Bartlett Open Riding Area - Nature's Skatepark
The whole Moab Trip Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5S7V5NhM8JTE4-AcoDzTbOE21M5rpmS-
Today we’re going to take a look at the most freaking awesome thing in the world. It’s called an open riding area. As someone with little interest in structured riding, it’s a dream come true.
Bartlett Slickrock in Moab, Utah is like mother nature’s skatepark. We got off to a late start and only had about an hour of daylight left by the time we reached the main part. We didn’t even know where to start. By the time we really started playing around it was almost dark out, so I’ll do my best show you guys around with what limited footage we got.
At first it seems totally obvious that you should just bomb the entire rock face. I’ve seen videos of Bartlett and would wonder why people weren’t just doing that. Let me give you guys a sense of scale. That’s where we are, and that’s the rock face you want to just brazenly bomb without regard. So yeah, if you plan on bombing the whole face of Bartlett, leave enough time to hike the whole thing and plan your line carefully. You could fly off a cliff.
Some of the features aren’t necessarily that big, but your mind plays tricks on you at this place. The scale of of your surroundings is really tough to comprehend when everything is this layered sandstone. There are no trees or familiar objects to help you get your bearings.
I should also mention the surface, which is very much like Slickrock Trail. As we’ve seen, it can be impossibly steep, yet possible to climb somehow. It’s this tacky surface that you’ll be riding on 100% of the time at Bartlett.
On a hardtail or even a dirt jump bike, you’d be having a blast here. I was on a mid travel trail bike, the Diamondback Release 3. With the suspension tightened up I was feeling really good.
Here is one of the most well known features at Bartlett, called toilet bowl. I think it should be called armpit. Anyway, it’s a really steep crease that ends at the top of another cliff, like pretty much everything else there. Alex and Randall went first. I was determined to bomb it first try and honestly got pretty spooked when I skidded around this bulge. I don’t get spooked easily.
We moved on to another feature called halfpipe, the last thing we rode before the sun went behind the mountain. This was extremely fun, and you can actually fly out of it if you plan your line. Just like toilet bowl, you should stop at the end so you don’t ride off a cliff. I never thought a natural feature could be so fun.
At the top of the rocks, there are all sorts of little bumps and divots you can fly in and out of. The random ledges are awesome too.
On the east side of the rocks, there’s some really cool stuff to session, and I’m sure plenty of lines that we missed during our short visit. As someone who rode skateparks all day growing up, Bartlett was a dream come true. I must admit I didn’t know there was a such thing as an open riding area. To me, that’s what riding street is.
We were there long enough to see the amazing potential, but had to leave too soon. I guess we need to go back to Moab. Thanks for riding with me today, and I’ll see you next time.
Today we’re going to take a look at the most freaking awesome thing in the world. It’s called an open riding area. As someone with little interest in structured riding, it’s a dream come true.
Bartlett Slickrock in Moab, Utah is like mother nature’s skatepark. We got off to a late start and only had about an hour of daylight left by the time we reached the main part. We didn’t even know where to start. By the time we really started playing around it was almost dark out, so I’ll do my best show you guys around with what limited footage we got.
At first it seems totally obvious that you should just bomb the entire rock face. I’ve seen videos of Bartlett and would wonder why people weren’t just doing that. Let me give you guys a sense of scale. That’s where we are, and that’s the rock face you want to just brazenly bomb without regard. So yeah, if you plan on bombing the whole face of Bartlett, leave enough time to hike the whole thing and plan your line carefully. You could fly off a cliff.
Some of the features aren’t necessarily that big, but your mind plays tricks on you at this place. The scale of of your surroundings is really tough to comprehend when everything is this layered sandstone. There are no trees or familiar objects to help you get your bearings.
I should also mention the surface, which is very much like Slickrock Trail. As we’ve seen, it can be impossibly steep, yet possible to climb somehow. It’s this tacky surface that you’ll be riding on 100% of the time at Bartlett.
On a hardtail or even a dirt jump bike, you’d be having a blast here. I was on a mid travel trail bike, the Diamondback Release 3. With the suspension tightened up I was feeling really good.
Here is one of the most well known features at Bartlett, called toilet bowl. I think it should be called armpit. Anyway, it’s a really steep crease that ends at the top of another cliff, like pretty much everything else there. Alex and Randall went first. I was determined to bomb it first try and honestly got pretty spooked when I skidded around this bulge. I don’t get spooked easily.
We moved on to another feature called halfpipe, the last thing we rode before the sun went behind the mountain. This was extremely fun, and you can actually fly out of it if you plan your line. Just like toilet bowl, you should stop at the end so you don’t ride off a cliff. I never thought a natural feature could be so fun.
At the top of the rocks, there are all sorts of little bumps and divots you can fly in and out of. The random ledges are awesome too.
On the east side of the rocks, there’s some really cool stuff to session, and I’m sure plenty of lines that we missed during our short visit. As someone who rode skateparks all day growing up, Bartlett was a dream come true. I must admit I didn’t know there was a such thing as an open riding area. To me, that’s what riding street is.
We were there long enough to see the amazing potential, but had to leave too soon. I guess we need to go back to Moab. Thanks for riding with me today, and I’ll see you next time.
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