoshonean peoples, including the Ute and Paiute, who were in the area when the first European settlers arrived (and still are: Countless tribes migrated through and settled in this area; today, we consider these lands the homelands of tribes including the Ute, Navajo, Paiute, and Hopi).
Moab grew slowly through the early 1900s. Rough double-track and primitive wagon roads, including roads used along the Old Spanish Trail, extended through Moab; the journey often required a ferry-ride across the Colorado river. Moab became more accessible to travelers after the first bridge over the river was constructed in 1912. Roads throughout the region were mainly used to transport cattle.
In 1952, Charlie Steen discovered one of the country’s richest uranium deposits just outside of Moab. As thousands of mining claims were staked across public lands in Grand County, prospectors needed vehicle access for their mining operations—so the Atomic Energy Commission expanded and built thousands of miles of gravel roads, creating better accessibility throughout the region for miners and visitors both.
By 1970, the uranium mining industry was in significant decline. The town of Moab looked to tourism as a viable economic path: in 1965, Canyonlands reported 19,400 visits, Arches reported 143,900. Tourists and locals alike were finding that they could explore mining roads outside of the parks in their vehicles—the first “Easter Jeep Safari” took place in 1967.
Today, you can recreate on those same roads, with much of the same infrastructure that the cattle, mining machinery, and 1960s tourism vehicles created.
Gravel Adventure Field Guide
Want a print version of these routes? You can pick up a Gravel Adventure Field Guide at bike shops in town, or order a copy online.