Burro Pass
Burro Pass is the
most popular pass in the La Sal
Mountains with mountain bikers.
During summer and fall they are
shuttled up to Geyser Pass by the
dozens. From there they have a
relatively short uphill to the top
of Burro Pass. On top waits an
enormous, mostly downhill route
dubbed "the whole Enchilada", which
follows largely single track trails
down to Thomas Lake, then the Hazard
County Trail to the Porcupine Rim
section of the Kokopelli's trail,
all the way down to the Colorado
River in Moab.
The profile below is a different
route, that I tried out. It goes up
the pass and down the pass, not just
down it, and also uses easier
surfaces whenever possible. I wanted
to complete a loop over the pass in
a day, and I can still climb faster
on pavement or dirt roads than on a
trail. There are innumerable
possibilities to construct a loop
over this pass. The profile below is
just an example showing the large
scale of the horizontal drops in the
La Sal Mountains. The steep trail
over the top of Burro Pass
immediately stands out in all of
these profiles.

click on profile for
more detail
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01.(4860ft,mile00)
START-END NORTH: southern
start of La Sal Loop Road,
near Kens Lake
02.(5710ft,mile05) paved road
on right goes up Pack Creek
and to La Sal Pass, profile
stays left
03.(7050ft,mile12) dirt road
on right goes to Geyser Pass;
profile stays left
04.(7750ft,mile13) dirt road
on right goes to Oowah Lake;
profile stays left
05.(7930ft,mile15) route turns
right onto dirt road to Warner
Lake
06.(9360ft,mile20) START-END
NORTH ALTERNATE: start of TR33
single track up Burro Pass
07.(11170ft,mile24) TOP: Burro
Pass
08.(10538ft,mile26) START-END
SOUTH: Geyser Pass; profile
continues south on FR129
09.(10700ft,mile30) highest
point on FR129 Geyser Pass
s(u)
10.(7800ft,mile41) dirt road
on right goes to La Sal Pass;
profile stays straight
11.(7730ft,mile43) jct with
paved Ut46. Profile turns left
to town of La Sal
12.(6970ft,mile46) town of La
Sal
13.(5900ft,mile56) START-END
SOUTH ALTERNATE: La Sal
Junction |
Approaches
From North. The profile starts
at the northern most La Sal Loop Road
turnoff from US191. The turnoff is
signed as Kens Lake. Just getting to
the first dirt road turnoff from here
is more than a 3000ft climb, almost
half of the elevation gain to Burro
Pass. There are more details on the La
Sal Loop Road s(u) page.
At point 4 an easily cycled, lightly
graveled road turns off the loop road.
It heads further up the ridge above
Mill Creek on Bald Mesa. From this
name you would suspect that you have
pretty good far views, and you do.
Evening light is much better than
morning light on this ridge. Before
reaching the campground an the lake
the road passes the "Hazard County
Trailhead". This single track option
mentioned above covers the elevation
downhill from here on a more northerly
route. The profiled route continues
uphill to the campground, where there
are number of trail intersections,
along with a detailed map of the
"whole Enchilada Route". The route up
Burro Pass is at the end of the road.
The trailhead of the single track is
actually the last chance to get a far
view, until the other side of the
summit. The trail starts out easily
rideable and smooth, and even goes
down a short hill to cross the Dry
Fork of Mill Creek. As the route
progresses and turns up the West Fork,
it becomes much steeper and rockier,
and less dry too. Even in October
there are still many wet stream
crossings. On my traversal of the
route I was the only one going up it,
while the downhill traffic was
overwhelming. I was assured several
times that I was doing it the hard
way, but these guys have never seen me
go downhill. Approaching the top, the
rocky talus slopes of Haystack
Mountain (11641ft) appear in the upper
right field of vision. The trail has
some especially steep switchbacks
here. But, surprise, you never reach
those talus slopes, as the trail finds
a small grassy saddle, just barely
above timber line. There is barely a
far view from here, and you can't see
the way you came up at all. On this
sunny last day of September there was
barely enough room at the very top to
accommodate all the bikers coming up
from Geyser
Pass. On this occasion I learned
a new meaning of the word
"chainsmoker" from fellow cyclists.
Just west of the pass a lovingly
crafted sign directed the chainsmokers
to their record size enchilada
downhill. There is also a foot trail
leaving south from here towards Manns
Peak.
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From South. (described
downwards). The approach between the
tops of Burro Pass and Geyser Pass
is ridable in both directions. This
side has fewer rocks than the upper
section of the northern approach and
leads through grassy slopes that also
give much better views of the
surrounding peaks. Actually my
favorite mountain views of the entire
crossing were at the bottom of the
trail, on this side, and the
subsequent dirt road that connects
with the Geyser
Pass Road. Prior to reaching the
road there is also another signed
single track turnoff down Moonlight
Meadows trail, which apparently joins
back to the lower western side of the
Geyser Pass road.
But there are many other ways to
descend, for example go down the
eastern side of Geyser Pass instead,
from where the hut-to-hut touring
mountain bikers come up. But I don't
think they want to carry all their
gear over Burro Pass. In order to make
this into a long loop, still feasible
for one day ride, one can also
continue over FR129 to the south. This
road reaches a higher altitude than
Geyser Pass and there is more on the FR129
Geyser Pass s(u) page. Except
for the long awaited downhill, that
just won't come until several miles
into the ride, it's a fast dirt road
ride.
The turnoff to La Sal
Pass is only about two miles
before reaching paved Ut46. This fact
may be useful when looking for the
turnoff as a way back towards the Moab
side of the valley. From the road it
appears like there is another easily
feasible route across the range much
further north, that could be mistaken
for the La Sal Pass turnoff. This road
near a cow corral with a scenic back
drop dead ends without mercy. Rather
than heading over La Sal Pass, the
profile takes the path of least
resistance on pavement back to La Sal
Junction.
Dayrides.
PARTIALLY PAVED / UNPAVED / SINGLE
TRACK
Burro Pass , FR129
Geyser Pass s(u) , La
Sal Pass , short additional
out and back: FR651 South Ditch
on La Sal Loop Road > La Sal Loop
Road south > FR63 > Warner Lake
> TR315 > Burro Pass > down
FR71 > Geyser Pass (shp) > FR129
Geyser Pass s(u) > FR73 west >
La Sal Pass > down Pack Basin Road
> north on La Sal Loop road back to
starting point: 62.8miles with 9070ft
of climbing in 8:17hours. (VDO MC1.0
m3:11.9.30) Notes: on a weatherwise
perfect last day of September, when
leaves where at their most colorful.
back to
cycling Utah's summits and passes
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