There are many trails out there which draw you in as soon as you hear of them. I first heard of Rainbow Rim on Grand Canyons north rim three years ago, and I've wanted to go more with each ride report I saw of this place. Its a hard one to plan though - distance is far from SD and it has a short weather window due to high elevation and summer thunderstorms. When I found out that 406 gets Columbus day off it seemed like the perfect chance to get in a weekend in Arizona.

Leaving Thurs night, Hurricane UT is not a bad place to wake up in, though it was hard to drive past epic riding spots at Gooseberry and Little Creek.


Views on the drive to the North rim were awesome. Looking back at UT


I catch Kreechan taking pics of a panorama


On the drive south of Jacob Lake we discover that the aspens are going off


We arrive at Locust Point on the north rim and mad picture taking ensues


A bike and a place to sleep, what more could one want?


Rainbow rim is 18mi of bike-friendly singletrack along 5 or so fingers of the grand canyon rim. It follows the edge of the fingers and pops out with amazing vistas near the points of each finger.


We head out for the first leg to Timp point in late afternoon


While elevation gains and losses are not huge there are some fun descents


A couple drainages funneled cool air


Not all the aspens were turning but even those that weren't provided a great backdrop


Heading toward the next point, views begin to open up


406 is impressed with the view




Heading back from Timp point only a couple climbs get our heart rate up despite the elevation


Views are worth stopping for on the way back as the changing light has given each viewpoint a new character


Late afternoon light is incredible, but hard to capture the immense view


Singletrack away from the rim was still awesome...flowy and fun




Back at the camp sunset was coming quickly


I pull up a ringside seat and prepare to take more pics


For Baja


What was expected to be an amazing sunset, was an amazing sunset


After the sun went down temps plummeted and we kept close to the fire


Using the timer function results in excellent low light pics


Such an awesome place to spend the night required the best of beers


While 406 slept in Kreechan and I got up early to catch the sunrise


Room with a view


Soon after the sun hit the canyon I gave in to the frigid wind and crawled back in my sleeping bag


406 recently broke his frame but got a demo from Turner for the weekend. It appears that air for the tires was not included on the deal!


Once the sun was up a bit and things started to warm up, we were off for leg 2.


406 leads through the flow


Not long til another vista opens up


Kreechan rides along the rim


Aspens that were going off were incredible


We would ride through a few groves in varying levels of color change


Another finger, another viewpoint


Riding past yet another viewpoint


406 rides the last few feet to where we stashed the bikes before hiking out to the mesa's end


Terrible, the view was not. To quote MTB Bill, "it did not suck to be us today".


Riding back through more aspens


And yet another grand canyon vista


Simply awesome is the only way to describe this place. Our only regret was that we had decided earlier to skip anything else up her and go down to Flagstaff for the next 2 days. The AZ trail up here is looking very sweet.....

WoW...looks absolutely fantastic.
When I see you have posted a new TR I am always amazed at the views, the write ups and the shared experience. I and the rest of the Dirt Treaders owe you a huge THANKYOU for your efforts!

...and that goes to all of you who selflessly take the time to become photogs and editors, Thanks again Evan.

Meh.

Definitely kidding -- you now have the best domestic TR to go along with the best foreign TR. Absolutely gorgeous pictures, and a great write-up, as usual.

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A bicycle is a splendid thing.
~Ernest Hemingway

Good stuff, Evan, thanks for the TR and pics.

I've wanted to ride the Kaibab trails on the north rim for awhile, it just seems like so much extra driving just to get around that big ditch in the ground. And I've heard crossing it with a bike is a nightmare.

So did you guys make it to Flagstaff?

Nice photo's evdog!

Fun trail with nice views, the horses damaged a few sections, but other than that flowy goodness.

My photo's from the first 2 days:
Product placement:










Epic light as we return to camp:


Got cold overnight and frost on the tent in the morning:


Early morning light was good also:


The boys ate cold cereal while I prepared myself a hearty 2 hour breakfast of starbucks coffee, fruit smoothie, and breakfast burritos:






Aspens are cool:






slow elk:

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strava:instagram:activejunky

Thank you for the virtual ride/vacation. I personally look forward to TRs like these.

Wow, what great TRs and pics. Thanks! That room with a view I'd like to check in some day. The hot food I have and you don't pic is brutal.

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"We'll ride it until they pave it."

-Big Clyde

Wow......an antique MSR Whisperlight Stove! Probably took 2 hours to prime and light the damn thing. Those are very old school....but, I do not winter camp so maybe that is the only way to go when it is balls to walls cold out!

Nice pics guys!

Glad you found a bike for the trip 406. I saw a pic of a similar break on a Sultan at Mtbr......and the blue Velocity wheels would have looked cool on the aqua bomber....too bad!

antique wisperlight? I should have taken a pick of my truly antique Trangia stove. I think it's no about 22 years old, just like that greenish sleeping bag I am wrapped in in the room with a view pic. Perhaps part of the reason why that night felt so cold

Yes, I should just be more fashion/color contentious - the blue rims and turquoise (?) frame would have been awesome. But I might have destroyed your rims on the Flagstaff part of the trip

Nice Evan. I was there in June and it was incredible. We to did The North Rim and Flaggstaff. I to liked the North Rim better and wished I had more time to check out the AT up there. We camped at Locust point as well and did one of the rides at sunrise. Some of the pics are on MTB bill's site.

Did you guys see to Buffalo kill?

some more pics:

What a great place to watch a sunrise! Thanks for the TR guys. I had no idea there were mtb trails in Grand Canyon.

I definitely saw your RR from earlier, which made me want to go there more! Day 3 and 4 for us was Flagstaff.

I had wanted to do a sunrise ride on day 2 but it ended up being way too cold. I got up to see the sunrise but my hands would freeze every time I tried to take a pic, the windchill was brutal. After 30min I gave up and crawled back in my sleeping bag til the sun warmed things up a bit.

We could have made it an all N Rim weekend and hit more AZ Trail, but opted to get in some Mt Elden. I look at it as a positive, now we have a reason to go back, and its not a bad drive at all from Gooseberry. AZ trail is awesome from what we rode of it in Flag. Didn't see the buffalo kill!

Nice Pics. That is a pretty special place. Riding through turnings Aspens is still on my to do list.

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www.MountainBikeBill.com

Absolutely effin gorgeous !!!!
The Grand Canyon,aspens,singletracks,amazing views and a beer from The Lost Abbey !!

I almost got a tear (i actually did,shhh) in my eye just by watching and remembering my short visit to the Grand C..