Dixie 200/311

[GrizzlyAdam]

Does the Dixie 200 relate to any portion of the KT? If so, please enlighten me...

A disclaimer first: I've not done the 200, just the Dixie Lite, which covered a large portion of the current 200 mile route.

There isn't anything as technical as the Loma area singletrack on the Dixie. There are some rugged segments on the VRRT, but it's alpine-style trail: rocks, roots, yes. But not ledgy, sandy. Some of the dirt road segments on the Dixie are a bit like the La Sal sections of the KT. Smooth/rideable doubletrack, through the forest.

One of the most challenging segments of the Dixie Lite was the Hatch-Panguitch ATV trail, which is the segment from Hwy 89 to Panguitch Lake. It was a solid slog in places - faint trail, rocky, barren, and a lot of rolling hills. Of course, there's some good dirt road in there as well.

Some of the trail leading into Navajo Lake is rough and faint. But I may be remembering it being harder than it really should have been, since it was at the end of the Lite.

Overall, the two routes have some general similarities, but mostly, they are quite different. Navigation is harder on the Dixie, there's more forested riding, more single track, and a lot of variety in terrain. Both are great routes!

[jkormanik]

Thanks for the info! When I say "attempted the KT" what I mean is I rode Loma to Dewey Bridge (skipped Yellowjacket Canyon and chose to ride the highway to Dewey instead) then bailed at Dewey and rode the highway to Moab. There was no way I was going to make the Dewey to Moab ride on the KT in the timeframe we had.

[mikedeber]

One thing I regretted not doing enough of last year during my training was hike-a-bike.  The Paunsaugunt Plateau has some seriously slow, sandy, rugged miles.  That being said I'm planning on riding again this year, it's a really fun loop.

[DaveH]

Okay...so I "attempted" a self-supported ride of the Kokopelli Trial from Loma to Moab last week on my non-suspension Salsa Fargo Ti. The first 13 miles were placed there by the Devil himself (at least as far as I'm concerned).  Way too technical for me. Also, way too much HAB for my taste. Does the Dixie 200 relate to any portion of the KT? If so, please enlighten me...

Like Adam said, the two routes are more different than similar. I would say that the ~ 10 hours it takes to get around the first half of the Paunsaugunt is quite challenging, more so than any 10 hour section of the Koko. It is not because of technical difficulty though, it's remote, rarely flat, has navigation challenges, a little to a lot of HAB depending on your legs & energy. It's a spectacular section!

I get varying feedback on the route difficulty. Some think the route is perfect, some think it is easy, one notable record smashing rider thinks it is the hardest of all routes. Best I can say is come prepared for anything and bring an open mind

[ImAFred]

Dave ? for ya, I cant seem to figure out from your link to the route(http://2-epic.com/maps/311map.html?map=dixie200_with_waypoints.kml&index=0), how to download it to garmin basecamp??? any ideas? what obvious thing am I missing...

[DaveH]

Dave ? for ya, I cant seem to figure out from your link to the route(http://2-epic.com/maps/311map.html?map=dixie200_with_waypoints.kml&index=0), how to download it to garmin basecamp??? any ideas? what obvious thing am I missing...

You want the full-resolution GPX files.  Those are linked in the main event page at http://2-epic.com/events/dixie200.html. Definitely use those files when uploading to your device.

If you want the KML files that are used for the maps on the page you reference above, they all live in the http://2-epic.com/maps directory where the name of the file is between the "=" and the "&" portion of the url.  For example, the KML for that map is at http://2-epic.com/maps/dixie200_with_waypoints.kml. Those KML files are lower resolution meant for use in the web viewer, not for actual ground truth. They are great in Google Earth, that's the best preview without actually being there.

[ImAFred]

Yeah, I got it to download the route, so Im good there. for whatever reason its given me a unknown error on the waypoints file though, so it doesnt show any of the water locations or other critical info....
do you have those waypoints cord., I could manually enter them.

[DaveH]

Here you go: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/40971824/dixie/dixie_waypoints_text.txt

You might also try using gpsvisualizer.com to convert the original waypoint GPX file to GPX.  Yes, that sounds retarded...but basecamp is probably finding something generated by Topofusion in the original file it doesn't recognize.  GPSvisualizer should force it to conform to the GPX spec.

Let me know how either method goes!

[ImAFred]

Ok I'll give that a try when I get back to my comp. thanx!!!!

[jkormanik]

Looking at the photos from last year...it appears several riders were on 26ers. Is that the preferred bike?

[Marshal]

Okay...so I "attempted" a self-supported ride of the Kokopelli Trial from Loma to Moab last week on my non-suspension Salsa Fargo Ti. The first 13 miles were placed there by the Devil himself (at least as far as I'm concerned).   Way too technical for me. Also, way too much HAB for my taste. Does the Dixie 200 relate to any portion of the KT? If so, please enlighten me...

