Steamboat Pass
This pass is low. Whatever feels
like "a climb" is over before it begins. But I
wouldn't want to miss what this pass has to
offer. This is my favorite kind of scenery, far
open views to rocks and open expanses. The
surface is free of washboard. It also didn't
hurt that I had sunny clear conditions after a
two day combined dust/rain storm. - What an
incredible place the Utah western dessert is.
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1.START-END
WEST:low point on Tule Valley Rd
2.profile turns left onto Steamboat Pass
Rd
3.TOP: Steamboat Pass,5280ft
4.profile leaves Steamboat Pass Rd, on
order to find a low point on this side
5.START-END EAST:Black Hills Well
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Approaches
From West. the stretch
of road that crosses the gap in the Black Hills is
really no steeper than the valley approach to the
turnoff into the Black Hills. So I'll include the
valley portion in the profile. Besides - the most
interesting part of this ride really is the first
10 miles of Tule Valley Rd from the jct of
US6. The road along the multifaceted
Confusion Range skirts lake-playas and large bowls
of sand. The road however is free from this and in
great shape. It is also straight as an arrow -
most of the time. The turnoff to Steamboat Pass is
actually signed with an attractive BLM marker.
This last portion is on less used
track and crests in a wide gap, with a cliff
shaped like ship hull to the south. I imagine
that's where the name comes from. A track starts
here that looks like it can be used to get to the
crest of these low Black Hills
From East. (described
downwards) A sliver of Sevier Lake appears between
the rocks, soon after rolling down the gentle
inclined plain. But in order to get to the lake
you have to keep riding for quite a while. The
flat, white, salty surface shimmers in the
distance. There is a short stretch on this side,
where the surface may justify a mountain bike. But
it does not last.
Heading north along the lake, the
route reaches a low point still more than a mile
distant from the lake's shore. That's where the
profile ends. Technically speaking you could get a
bit lower and closer to the lake on short detours
heading in an easterly direction.
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cLiCk on image , arrows ,
or thumbnails to advance slideshow
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Dayride with this point as
highest summit:
PARTIALLY PAVED / UNPAVED
( US6 Summit:
Tule Valley - Ferguson Dessert | Headlight
Canyon - Filmore Canyon s(u) > )
Steamboat Pass , Skull Rock
Pass : near jct US6 - Tule Valley Rd
> Tule Valley Rd south > Steamboat Pass Rd
east > Steamboat Pass > Steamboat Pass
Rd north > 3c Rd north > US6 west >
Skullrock Pass > back to starting point near
jct US6 - Tule Valley Rd: 52.7miles with 1980ft of
climbing in 5:57hrs (Garmin etrex30m3: 22.4.23).
Notes: I saw only one motor vehicle on the
non-paved part (in addition to the dead car
wreck), and that one was within a couple of
miles of US6.
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