The Whole Enchilada is one of those mountain bike rides that almost doesn’t need an introduction.
It’s one of the most iconic point-to-point mountain bike rides in the world.
We had technically ridden part of The Whole Enchilada before. But there was one pretty major problem:
We hadn’t actually ridden the WHOLE Whole Enchilada.
The first time we were in Moab to ride it, weather had damaged the road used to access the upper trailhead, and the shuttle companies couldn’t get vehicles all the way up to Burro Pass.
So we rode most of it, including The Snotch and Porcupine Rim, and had an amazing day.
But we missed the high-alpine beginning.
This time, Burro Pass was open.
And after finally riding the entire thing from the top, I can say that Burro Pass changes this ride A LOT.
What Makes The Whole Enchilada So Special?
For me, it’s the variety.
I’m having a hard time thinking of another mountain bike ride where the terrain changes this much in a single day.
You start way up in the La Sal Mountains riding legitimate high-alpine trail.
Then you work your way through forest, fast dirt, rocks, open desert, slickrock, huge views, technical ledges and eventually the classic Moab terrain along Porcupine Rim.
By the end, you’re down next to the Colorado River.
It feels like you traveled through several completely different places without ever getting off your bike.
That’s what separates The Whole Enchilada from most other big shuttle rides we’ve done.
It isn’t just one really long descent.
It’s an adventure.
Burro Pass Was My Favorite Part
This was the section we missed on our first trip, and now that I’ve ridden it, I’d really hate to miss it again.
Burro Pass was probably my favorite actual riding of the entire day.
It gives you that high-alpine terrain that simply doesn’t exist farther down the mountain, and it completely changes the feeling of the ride.
Without Burro Pass, The Whole Enchilada is still an incredible ride.
With Burro Pass, it feels like the COMPLETE experience.
There’s also something pretty cool about starting your day high in the mountains and knowing that several hours later you’re going to finish way down in the desert next to the Colorado River.
If we were planning another Whole Enchilada trip, I’d absolutely try to time it for when Burro Pass was open.
The Snotch Is Still the Crux
If there’s one feature on The Whole Enchilada that deserves its reputation, it’s The Snotch.
It is BY FAR the hardest move on the ride.
I had ridden it before, so I knew what I was getting into this time.
And I successfully rode the difficult part again…
Then crashed on arguably the easiest part at the very end. 😂
There wasn’t some dramatic failure on the crux. I basically finished the hard part, lost concentration for a second, and fell over.
Mountain biking!
Emily rode the first section of the waterfall portion before deciding that was enough Snotch for the day.
The good news is that you don’t have to ride The Snotch—or most of the difficult individual features on The Whole Enchilada—to enjoy the ride.
There are plenty of places where walking for a few seconds is the smart move.
Don’t Let Trailforks Fool You
One thing I think is important for anyone planning to ride The Whole Enchilada:
The trail can look surprisingly easy when you look at it on Trailforks.
Do not confuse that with this being an easy day.
I’d recommend The Whole Enchilada to solid intermediate riders and above, but you need to be prepared for a BIG day on the bike.
We’ve done a lot of long mountain bike rides, endurance events, huge days in the mountains and stupid things involving bikes.
The Whole Enchilada still felt like a big day.
There’s the distance.
There’s altitude.
There’s rough terrain.
There are technical sections.
And depending on the time of year, the bottom half of the ride can get HOT.
You also have to remember that this is a point-to-point ride. Once you’re deep into it, you’re committed to finishing the day.
An intermediate rider who is comfortable spending hours on a mountain bike and is willing to walk the occasional technical feature should have an amazing time.
An intermediate rider who normally rides for 90 minutes and carries one tiny bottle of water might have a very different experience.
Come prepared.
Our Bikes for The Whole Enchilada
I rode my 2023 Rocky Mountain Altitude C70.
Emily rode her Evil Wreckoning.
Both are proper enduro bikes, which felt like a great choice for this ride.
