Aquarius Route route

Name: Aquarius Route
Address: Brian Head, UT
Rating: 3.7

near Brian Head, UT

195.8 miles

Distance

17,172 ft

Climb

-21,200 ft

Descent

2 miles

High Point

-4,028 ft

Altitude change

5,211 ft

Altitude min

9,827 ft

Altitude start

5,801 ft

Altitude end

-0.4%

Grade

-67.6%

Grade max

58.9%

Grade min

83 miles

Distance climb

104 miles

Distance down

8 miles

Distance flat

The Greatest Bicycle Adventure in the American West.

Welcome to Utah’s Color Country, one of the greatest places in the world to ride your bike. Ride the Aquarius Trail and enjoy the marvels and scenery from the peak of Brian Head, through Panguitch, Hatch and Bryce, down to the beautiful town of Escalante.

Detailed Description

Aquarius Route is a 196 mile popular intermediate route located near Brian Head Utah. This mountain bike only route can be used one direction and has a hard overall physical rating. This route includes 10 trails. This route climbs 17,172 ft with a max elevation of 11,057 ft then descends -21,200 ft.

Trail Issues on Route

Significant Issue / Amber: 2 trails (newest: May 27, 2026)
Minor Issue / Yellow: 3 trails (newest: Jun 16, 2026)

Trail Products

Adventure Maps: Brian Head/Bryce Canyon
Map

Stats

Distance

196 miles
Avg time

33 hr 26 min
Altitude change

-4,028 ft
Altitude min

5,211 ft
Altitude start

9,827 ft
Altitude end

5,801 ft
Climb

3 miles
Descent

-21,200 ft
Grade

-0.4%
Grade max

-67.6%
Grade min

58.9%
Distance climb

83 miles
Distance down

104 miles
Distance flat

8 miles

84 Reviews & Comments

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Route Lines

1	Powell Point

Trails in Route

	Sidney Peaks				4 miles
	Bunker Creek, North				3 miles
	Bunker Creek Middle				2 miles
	Bunker Creek Ext				2 miles
	Proctor Canyon - Badger Creek				7 miles
	Fremont Atv Trail				10 miles
	Thunder Mountain				8 miles
	Casto				5 miles
	Casto Canyon				2,162 ft
	Freemont ATV				2 miles

Route POI

	Castle Creek (Filter)	Water Fountain/Source
	King Creek Campground	Water Fountain/Source
	Pine Lake	Water Fountain/Source

Details

Featured
Riding area

Brian Head
Primary Activity

Mountain Bike
Difficulty rating

Blue
Route Type

Point to Point
Bikepacking

Yes
Direction

One Direction
Physical rating

Hard

Distance (Trails & Routes)

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Collections

Trail Conditions

1 Day
1 Week
1 Month
All Time

Unknown
Snow Groomed
Snow Packed
Snow Covered
Snow Cover Partial
Freeze/thaw Cycle
Icy
Prevalent Mud
Wet
Variable
Ideal
Dry
Very Dry

Trail Flow (Ridden Direction)

Trailforks scans users ridelogs to determine the most popular direction each trail is ridden. A good flowing trail network will have most trails flowing in a single direction according to their intension.
The colour categories are based on what percentage of riders are riding a trail in its intended direction.

> 96%
> 90%
> 80%
> 70%
> 50%
< 50%
bi-directional trail
no data

Trail Last Ridden

Trailforks scans ridelogs to determine the last time a trail was ridden.

< 2 days
< 1 week
< 2 weeks
< 1 month
< 6 months
> 6 months

Trail Ridden Direction

The intended direction a trail should be ridden.

Downhill Only
Downhill Primary
Both Directions
Uphill Primary
Uphill Only
One Direction

Contribute Details

Colors indicate trail is missing specified detail.

Description
Photos
Description & Photos
Videos
Only trails in this region hierarchy

Trail Popularity ?

Trailforks scans ridelogs to determine which trails are ridden the most in the last 9 months. Trails are compared with nearby trails in the same city region with a possible 25 colour shades. Think of this as a heatmap, more rides = more kinetic energy = warmer colors.

most popular
popular
less popular
not popular

ATV/ORV/OHV Filter

ATV - 50 inches
OHV, SxS - 60 inches
Jeep - 72 inches

Max Vehicle Width

inches

Ridelog Year

Radar Time

Activity Recordings

Trailforks uses anonymized public activity data. ?

mountain biking recent
mountain biking (>6 month)
hiking (1 year)
moto (1 year)

Activity Recordings

Trailforks uses anonymized public activity data. ?

Downhill Ski
Backcountry Ski
Nordic Ski
Snowmobile

Winter Trails

Warning A routing network for winter maps does not exist. Selecting trails using the winter trails layer has been disabled.

trail	date	description
Bunker Creek Ext	Jun 16, 2026 @ 10:07pm (America/Denver) Jun 16, 2026	Dry and dusty but still good riding. The trail has several large downed trees still. Many have been cleared away but there are still some large ones left. Use caution but totally rideable.
Bunker Creek Middle	May 27, 2026 @ 4:52pm (America/Denver) May 27, 2026	Trail dry but tons of trees down. Cut 20+ to clear but still lots that were too big for my saw.
Thunder Mountain	May 14, 2026 @ 6:29pm (America/Denver) May 14, 2026	It's in good shape. Seems to be more commercial horse traffic, unfortunately.
Sidney Peaks	May 12, 2026 @ 1:13pm (America/Denver) May 12, 2026	Impassable 😩😩
Proctor Canyon - Badger Creek	Nov 14, 2025 @ 1:43pm (America/Denver) Nov 14, 2025	Drove this road from Tropic Reservoir to Hatch on 11/11/25. From the high point (3.5mile) to just above Blue Fly Proctor Trail (6.5mile) got nuked pretty bad in the fire, the rest did not burn badly. Road is still in decent shape. Just beyond Grandview trail crossing there is a deep stream channel to cross that is pretty deep. Had to remove and carry bike rack across and even with that my tacoma hitch/bumper dragged badly. It is deeper and steeper than it looks in the photos I added. Not an issue for MTB/moto/SxS.