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Rockin'A

Rating: 
Round Trip Distance: 1.7 miles
Difficulty: Moderate
Skill level:
Elevation: 4612 - 4758 feet
Cellphone: 2-4 bars
Time: 45 mins.
Trailhead: Moab Brands
Fee: none
Attractions: Scenic singletrack




The Rockin A trail is located in the Moab Brands Mountain Biking Area north of Moab, Utah. The trail begins at the south end of the Circle O trail and continues for 1.7 miles where it comes to an end at the junction of the Bar M Loop and the Bar B Loop trails. Like many of the trails in the Moab Brands area the trail gets its name from various cattle brands used by Utah ranchers.



This post begins where the Rockin A and Circle O trails both meet which is about 1.5 miles from the Moab Brands trailhead. The most direct route to this spot is via the Bar M trail.


The Rockin A trail has a little less than 200 feet of overall elevation gain. This profile map makes it look a little worse than it is. If the trail is ridden from south to north then it would be more of a downhill ride and quite a bit easier.


Just so that you don't get lost the trail is marked with yellow stripes of paint, a red bloodline looking strip of paint, and the Rockin A brand painted in red.


Almost the full length of the trail is across rough Navajo sandstone slickrock with just a few patches of dirt here and there.


A couple of the uphill sections are pretty steep going in the north to south direction.


In places where the red line and yellow stripes diverge we found the yellow stripe route to most often follow the easier course.


We looked up the Rockin A brand and found that it is registered to several different people with each person designating a different place on the cow where they would put their brand. For instance, if the brand is on the left hip then it belongs to Len Anderson and if it is on the ribs then it belongs to Dennis Atkin. There are several other Rockin A outfits besides these.


Near the south end of the trail there is a nice view of a branch of Courthouse Wash in Arches National Park. The park boundary is on this side of the canyon so the trail is very close at this point to bumping right up against it.


The Rockin A trail comes to an end at the Bar M trail where the Bar B Loop has its beginning. We rode the Rockin A from north to south so that we could continue by riding the Bar B Loop. The Rockin A trail would be much easier going in the other direction by starting from this point and riding it from south to north. Either way though, it's not too bad of a trail. If you would like to see it for yourself then all you have to do is grab your bike or 'Take a hike'.