- Distance: 34.4 Miles (55.36 km)
- Rating: 3-C, Moderately technical, only because of a handful of tricky corners. Asphalt downgraded to a C because of the recent addition "gummy worms" or "tar-snakes". Ratings Explained »
- Travel: Either direction for best results
- Start: UT-72 and I-70 Exit 91
- End: Loa, Utah
- Fuel: Either gas up in Ferron, Utah or have enough gas to make it to Loa, Utah
- Along the Way: Overall the views aren't that great, but near the top there are a couple of pullouts that offer a spectacular view of the distant Canyonlands and Arches National Parks.
- Highlights: The desolation is glorious. If ridden midweek its not unusual to not see another human being or evidence of their presence for the entire duration of the ride.
- Advisories: This is open range and cows can be around any corner. The newly laid "gummy-worms" are distracting.
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Summary
This brilliant stretch of tarmac was paved in the early 90's and still, nobody seems to know about it. Many local riders will head down for the weekend just to ride this road along with Fishlake Loop and "The Backbone". The speed limit is a conservative 45mph, but we rarely see more than five cars during the 30-some mile stretch, allowing for stress-free riding bliss.
Going north to south, the road starts out with a series of medium speed corners with a few sneaky decreasing radius corners that can be challenging if ridden too quickly. Later on the road opens up and becomes a more predictable series of fast sweepers. The terrain is rolling hills with not much in the way for vegetation. Scattered sage-brush and cedar's make up the majority of the scenery.
The highlight of the road is a huge valley that offers an unobstructed view of five miles of sweeping corners stretching to the horizon. Every year, Utah has been adding more and more rolling tar-joints (aka Gummy Worms or Tar-Snakes). This is a great road to get to and from Torrey, Utah. If you have the time be sure to take the Fishlake Loop.
Do you have a better photograph of this Road?
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Email photos to contest at canyonchasers.net with the name of the road in the subject line. (Or just click on that link and we'll fill in the subject line for you.)
Rate This Road
Have you ridden this road? How would you rate it? With one star meaning you thought this was a super-lame road with very little value, to five stars meaning that you felt like this was the mother of all roads - a road by which other roads should be judged.
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Ratings Explained
The CanyonChasers road rating is two parts. The first part, numbers 1 through 5, describe how technical the road is, with number 1 being a gently sweeping road and number five being very technical with challenging corners. The second part of the rating is a letter, A, B, C, D and F. The letter describes the quality of the road surface with A being perfect, pristine smooth and F being degraded, bumpy and crumbly. Rolling joints, tar-stips or "gummy worms" will drop the road one letter grade.
This road information is for planning and recreational purposes only. You may find that construction projects, traffic, or other events may cause road conditions to differ from the CanyonChasers ratings. Ratings may not be applicable to all riders, all bikes and all skill levels.