U, C, a U A (part 3)

11-June-2008 - Wednesday:
We left Red Canyon to drive to Moab today. I did a fast ride of the Thunder Mountain Trail first thing in the morning (wheeee!) and then we headed out the scenic route. We headed through Escalante and the Journey Through Time Byway up to Capitol Reef State Park.

Unbelievable views...

Just really doesn't do it justice... you need to go there.

Got into Moab, and ran in to Dave at Uranium Cycles. He offered his house and laundry (very cool!), and we went over there before running up to Arches for a sunset viewing.

Balanced Rock and the Garden of Eden

Looking east towards the Windows section of Arches and the La Sal Mountains

Oh yeah... and the sunset...

12-June-2008 - Thursday:
Woke up in Moab, had some coffee (mmm.... coffee...), and rode out to Moonflower Canyon and just looked around town a little before heading off to Telluride to see Thomas and all.

13-June-2008 - Friday:
Pre-wedding day bachelor's bike ride and ladies hike. I didn't get any pictures of the bike ride (I was hoping to get some from other folks who remembered their cameras...), but Lynne got a couple nice pics from the hike.

Bear Creek Falls

That's Telluride just visible down in the valley

Yeah, just a little different than the red rock down in Moab...


14-June-2008 - Saturday:
Thomas and Nicole are getting married today. And again... I got no pictures. Am hoping to get some from Thomas.

Lynne and I got up early, and went on a mountain bike ride this morning. Of which we also don't have pictures. But it was awfully beautiful... really.

15-June-2008 - Sunday:
I got up and went for a ride with a few of the boys, and then we went to the farewell brunch. I did remember my camera for once, and even took a couple pictures.

The town of Telluride... unfortunately looking into the sun a little bit.

After the ride and the brunch, we headed back to Moab and once again sprinted up to Arches to catch another sunset. Again I'm struck by the contrast of the green of Telluride and the red of Moab:

Looking east to the Windows with the La Sals in the background

Sunset

a few more days to come still...

U, C, a U A (part 2)

9-June-08 - Monday:
We did a couple rides at Gooseberry Mesa... one last night, and one this morning. It's the first time Lynne has ever ridden on rock like that.

I'd say she did pretty well though...



Pretty fun stuff out there. Great views and great trails.

After Gooseberry Mesa, we drove up to Navajo Lake sorta between Zion and Bryce. Or is that Brion and Zyce? I can never remember. Completely different scenery...

Aspens!

*That's* the blue right there!
Of what?
The lake.
Ahh... thanks, Mag.

Riding in some lava rocks at the east end of the lake.

10-June-08 - Tuesday:
We left Navajo Lake, and headed to Red Canyon just west of Bryce. I could describe it, but I just couldn't do it justice. So I'll just save my typing and show you some pictures that also don't do it justice. Really amazing stuff here...

Here's the first view we had when we entered the canyon. Ahhh... that's why the call it Red Canyon...

We rode a trail called Thunder Mountain. A lot of these pics are from that somewhere on that trail.

Lynne riding off into the goblins...

Riding back to camp on the bike path

Like I said, I could never do that justice in words, and really, the pics don't either. The scale of things is just so ... so ... so ... big. Yeah, that's the word.

Camped there in Red Canyon, and then I rode it again in the morning. Dang... just a really fun trail.

(again... more to come...)

Utah, Colorado, and Utah Again

(with some Nevada in between)
(and just a corner of Arizona)

Thomas gets married in Telluride... A fine excuse to take a couple weeks off, and go for a little southwest/mountain type trip.

So without further ado, I'll get right to it...

7-June-2008 - Saturday:
Loaded the car up the night before so we could get under way by 6-6:30 ish. So.... in order to be true to my nature, we got under way at the crack of ... 7:24. Actually, not too bad given my history.

Not really the best picture of either of us, but alas, it's all we gots.

And no more pictures of that first day, 'cause we drove straight through to Zion only stopping for food and fuel.

Basically, we left Santa Cruz, drove south on 101, over to 5, and then through Bakersfield where we stopped at In-n-Out even though there was a Sonic in town (which made sense to Steve since Bakersfield is sort of the Texas of California).

Then we drove by the World's Tallest Thermometer which Lynne and I are convinced is really just the tallest tower that is designed to digitally show what the temperature currently is. But then, just what is the definition of a thermometer...? (Besides an instrument that measures temperature.)

Okay, no other great highlights to day one. Other than getting to the campsite in Zion. But it was dark when we got there, so we didn't get the full picture until....

8-June-2008 - Sunday:
...the next morning.

Magpie Adventures' van and my car w/bikes

Pretty cool sight to wake up to.

Had some breakfast in Springdale, and then took the shuttle back up into the park, and did the little guided shuttle loop. Didn't have enough time to do much else though. Too dang many things to see!

Shuttle stop in Springdale just outside Zion

Up at the end of Zion Canyon

After taking the tour up Zion Canyon, we drove to Gooseberry Mesa to camp and ride. Gooseberry was a few miles down a dirt road, and, though I love the mileage that I'm getting with the Passat, I sure wish I had my truck for this stuff.

Here's a couple pictures from Gooseberry...

View to the west from the western tip of Gooseberry Mesa

View from our camp towards Zion with the last rays of the sun on the cliffs


And here's Lynne in her cute hat :^)

More to follow....