Utah with Mike

So, Mike and I went to Utah to do some mountain biking (whiskey and/or beer may or may not also have been involved...).  Here's a mostly pictorial account.  Not a lot of description; mostly just sharing pictures.


Thursday, 12 Oct 2017

Drove to Mikes, loaded up his car, and hit the road at 0750!

Oh sure, Mike, you'd rather watch the road than pose for a picture?  Sheesh.

It was a very exciting drive.

With lots of really amazing scenery... yeeeah.

Ahh, finally starting to REALLY get to some cool scenery.  

And it only took getting all the way to Arizona...

And that's really all that happened that day.  There was actually a lot of smoke for most of the day's drive.  Blowing down from the Bay area?  Just from the fire near Fresno?  Both?  Don't know.  We ended up driving from Santa Cruz/Monterey to Salina, Utah, so we only had a couple more hours to drive in the morning to get to Moab and start riding.

But before all that... here's the big picture of where we're headed...

Start at left arrow (Monterey).

Drive to right arrow (Moab).

Ride a bunch.

Drive to middle arrow (Hurricane).

Ride more.

Drive back to left arrow.

(Plus there's one ride on the way to the middle arrow.)

The rides are labeled in blue.  There were actually five near Moab, but 

one is missing because the labels would have written over each other.

Friday, 13 Oct 2017

Oops... Friday the 13th!!  Who would plan a trip for today?  Well, we would...  (Actually, we planned no such thing; I didn't realize it was Friday the 13th until I started writing this.)

Drove from Salina down to the North Klondike trail system (15min or so north of Moab), where we met Maggie, and got going on our first ride together.

Suited up, ready to go, and giving a big thumbs up to Dad 

who was at his doc appointment just as we were getting going.

Mid-ride.  So nice to be out here!

Dinosaur...

...tracks!!

Some yellow still on the trees.

And Mike and I finished the day with a toast in 

solidarity with Dad after his rough day.

(Really, we wouldn't have done this, otherwise...)

Cheers Dad!

Saturday, 14 Oct 2017

Started with a delicious breakfast at... Love Muffin!!  Aw yeeahhh.  Then drove out and rode a bunch of new singletrack that I haven't seen before.  Super fun!

Love Muffin Breakfast Burrito

Here are the Moab rides.  Yesterday was Klondike, and today is 

Navajo (the labels are at the end of the rides on the map).

Following our trusty guide.

("We're a-goin' over thar!")

Ridin'

Rippin'

Lookin' good.

Wow, that's a big mesa, what's it called?

Oh, "Big Mesa"... that makes sense.

Cool stuff.

Cottonwoods down in a canyon.

Merrimac, Monitor, Maggie

Finished the day off with a trip to world famous Milt's Stop & Eat for a tasty burger!  Another good day.


Sunday, 15 Oct 2017

Breakfast at the motel, and then drove north out near Bartlett Wash and rode around a lot of sandstone out there.  This one is called, not surprisingly, Bartlett on the map up there.  It's not the Slickrock trail, but definitely Moab slickrock.  Which is a weird name, because you get so much traction on that surface.  Definitely a "views" ride.  So... here's a bunch of good views...

Looking one way down a canyon.

Looking the other way.

Awww yeeeah.

Along the edge.  There are riders up there on the right.

Down the canyon.

Look, sandstone!

Umm, look, more sandstone!

Look, more more sandstone!  (And Mike)

Umm, look... sandstone?  To give you an idea of scale, there's a white jeep down

there on that road behind a bush a little to the right of the Y in the road.

Like I said, a lot of scenery today.  Amazing canyon views.  Really beautiful...

After riding, we went over to Mike and Maggie's house and Mike (H) made a big dinner for us and a few others (great to see Kyle!).  Thanks for dinner, Mike and Mag!


Monday, 16 Oct 2017

Today is the Whole Enchilada.  We took a vehicle up to the La Sal Mountains... climb a bit further to 11,150ft at Burro Pass, and then ride all the way to the Colorado River around 4,000ft elevation.  It's not all coast-and-brake downhill though... some of the most exhausting 7,000 feet you'll ever descend.

Driving up.  That thar is snow on the ground.

Maggie, Laura, some old guy...

Getting ready to roll.

Top of the pass.

Mike hardly feels the altitude.

Maggie tops out.

It was pretty cold in places...

Aspen.

Not even half way down.

Shredding some gnar.

Looking down into the red rock.

Castle Valley.

We started way up there...

After getting all the way down the trail, it's a few miles back into town along the Colorado River.  The scenery there is pretty good, too...

Along the river road heading back to town.

(Nice path!)

Shoulda used a fill flash, apparently...

The crew.

Plus me.