There are certainly people who ride The Whole Enchilada on shorter-travel trail bikes, but with the amount of rough descending, repeated hits and technical terrain, I was very happy to have an enduro bike underneath me.
This also isn’t the ride where I’d obsess over having the lightest possible bike.
Yes, there is pedaling and some climbing.
But when you’re several hours into the ride and hammering through rough Moab terrain, having a bike that makes the descending easier is pretty darn nice.
[LINK: OUR CURRENT MOUNTAIN BIKE SETUP]
Our Whole Enchilada Shuttle
We used Poison Spider for the shuttle.
Would I use them again?
Yep.
Was it some kind of magical luxury mountain bike transportation experience?
Nope. 😂
It was a shuttle in a dirty white van.
They got us and our bikes where we needed to go, and that’s pretty much exactly what I want from a bike shuttle.
Simple. Effective. Done.
Because access to the upper portions of The Whole Enchilada depends on weather, snow and road conditions, I’d always check where the shuttles are currently dropping before planning the ride.
If Burro Pass is important to you—and after this trip I think it should be—make sure the shuttle is actually going all the way up before assuming you’ll be riding the complete route.
How Does The Whole Enchilada Compare to Our Other Favorite Shuttle Rides?
This got me thinking about the best point-to-point, single-shuttle mountain bike days we’ve ever done.
Three immediately come to mind:
The Whole Enchilada — Moab, Utah
The Lemmon Drop — Tucson, Arizona
Martha Creek — Revelstoke, British Columbia
I don’t think I’d call any one of them better than the others.
They’re too different.
The Whole Enchilada
The Whole Enchilada easily has the most terrain variety.
Nothing else we’ve ridden gives me quite the same feeling of traveling through so many different environments in one mountain bike ride.
The Lemmon Drop
For some reason, Lemmon Drop felt like the hardest day of the three.
It’s another enormous point-to-point adventure with a huge change in terrain and elevation, but the overall day just felt more demanding.
Martha Creek
Martha feels more like a giant alpine hot lap compared with the other two.
It doesn’t have the same all-day journey feeling as The Whole Enchilada or Lemmon Drop.
But the actual riding is incredible.
All three are rides I’d happily do again.
Would We Ride The Whole Enchilada Again?
Absolutely.
In fact, if logistics made it easy, I think we’d ride The Whole Enchilada once every year.
That probably tells you more about how we feel about it than any rating I could give it.
We’ve ridden mountain bikes all over the world at this point, and there aren’t many individual rides that I feel a need to repeat every single year.
The Whole Enchilada would make that list.
I’d also make a much bigger effort now to ride it when Burro Pass is accessible.
Missing Burro on our first attempt didn’t ruin the ride. Not even close.
But after experiencing the high-alpine start, I now understand how much it adds.
Is The Whole Enchilada the Ultimate MTB Day?
Maybe.
I don’t think there’s actually one “best” mountain bike ride.
Different trails are great for completely different reasons.
If I want an enormous technical challenge, I might choose something else.
If I want the best pure descending, I might choose something else.
If I want a quick alpine shuttle lap, Martha Creek is an entirely different experience.
But if the category is:
Best all-day, point-to-point mountain bike adventure?
The Whole Enchilada is absolutely in the conversation.
You get a massive day on the bike, high-alpine riding, classic Moab tech, huge scenery, exposed desert, one of the most famous technical features in the area, and an almost ridiculous amount of terrain change between the start and finish.
And when it’s finally over, you feel like you actually went somewhere.
That’s probably my favorite part.
The Whole Enchilada isn’t just a great trail.
It’s a journey.
And we’d happily do the whole thing again next year.
Have you ridden The Whole Enchilada?
And more importantly, what ride belongs in the conversation for the ultimate point-to-point MTB day?
Let us know in the comments.
[LINK: WATCH THE FULL WHOLE ENCHILADA VIDEO]
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