Left late on Saturday to head to Moab after Lyla was down an out with double ear infections--what a bad show for her. By the time I got to Dewey Bridge all camping was full for the night so I drove back out to BLM and camped with the cows. In bed by 11pm after mounting my cassette/chain and crank set on the bike along with some chain lube. The alarm went off at 5:30am which came all way to fast...I packed the tent and sleeping stuff quickly and made my way into town after a 40 minute drive along the Colorado river. Being a bit behind from the homestead duties Saturday had me still to finish loading the bike with all the bags/gear and then start pedaling.
DAY 1 Sunday April 23rd, 2017
Started from Moab South at the Chili Pepper Bike shop where I had permission to leave my car--a bit further away and made the ride a few more miles but by taking Kane Creek and 500 West through the back side of town, I avoided all the traffic. Did not start until almost 9am but I had the whole day ahead of me to get there--easy right? and so the EPIC begins. :)
Riding the Bike path in town over to Potash Road
Crossing the Colorado on the new bike path bridge--you can see the canyon walls ahead
Riding South on the Colorado river now until the Potash mine plant. Lots to see and look at while I spin the miles away. This first 19 miles were paved roads until you reach the Mine where it turns to dirt.
Quick Bathroom stop at Poison Spider Mesa Trail head--you can see the bike here loaded up. Weighs 45 lbs here with 5.5 Liters of water and all my gear for two days including food. I will get more water later in the trip and also make a stash for the end of the trip.
Some more pics along the river...the great part here is the rock walls to look at--I just kept picking out crack after crack to come back and climb one day.
Finally to the mine and where the pavement ends. Another bathroom stop as I get ready to start climbing and leave the river bed.
A map posted showing the State, NP, and mine property boundaries and where you can/cannot camp.
Only 19 more miles to the visitor center in Canyon Lands National park. This is about half way for the total day to get to the Candlestick Campground.
View from the last of the Colorado River for a while and the picnic area I just left from.
A view above the cooling ponds of the mine--crystal blue color--that just cannot be good?! The La Sal mountains are in the back ground with the snow on them.
Made it over a pass of some sort and then you drop down in to a dry canyon and climb back up to the next pass...rinse and repeat! The scenery just never stops though...
Top of the next climb and not to far now from the National Park Entrance. Last time I will see the Colorado river until my return the next day when I back track this section of the route.
Still in good spirits even though the bike was heavy and slow climbing
Panorama of the River point--lots of car commercials are filmed here.
And I finally made it to the National Park Entrance. You climb a small
canyon to connect in with the White Rim on Shafer Road here. This is
about 11 miles from the last picnic area and 2 miles to the White Rim
road proper.
Now just past the Shafer Campground and onto the White Rim road. 6.5 miles to the visitor center from here--piece of cake right? Sure, I did drop 2L of water in the rocks so I am 5lbs lighter..oh wait there is a slight climb between me and the visitor center....
Say whaaaaat? Yep, 15% grade or steeper in places, and 4miles/1500ft of climbing goodness. The red line shows the road as it is hard to see.
First stop to let some jeeps by and give the legs a little stretch--stay the course!
Almost there--you can see a motorcycle and a car below me there like little ants.
Finally on top--a few more miles to the visitor center now.
Reading this sign does not entice one to take the road down.
Visitor Center in site!
Water re-supply! This is the only one on the trip except for the green river which is very silty and not the best to filter from. So, I loaded up a 4L dromedary bag and another 3L in my camel back. Heaviest my bike will be the entire trip but lots of the riding from here is down hill--or so I made my self believe!
Off riding again and there happened to be a little headwind, little at 25mph and gusting to 43mph. Hmmm, looks like my downhill theory was going to be more mental--yes, its windy but hey, its downhill! Right? You actually exit the National Park on this road and then tie back in later in the day. Below is the turn off to Dead Horse Point State Park. I take a left just after this on dirt to connect over to Mineral Bottom Road.
Almost done with the connector trail and found a poor mans hot tub-otherwise known as livestock watering hole. Turned out the connector was about 1/2 sand this time--had to walk a bit. Then Mineral bottom road turned straight into the wind for the next 11 miles--with the bike fully loaded down this proved to be quite the character building few hours--including getting knocked over once at a 40 gust that ripped through. Fun still? YES, of course
After some serious mental focus I made to it to the top of the Mineral Bottom switchbacks which connect you down to the Green River and the White Rim road. Some smiles for me at this point and a family was finishing up a four day trek with 8 kids on the White Rim. The kids were bombing down the road and back up over and over. I soaked up the energy from them and started my descent.
Approaching the Green River
Split off from Mineral Bottom to the boat ramp but left takes me to the White Rim road and back into the National Park. The wind was much less down here in the bottom of the canyon--10 to 15mph felt like a ride in the park! ;)
After a nice flat roll in less wind I hit the National Park entrance again. I had my parks pass and permit for camping which includes a day permit (now required on the White Rim) so I was good to go for it. My only concern was how long it took me to get here and still having about 20 miles to get to camp. Pedal pedal!
Tired but happy--this is such an amazing and magical place to visit. The wind picked back up again as I moved further around to the South. Just had to keep pedaling!
Along the Green River. The White Rim road gets close and you could filter water if you had too but it is very silty. This section also floods when the water levels rise--next month evidently is what the staff tells me.
The one and only creek crossing--tons of sand on the tires and in the shoes!
First flowers I saw that had bloomed. Crossing over a bluff here--several small but steep climbs you have to go up and over every few miles. The climbing is most steady/consistent through the white rim proper.
Crossing another bluff over to Potato bottom camp ground which is still 11 miles from my designated camp site and the light is fading quick.
The campsite was way to windy out on a bluff so I was able to get some inside info on a place to bivy in a rock gully out of most of the wind. It was just about dark so I first got food going. Using an ESBIT stove to head water--very simple stuff. Had Ramen/Garlic beef/sweet potato and a tuna packet for dinner.
This gives you the perspective of the darkness without a flash on the camera--for me this situation is comfortable--I enjoy it and making things work like just getting the stove lit in the wind is a challenge but something that warms my heart every time. While the food cooked, I stretched and started to relax some. I put on my wind vest, hat, and down sweater to stay warm until bed.
And oh boy, Ramen noodles with garlic beef! The salt hit was really nice and I also hydrated as much as possible with recovery drink and another bottle of Skratch drink mix. I cleaned everything up, restocked my water in the camel back and bottle, organized my food and restocked the food in my top tube bag. This allowed me to get up early and get moving without fussing around and some time to let my body calm down to move to sleep mode.
Tonight's bed...the rocks were giving nice shelter to the wind but no way I could setup the tarp so opted instead to just sleep on the rock in this little canyon. I setup about 30 feet from where I cooked to keep the critters away. The hard part was having everything prepped--could not lay the ground sheet down until I had a pile of rocks to weigh it down. Then wrap the sleeping pad in my tarp for extra protection and then pull out the sleeping bag. I took this photo and a gust of wind grabbed my sleeping bad and pad but I quickly pounced on them--I crawled in and then the stars came out--what a reward from a tough day. Seemed like a challenge around every corner today but it all came together with patience, persistence and again, character building.
Here was Day 1....5K of climbing with most of it in the middle of the ride. A nice kicker at the end towards camp though let my legs know how things were!
Route from the firs day and put in 75 miles--a bit short of what I was aiming for with the Bivy location but the morning will start out flat and be a nice warm up. Until the morning!
1 comment:
Classic lesson from the trio you passed- slow and steady wins the race!
Post a Comment