Light

After the ride, we went back up the mountain and grabbed the van, and then got a couple of burritos and some beer and went back to the motel to eat drink and watch football.  Not too shabby...


Tuesday, 17 Oct 2017

Well, today is our last day in Moab.  We're leaving in the morning, but we're (sniff) fine.  Really.

Last breakfast at Love Muffin, and then over to Mag and Mike's to go ride Hymasa and Capt Ahab trails.  "Ahab" on the map up there.  This was a new trail for me.  Up in the Amasa Back area that I've ridden a lot, but different trails.  Still love the views from up there, though.

Standing closer to the edge of Jackson Hole than either

of us is really all that comfortable with.

Looking over Back of Behind up toward the La Sal Mountains.

Panorama... Mike's left arm doesn't really look like that.

Just gorgeous.

Had big sushi dinner with Mike and Maggie: delicious!  "Sushi in the desert?" you're thinking.  I knooowww!


Weds, 18 Oct 2017

Got up and had a quick breakfast, picked up our bikes at Magpie, and started heading west.  Our goal today is to ride the Thunder Mountain trail down near Bryce Canyon. 

Heading through the San Rafael Swell.

South on 89 toward Bryce and Zion.

Red Canyon!

And we made it.  Here's the trail we rode.  Bryce is just off the map to the right.

On the bikes!

Scenery!

Whoa... (look familiar, Mom?)

Cruisin

Shredding

No way you can push that over, Papa.  Maybe Paul can...

Cool hoodoos.  Mike for scale...

Loose downhill.

Nice

Cool panorama... Mike's in there twice.

Mike coming through the rocks.

More rocks.  More Mike.

More sketchy downhill.

Look, more rocks!

Crazy scenery.  So cool!

Traditional post ride beer.  

Staying dry because it's starting to sprinkle a bit.

Finished riding Thunder mountain trail, and drove south through Zion National Park, and stayed in Hurricane for the night.  No, you said that wrong, it's not Hurricane, it's Hurricane (her-uh-kin).  I don't know why they pronounce it that way, but they do...

Driving through Zion...

...

...

...

Thursday, 19 Oct 2017

Hit a little breakfast spot in Hurricane, and then drove out to Gooseberry Mesa.  The trail is out on top of a mesa, and there's a lot of technical ups and downs, and it gets right near the edge in a couple places.  Scary!

On the road to Gooseberry... that's Zion over there.

Riding on the sandstone with Zion in the background.

Nice lunch stop.

Looking off the mesa down to the road that we drove to get here.

That's close enough to the edge, thank you very much.

A not as scary spot, but it'll still hurt if you fall.

Ridin'

View! 

We were riding right along that rim up there.

(This pic was taken from that same road in the picture up there a bit)

Back to Hurricane after the ride, to stay in the same motel.  Sip or two of beer, and some whiskey, and some pretty decent Thai food for dinner... yum!  Yet another pretty damn good day.

Oh, and here's the trail map for today and tomorrow.

Gooseberry Mesa at the bottom is where we rode today.

Friday, 20 Oct 2017

Woke up, packed all our gear, and headed out to a new ride today.  It's Guacamole on the map above, and it was on the top of a mesa just like yesterday's, but the access to it was a little more off-roady...

Climbing up the mesa.

Once we got to the top, there were a couple places to camp, and some parking, and views of Zion again.  This mesa is right next to the national park, and in fact, our trail went right along the fenceline for Zion in a few places.  (Which I didn't realize until I looked at the map afterward...)

Starting out on the trail.

Riding along.

Duck!  The trail cuts right under this ledge. 

Petrified wood!

Cool formations.  The trail goes right along the edge of the rocks there.

Mike with Zion in the background.

Riding out on the Dr. Seuss plains.

Just like this picture a lot.

Wide open views.  (Again...)

Looking for some cool rocks.

Cool patterns in the sandstone.

Finished the ride before noon on Friday.  Then decided that we'd see how far we could get toward home, so we drove back down...

Driving...

... back ...

... down!

...  and got right on the road heading west.

It was super windy on the way home, and there was so much dust, that we couldn't see the horizon very well.

The Las Vegas skyline is hidden down there in the dust.

(You can just barely make out a little of it...)

It was a super exciting drive...

At least there were some nice cloud formations.

(There are a bunch of wind generators down at the horizon down there.)

And some nice color...

... at least until it got totally dark shortly after this.

 We ended up pushing all the way through to home Friday night.  Just couldn't see spending the money on a motel in exciting Bakersfield when we were only a few hours away at that point.  Got to Mike's around 1000-ish, and I headed home to Santa Cruz and made it a bit before midnight.

Great trip... pretty much ready to do another one already.