Poison Spider and Portal Trail
April 29, 2006

 
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The Portal Trail runs along the edge of the ridge/cliff above the Colorado river. In some places there is absolutely no room for error. You go off the trail, you fall hundreds of feet to the bottom. In other places you might slide ten or twenty feet before you fall to your death. It totally freaked me out. I'm not really afraid of heights, but dying isn't something I want to be friendly with. The entire time I rode the trail, I kept myself leaning into the cliff-side. Luckily it's a reall short trail. Craig on the other-hand rocked out. He took down the trail leaving Jeff and I sketchily riding along. 


Jeff rolling down the trail.


Some idea of the steepness and exposure.


There were two sections with signs recommending you dismount your bike and walk. In this particular section three riders had died trying to
ride it. There was a big angled rock, that on any other trail would be totally ridable. In this situation, any mistake would send you off the cliff.  


Speaks for itself.


 
Another shot of the exposure. Too bad there wasn't a car on the road below for perspective.


At the end there was an overlook where you could hike up from the road. A family took our picture for us. The trail down was the most fun of
the entire ride. It didn't have the exposure the rest of the trail had, but it was steep and rocky. It was such a blast. Almost made the long
sandy sections of the Poison Spider and the exposure of the Portal worth it. Craig didn't quite agree and Jeff and I quickly dropped him on the
way down.


 Map coming soon...


Elevation profile of the ride.


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