Moab's Fred's Rim Ride 100 Returns to Honor Legendary Trail Builder Fred Wilkinson

Fred Wilkinson never needed a permit, a clock, or a finish line. He just needed a route most people thought was insane and a few friends crazy enough to try it. On March 20, a generation of Moab riders honored that spirit the best way they knew how: by riding 100 miles of desert in his memory.

More than 30 riders lined up at Lions Park at 6 a.m. to ride 100 miles of Moab desert in his honor, the first Rim Ride since 2010. Saturday's ride covered 100 miles with roughly 9,400 feet of climbing. It was noncompetitive, with no fees, no registration and no vending. Riders could go solo or organize their own relay teams, and the course was designed so riders could shorten it as desired. A resupply vehicle was available at roughly the 60-mile mark.

Wilkinson, a Canadian-born trail builder who moved to Moab in 1994 and spent the next three decades shaping its trail network, started the Rim Ride around 2006 or 2007. The concept was simple: no entry fee, no prizes, no insurance, just a punishing loop through the desert that linked up Gold Bar Rim, Portal and miles of chunky 4x4 roads. Self-reliance was required.

"It was a new idea that Fred had: that you didn't need all the complications of a 'real' event — insurance, permits, sponsors, prizes," said Scott Morris, an endurance rider and event organizer from Arizona who rode in the early editions.

The 2026 route follows the same general shape as the original but takes advantage of the singletrack added to Moab's network in the years since, the very trails Wilkinson helped build. Fewer chunky 4x4 roads, more chunky singletrack. Evan Smiley, a Grand County trails employee, revived the event, and in a twist Wilkinson might have appreciated, did it with full permission from both the BLM and Utahraptor State Park. "In the past this was a bit more of an 'underground' event, but this year I'm going above board," Smiley said.

Wilkinson died unexpectedly in his sleep on Nov. 3, 2025, at age 56, at Juniper Campground in Sand Flats, where he'd been the campground host since 2021. He had helped construct much of Moab's modern singletrack, including Rodeo, Chisholm, the Amasa Back Connector, extensions in the Mag 7 system and every segment of the Raptor Route, through years of work with Trail Mix and the Grand County Active Transportation and Trails program.

Morris, who traveled to Moab for the ride, described Wilkinson as "a quiet rider, steadfast and consistent. Always kind, ever helpful if a fellow rider ran into any issues," adding that he "worked tirelessly with Trailmix and the BLM, but always had a bit of an anti-authority bent, so there was an interesting interplay there."

As GCATT Director Maddie Logowitz put it: "If you've ever ridden or walked over a rock ramp in Moab, odds are Fred played a role in creating it." The Rim Ride 100 is a fitting memorial for a man who spent three decades making those miles possible. The course map remains available at moabmba.com/fred-rim-ride-100.