Behind The Rocks Trail(Moab, UT)

Region: Moab

Trailhead Location: South of Moab and west of Highway 191

Trailhead GPS: 38°25’16.91″N 109°25’59.09″W

Trail Mileage: 14 Miles +/- (there are a number of side trails and obstacles that can make this trail longer)

Riding Difficulty: Difficult (Rated 4+ on Moab’s 4 point rating scale)

Temperature Range: 40-100°F Depending on Season

A man exploring a part of behind the rock trail by foot.

Trail Description

This trail is rated difficult and is true to its features. But this behind the rocks trail is available for riding throughout the year. The trail is rather large, being about 47.8 km in length. The road is gravel placed for a few miles from the start and then the road becomes more induced with sand and rock combinations.

The ‘behind the rock’ trail offers connections to various options of inside trails. The lone rock, the area presents a wide range of trail options that will open up for you. You can easily get onto the Pritchett canyon and hunter canyon. The prostitute butte region is quite famous for huge entrada sandstone structures with unique alcoves.

The prostitute butte is quite closer to the starting point of the main behind the rocks trail and the road till this position is not that difficult. After you complete nearly four miles from the start, you will notice the Kane Canyon Rim which offers some excellent scenery. The elevation does decreases by a lot after six miles from Prostitute Butte and then you need to choose if you want to go all the way to the end or not because you will need to choose between trails that either takes you through hunter canyon rim or Pritchett canyon.

More scenic views

The behind the rock trails has the famous white knuckle hill which is much difficult for any rider to take down the ride safely. In the peak riding months for this trail, you might have to wait for others to make this climb. This hill is very difficult and only expert riders choose this trail with confidence. Riders love the region of Navajo sandstone domes and fins which showcases a great viewpoint. Besides this, the balcony arch, Pritchett arch, and picture frame arch are also lovely views. The ride in this region will get bumpy often because of the sandstone ledges.

The perfect rocky sand experience comes up in this behind the rock trail ride. Another good thing about the difficulty of this trail is that the obstacle types can be found in an escalating order. Like before you even reach the difficult high dive canyon there will be more than one challenge in minor levels of difficulty. After the high dive region, you will also find streams and an amazing pool. Towards the lower end of the trail, the trail goes into a lower bench region.