Nice to meet you in the middle of the night on the KT --did you finish it out the next day?  You had almost all the hard stuff behind you.

I will let others chime in here as I have only done "some" of the Dixie 200--and 'technical' is somewhat in the mind of the beholder---but in general the over all effort of the Dixie route would be similar or harder than the KTR--ie lots of true single track with all the inherent ST characteristics, big big climbs!! but also easier road sections and lots/good re-supply options

Personally I think the Dixie would be the much more interesting/enjoyable "bikepacking" route, but then I have been on the KT so so many times .  However to truly 'race' the Dixie route would be several levels beyond my current fitness level/ability

Anyway work permitting I plan to bikepack at least some of the Dixie route--with a stove etc--true adventure/pleasure effort on my part

edit--I guess I met one of your riding partners --the one who went on up the KT
past dewey

[jkormanik]

Marshall - Are you sure you met me on the KT?? If so, it was great meeting you as well!

Yes, I hear that after Dewey Bridge, must of the "hard" stuff is behind the rider. Unfortunately, Thursday was so difficult for me, my mind would not allow me to continue after Dewey. I can honestly say the 30 miles from Dewey to Moab were a piece of cake so my legs were still there...the mind/heart, however, were not.

[Marshal]

Marshall - Are you sure you met me on the KT?? If so, it was great meeting you as well!

Yes, I hear that after Dewey Bridge, must of the "hard" stuff is behind the rider. Unfortunately, Thursday was so difficult for me, my mind would not allow me to continue after Dewey. I can honestly say the 30 miles from Dewey to Moab were a piece of cake so my legs were still there...the mind/heart, however, were not.

well I met someone up above Dewey, & from Boise so from your tag I thought it must be you , he mentioned he did the TDR in 2011? I do not remember his name but from his tire tracks vs foot tracks he was riding strong.......anyway maybe I will see you in UT as I do hope to do some of the Dixie but very much in the keep it fun mode--no max push or super light gear set this time around.........

(actually after Dewey [to Moab] it gets very very hard from a pure climbing point of view--but the guy I met was past all most all the crap climbing.........)

[jkormanik]

That was my buddy Norb. He was part of our group. We were 4 at Loma...3 of us bailed at Dewey. He continued on. He is STRONG.

[Norb]

Hey Marshall and John....

Marshall, that was me you met around 10pm before Fisher Valley. Ended up camping shortly after we met and i did see another rider come by an hour or so after you.  The climbing from Dewey was huge and the work load for this half of the ride seemed more difficult and just longer.  Did lots of pushing and pulling through those canyons.
Got into Moab around 1:30pm or so. My pals and cold beer awaited!

How was your through ride?  When did you arrive in Loma?

And as mentioned, when you're in Boise holler and John and I will take you out for a ride and some beers.

Cheers! 

[mikedeber]

Did some light riding on a couple of the Dixie 200 trails over the weekend.  Thunder Mt. was about as fun as ever.  Virgin River Rim, well, lets just say there were a few trees down.  I seem to remember being down there last spring and it was the same, then by the 200 they had all been cleared, hopefully that will be the case this year too. 

We ran into a couple of guys heading out on the Dixie Lite course, their spirits were still high despite all of mother nature's large trail hurdles.  If you guys are on here post up some info on the rest of the route if you don't mind.

3 weeks out, gettin' psyched!

[DaveH]

Awesome, thanks for the report. Did you run into any snow on the VRRT? That is usually one of the first trails the forest crews hit in the spring, if it's snow-free now I'm sure it'll be mostly tree-free by go time.

[mikedeber]

Just a few tiny patches of snow, the dirt was in great shape otherwise

[E36 Truth]

We ran into a couple of guys heading out on the Dixie Lite course, their spirits were still high despite all of mother nature's large trail hurdles.  If you guys are on here post up some info on the rest of the route if you don't mind.

Yep, that was us.  We rode about 80% of the route, touring pace.  Some respectable (as in bad) sections of blowdowns on VRRT and Sydney Peaks / Spruces Tr.  Snow was not really an issue apart from a couple spots.

Here are my routes from the trip:

Dixie Lite Day 1A, Woods Ranch to Te-Ah CG
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/320912687

Dixie Lite Day 1B, Te-Ah CG to Swains Creek
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/320912677

Dixie Lite Day 2, Swains Creek to Hatch
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/320912653

Dixie Lite Day 3, Hatch to Harold's Place
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/320912645

Dixie Lite Day 4, Harold's Place to Red Desert
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/320912632

Dixie Lite Day 5, Red Desert to Woods Ranch
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/320912621


And some pics:
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0BwwPmlC_PrntMVRTaHF0dmhmeWs&usp=sharing


Nick

[ImAFred]

Is Scott doing track leaders for this?
Is there spot rental?