Round Trip Distance: 1.2 miles
Difficulty: Strenuous
Skill level:
Elevation: 4605 - 4721 feet
Cellphone: 2-4 bars
Time: 45 mins.
Trailhead: Moab Brands (south)
Fee: none
Attractions: Challenging trail
The Long Branch trail is located in the Moab Brands Mountain Biking Area north of Moab, Utah. The 1.2 mile trail stretches between Deadman's Ridge and the Bar B Loop. The Long Branch trail has a little of everything from red dirt to boulder fields and a little slickrock. Some parts of the trail are a little technical and require more advanced mountain biking skills. Probably due to its location, the Long Branch trail doesn't get as many riders as the other Moab Brands trails.
For this post we rode the Long Branch trail after completing Deadman's Ridge so we had to reclimb the steep 3/4 mile section of Deadman's from the Moab Canyon paved path to the north end of the Long Branch trail. Typically a rider would forgo the final descent of Deadman's Ridge and just jump onto the Long Branch.
The trail barely commences before it begins descending along the side of the mountain.
A few spots look like the trail builders had to move some pretty big rocks to make a path for the trail.
Looking at the profile of the Long Branch trail shows the different sections of downhill with the subsequent uphill climbs that come after. The trail ends within 2 feet of the same elevation that it started out as so whichever direction you ride the trail the amount of climbing will be about the same ~260 feet.
For the most part the uphill sections aren't too bad as you can see from this stretch of slickrock.
There is something real pretty about red dirt.
The snow covered La Sal Mountains provide a pleasing backdrop to many of the locations around Moab during all but the hottest months.
The last uphill section is the longest and probably the steepest too. The average grade for the Long Branch trail is 8%.
The Long Branch trail comes to an end near the southernmost point of the Bar B Loop. The Killer B trailhead is just over the hill to the right. The options from here are to take the left fork and ride the singletrack section of the Bar B or go to the right for the Bar B doubletrack section. We opted to take Killer B to get back down to the Moab Canyon Bike Trail and follow that to our vehicle at the south trailhead. As far as the Long Branch trail goes it would work well in combination with Deadman's Ridge. If you would like to see it for yourself then all you have to do is 'Take a hike'.
