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Deadman's Ridge Trail
Deadman's Ridge is a expert-level trail in the Brand Trails
complex north of Moab. It connects the southern end of the Lazy-EZ loop to the northern end of the
Bar B loop.
From there, it connects to the Longbranch, then descends to the
Old 191 paved trail.
Looking northwest near the north end
of Deadman's Ridge. Photos and description from a ride on 3/23/2011 by
Bruce.
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| The trail is 3.4 miles in length. It will climb from 4200
feet elevation at the Bar B to 4500 feet, with a lot of short ups and
downs along its length. It descends to Old 191 at 4100 feet elevation.
The trail is considerably more
technical than Lazy-EZ. |
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Deadman's Ridge can be done by riders with upper
intermediate technical skills. Even experts may not be able to clean
everything. There are short cruiser sections. But much of the trail is
butt-off-the-seat attack or descent.
The trail is lined with rock in many
spots, probably an attempt to keep the riding line narrow. This does make
the riding a little harder. |
| To reach Deadman's Ridge, start from the lower parking area.
(Go past the first parking area, turn left when you reach the fence, then
park in the gravel lot at the bottom of the little valley.) Head
east (continuing the same direction you drove in).
Southbound, the Wingate sandstone
cliffs tower over the ridge. |
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After 1/4 mile, just as you begin to climb the ridge, turn right on the
Lazy-EZ loop trail. At
the fork 0.1 miles later, take EZ (the right fork) southbound until it
hits the Bar M doubletrack. The Deadman's Ridge trail is right across Bar
M from the bottom of Lazy-EZ.
In the middle of the photo is the
highway. The dark slash on the small hill is the paved bike trail heading
up toward the Bar M parking and Gemini Bridges. |
| The initial segment 1.7 miles in length, where a short
(1/10 mile) connector joins the western half of the Bar B loop shortly
after Bar B starts at the south end of the Bar M loop.
The trail gets more technical as you
head south. |
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To do the Bar B, fork left off
Deadman's Ridge, then fork right at the next trail fork to head southbound
on the Bar B loop. If you're heading directly for Rockin A or
the Bar M, fork left at this second
intersection.
To continue on Deadman's Ridge, fork right (south).
The
trail here is directly up the ramp in the middle of
the photo. |
Alternate route! To start at the
midpoint of Deadman's Ridge:
From the southern tip of the Bar M loop, go south to the Bar B loop split
and turn right to begin climbing the hill. As you reach the trail fork,
keep right at the first intersection to leave Bar B. At the next
intersection, go right for northbound Deadman's or left for southbound
Deadman's.
From the Rockin A, just cross the eastern leg of Bar B and climb up to the
trail fork as above.
Further south along the trail, we're
looking across to the Wingate sandstone cliffs. The mid-section is Chinle,
and the bottom cliff-line is Moenkopi.
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The next segment of Deadman's is 1/2 mile where another
connector forks to the western side of the Bar B loop, about 100 yards
away. Keep right to continue on Deadman's Ridge.
Bumping along the trail, near the
second connector to Bar B. |
| After another half mile (mile 2.7 of Deadman's Ridge), keep
right at another trail fork on a ridgeline. Left goes to Longbranch.
Longbranch is a one-mile technical trail that joins the southern end of
the Bar B loop near Killer B.
Ah, winter riding. On sunny days, go
early in the morning before the sun melts the muddy spots. |
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At the Longbranch junction, consider riding Longbranch to
Bar B, then return northbound on the western side of the Bar B. When you
reach the connector to Deadman's, fork left and ride the section of
Deadman's again. This makes a nice loop to extend your miles.
We're poised on the edge of the ridge,
ready to begin the drop down to Old 191. |
| Shortly after the Longbranch fork, Deadman's Ridge begins a
curving descent down to Old 191 at mile 3.4. The
descent is non-technical for the most part. And it's fairly easy to climb back
up if you want to go back up to Longbranch.
Deadman's Ridge descends to meet the
paved Old 191 bike path. |
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To head back to town, fork left downhill on Old 191. For more
Brand
Trails fun, climb Sidewinder Bar M
back uphill. You'll find connectors on the west side of Old 191 0.2 miles
uphill and at 0.4 miles downhill from the end of Deadman's Ridge. Of
course, you can always turn around and climb back up
Deadman's Ridge.
It's about 0.6 miles on Old 191 to reach the south end of
the Bar M loop. The grade is mellow with total climbing less than 100
vertical feet.
Looking uphill just after joining Old
191. |
Sample ride, Deadman's Eight (figure 8):
0.0 East on DT from parking (lower lot!)
N38 39.107 W109 40.110
0.2 R on ST (Lazy-EZ Loop)
N38 39.188 W109 39.990
0.3 R on EZ N38 39.165 W109 39.853
1.5 L to stay on EZ N38 38.517 W109 39.400
1.6 R on Deadman's N38 38.574 W109 39.280
3.3 R to stay on Deadman's N38 38.255 W109 38.671
3.8 Stay straight (R) N38 38.072 W109 38.586 |
4.3 Stay R N38 37.845 W109 38.612
(L = Longbranch)
5.0 R on Old 191 N38 38.036 W109 38.905
5.2 Option: connect to Sidewinder Bar M
5.6 R at kiosk, take DT east
N38 38.414 W109 39.461
5.8 L on Lazy N38 38.573 W109 39.280
7.4 Fork R N38 39.165 W109 39.853
7.5 L on DT N38 39.188 W109 39.990
7.6 Back at parking |
Getting there: From the north, exit I-70 at
Crescent Junction and drive south on US-191 for 22 miles. From Moab, drive
7 miles north from the Colorado River on 191. When you see the Gemini
Bridges parking area, look for a gravel road on the opposite side (east,
away from the cliffs). Turn onto the gravel road and immediately go right.
Drive past the first parking lot. (This is restaurant parking or fee
parking GPS N 38° 39.38' W 109° 40.66'.) As you approach the fence and
kiosk at the paved trail, turn left and drive 1/4 mile to the gravel
parking lot in the bottom of the valley N38 39.107 W109 40.110.
Alternate: From Moab, ride the Old Highway 191 (paved trail) until you
reach the Bar M sign and kiosk. Turn left and follow the broad dirt trail,
which is the southern end of the Bar M trail. |
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