Mountain Biking Desert Spines, Utah

Shooting through these amazingly colored boulders at the base of a spine wall near Caineville, Utah, is a unique perspective, says photographer Max Lowe of this shot from his Utah by Dirt assignment to find rugged adventures accessed by Utah’s dirt roads.  I have to give credit to friend and athlete Carston Oliver, who pointed out this cool vantage on the turn that Joey Schusler [pictured] executed.  Watch a video about this mountain-biking adventure.

[The video is on a National Geographic server.]

It is a good example of picking out a unique detail that speaks to the landscape’s defining features; in this case it’s dry, gray mud spines and the amazing contrast in color that these sandstone blocks offered, says Lowe, who was accompanied by Oliver, Schusler, and Kalen Thorien on the assignment.

To ride this area, you should be pretty comfortable on a mountain bike, notes Lowe of the expert terrain.  But if you know how to ride single-track, the rims of the rolling dunes around Cainville would be great fun to ride.

Select the photo for the large version.