Round Trip Distance: 1.6 miles
Difficulty: Moderate +
Skill level:
Elevation: 4774 - 4918 feet
Cellphone: 0-3 bars
Time: 45 mins.
Trailhead: Klondike Bluffs
Fee: none
Attractions: Scenic singletrack
The Malachite trail is located in the Klondike Bluffs Mountain Biking Area north of Moab, Utah. The trail makes a connection between the Miners Loop and the Baby Steps South Singletrack trails. The Azurite trail intersects the Malachite near the north end of the trail. The Malachite and Azurite trails are among a half dozen or so recent additions to the Klondike Bluffs trail system.
This post follows the Malachite trail from the Baby Steps South Singletrack to the Miners Loop and then back to Baby Steps.
For the first tenth of a mile the trail takes a relatively level route.
The trail begins descending into the drainage and passes its intersection with the Azurite trail. just before the 2 tenths of a mile point.
As the trail continues the landscape becomes rockier.
After that the trail transitions to more slickrock than dirt track.
The most technical aspects of the trail are where it descends to its lowest point and then reascends across the wash.
It looks like a lot of work went into a few spots of the trail to make it possible. Kudos to the trail builders who had to move a lot of rocks.
As the trail climbs up to the Miners Loop the grade hits as high as 16% for a few brief stretches.
This is what the profile looks like traveling north to south where the Baby Steps Singletrack is on the left and Miners Loop is on the right.
As a side note, Malachite and Azurite are minerals that are often found in association with copper. The green in this photo that was taken near the tailings pile of an abandoned copper mine on the Baby Steps Loop is malachite. The same location has specimens of azurite which as the name implies are blue in color. None of the specimens are of gem quality.
