Article Posted by Gearminded September 4, 2021

Fall is nearly here and cooler weather is around the bend. You saved some of your Summer vacation days, right? Good move. Because there are still adventures to be had and plenty of time for a last-minute getaway with friends, family, or a solo mission to have fun. So grab your bike and check out Escape Adventures’ top four picks for fall/winter west coast cycling tours. 

Escape Adventures is excited to announce a 5-day mountain biking tour across the 1.3-million-acre Bears Ears National Monument. The trip starts at Edge of the Cedars Museum in Blanding, Utah. It’s a 19th century Mormon settlement, and climbs high into the Abajo Mountains. Highlights include an array of archaeological sites and ruins, The Notch, Duck Lake, Sego Flat, Reef of Rocks, Maverick Point Overlook, Skull and Crossbones, The Causeway, and Jackson Ridge. Wildlife is abundant, and views atop the Abajo Mountains extend for 75-miles in all directions. 

This first-class camping tour starts at $1,299 per person. For more info, visit https://escapeadventures.com/tour/bears-ears-mountain-bike-tour/. 

View the full itinerary here. 

Bears Ears Mountain Bike Tour Details

“This roughly 80-mile mountain biking tour covers a broad expanse of red rock, juniper forests, and high plateau, while exposing riders to early human and Native American historical artifacts,” said Escape Adventures Director, Jared Fisher. 

A pair of monumental 2,000-ft twin buttes, Bears Ears National Monument is a remarkable remnant of 200-million-year-old sand dunes. Capped in shades of pale orange to light red sandstone, the Bears Ears formation is so distinctive it can be seen from nearly every direction. This mountain bike tour takes riders through the most unique and historical landmarks southeast Utah has to offer. 

All internal land expenses and services are covered in the cost of the tour. This means all transportation, food preparation, meals, snacks, non-alcoholic beverages, group supplies, and community gear are included. Backcountry permits, licenses, park fees, reservations, and accommodations are also included. The best kind of support is part of this as well. You will have at least two professionally trained trip leaders, a mobile-first aid and mechanic station, spare bikes, and a support vehicle(s). Trip price does not include airfare, lodging prior to the trip start, or bicycle rental and/or camping gear unless otherwise noted on itinerary or website.

The Bears Ears National Monument riding experienced is unparalleled. But there is so much more to rise and see in the American West. Follow your curiosity and read about three more cycling tours guaranteed to knock your cycling sox straight off your toes.

Arizona – Best of Phoenix, Black Canyon

Explore all the Sonoran Desert has to offer with the Best of Phoenix and Black Canyon Trail (BCT) Mountain Biking Tour. This Fall and Winter bike trip is ideal for close groups of biking friends looking for a warm winter excursion. Highlights include exploring McDowell Mountain (a 21,099-acre regional park), riding conservancy lands, and ripping more than 40-miles of fast and flowy singletrack. 

Day 1-2: Meet in Phoenix. Ride buff singletrack in South Mountain and McDowell Mountain.

Day 3-5: Ride Black Canyon Trail System (see our 3-day Black Canyon Trail Mountain Bike Tour).

Utah – Best of Moab

Best of Moab is less of a winter trip and more of a fall mountain biking escape. Plan on getting out there sometime in September or October, but not after Halloween. About 245-miles south of Salt Lake City, Moab, and its dramatic surroundings have served as the backdrop for many Western movie classics. Now, it is on every mountain biker’s “bike-it list.” While the beauty of Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park has drawn nature-lovers for generations, it’s the land surrounding the parks that define Moab. With Escape Adventures, you’ll experience the best hits and hidden treasures of this world-class adventure travel destination. 

Day 1-2: Meet in Moab. Ride beautiful singletrack and slickrock on Brand Trails, Klondike Trails, and Mag 7 Trails. Customized to each group.

Day 3-4: Ride sections of Porcupine Rim Trail. Hike amongst the massive sandstone arches of Arches National Park.

Day 5: Ride an amazing trail through Dead Horse Point State Park on the border of Canyonlands National Park.

California/Nevada – Death Valley & Red Rock 

While big swathes of North America deal with snow and icy roads, we consider it a great fortune to offer an exemplary outdoor wintertime cycling adventure in the heart of the Mojave Desert. Our rocky playground includes Death Valley National Park and Red Rock Canyon. The wild beauty of Death Valley is too hot to handle during the summer months, but come to Winter, it’s juuuuust right. We promise amazing cycling, eyefuls of arid majesty, glittering salt flats, gypsum-colored sand dunes, and ghost towns. 

Day 1-2:  Meet-up in Las Vegas; then shuttle to Death Valley National Park. Ride to Badwater; An immense, shimmering saltpan 282-ft below sea level. In the distance, the Panamint Mountains, Death Valley’s western wall rises 11,331-ft (or 3,455M at Telescope Peak). Hike from Zabriskie Point, one of the great panoramas in The West, down into Eagle Canyon, the first borax mine works site in the valley (1882). Ride through Death Valley’s deep midsection, yielding a sense of the overwhelming scale and sheer divinity of the 3,000-sq mile wilderness to Stovepipe Wells; a Western-themed way station. Then hike the gypsum-colored sand dunes, one of four dune fields within Death Valley.

Day 3-4: On Artist Drive, we dissolve into the Black Mountains on Death Valley’s east. The nine-mile route ascends into a deep canyon; at the top of an alluvial fan, we drink in a flabbergasting array of pinks, greens, purples, and yellows. Connect Stovepipe Wells to Beatty, Nevada, via Daylight Pass. Reaching Nevada on the park’s northeast edge, our ride gradually descends into the ghost town-turned phantasm-like art colony. Rhyolite speaks to age-old silence, much less the transience of dreams and riches.

Day 5: Shuttle south to the Red Rock Canyon wilderness park, on Las Vegas’s stunningly upswept northern edge. On the celebrated Scenic Loop, we’ll spend the morning hours inhaling rarefied air, plus all the mesmerizing vistas this bike-friendly, varicolored wilderness delivers. Our one-way park road loops and winds around vibrant Bighorn sheep and Desert tortoise habitat, slowly wending into the high hilly crescent of Red Rock Canyon.

See a Fall and Winter bike trip you can’t stop thinking about? Let us know which one you want to book.