Sovereign Single Track

In its current condition, I can only give this 3 out of 5 stars. It could have received a much higher rating without those horid sand pits.

In its current condition, I can only give this 3 out of 5 stars. It could have received a much higher rating without those horid sand pits.

While Salt wash/Sovereign use to be one of the best trails in Moab, it has been destroyed by motorcycles. What was once nice hard pack single track has been chewed up into dust. Sovereign seems to have held up better, but Salt wash is terrible.

Outstanding trail with lots of variety--singletrack, slickrock, ups, downs, easy, gnarly. Plenty of air opportunities along the way and the big, unmarked slickrock area at the north end provides a completely free-form, dial your own adventure. There's plenty of climbing along the way, but it goes fast and there's always another amusing stunt waiting around the next corner. You'll share part of this route with motos, but it's still less crowded than any of Moab's more famous routes, yet as much or even more fun.

Salt Wash is less entertaining than Sovereign. For a loop, I recommend doing the opposite of the description--take Sovereign out and Salt Wash back. The sand is simply unrideable uphill.

More entertaining to me than slick rock, with half the crowds. The Sovereign proper does "stop" at 6 miles...but this is a network and you can find signs for "Sovereign Singletrack" for days. I did a 25 mile loop the other day and was on singletrack the entire time...just bring a GPS if you plan on doing some adventure riding!

I was very surprised at how fun this trail was after several local bike shop riders recommended it to me. I wish this was my 'backyard trail'. Once you do Slickrock and Porcupine, check this out. It is a fun little trail that does take some skillz...

The way to ride this trail is up SaltMarsh and down Sovereign. this makes about a 12 mile loop. No real difficult grunts but don't kid yourself there is enough to keep you interested in the next downhill.

Very fun trail with a variety of everything except long extended climbs!

This trail is a blast, my favorite in Moab. Flows very well and has a good amount of fun technical parts with fun steps. Perfect blend of all terrain.

Great Moab riding. Mix of singletrack, slickrock, and sand. Some moderately technical sections, nothing killer. Trail has great flow, good scenery, very well marked. Rode it after SlickRock and had an almost equally good time here. Getting to it is tricky, take Willow Springs (creek?) Rd and keep following it for a while, park at a little shed seemingly in the middle of nowhere.

Hit this trail today in the late morning sun, and it was hot. The ride is great, the TH is harder to find than I thought, the description forgets to mention that the road forks 1.5 miles off hwy 191. Go Left and the TH is easy to spot. The first .6 is DT jeep road that is much more fun coming down after the ride. The trail is great with views of Arches NP and La Sal Mtns. The ride is standard Moab, you can hit every drop and step up and make it tough or you can go around 95% of everything and make it fun for everyone. There is a new trail not on the maps that winds throughout this one called salt flats it is marked by green arrows and can be ridden to make this a loop instead of an out and back. Some sand but that just makes your legs stronger, lots of options for upping the ante by straying from the trail. But don't splash through the puddles or hit any crust, there is plenty of rock for a day of fun!

The Sovereign Trail is a great way to get introduced to mountain biking in Moab. It has several different types of terrain. There are some fairly technical areas and plenty of rock surfaces to try out that traction. It's a really good workout if you push yourself a little.

Great trail. Not much real "singletrack", but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I had trouble finding the trail itself, but after I got on it and past the sandy wash, it was a blast! Like the previous reviews said, it's not an extremely technical course, but has nice flow and enough tricks and obstacles to challenge everyone. This is a very fun trail with great views and a wonderful mix of dirt and slickrock.
* After you make it back to the trailhead, ride up the jeep rode towards the slickrock OHV section. There is a little display kiosk and some dinosaur footprints in the slickrock. Pretty cool.
TIP for first timers: While driving out the dirt/sand road to the trailhead, if you think you are lost, just keep going. The trailhead is quite a ways back there and you'll know it when you see it. There are a few pull offs that look like a trailhead, but just keep going. The beginning of the trail itself is just a few hundred feet out of the trailhead on the left and is very easy to miss if you've never been there. (Also, bring thorn resistant tubes)* Review edited 4/21/2008

very fun lots of challenging climbs not long just some short to medium technical climbs. lots of fun steps, up and down.* Review edited 5/9/2007

Excellent ride. Nothing radical. A few short steeps, otherwise mostly straightforward. This is Moab riding, so don't expect buff, smooth pedaling, but do expect lots of fun steps, slick rock, loose rock, short sections of sand, etc. This trail seems to always be expanding so do yourself a favor and pick up a map from an LBS before heading out -- you don't want to miss out on any nice additions.

This tr. was easy to find. It starts off slow and easy then gets harder and harder. There where some spots I didn't make around mile 5-7 or so. Very steep climbing trying to get back up the rim after the first big descent. The last down hill was a ripping good time. We took the ATV trail back to the car and that worked out fine. There were some sanding patches but no bike-hike at all. Good views, good times. Thanks Patti for another wonder day.

Sweet trail winding thru the desert. Practice riding up steps of slickrock and then bomb down on the return. Scenery is great, vegetation is junipers and desert. Bring a camera. Slickrock ramp at the turn to more singletrack on the left up a gully.* Review edited 12/22/2006* Review edited 3/2/2010

This is another classic ride in the moab area although it is not slickrock like lots of the other trails in the area. It is more along the Porcupine rim type terrain although not as scary to me. I love these trails and can't wait to move back.

The Sovereign Single track is ever growing and now includes several new miles of single track at the North end up on Garden Mesa that makes a loop starting off of Dalton Well rd, 2 miles N of Willow Springs rd on highway 191. Turn left at the trail head marker on Dalton well rd for access to the climb up to Garden Mesa, or right and continue on up the road to the Sovereign ATV marker on the right, this trail eventually splits with the single track for MTB going its own way for several miles. There were a few groups of motorcycles on these trails too but there seemed to be plenty of room for everyone. With a good map you can see how all the trails and jeep routes intersect through the area, I recommend the ëNational Geographic Moab Northí. At the Willow Springs trail head I continued on the pipeline road, which was very sandy for the 1st mile, it connected me with the Bar M trail that I rode all the way back to Moab making for a 25 mile day - awesome workout. I was told by a local that the Klondike Bluffs trail is now joined in to this trail at a point up on Garden Mesa, that would make a 30+ mile ride altogether....
Thanks to Ride With Respect for their work in maintaining and marking the routes in this area.