The White Rim has been on my radar as an iconic loop for quite a while now, and it was one of the first big adventures on my list to do after moving to Utah. Unfortunately I moved at the beginning of summer and temperatures were pretty toasty in the Moab area. Luckily I saw a one-day weather window of lows in the 60's and a high of 80 so I decided to go for it.

I started before sunrise at the bottom of the Mineral Bottom switchbacks in order to beat the heat on the strenuous climb up towards State Route 313. The switchbacks are definitely pretty steep and gnarly to drive down but the Prius made it down without issue as the road was in pretty good condition at the time. I started at 3:30 AM, and the climb up the switchbacks actually flew by in just 30 minutes. From there I hit SR 313 in time for a beautiful sunrise and then began the fun of descending the Schafer switchbacks while continually being in awe of the landscape around me.