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Show ' H V r j The Mo.ib Slickrock Bike Trail is rc.niy tor motorcycle enhtusi.ists. BLM Ar.i M.m.iper Dous: Wood inspects sign in stalled Mond.iy while Andy Anderson (standing in background) and Dd lord (on trail bike) look over rcgisur. Slickrock Bike Trail Completed On Hills Northeast of Moab BY DICK WILSON The Moab Slickrock Bik? Trail, recently approved by the Bureau of Land Management, Man-agement, is now virtually finished and open for cycle excursions. The main sign for the trail was erected Monday by BLM personnel Babe Foy. A register was also placed at the beginning of the trail which is two miles north of the dump on the Sand Flats Road. A temporary brochure prepared by Dick Burch. BLM Natural Resource Spoe-alist Spoe-alist of the Moab office, will be available at the register box until the final brochure is printed at the Government Govern-ment Printing Offcie in Washington. Moab's new Slickrock Biki Trail is one of the few such features provided for cyclists cycl-ists in the United States. There are sometimes strong feelings expressed by custodians cus-todians of the forest deserts des-erts and mountains of our nation regarding the possible possib-le damage that occurs when motorcyclists take to the trails. Some National Forests For-ests have designated special trails for bike enthusiasts as has the BLM in at least one other area. Whereas there is much anxiety an-xiety on the part of some government personnel on u. matter of allowing motorcycles motorcy-cles on trails, there is much optimism about the local Slickrock Trail, which is nearly 100 per cent indestructible. indes-tructible. The reason for this is that it fellows ridges and knobs cf bare rocks. There are occasional oc-casional spots where it is necessary to cross sandy bottoms to other shekroci; I ius,t s uiu ime .11 u i. . Wood emphas.ted that the trail was placed to facilitat ? finding a way into the confusing con-fusing rock-jungle country nbove Moab and that then? are many excellent unmarked unmark-ed s'.iek rock ridges to explore. ex-plore. Wood also stated that there are unique biological and zoological gardens along al-ong the Slickrock Trail and BLM officials are anxious that these natural areas be preserved as adequately as possible. It is desired by the officials that cycle riders di their best to ketp their bikes on the bald rook as much as possible and to follow the trail as laid out when it becomes be-comes necessary to cross sandy or vegetated areas. An Area Potential There is considerable potential po-tential of attracting riders from all parts of the country to see the Slickrock Trail. It is mainly a nature and scenic sce-nic trail for cycle enthusiasts enthus-iasts and not intended for contests or racing. There is actually more adventure ii; riding over the trail than many cyclists can handle. It takes a good deal of endurance endur-ance to maneuver through and around all the natur:l obstacles. Potions of the slickrock area present danger dan-ger if a rider is unskilled. The trail is approximately 15 miles long including the numerous spurs from th? main loop. BLM personnel finished painling the mark; on the rock a few days ago. At intervals on the slickrock ridges the print of a knobby tire has been painted o show the riders the way to go. Personnel who did llv painting were Area Manager Mana-ger Pour Wood. Natural Resources Re-sources Specialist Pick Burch and Cone Porter of Moniioollo who is involved in recreation maintenance for the BLM. Practice Loop A practice loop approximately approxi-mately two miles long is provided near the entrance to the Slickrock Trail adjacent adja-cent to the Sand Flats Road. It is intended for cyclists 1j familiarize themselves quite thoroughly with the variety of slopes and problems ci-ong ci-ong the practice loop befo-"? attempting the major tr.ps that are marked. About half way ound the practice loop a bpur goes to 'Morning Glory Bridge, a natural feature found in 1 box canyon cf Negro '3i.. Canvon. This is an advanc-ii route as is the route going around the end of the abyss and looping along the Colorado Colo-rado River Rim above Utah 128. Five cyclists from Hill Air Force Base rode a portion por-tion of the trail over Memorial Mem-orial Day weekend. Le Roy Waggoner is a race enthusiast"" enthus-iast"" who last year received the honor of being seventh in overall Utah competition. His specialties are in hill climbing and desert scrambling. scramb-ling. Others were Jack H. Olsert, Rick Fresh. Ross Nebeker, and Frank Simmons. The fiv-3 men had seen the article in Cycle World Magazine, appearing ap-pearing a few months ago about the trail. Although the bikes these five were riding were larger than those recommended re-commended by the BLM fur the trail, the men were skilled skill-ed enough to handle them in rough terrain. Only For Experienced Nevertheless they had advice ad-vice to give after traveling the practice loop and trying out the M,,rning Glory spur. "Make this trail 'Nay' for all but experienced riders,"' they said. One cf the five had previously pre-viously asked how far it was over to Morning Glory Bridge the slickrock way. When told it was two miles ho exclaimed. "That's ju t a piece of cake." On returning however, ne admifted that he was ovev- k- rnnfidort r.nd that th: strange landscape of slickrock slick-rock is nothing to fool nrourd with. The five riders from tip-state tip-state were exhuberar.t about the BLM establishing a trail. "Most everywhere e!s" |