Moab May 2017 Trip Report – Mag 7 Trail

The Magnificent 7 or “Mag 7” is a series of trails between Highway 191 and 313 in the Moab area. You can do loops on the trails, an out and back or point to point via a shuttle, the latter is what I did.

My Mag 7 singletrack route started on Gateway, then Bull’s Run, Great Escape, Little Canyon, and the hefty climb on Gold Bar to the top of the rim, then a long, tough technical traverse on Blue Dot/Gold Bar Rim and finally down the gnarly Portal.

Mileage 20.84mi, Elevation – Gain 1,299ft, Descent 3,256ft

The Gateway, Bull’s Run, Great Escape and Little Canyon were mostly down or flat, with a couple of small climbs on Great Escape. The first portion of Bull’s Run is fast, flowy and ledgy with some close moves over the picturesque Bull Run Canyon. I enjoyed the Great Escape, which had some great long slickrock slabs, and fun flowing maneuvers and even though it’s not part of the Mag 7, it’s a great optional trail. The yellow striped Gold Bar was a long slow grunt of a climb to the top of the rim, while the new section that’s not marked on the trail signs follows subtle blue dashes. That blue part is a steep and an unrelenting slog, bursting the lungs and legs, significantly saved by the fantastic views of the side canyons and Gold Bar terrain. The top Blue Dot section traversed along the rim and would climb up and drop down, again and again, punctuated by technical drops and ledges, and it went along seemingly forever without hardly a spec of shade for cooling off purposes. It beat me to a pulp, and I was thankful when it finally ended, as I was tired, exhausted and losing my composure. I have done the Portail trail countless times, and many moons ago I actually cleared the exposed section on a hardtail. I rode most of the trail but skipped any of the crazy stuff, since I felt no need to redo my old escapades. The gnarly part of Portal downhill has become a nasty junk heap and needs to be re-routed or cleaned up. Too many years of abuse have taken its toll on the Portal, and I no longer found the technical aspects enjoyable.

I was exhausted after the monster Mag 7, and the blue dot climb and the upper traverse totally spanked me, so I treated myself to some incredible Sushi at Sabaku in Moab.