CommUtah – 421 Miles of Dirt from Salt Lake City to Moab
Photos by John Shafer and James Adamson with words by Kurt Gensheimer.

Two weeks ago, James Adamson, Justin Schwartz and Kurt Gensheimer – known as The Commute Crew – completed a historic eight-day, 421-mile trek with 45,000 feet of climbing on dirt from Salt Lake City to Moab in an adventure called CommUtah. According to several local backcountry guides, nobody has ever attempted such an adventure consisting of 95 percent dirt, nearly half of it on single track.

The route started in Mill Creek Canyon, worked its way over Wasatch Crest Trail into Park City, then south from Brighton to Sundance on the rarely ridden Ridge Trail, over the extremely remote Strawberry Ridge, down 5th Water Ridge Trail, back up and along Great Western Trail dropping to Tie Fork, then more than 50 miles along Skyline Drive. After reaching 10,500 feet elevation, the crew dropped 6,000 vertical feet into the desert on Reeder Canyon and Rock Canyon Trail, passed through Castle Dale en route to the Good Water Rim Trail and the San Rafael Swell. The adventure culminated with a final 70-mile day from Green River to Moab, finishing with the Magnificent 7 and a sunset slugfest down the harrowing Gold Bar Rim and Portal Trail…in the dark.

For more details on their route and ride, check out The Commute Crew.
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